Top Ten Tuesday is the weekly meme run by the gals over THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH. This week - something different - we get a free pass to pick any topic we choose. This is my entry: 10 Books (plus one) I Own But Haven't Read and Yes, I (Definitely) Want To Read Them.
I've bought several of these books (some were given to me) over time with the best of intentions. Truly. They all interest me enormously. ALL have been very highly recommended by friends or blogs or print reviewers I like and admire. So what's the hold up?
Okay, I admit it, it's partly intimidation, but also -
The problem is squeezing these titles in between my other reading. The problem is that these books are not the sorts of things you can just breeze through. The problem is that my reading speed has slowed. But despite all that, I'm determined to read them. Not determined in a bad way, determined in a good way.
1) HOWARD'S END by E.M. Forster
2) BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens
3) CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? by Anthony Trollope
4) PHINEAS FINN by Anthony Trollope
5) AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST by Iain Pears
6) A DISTANT MIRROR The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman
7) GLADSTONE by Roy Jenkins
8) WINSTON CHURCHILL by Roy Jenkins
9) LINCOLN by David Herbert Donald
10) DISRAELI by Robert Blake
11) THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
I love everything by Dickens!
ReplyDeleteHere is mine:
Here is my Top Ten post!
My longest-term friend Laura Nakatsuka was one of the primary-source researchers for Donald on LINCOLN...I really should read it, too..
ReplyDeletegautami tripathy:
ReplyDeleteYeah, Dickens.
Haven't read any since High School. Very intimidating.
Todd: The Donald book has had excellent reviews. It's supposed to be top notch. I've read bits and pieces of Lincoln's bio - who hasn't?
ReplyDeleteBut I've never read a concentrated full fledged bio.
Though I'm thinking I might have read the Carl Sandburgh one ine high school. Not sure.
But I am definitely reading this one.
Oh, whew, finally a book list that I am not tempted to add to the TBR list, only because I read fiction, and except for Ariana Franklin and a few Anne Perry, I don't read historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteBut -- the first Trollope and the Pears, hmmm. My sister recommends Can You Forgive Her?
But I must be tough and stick to what I have and what is at the library on hold. A book from Europe arrived yesterday, am expecting a Camilleri from England, have 3 books on hold and a stack of my own.
Kathy: I get in a mood for non-fiction, usually in the Fall. Don't ask me why I have no answers. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI need to get on the book train that you're riding! I love your selection of books to read! Happy Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteCheck out Sash's Top Ten Guys Who Didn't Get The Girl!
Also check out our GREAT giveaways!
This is a great post! My list was similar, i.e., books in my house that I haven't gotten around to reading, but for less focussed reasons than your own (which is very noble! I can see why none of these books just tuck in nicely around other reading.)
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Perfectly understandable. Those eleven books are a total of, maybe, 4,576,842 pages?! Enormous, complex books.
ReplyDeleteI've decided to focus on one enormous, complex book a year. This year it's War and Peace. I'm at 30%.
Roy Jenkins was a very clever and insightful politician, so I reckon those biographies of his are going to be really fascinating. Great list, I'm a new follower (your 100th!)
ReplyDeleteSash and Em: Happy Tuesday to you too! Thanks so much for dropping by.
ReplyDeleteKate: Yeah, kind of hard is right. :) Thanks for dropping by. Glad you enjoyed my post.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm determined.
Deb: I like your idea. One a year. Only I probably have less years left than you do. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll figure something out.
Sophia: THANKS for signing up! I never thought I'd have a hundred followers. I'm amazed. :)
ReplyDeleteThis past year has been so much fun. This blogging thing may just be here to stay. Ha!
I like Roy Jenkins ever since I saw him interviewed on the Charlie Rose Hour a couple of years ago. He's a remarkable man.
Not sure if Dickens excites or frightens you but I thought Bleak House was an excellent book. Great characters, maybe a bit long...
ReplyDeleteI also hope to give Howard's End a try in the near future!
Two Bibliomaniacs: Dickens intimidates me more like. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I've heard nothing but good things about it so I do plan to read it.
You and I were on similar wave-lengths (http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/08/top-ten-books-that-ive-procrastinated.html)
ReplyDeleteI want to get to a Dickens too. And I've been told that I should read Bleak House, I guess I should add that one to my TBR mountain. (Let's be honest, "pile" is too small a word for it...)
Bev: Mine's a 'mountain' too.
ReplyDeleteIt rivals Everest. Ha!
I have a nice hard cover copy of BLEAK HOUSE and I really do plan on reading it.
Congratulations on 100 blog followers.
ReplyDeleteThat is well-deserved. The blog is wonderful, informative, fun, interesting.
In fact, I have to find the two-part comedic review of Woman in White, which had me doubled-over (in a good way) laughing. I want to print that out or else bookmark it.
Just read a list of crime fiction writers' favorite detectives -- some were English and fascinating -- and someone included Woman in White. Or it was favorite characters. Did you see this?
Anyway, I read the NYT, Google news, lots of news all of the time. And fiction, especially mysteries, are my reward to read into the wee hours, when my brain could not absorb weighty tomes. (I have a goal of reading War and Peace over years -- a Russian cab driver and some friends have suggested it. My sister says read Anna Karenina. Whatever. Don't know if this is realistic.)
Anyway, the blog posts are always good and lots of fun. I keep my fingers crossed that there will be lots more blog-o-versaries and thousands more posts.
Here is the link to that article of mystery writers' favorite characters:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/22/crime-fiction-harrogate-writing-festival
I've read about half of the books on your list but would like to read several of the others. It took me a while to get through The Worst Journey in the World, not because it wasn't fascinating, just because it was long. It's amazing.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I read more serious books in the fall and winter - because it's time for school! I also have the urge to stock up on pencils and notebooks, even though school is a very distant memory. In the summer I read mostly fiction, but I mix fiction and non-fiction during other parts of the year.
Kathy: THANK you so much for the very kind words. I'm amazed it's lasted this long, if you want to know the truth. I didn't think I'd enjoy it quite as much as I do. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, you're a peach. :)
Kathy: P.S. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteJoan: It's that back to school thing which grips all of us at that time of year, I think. Though school is but a vague and distant memory - at least for me. :)
ReplyDeleteAnna Quindlen first recommended WORST JOURNEY, she says it's one of her all time favorite books. I've been meaning to get to it for awhile now.
But it's length really is daunting. However, I'll get there eventually. She really LOVED the book and I admire her taste in reading. Have you ever read her little book, HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE? It's wonderful.
Yes, I have read How Reading Changed My Life and I loved it, too. I think I also mentioned that her father, Clifton Fadiman, among many major literary achievements, wrote a book called The Lifetime Reading Plan. It's gone through several updates but, for us autodidacts, it's great. I wrote to the late Mr. Fadiman and he wrote back! Even at his then advanced age, he was excited about the world of books and people who loved them.
ReplyDeleteJoan: You mean Anne Fadiman's father - right? She wrote EX LIBRIS, a book I also loved. How wonderful that you heard back from Mr. Fadiman. He must have been something. When I read Anne's book I was envious of having someone like him for a dad. :)
ReplyDeleteI did have a copy of the Lifetime Reading Plan some years ago but it's since disappeared.