Wednesday, January 1, 2014

hello January...

What better subject to start off in this new year than upcoming reading, huh? Last January brought me a nice chunk of my favorite reads of the year...and this was thanks to Long-Awaited Reads Month, Ana's and Iris's brilliant creation. And I couldn't be more excited that they're bringing it back again this year. I won't be able focus exclusively on my Long-Awaited Reads pile, of course (yes, homeschooling, I'm glaring at you).

Okay, so my potential reads for January:






























Pile 1: Homeschool pile.

This pile is quite incomplete. Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton should both be on the pile but I don't have them yet. And I just haven't gathered up books for the second half of the month yet. Note: As much as I'd like to, I likely won't get Look Both Ways or Sex and Sensibility read but will just have Annie read them on her own.






























Pile 2: Current library pile.

In all honestly, all of these other than A People's History of America Empire (which I started yesterday) will probably be going back to the library unread, as I'd like to focus on my Long-Awaited Reads pile as much as possible. Ahhh, but the beauty of the library is that they'll be there for me to check out at a future time.






























Pile 3: Dip into and misc. pile.

One of my personal goals for 2014 is to read a short story, an essay, and a poem every week, and thus the Bradbury, the Sapolsky, and the Levithan books. The Householder's Guide to the Universe is set up in month-by-month fashion, and I'd like to read along in just that fashion. (I read about a third of this book before, and I loved it...but decided it might *feel* better if I read it so the months matched up with what was really going on in our gardening life.) Mister Monday is the book I'm currently (if slowly) reading with Max, and The Shining is the book I'm currently reading with Rich. And finally, Lifemobile was sent to me by my dear friend Jean, who knows the author. It is about a father and son and an old Corvair. The author, Jonathan Rintels, kindly signed and passed along a copy for Gray and me. I believe the book is loosely autobiographical--and the author's son has Aspergers, which is why they thought of us.






























Pile 4: Long-Awaited Reads pile!!!

And yes, just as I did last year, I actually made it a Long-Awaited Reads Because of Ana pile! :D I kept it small because I really want to get through them all. And in the event I really do get through all of them, my shelves are plenty loaded with other books I'm dying to read all because of Ana. (Delusions of Gender also could have been placed on the homeschooling pile as Annie and I will be reading it for her feminism course, but it is such an "Ana book" in my head that it had to go here.)

Yep, I'm almost certainly biting off more than I can chew with my reading plans this month...but what's wrong with dreaming big. :P

8 comments:

DesLily said...

Happy New Year Debi!!!

I have to laugh at your Long Awaited pile...that would be nearly every book on all my book shelves!!!

my reading took a slup due to feeling like a hot turd most of the year...but I am happy I managed to read enough to say I read a book a week all year long! woohoo!

I hope you have a great reading year but more, I hope you and Rich and the kids and animals have a happy and healthy 2014!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Oh I loved Frankie Landau when I read it (a readathon long long ago). I hope you enjoy it--its a fun one. And Annie's Feminism course sounds like an interesting one. And The Shining...will that be followed up with Doctor Sleep? I hope to get to that one sometime this year...or next...or... ;)

Hoping that you and your family are having a wonderful day! Evie slept for 11 hours last night (wahoo!! and a glass of wine for mama) and we had a nice breakfast at the local dive/biker bar (Elle is wearing her camo pants with her pink flower shirt). Now both girls are napping and I'm allowing the house to be a mess for another few days. ;)

Hugs to you!!

Debi said...

Pat,
A book a week is pretty fantastic! I so hope this year brings you much improved health, Pat! I just hate how badly you've been feeling!!! And you know it's bad when you don't even feel like reading! *HUGS*

Trish,
Yep! That's why we decided to reread The Shining--so we could follow it up with Doctor Sleep. :)
Sounds like your new year is off to an awesome start!!! Hope it does nothing but get even better! :D

Vasilly said...

Debi *waving*!!! Hey! I'm so happy to see you're back! I love your piles. There is No Dog and The Influencing Machine are fantastic books! I think reading one short story, one essay, and one poem a week is a good idea. I may have to steal that idea. I have a ton of anthologies/collections in my stacks.

Enjoy your reads.

Care said...

Crazy you are. But lovable, of course. That is one amazing stack of books. ANd you've reminded me that I have Delusions of Gender on my Kindle somewhere. I forgot I downloaded that...

Iris said...

We could have joint reads for so many of these (all also added by Ana of course) Delusions of Gender has been on my to read list for forever, as has There is No Dog. And do read the Lockhart book, it is wonderful!

Shannon @ River City Reading said...

So many great piles! Delusions of Gender is one that I've been meaning to get to for so long, too. I love that you're going to read it with your daughter :)

Debi said...

Hey Vasilly! You know, that is exactly why I decided to challenge myself with that--to try to finally get through some of my anthologies. As much as I really love essays and short stories and poetry, I never seem to choose those books when it comes time to pick a new book. I did this a couple years ago, and it was great to finally get some of my short story collections read!

Hey Care, Any idea how happy it makes me that you think I'm lovable? :)

Hello Iris, You know what--we should totally do that next January--read one of those long-awaited because of Ana books together! I would LOVE that!

Hi Shannon, I'm a bit over halfway through Delusions of Gender, and it is so very, very good! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I am! :)