At any rate, I've made it halfway through November, and even though the hardest is yet to come (Thanksgiving, when I'll probably be separated from my laptop) I will continue to forge ahead. Everyone is writing about the National Book Awards today, but I don't have a lot to add about that. Instead, I'm signing up for the From the Stacks Challenge for the second year.
Longtime readers might remember I didn't do so well on the challenge last year. I finished three out of my five self-assigned books, but I haven't ever gone back and read those other two. The good news is that I enjoyed the books I did read and enjoyed two of them so much that they have joined my permanent library. So I'm hoping that this year I will actually read all my books and discover some new favorites as well. That said, I'm cheating a little; the first three books on my list are books I started and have been sitting on my nightstand for at least three months. Will I have to start them over? It's possible, but they do give me a wee leg up, so there you go.
Here's my list:
1. Michael Gross, 740 PARK
2. Mark Helprin, FREDDY AND FREDERICKA
4. Laurie Graham, THE FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF AMERICA
5. Martha Moody, BEST FRIENDS
6. Lesley Lokko, SAFFRON SKIES
I almost put Vikram Seth's SACRED GAMES on the list, because it looks amazing and the person who lent it to me loved it, but then I remembered it was a thousand-page hardcover. So we'll see on that one.
Actually, this could not come at a more inconvenient time as I was planning to go book shopping at the Strand this weekend with a very special weekend guest, but maybe I can pick out early Christmas presents instead of splurging on myself. On the other hand, BookMooch is down for a few days as the wizard behind the curtain tinkers with it, so I can focus on reading the books I have instead of mooching new ones.
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