Readfall, Fallread

Today, I was inspired by Jilllora  from Somewhere In A Book.  At the beginning of last summer, she composed a summer reading list for herself.  Then she checked back with herself to see how it had turned out. I thought:  I like making lists...I want to do that for fall!  Sadly, I realized that the first day of fall was yesterday.  Too late?  My hackles rose at the idea of missing out and indignation drove me to pull it all together now and today.  I think I may have strained something, but here goes in no particular order:

1. Eve's Ransom - George Gissing. (novel)  Currently in progress.  There's something about Gissing's work that just feels so right for reading on the subway.  I read this.

2. Insomnia - Stephen King. (novel)  Currently in progress.  It's hardly an original thought, but fall is the perfect season for a King novel... Finally got 'er done, and I'm really glad.

3. Joyland - Stephen King. (novel) ...or two. No, I didn't get to this one.

4. Van Gogh: The Life - Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. (biography)  I have such great memories of reading their biography of Jackson Pollack and then watching the Ed Harris movie.  Or maybe the movie was first; I'm not sure. I can't finish this! Vincent is too much work even on the page.

5. Madame Chic at Home - Jennifer L. Scott.  (nonfiction)  This one is due to drop into my Kindle on October 7.  Maybe with the time difference, I'll get lucky and it'll arrive on the 6th. I ran through this book like a pig through the corn. That's not very elegant. Oh well. I loved it, and I tried to be dressed if not WELL-dressed while reading it.

6. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel. (graphic novel)  Even though Bechdel will never read this blog, I feel compelled to reread Fun Home to salute and celebrate her for winning that MacArthur Genius grant. I read this. A reread. Now I must read it yet again to celebrate the Broadway show.

7. The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty. (novel)  I shouldn't be reading from my Pulitzer collection; I should be packing it up!  Oh well. I haven't gotten to this book yet.

8. Godric - Frederick Buechner. (novel)  I meant to read about this 12th century holy man and mystic last summer but got sidetracked by Maya Angelou. Sorry, Godric. I had to quit thee. Quit thou. Well, you know what I meaneth. 

10. Black Water - Joyce Carol Oates. (novel)  Fall is also good for JCO novels, but not just any fall day.  It has to be the sort of day that starts out chill but invigorating then sharply turns bleak and lusterless. Yes, I read it. Enraging.

11. Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin. (novel)  Because of the TV show, I am interested in this novel, but I'm also reading it as a way to bond with The Spawn. Finally finished it. Shall I go on with this series???

12. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain. (novel)  I've tried to read this book twice and gotten distracted both times.  I'm sure if Mr. Clemens were here, he 'd tell me to pull my head out and get 'er done.  Yessir, I'm thinking during the Readathon. Mr. Clemens, where were you? I didn't get to this book.

OK, that's it.  I may have gotten too ambitious. On December 21, we can all check back and see what got read and what went by the wayside.