My 100-Book Resolution
This year, instead of making resolutions about reading, I'm just going to build a list of 100 books I'd like to read. When I finish or DNF the book, I'll highlight it in red.
At the end of the year, I'll compare this list with the list I actually read.
And laugh.
In no particular order:
1. Caroline: Little House Revisited - Sarah Miller (fiction)
2. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (fiction)
3. Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi (nonfiction)
4. Songs for the Missing - Stewart O'Nan (fiction)
5. The Cooler King - Patrick Bishop (nonfiction)
6. Ride the Pink Horse - Dorothy B. Hughes (fiction)
7. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee (fiction)
8. Our Souls at Night - Kent Haruf (fiction)
9. The Witches - Stacy Schiff (nonfiction)
10. The Great Influenza - John M. Barry (nonfiction)
11. The Nix - Nathan Hill (fiction)
12. Unfamiliar Fishes - Sarah Vowell (nonfiction)
13. Drama - John Lithgow (nonfiction)
14. I'll Be Right There - Kyung-Sook Shin (fiction)
15. The Aquariums of Pyongyang - Kang Chol-Hwan (nonfiction)
16. Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain (nonfiction)
17. Gilligan's Wake - Tom Carson (fiction)
18. Vein of Iron - Ellen Glasgow (fiction) DNF almost right out of the gate. The writing style jarred. It seemed cloying and overly dramatic.
19. None But the Lonely Heart - Richard Llewellyn (fiction)
20. Underground - Haruki Murakami (nonfiction)
21. Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink - Elvis Costello (nonfiction)
22. Upstairs Girls - Michael Rutter (nonfiction)
23. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher (nonfiction)
24. The Sellout - Paul Beatty (fiction)
25. White Trash - Nancy Isenberg (nonfiction)
26. Earth - Emile Zola (fiction)
27. From Scratch: Inside the Food Network - Allen Salkin (nonfiction)
28. A Taste for War: The Culinary History of the Blue and the Gray - William C. Davis (nonfiction)
29. M Train - Patti Smith (nonfiction)
30. Clockers - Richard Price (fiction)
31. Bust Hell Wide Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest - Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. (nonfiction)
32. Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard (nonfiction)
33. The Devil All the Time - Donald Ray Pollock (fiction)
34. Saint Mazie - Jami Attenberg (fiction)
35. The Letter - Kathryn Hughes (fiction)
36. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware (fiction)
37. All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda (fiction)
38. LaRose - Louise Erdrich (fiction)
39. The Dead Republic - Roddy Doyle (fiction)
40. Pox - Michael Willrich (nonfiction)
41. The Orchardist - Amanda Coplin (fiction)
42. Soaring with Vultures - Dan Kelly (fiction)
43. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry (fiction)
44. The Living - Annie Dillard (fiction)
45. The Tree of Man - Patrick White (fiction)
46. Heads in Beds - Jacob Tomsky (nonfiction)
47. Rainbow's End - James M. Cain (fiction)
48. What Happened - Hillary Rodham Clinton (nonfiction)
49. The Hard Blue Sky - Shirley Ann Grau (fiction)
50. October, 1964 - David Halberstam (nonfiction)
51. A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold (nonfiction)
52. James Baldwin: A Biography - David Leeming (nonfiction)
53. West with the Night - Beryl Markham (nonfiction)
54. The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson (fiction)
55. The Nutmeg Tree - Margery Sharp (fiction)
56. No Sweat - Michelle Segar (nonfiction)
57. Mary Olivier: A Life - May Sinclair (fiction)
58. All the Rage - Courtney Summers (fiction)
59. The Art of Discarding - Nagisa Tatsumi (nonfiction)
60. The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson (nonfiction)
61. Traveling Sprinkler - Nicholson Baker (fiction) DNF. Got halfway through this short novel and had to quit. Blather.
62. Three Many Cooks - Pam Anderson, Maggy Keet, Sharon Damelio (nonfiction)
63. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead (fiction)
64. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen (fiction)
65. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (fiction)
66. Martin Dressler - Stephen Millhauser (fiction)
67. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos (fiction)
68. Elbow Room - James Alan McPherson (fiction)
69. The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty (fiction)
70. The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron (fiction)
71. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren (fiction)
72. Journey in the Dark - Martin Flavin (fiction)
73. In This Our Life - Ellen Glasgow (fiction)
74. Years of Grace - Margaret Barnes (fiction)
75. Scarlet Sister Mary - Julia Peterkin (fiction)
76. One of Ours - Willa Cather (fiction)
77. Mary Poppins - Travers (fiction)
78. 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith (fiction)
79. My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin (fiction)
80. Ironweed - William Kennedy (fiction)
81. Hard Times - Studs Terkel (nonfiction)
82. The Group - Mary McCarthy (fiction)
83. Turtles All the Way Down - John Green (fiction)
84. Loving Robert Lowell - Author??? (nonfiction)
85. The Wine Lover's Daughter - Anne Fadiman (nonfiction)
86. Home - Marilynne Robinson (fiction)
87. A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin (fiction)
88. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo - Amy Schumer (nonfiction)
89. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen (nonfiction)
90. The Letters of Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath (nonfiction)
91. The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy (fiction)
92. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning - Margareta Magnusson (nonfiction)
93. Coming To My Senses - Alice Waters (nonfiction)
94. Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray - Adam Federman (nonfiction)
95. The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters - Laura Thompson (nonfiction)
96. Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell - David Yaffe (nonfiction) DNF. Found the book overwritten which seemed to distance the reader from the subject. I wish that JM had written her own memoir.
97. The Reporter Who Knew Too Much - Mark Shaw (nonfiction)
98. Home is Burning - Dan Marshall (nonfiction)
99. The Lost Art of Housecleaning - Jan Dougherty (nonfiction)
100. Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren (fiction)
At the end of the year, I'll compare this list with the list I actually read.
And laugh.
In no particular order:
1. Caroline: Little House Revisited - Sarah Miller (fiction)
2. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (fiction)
3. Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi (nonfiction)
4. Songs for the Missing - Stewart O'Nan (fiction)
5. The Cooler King - Patrick Bishop (nonfiction)
6. Ride the Pink Horse - Dorothy B. Hughes (fiction)
7. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee (fiction)
8. Our Souls at Night - Kent Haruf (fiction)
9. The Witches - Stacy Schiff (nonfiction)
10. The Great Influenza - John M. Barry (nonfiction)
11. The Nix - Nathan Hill (fiction)
12. Unfamiliar Fishes - Sarah Vowell (nonfiction)
13. Drama - John Lithgow (nonfiction)
14. I'll Be Right There - Kyung-Sook Shin (fiction)
15. The Aquariums of Pyongyang - Kang Chol-Hwan (nonfiction)
16. Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain (nonfiction)
17. Gilligan's Wake - Tom Carson (fiction)
18. Vein of Iron - Ellen Glasgow (fiction) DNF almost right out of the gate. The writing style jarred. It seemed cloying and overly dramatic.
19. None But the Lonely Heart - Richard Llewellyn (fiction)
20. Underground - Haruki Murakami (nonfiction)
21. Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink - Elvis Costello (nonfiction)
22. Upstairs Girls - Michael Rutter (nonfiction)
23. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher (nonfiction)
24. The Sellout - Paul Beatty (fiction)
25. White Trash - Nancy Isenberg (nonfiction)
26. Earth - Emile Zola (fiction)
27. From Scratch: Inside the Food Network - Allen Salkin (nonfiction)
28. A Taste for War: The Culinary History of the Blue and the Gray - William C. Davis (nonfiction)
29. M Train - Patti Smith (nonfiction)
30. Clockers - Richard Price (fiction)
31. Bust Hell Wide Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest - Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. (nonfiction)
32. Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard (nonfiction)
33. The Devil All the Time - Donald Ray Pollock (fiction)
34. Saint Mazie - Jami Attenberg (fiction)
35. The Letter - Kathryn Hughes (fiction)
36. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware (fiction)
37. All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda (fiction)
38. LaRose - Louise Erdrich (fiction)
39. The Dead Republic - Roddy Doyle (fiction)
40. Pox - Michael Willrich (nonfiction)
41. The Orchardist - Amanda Coplin (fiction)
42. Soaring with Vultures - Dan Kelly (fiction)
43. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry (fiction)
44. The Living - Annie Dillard (fiction)
45. The Tree of Man - Patrick White (fiction)
46. Heads in Beds - Jacob Tomsky (nonfiction)
47. Rainbow's End - James M. Cain (fiction)
48. What Happened - Hillary Rodham Clinton (nonfiction)
49. The Hard Blue Sky - Shirley Ann Grau (fiction)
50. October, 1964 - David Halberstam (nonfiction)
51. A Mother's Reckoning - Sue Klebold (nonfiction)
52. James Baldwin: A Biography - David Leeming (nonfiction)
53. West with the Night - Beryl Markham (nonfiction)
54. The Getting of Wisdom - Henry Handel Richardson (fiction)
55. The Nutmeg Tree - Margery Sharp (fiction)
56. No Sweat - Michelle Segar (nonfiction)
57. Mary Olivier: A Life - May Sinclair (fiction)
58. All the Rage - Courtney Summers (fiction)
59. The Art of Discarding - Nagisa Tatsumi (nonfiction)
60. The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson (nonfiction)
61. Traveling Sprinkler - Nicholson Baker (fiction) DNF. Got halfway through this short novel and had to quit. Blather.
62. Three Many Cooks - Pam Anderson, Maggy Keet, Sharon Damelio (nonfiction)
63. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead (fiction)
64. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen (fiction)
65. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (fiction)
66. Martin Dressler - Stephen Millhauser (fiction)
67. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos (fiction)
68. Elbow Room - James Alan McPherson (fiction)
69. The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty (fiction)
70. The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron (fiction)
71. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren (fiction)
72. Journey in the Dark - Martin Flavin (fiction)
73. In This Our Life - Ellen Glasgow (fiction)
74. Years of Grace - Margaret Barnes (fiction)
75. Scarlet Sister Mary - Julia Peterkin (fiction)
76. One of Ours - Willa Cather (fiction)
77. Mary Poppins - Travers (fiction)
78. 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith (fiction)
79. My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin (fiction)
80. Ironweed - William Kennedy (fiction)
81. Hard Times - Studs Terkel (nonfiction)
82. The Group - Mary McCarthy (fiction)
83. Turtles All the Way Down - John Green (fiction)
84. Loving Robert Lowell - Author??? (nonfiction)
85. The Wine Lover's Daughter - Anne Fadiman (nonfiction)
86. Home - Marilynne Robinson (fiction)
87. A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin (fiction)
88. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo - Amy Schumer (nonfiction)
89. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen (nonfiction)
90. The Letters of Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath (nonfiction)
91. The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy (fiction)
92. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning - Margareta Magnusson (nonfiction)
93. Coming To My Senses - Alice Waters (nonfiction)
94. Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray - Adam Federman (nonfiction)
95. The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters - Laura Thompson (nonfiction)
96. Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell - David Yaffe (nonfiction) DNF. Found the book overwritten which seemed to distance the reader from the subject. I wish that JM had written her own memoir.
97. The Reporter Who Knew Too Much - Mark Shaw (nonfiction)
98. Home is Burning - Dan Marshall (nonfiction)
99. The Lost Art of Housecleaning - Jan Dougherty (nonfiction)
100. Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren (fiction)
2 comments:
Oh my land. I Love This Idea.
There are lots of old friends on that list, but my favorite might be Pippi. She scandalized (and delighted) me as a young rule-follower. I think the effect would probably be the same today.
I'm thinking of pairing Pippi with the Swedish Death Cleaning book.
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