Hello! As promised, I’m returning today with my list of prospects for the TBR Double Dare, which runs from January 1 to April 1. I signed up to read eight books, but I listed nine. And please forgive the photo–clearly I am not great with a camera!
From the shelves:
Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis. I actually had hoped to read this long ago, had even thought about having a read along way back when…
The Rachel Papers, by Martin Amis. If I’m going to read the father’s first book, I might as well read the son’s first book, too, no? I originally asked for this because it was on a list that Marisha Pessl (Special Topics in Calamity Physics, one of my favorite books) created of first novels everyone should read.
The View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro. I have no excuse for not reading this book by one of my favorite authors, except that I keep forgetting I even have it on the shelf. No more!
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Brian Moore. This is from the New York Review of Books series. I received it as a thank you for reviewing The Siege of Krishnapur in 2010. Guess it’s about time to read it.
The Slaves of Solitude, Patrick Hamilton. Back in 2009 when I started this blog, it seemed like everyone was reading this book, so I asked for a copy as a gift, and like many others, it sat on my shelf untouched. Not this year.
Aiding and Abetting, Muriel Spark. I bought this from Better World Books just because it was ridiculously cheap (it’s a used copy) and because I had never read anything by Muriel Spark. If I read any reviews of it, I cannot remember where…
From the Kindle:
The Postmistress, Sarah Blake. I simply cannot wait to read this. I plan to read it as soon as I finish The Art of Fielding.
Small Island, Andrea Levy. Most of my picks are by British authors, so I thought this one would fit in nicely.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami. I plan to read this in January, mainly for some inspiration. I’m anxious to get back to a regular running routine, so I hope this will help me kick things off.
The terrific thing about this list is that it also applies to my other 2012 challenge, the Mount TBR Reading Challenge. You may have noticed that I chose rather slim volumes to read for the TBR Double Dare (although let’s face it, the NYRB picks are small but most likely quite dense), and that was no accident. I have plenty of big books to read later in the year, but my hope is that I can gain some momentum by reading the shorter books first. Nothing spurs me on like a sense of accomplishment, and frankly I don’t have as much reading time these days as I once did. I plan to make it a point to schedule time for reading during the day so I don’t end up doing what I do now, which is reading in bed and getting too sleepy before I get very far.
Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind about any f these books at any time, and pick up something else from my shelves if something really doesn’t seem to be clicking. But I plan to stick to my own books as much as possible, especially through the first half of the year. Here’s to making a dent in 2012!
The Evening Reader 