Monday, June 08, 2015

Changing Course a Bit

Summer Reading Plans:  updated




About a month ago I published a reading list that projected the books I planned to read over the Summer months.  I have finished four of those books:  The Cossacks, The Martian,   and Felix Krull: Confidence Man,  and Look Homeward, Angel;  I am in the process of reading My Name is Asher Lev
However my plans for the remainder of the Summer have changed somewhat so I thought I would update my list.  As it is now the second week of June the following is my revised list for the remainder of the Summer through the beginning of September.


1.  Selected Poems and Prose of John Donne:  This is for a class at the University of Chicago (Eula Snopes will have to wait until next year).

2. Nexus by Ramez Naam:  This is the June book for our Science Fiction book group.  In the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, mind to mind.

3. The Nibelungenlied:  This is an epic by anonymous about heroes (following my reading of  Thomas Carlyle earlier this year) and I was inspired to read it by the review at The Consolation of Reading.

4. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok:  This is  for our Thursday evening book group.

5. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton:  This novel won the Booker Prize and is a lively parody of a 19th-century novel.  

6. Mussorgsky and His Circle by Stephen Walsh:  I love music and this book should expand my familiarity with all the Russian composers of the nineteenth century who aren't named Tchaikovsky.

7.  Biographies of both John Donne and John Milton:   I am reading these in conjunction with the works by these authors.

8. Paradise Lost by John Milton:  This is scheduled for our study group discussion in August.  I have begun to reread this amazing epic for the first time in more than two decades.

9. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan:  I recently acquired the paperback edition of this Booker Prize winner and hope that it is as good as his Gould's Book of Fish.  It may help me stay cool during the heat of the Summer.

10. The Little Hotel by Christina Stead:  A friend recommended this book and it will be my introduction to yet another Australian author.

Some other tbr books that are not in the top ten may include:  The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan,  Tristana by Benito Perez Galdos, Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder, and  Europa by Tim Parks.

8 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

I often change my reading plans. In fact I plan to post a blog about it in the coming weeks.


This looks like a great list of books.


I am looking forward to your commentary on The Nibelungenlied. I have been wanting to read that for a while.

wwhidden said...

I also have The Narrow Road to the Deep North and will be disappointed if it is simply straightforward prose. I still like I am waking from a dream after finishing Gould's Book of Fish in the wee hours this morning. What a book that was.

M. said...

Thomas Flanagan's Year of the French is a great historical novel, almost reaching the heights of J. G. Farrell's Seige of Krishnapur.

@parridhlantern said...

Ive tried to stick to reading plans & inevitably find something that distracts me from my set course. Looking forward to your post on Donne

James said...

Brian,

The Nibelunglied is low on my list but I will try to get to it. A lot of my focus will be on Milton and Donne.

James said...

wwhidden,

Thanks for your comment. I share your opinion of Gould's Book of Fish.

James said...

M,

Thanks for your recommendation. I enjoyed the Siege of Krishnapur and look forward to the Year of the French.

James said...

Gary,

I agree that plans are made to be broken - and my reading desires often outrun the time allotted for books.