FemmeNoiresque/1111

11 in 11

My intention is that my lists revolve around removing items from my "To Be Read" fiction bookcases. Yes, not shelves, but bookcases plural!

There were some categories I was going to include, like-Fin de-siècle/Decadence and Horror, but I am too afraid of being grossed out and I have my weak stomach to consider. Some, like Traditional Folklore were eliminated, because the volumes I own are just too big, and others, like Fairy Tales and Myths Retold easily slot into other categories. The British Raj/Sub-Continental Colonialism category was nixed because, well, I don't want to add to my shelves!

I do want to keep it light. I am wary of the task like nature of working through the serious/canon works I have so far neglected, and I may easily be bogged down by the wholesomeness of poetic Russians, intellectual Germans, spiritual Arabs, brooding anti-heroes and depressed teens. So I will watch myself, and add a good dose of pulp/chick-lit/cozy mysteries/middlebrow bestsellers/genre classics to the categories as dessert.

1. Short Stories
2. Cozy Mysteries
3. Y.A./Coming-of-Age
4. Hardboiled/Noir
5. Women's Fiction
6. Southern Gothic
7. Modern(-ist), Early-Mid-20th Century Middlebrow (sub)Urban Literature
8. Australian Literature
9. Middle Eastern/North African Literature and Culture in Translation
10. European Literature and Culture in Translation
11. Published in 2011

1. Short Stories - Anthologies/Collections

On the Go:
The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories
Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2

The Pool:
London Noir ed Cathi Unsworth
Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology ed. James Patrick Kelly

2. Cozy Mysteries

1. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley by M.C. Beaton - audiobook
2. Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner - ebook

3. Y.A./Coming of Age/Children

1. Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block - ebook
2. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - audiobook
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - audiobook
4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - audiobook
5. Shiver by Maggie Siefvater
6. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
7. Linger by Maggie Stiefater
8. Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block
9. Matched by Ally Condie

On The Go:
I Was A Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block
The Forest of Teeth and Hands by Carrie Ryan
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
If I Stay by Gale Forman

The Pool:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

4. Hardboiled/Noir

Apart from acquainting myself with the classics, I want to explore the genre from the perspectives of those deadly females.

On the go:
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Queenpin by Megan Abbott

Next in Line:
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
Fifty-to-One by Charles Ardai

5. Women's Fiction

1. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
2. A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff


I'm playing hard and fast here. This category was named after my sincere wish to make a dent in my stack of Virago's, and exploring the Persephone and NYRB lists. I was going keep this list only for mid-20th Century works, but upon receiving my SantaThing package from the fabulous Kerry/CDVicarage, I had to include the Kate Atkinson!

On the go:
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Pool:
Behind The Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

6. Southern Gothic

I intend to read 3 Faulkner novels (I have only read his short stories thus far) but where to start?

On the go:
Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
Southern Selves: From Mark Twain and Eudora Welty to Maya Angelou and Kaye Gibbons

The Pool:
A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor
The Reivers by William Faulkner
Light in August by William Faulkner
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps

7. Modern(-ist), Early-Mid-20th Century Middlebrow (sub)Urban Literature

1. Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson
2. The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
3. Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson
4. Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson
5. The Two Mrs Abbotts by D.W. Stevenson

The Pool:
Craven House by Patrick Hamilton

8. Australia

I hope this group will be one of my largest. I have read little Australian fiction since childhood, since being a pre-teen. Upon checking out the nationalities of the authors of my LT, I was horrified that Australian authors featured in the single digits.

On The Go:
Stories of the Waterfront by John Morrison
And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave

Next in line:
Voss by Patrick White
On Our Selection by Steele Rudd
We of the Never Never by Mrs Aeneas Gunn
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
On Our Selection by Steele Rudd

9. Middle East/North Africa

1. Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea (Saudi Arabia) - ebook

On the go:
The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature ed. Ian Stevens (Israel)
213272::Cross and Crescent by Richard Fletcher (UK)

The Pool:
Orientalism by Edward Said (Palestine)
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Palace of Desire by Naguib Mafouz (Egypt)
Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Adrift on the Nile by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
The Night Counter by Alia Yunis (Lebanon)
The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction
Dreams Of Trespass: Tales Of A Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi (Morroco)
The Seven Veils of Seth by Ibrahim Al-Koni (Libya)
Arab Women Writers: An Anthology of Short Stories by Dalya Cohen-Mor
Breaking Knees: Modern Arabic Short Stories ed. Zakaria Tamer (Syria)

10. Europe

Along with upping the Australian quotient, I want to eventually explore the works of my Ukrainian ancestors.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky

The Pool:
The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
Dead Souls by Gogol

11. 2011

India Black by Carol K. Carr

The Pool:
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

You have some interesting categories! I'll be interested to see what books you'll fill them with. And I'm relieved to know I'm not the only person in the world with TBR bookcases!

Oh man. If I separated out my "TBR" and "read" books onto different bookcases, I'd feel like such a failure. I'd say it's about two TBR books for everyone one completed book on my shelves, but since they are intermingled, I can ignore it most days....

Welcome, FemmeNoiresque! Looking forward to seeing what you read for the challenge. :)

Lots of interesting categories - some of which I think you're alone in having. Looking forward to learning more about aussie literature as well as southern gothic, for instance.

@14 I use the same blending technique. And hide behind the fact that half of the books are my wife's.

@ 13 Phew, it's not just me then. One of the (many!) reasons that this challenge appeals to me is because I tend to purchase in categories. Actively reading in categories may entice me to make a sizable clearance of the shelves!

@14 There seems to be a few of us coming out of the woodwork! Thank you for your welcome.

@15
I'm looking forward to reading (and rereading) Australian literature. I pretty much abandoned it in my early teens so I have a lot to acquaint myself with.
Southern Gothic seems so beguiling. The beauty in and the beauty of the strange and the overlooked.

Hi (and a belated welcome). going to keep an eye on your southern gothic category, it's a genre I woefully unread in.

How are your finding And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave? I was really disappointed with it. I didn't engage with the main character at all, not even to dislike and I thought the plot was a bit.. well meh.

Hi. I followed the link from the 75 books intro thread. I like your categories. Looking forward to seeing what you'll read in your Australia and short story anthology categories. How is the Japanese short story book so far?

@ clfisha - Hi to you too! I actually downloaded And the Ass Saw the Angel because I had owned The Death of Bunny Munro and every one I spoke to about it didn't like it much and recommended the former as being vastly superior! So we shall see...

@ VioletBramble
The Japanese short stories were a SantaThing choice from the genius Kerry/CDVicarage. I have read so little east Asian fic it is a real treat to read authors translated I never would have known to seek out. I am dipping in, not reading in order, but so far I love the works by Yasushi Inoue and Naoya Shiga.

Hi from another Australian. The category challenges have increased my Australian reading so much in the last two years that I've been overflowing the category.

Loved the Palace Walk trilogy and Oscar and Lucinda. Happy reading.

Hello. It looks like you've got a lovely reading year ahead. I'll be looking forward to what you have to say about the books. Happy reading!

Interesting categories! Does "On the Go" mean you are reading them now? If so, you read several at a time! Sorry our Maugham group isn't as lively as it used to be. Maybe we can get it going again by having short story discussions throughout the year.

I thought the first part of the Palace Walk trilogy was just great. But for me it went down a bit with parts two and three. Mahfouz seemed to lose his female characters along the way somehow, which was a big shame. All three books are well worth reading though!