cabegley's 2010 reads

Now Reading:
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (audio book)

Read in 2010:
12. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
11. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
10. A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
9. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (audio book)
8. The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010 by Bob Sehlinger
7. I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
6. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
5. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
4. Ransom by David Malouf
3. The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles
2. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
1. Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World by Jenny Uglow

My 2009 Club Read thread, with a list of all my 2009 reads, is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/70606#... . I did a poor job of keeping up my reading thread in 2009, but I will try to do better in 2010. I think part of my problem was that I stopped dead any time I had to write a review for an Early Reviewers book. I still have 2 to write! So I don't think I'll be requesting any ER books this year.

My top fiction of 2009, roughly in order:
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (Great writing; great characterization)
Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman (Brillant in scope. Made me want to learn more about Soviet Russia.)
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh (Old-fashioned adventure. Enormous cast of characters. First in a trilogy.)
The Radetzky March, Joseph Roth (Another epic. Made me want to read more Roth.)
Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie (One of my few rereads this year. I spent almost as much time researching as I did reading.)
The Road Home, Rose Tremain (gripping and complicated and sad)
Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann (beautiful writing)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery (prickly)
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri (not as good as her first collection. But still lovely.)
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter (a book to savor)
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene (hated the main character and didn't want it to end)
The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (Lovely.)
Measuring the World, Daniel Kehlmann (quirky and elliptical)
The Hero's Walk, Anita Rau Badami (beautfully written)
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (loved the story, although I wish I hadn't seen the movie)
To Siberia, Per Petterson (again, beautifully written)
Dear American Airlines, Jonathan Miles (cleverly done)
The Boys in the Trees, Mary Swan (a story to get caught up in)
At Mrs. Lippincote's, Elizabeth Taylor (I like how the everyday becomes such great material in her hands)
Venetia, Georgette Heyer (my new guilty pleasure)
Villette, Charlotte Bronte (Actually, I found the book itself unpleasant. But it gave me a lot to think about.)

My top nonfiction:
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, Richard Holmes (Science through the lens of poetry--brilliantly written and structured. A fascinating read.)
Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love and Betrayal, Ben Macintyre (If it was fiction, it would have been dismissed as too unbelievable.)
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, Steven Johnson (public health, sustainable cities, germ theory, statistical analysis, and more! all in a short, readable book)
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession, Andrea Wulf (Compulsively readable. And are we sensing the whole science-history theme going on here?)
On a Grander Scale: The Outstanding Life and Tumultuous Times of Sir Christopher Wren, Lisa Jardine
The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London, Lisa Jardine (They go together. And brilliantly so in Jardine's hands.)
The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition, Anne Frank (I've read it so many times. But it's still brilliant and heartbreaking)
1776, David McCullough (My first real military history. But not my last.)
The Defining Moment, Jonathan Alter (fascinating look at FDR's first 100 days)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Kate Summerscale (a real-life murder mystery, well told)
The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849, Cecil Woodham-Smith (bloody depressing)

And my worst books of the year:
Blue Heaven, C.J. Box (This was flat-out awful. Frankly, nothing else even comes close.)
The Unburied, Charles Palliser (Maybe this would have been better if I hadn't read and loved The Quincunx. But I did, and was therefore highly disappointed in The Unburied.)
The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington, Jennet Conant (Quite a misleading title--it's more a biography of Roald Dahl than anything else. And it was poorly edited.)
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink (In part, interesting and thought-provoking, but a major flaw really ruined this for me.)
The Man Who Wasn't There, Pat Barker (This was more me than the book, I think. I didn't fully get it.)
At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien (and this I really didn't get)
In the Kitchen, Monica Ali (Didn't like the main character, and found the ending unbelievable.)
The Scandal of the Season, Sophie Gee (poor characterization ruined what could have been an interesting story)

I had the same problem with ERs last year, and like you still have two hanging over my head. (One of which is In the Kitchen, which I see you think none too highly of).

Echoing aruba - I'm stuck on the Early Reviewer reviews. Sea of Poppies is one of my un-reviewed Early Reviewers - I liked it, but have no clue how to review it.

Great list of top books Chris!

We should start a support group! Sea of Poppies is one of my two as well, Dan. The other is To Siberia. They're both on my list of standouts for the year. Not sure why I can't bring myself to say anything about them.

Have you read In the Kitchen yet, aruba? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

Chris, I like the little comments you placed after each of your 09 books...

Wonderful list, Chris, and thanks for inspiring me to read Agent Zigzag, which became one of my favorite books of the year too.

#6 I have read In the Kitchen, and that's part of the problem--I didn't like it at all, but felt "guilty" about panning a free book. I found the book unfocused and unbelievable, and the main character was a slime. However, as I recall the book described a trick for making good french fries. lol

Thanks, Lois!

And thanks, Rebecca--and I have you to thank for Wolf Hall, Life and Fate, The Radetzky March, Dear American Airlines, and The Boys in the Trees!

I don't think you should feel guilty at all, aruba. And by panning the book, you'll be doing unwary readers a service!

You're welcome (and glad you liked them all), but we all have Darryl/kidzdoc to thank for Wolf Hall.

Like your list (and especially the pithy comments on each book).

Thanks!

I wish I had something new to report, but I'm STILL reading The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World by Jenny Uglow. If I didn't find the subject matter (18th-century scientists) so interesting, and if my boss hadn't lent it to me after two years of us discussing it, I'd have given it up by now. Uglow is very scattered, and she needs a much stricter editor.

>3 cabegley:, What a great list. You had a pretty fantastic year.

The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World by Jenny Uglow

Why I Read This Now: My boss, who is an 18th-century buff (and publishes The Johnsonian Newsletter) had been talking to me about this book off and on for some time, knowing my interest in science history. He recently dug up this book and lent it to me.

While I am very interested in the subject matter, this book didn't jell for me. Let's start with the subtitle. Which five friends? Well, I infer from her introduction that she means Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton and James Watt, but she spends enough time on so many other personalities, including but not limited to Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and William Small, that it's almost impossible to tell. The book is meandering and diffuse, and it's hard to follow her train of thought. I think this paragraph (on the second page of a chapter that starts out discussing the death of Thomas Bentley) encapsulates my frustrations with the book:

"Bentley had introduced {Wedgwood} to high art and found so many of the artists for Etruria. Urbanely supervising the London artists and running the showroom, he embodied the balance of idealism and pragmatism that marked many of the Lunar projects. But for most of the group there was never a hard line between art and experiment; when Edgeworth remembered his Midlands friends he saw them all as equally 'men of literature and science'. For Wedgwood and Boulton, art was the stuff of their manufacture: the appeal of their goods lay in the combination of the artist's imagination, the craftsman's skill and the latest techniques of reproduction. But here -- as in the coterie poetry of Lichfield, or the collective work on inventions or experiments -- the issue of originality and 'ownership' of ideas often arose."

What were we talking about, again?

I'm not sorry I read it--I did learn a fair bit about the men and their work, and it did, as is par for the course, send me off in about 12 different directions for future reading. But it was a frustrating book and a bit of a slog.

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

Why I Read this Now: It was the selection of my RL reading group. And I rushed through it, since I'd taken longer than I expected on The Lunar Men and I needed to finish it in time for discussion.

So maybe you should take my comments with a grain of salt.

Russo's story of Lou C. (Lucy) Lynch, a homebody of a man who's never really ventured out of his small upstate New York hometown; his wife Sarah, an artist who chooses to spend his simple life with him; and his (best?) friend Bobby Marconi, who fled the too-tight confines of Thomaston his senior year of high school and never looked back, is perhaps better read slowly, to savor the language and meditate on the themes. While I like Russo, and think the writing in Bridge of Sighs was very good, I got a bit impatient with the overstated dichotomy between the two men and the black-and-white nature of many of the characters (such as Lou's rather simple father, Big Lou). Russo had a lot he wanted to say, and as a result I think tried to stuff more into the story than it could hold, particularly a rather unnecessary subplot near the end concerning Sarah (a rather obvious mirror, or perhaps attempt at restitution, for an earlier shocking incident in the story when the main characters were all in school). I wanted to like this more, and I felt a little bad that I ended up saying mostly negative things about a book the rest of the group seemed to like very much. And I didn't dislike it. But I'm also not going to tell you to rush out to read it.

The Iliad by Homer (translated by Robert Fagles)

and

Ransom by David Malouf

Why I Read this Now: A friend in Australia sent me Ransom, one of her favorite books of the year, and since it is based on an incident in The Iliad (which I had somehow never read), I wanted to read the background first.

I'm glad I finally read The Iliad, though I wasn't always glad I was reading it. It is so clearly the foundation for literature to come that I am now kicking myself for not having gotten around to it sooner. And although I've seen a bit on LT lately lamenting the too-modern flavor of Fagles' translation, it didn't bother me at all, and I found the language lovely and moving. The catalogue of men and ships, however, put me to sleep on the train, and some of the X killed Y and A killed B recitations made my eyes glaze over. And some of the men were killed in surprising ways (a blow to the shoulder causing instant death, for instance), and others in gruesome, stomach churning detail. At the bottom, though, it's a great and moving story.

I'm also very happy with my decision to read these two books together. Each enriched the other. Malouf's novel, an expansion of the last two books of The Iliad, where King Priam humbles himself before Achilles to claim Hector's body, was meditative and lyrical. So much to chew on in such a short book! Achilles, Somax (the old carter who brings Priam to the Greeks' camp), and particularly Priam are wonderfully realized characters, with a range of emotions and rich inner lives. Priam's decision to throw himself to chance, to boldly create new actions after a life of careful scripting, has long-lasting repercussions, not the least of which is to break, at least for a time, Achilles self absorption and rage. This one, I AM going to tell you to rush out and read.

*Raises hand from the back of the class* I read the Fagles translation of both The Iliad and The Odyssey and enjoyed both. I wouldn't say that they are wonderful, but I didn't have any major problems with them. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

You are inspiring me to read both The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as Ransom. And, while I loved Richard Russo's Empire Falls, I've always been a little leery of his other books.

Glad to see another positive vote for Fagles, Jane!

Rebecca, I read The Odyssey back in school, but I have the Fagles translation and plan on rereading it this year (before I read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad). I loved Empire Falls as well. I've also read his Straight Man, which I didn't like nearly as much.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai

Why I Read This Now: One of my reading resolutions this year was to read books I have had on the shelf for a long time, and I think I bought this one when it came out in paperback. Also, it was described as humorous, and I was looking for something lighter after my time with Achilles and Hector. I also enjoyed The Inheritance of Loss, which I know has gotten mixed reviews on LT, and was looking forward to reading Kiran Desai's debut novel.

In Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, a young man in India has a bit of a breakdown and climbs a tree (in a guava orchard), where he decides to stay and is soon dubbed a guru by the locals. His father moves the rest of the family into the orchard, where he earns quite a bit of money selling food, flowers and other items to the crowds that come to hear his son's rather uninterpretable pronouncements. The novel builds and builds until there's nowhere to go, and ends in an abrupt, baffling way. I didn't enjoy this novel, and I'm probably missing something, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Not at all recommended.

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

Why I Read This Now: I had perused my shelves and was going to read either this or A History of the World in 6 Glasses. I popped onto LT and saw that my friend lindsacl was just starting Eleanor of Aquitaine, so I decided to join her (since what were the chances?).

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the richest heiress in Europe in the 12th century, and was also considered one of the most beautiful women of her time. She was married to Louis VII, and was therefore queen of France, and joined Louis during the Crusades. Later, her marriage was annulled, and she married Henry II, and became queen of England. Her children included Richard I (Richard the Lionhearted) and John (John Lackland or John Softsword), who were also kings of England. While Eleanor appeared to have quite a bit of influence during her husbands' and sons' reigns, very little of the documentation available from Eleanor's time in the 12th century is really about her--most of her contemporaries focused on the actions of the men of the time. So while this book is presented as a biography of Eleanor, it's really about what was going on during her life. While I was a bit disappointed in the necessary lack of prominence of Eleanor herself in the book, I found the book fascinating. Of particular interest to me was the battles (literally--armies, capturing of territory, the whole lot) Henry had with his sons over the rule of England and his French territories, with Eleanor scheming with her sons against her husband.

I also want to comment on how much better a writer Alison Weir is than Jenny Uglow (see my comments on The Lunar Men above). Eleanor of Aquitaine is clear and focused. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in European history.

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Why I Read This Now: I found myself reading it over the shoulder of a woman on the subway, so I got it out of the library.

I'd actually kind of forgotten I'd read this one, so it clearly didn't make a big impression. Crosley's collection of essays about her life as a twenty-something in New York is amusing, but not a must-read.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010 by Bob Sehlinger

Why I Read This Now: I have three kids ranging in age from almost 7 to 14, so unfortunately I am not reading a guidebook on Italy right now. We'll be making a trip to the House of Mouse in April, and I am an obsessive planner.

I used the 2007 version of this book the last time we went to Disney World, and I found it useful and unbiased, so I picked up the latest version when we made our reservations this year. Sehlinger and his crew provide helpful information, and the book is fairly well written.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (audio book)

Why I Read This Now: This was an audiobook that I actually started back in November, so at this point I really can't remember why I started reading it, other than that my mother really enjoyed it.

Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob Jankowski, who accidentally ran away and joined the circus as a vet (almost a vet--he hadn't finished his exams) in the '30s, told both from the point of view of Jacob in the '30s and today, as an old man (90, or 93--he really can't remember) in a nursing home.

I enjoyed this book, but it probably doesn't help that I listen to audio books in 5-minute increments as I drive to pick my kids up from school in the afternoon. I thought it was a very interesting story, but the bad guys were a bit too bad--to the point of unbelievability. I got so caught up in the ending that I borrowed my mother's physical copy and read the last 50 pages, finishing in less than an hour what probably would have taken me another couple of weeks on audio.

You've been a busy reader, Chris. Thanks for keeping us up to date. I wasn't a fan of The Inheritance of Loss, so I'm glad to know I can pass up Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard!

I was wondering about Desai's earlier book. While I liked The Inheritance of Loss, looking back on it, I think it a case of Desai reaching a bit above her abilities at the time. But I'm with Rebecca, I'm glad to know I'm not missing anything.

I have to agree with you completely about Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. It was a terrible book for me but I actually liked The Inheritance of Loss.

So disappointing. I actually said to my daughter that it was a weekend of reading I'll never get back. I do feel like I missed something--there has to be something that makes it all make sense. But I'm not interested enough to find out.

Rebecca, it's embarrassing how bad I am at keeping this thread up to date. But I'm reading (and loving) A Place of Greater Safety right now, which I know was a favorite of yours, so I'll try very hard to post my thoughts when I finish.

I am glad you are enjoying it, Chris. I was almost more impressed with it than I was with Wolf Hall and it inspired me to get some other books about about the French Revolution, which needless to say are tottering on the TBR.

That's my biggest problem with historical fiction, Rebecca--if it's good, it invariably sends me off to get several nonfiction books on the subject!

Just noting that I'm interested in whatever you have to say about what you are reading whether it be just a line or something more.

Thanks, Lois--but I'm such a slacker!

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

Why I Read This Now: I found this book when I was initially looking for Wolf Hall on the Kindle. It sounded great, but wasn't available on Kindle, so I put it on my wishlist. My mother gave it to me for Christmas.

Mantel approaches the French Revolution through three historical figures, each of whom was involved for a very different reason. Georges Danton, a powerful speaker and charismatic leader, manipulates people and events for his own monetary gain, and secretly dreams of getting out and retiring to the country on the vast property he has amassed. Maximilien Robespierre is far more idealistic, imposing his strict morals and beliefs on his country, and viewing those who don't agree with him as traitors. Camille Desmoulins, who has a strong attachment to each of the other two men, is a brilliant writer for whom the power, fame and adulation his words earn somewhat compensate for the lack of love and respect his family have for him.

I found this novel gripping--Mantel uses a variety of narrative styles (prose in first, second and third person; excerpts from speeches and contemporary writings; and drama) and character perspectives both to tell the tale of the Revolution and to give the reader a real sense of the uncertainty of the times. Much of her dialogue comes straight from the historical figures themselves, via their speeches or articles, which she handled quite well (William Safire used the same technique in Scandalmonger about the early days of the U.S. government, but with much less success--in Safire's case, it came off stilted and unnatural).

As usual with historical fiction, I am now on the lookout for some good nonfiction about the French Revolution.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction, as well as those who appreciate a good character study (in this case, at least five good character studies).

Chris, I loved A Place of Greater Safety also; I thought Mantel's psychological insight was remarkable. And I'm also on the lookout for books about the French Revolution. In addition to A Tale of Two Cities, which I haven't read in 40+ years, I bought Citizens by Simon Schama and At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray, a writer I admire, which was recommended to me by TomcatMurr. Haven't read any of them yet -- they're just tottering on the TBR. I did read a brief biography of Madame de Stael, also by du Plessix Gray, who calls her "the first modern woman," and found her a fascinating, but somewhat unsavory, person.

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

Why I Read This Now: My book club selected it for our discussion next week. I was thrilled--there's been some talk about it lately in Club Read, and I've been wanting to reread it.

I think I read the Cairo Trilogy, Mahfouz's master work, about 15 years ago, and while it had a huge impact on me, I remembered very little of the actual story when I sat down for this reread. This first volume is set in Cairo, between 1917 and 1919, and tells the story of the family of Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad. Al-Sayyid Ahmad runs a very strict Muslim household, and dominates his family through fear. This demanding, terrorizing figure contrasts sharply with al-Sayyid Ahmad's public life, where he is gregarious and fun-loving, spending every evening out drinking and womanizing with his friends. Al-Sayyid Ahmad's wife Amina never leaves the house, and she and her two equally cloistered (and unducated) daughters live to serve the men (and boys) of the household.

As the story progresses, cracks begin to appear in the perfect family fortress al-Sayyid Ahmad has built, from pressures both external (the occupation of Cairo by the English and Australians, and the burgeoning Independence movement) and internal (Amina's desire to visit the mosque of al-Husayn, al-Sayyid Ahmad's eldest son Yasin's sexual urges). While many of the characters are difficult to like, and the treatment of women in the novel (by the male characters and the expectations of the time, not necessarily by the author) is repugnant to me, I still think this is an excellent read. Mahfouz paints such a clear, strong picture of a world unfamiliar to me. I will probably reread the other two volumes of the trilogy at some point over the next year.

Thanks, Rebecca--I did a little search after I finished A Place of Greater Safety and added Citizens to my wishlist. I'll check out the others as well. (I reread A Tale of Two Cities about five years ago, but may want to do so again after I do a little more background reading.)

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Why I Read This Now: I just finished two long, involved books (A Place of Greater Safety and Palace Walk) and am about to start another one (whether I'll participate in the discussion or not, I decided to break down and tackle Infinite Jest during the March Salon read), and I wanted something less complex in between.

Fun Home, Bechdel's graphic memoir about her father's suicide and her discovery of both his and her own homosexuality is complex, though, in terms of Bechdel's feelings and reactions, and her relationship to her parents. I thought the writing was honest and the art well suited to the story. What I'm most interested in finding out more about afterwards is what was mostly left unspoken--Bechdel's relationship with her distant mother.

I would like to track down Bechdel's The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, a collection of her comic strips.

Damn, I picked up A Place of Greater Safety in a bookshop on Friday and then put it down again remembering my vow to not buy new books for a while. Now I wish I'd bought it!

I also enjoyed Fun Home and have the some essential dykes waiting for me to pick them up from the bookshelf.

Lovely reviews of A Place of Greater Safety, which I'll definitely read this year, and Palace Walk, which I read several years ago. I need to get to the last book inThe Cairo Trilogy, but I doubt that it will be this year.

Charlotte, I think that's an almost-impossible vow to keep--especially if one is on LT!

Thanks, Darryl! If I recall correctly, I liked the third book better than the second, but it was a long time ago.

I've been meaning to read White Teeth for a while... and now, thanks to you, I've added Palace Walk and Fun Home to the ever-expanding list of books I have to read.

The more threads I read, the more I realize how behind I am compared to everyone else in this group!

>39 charbutton: a vow not to buy books? *shudders*

>39 charbutton:, 43 I have a vow to buy books, the more the better. I feel permanently good about myself, having discovered that there are some resolutions I can stick to!

>40 kidzdoc:, 41 I too enjoyed the final part of The Cairo Trilogy more than the second - although not as much as the first, which I thought was wonderful.

>43 avaland:, I know, it's a hideous thought. But in a small flat there's a finite space for book shelves especially I'm fighting for space with mr charbutton's large amount of CDs and his record label stuff. Fingers crossed that our planned loft conversion can happen soon!

Charlotte, mr charbutton should perhaps meet mr cabegley, whose CDs are looming all around me as I type.

Every year, I promise myself to cut out the book buying (or acquiring) and read what I already have. I have 761 books in my library tagged TBR. Which means I physically own them and haven't read them yet. Clearly, I have a problem. And yet, every year, I buy twice as many books as I read. And having that many unread books is overwhelming. This year, I went through my TBRs and picked out the ones I really, really wanted to read this year, and set up shelves just for them so I could narrow my focus a bit. Is it helping? Well, of the 12 books I've read/am reading so far in 2010, 7 were from that list. But I've acquired 9 books so far this year (of which I've read 3).

I have a plan (but we all know what happens to plans . . .) to pick all the books I read for group reads (such as the Reading Globally monthly theme read, or Lois's March is Read a Novella Month thread) from books that are already on the TBR. This makes me feel virtuous (as well as giving me the chance to read books I've been meaning to read), without cutting into my book buying addiction. We'll see what happens as the year progresses.

>45 charbutton: size does matter!
>46 cabegley: Good luck with that! I'm not doing too badly this year, I've added 32 books to my library thus far in 2010 and have read 26 books (of course, only 11 were from that 32).
>47 rebeccanyc: Somehow that didn't work for me. I rounded up some novellas from the TBR pile but it also gave me an excuse to buy what JCO novellas I didn't already have.

I have 761 books in my library tagged TBR. Which means I physically own them and haven't read them yet. Clearly, I have a problem.

I don't want to know how many TBR books I have, but I'm certain that there are more than 761. I have been tracking the books I've read (23) and the books I've purchased (29) so far this year on my 75 Books thread. My goal is to have less unread books at the end of the year than I had on January 1. I'll probably read ~125 books, but I imagine that I'll buy more than that. So, I'm planning to donate some unread books that I've purchased in years past to my local library, and hopefully I'll be able to meet my goal.

Well now I don't feel so bad about my 465 or so unread books on my shelf. Thanks.

Woohoo! I've only got 255. I feel so reasonable. :)

I don't even know how many I have. I went through my library and made a collection for "Books to Read Soon" that has close to 200 books in it, but this was heavily weighted towards books I've bought in the past several years and there are hundreds more that I've owned for decades and haven't read.

At least I'm in good company! I think the biggest part of my guilt is that I lose interest in the books that have been around for a while--I like what's new and shiny. I like Darryl's idea of donating, and I may adopt it for myself.

>47 rebeccanyc:, that's mine plan too.

I only have 260 on my TBR pile, so some of the figures here are helping me realise that it's not too big! It does represent over three year's worth of reading though which is a bit daunting.

I hope you have a good trip. Enjoy the flowers. I went last september for the first time and found it very nice. I think you can be a little more relaxed on the touring plans except for Toy Story Mania - get there first thing.