Monday, February 26, 2007

Loose Baggy Monster's list o'books

Today I give you my updated list o'books for the NYT Notable Books of 2006 challenge. I have both fiction and non-fiction selections, but because I really want to use this challenge to read books I normally would pass by (or read only the reviews of) I'm trying to stick with more fiction than non. I have 20 fiction books on my list and 5 or 6 non-fiction--the idea is that if I feel the need, I can substitute a non-fiction book at any time. Also, I'm going to be easy on myself--I recognize that I am the world's greatest procrastinator, so I'm not saying I have to read ALL of the books--this is just what I have culled from the list based on what appealed to me most at the time. So....drum roll please.....Here they are!

FICTION:
  • Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart (he's coming to speak at my U so I get to go to the reading!)
  • Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
  • Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead
  • Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
  • Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala
  • Brookland by Emily Barton
  • The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin
  • The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
  • Forgetfulness by Ward Just
  • Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore
  • Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The Keep by Jennifer Egan
  • The Inhabited World by David Long
  • The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
  • Old Filth by Jane Gardam
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  • Skinner's Drift by Lisa Fugard
  • Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
  • Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
  • A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua

NON-FICTION:

  • The Courtier and the Heretic: Liebniz, Spinoza, and the Fat of God in the Modern World by Matthew Stewart
  • Flaubert: A Biography by Frederick Brown
  • The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
  • Lee Miller: A Life by Carolyn Burke
  • The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
  • Sweet and Low: A Family Story by Rich Cohen
Overly ambitious, and perhaps more than a little delusional, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say about their books!
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5 comments:

Wendy said...

Woo hoo! You're going for the 20 books *dances around celebrating* I may be over reaching too...but all the books I've tentatively listed are ones I want to read :)

February 26, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Loose Baggy Monster said...

I know...I tried to cut some, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I kept finding reasons as to why I really HAD to read this one or that one, so I decided to go for it!

February 27, 2007 at 6:51 AM
Sycorax Pine said...

I think you have an excellent idea in choosing such a great list of "strong possibilities" without pushing yourself to finish every single one of them. Maybe I should switch over to that system!

I look forward to hearing what you think of Gary Shteyngart's talk.

February 27, 2007 at 8:26 PM
Stephanie said...

Wow. What a great list!! I know that I have more books on my list than I can probably read this year....but they all looked so good, it was hard to decide!! I just picked up Suite Francais from the library last night. Looks like I'm ready to get started!

February 28, 2007 at 8:13 AM
Loose Baggy Monster said...

I know what you mean! I'm about to finish Half of a Yellow Sun and I have been staring at my piles trying to decide where to go next. I love to take my time with a book, but sometimes I wish there was a way to take everything in simultaneously!

February 28, 2007 at 10:58 AM

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