20 July 2006

We interrupt this reading challenge...

Actually, I'm doing pretty well with my list, especially since
I'm supplementing it with additional books (for example,
The Plague).Writing about the books on Tea Reads has
enhanced the Reading Challenge for me.

It's been a long time since I took notes as I read a book. I
love taking notes. In fact, I love to write - literally. I
love to select a fountain pen from my collection, preferably
one with a lovely,fine point, and channel my thoughts through
the nib. Sometimes (and I'm sure everyone who writes knows this),
I don't know precisely what I think until I see the ink drying
on the paper.

I have already filled one little memo book for the Challenge
books. Now, I'm thinking about pruning the list a bit,
and joining the Proust readalong at Involuntary Memory.
How many times have I started Swann's Way only to be
intimidated, or distracted? Maybe Involuntary Memory would
bring me farther along the Proust path.

And imagine the notebooks I could fill...

My original Challenge List -
So far, I've read the books in
boldface:

Ackerman, Diane. An alchemy of mind.
Armstrong, Karen. A short history of myth
Armstrong, Karen. The spiral staircase.
Briggs, Julia. Virginia Woolf: an inner life.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights.
Byatt, A.S. The biographer’s tale.
Clarke, Gerald. Capote: a biography.
Jewett, Sarah Orne. The country of the pointed firs.
Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Timothy, or, notes of an abject reptile.
Macmillan, Margaret. Women of the Raj.
Maddox, Brenda. Yeats’s ghosts: the secret life of W. B Yeats.
Meade, Marion. Bobbed hair and bathtub gin.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita.
Prose, Francine. A changed man.
See, Lisa. Snow flower and the secret fan.
Tan, Amy. Saving fish from drowning.

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

You are doing so well with the challenge!

amandazen said...

I say read the Proust, I am loving my experience with him and plan on posting soon on Involuntary Memory. Today I just received volume two from B&N so I am ready to move on when I finish Swann's Way.

Happy Reading... and congrats on your wonderful job with your SRC list.

Amanda :)

Paula said...

I haven't read Proust yet.
I may soon though. I am enjoying reading your thoughts on all the books so far. So many I thought about reading too.
How did you like Passage to India? I am almost done it and still have moments where I want to fall asleep reading it.

High Power Rocketry said...

Very nice Icon image!

Nana Sadie said...

Oh! I should read the Sarah Orne Jewett novel with you...have had it on my shelf forever! Thank you for the 2! postcards of the steps at Montemartre...I was so delighted and the card you sent them in was almost a lovely!
(((hugs)))

jennhx said...

Aren't fountain pens just the ultimate luxury! I love them! And I know exactly what you mean about not knowing what I think about something until I am writing it out.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great wishes!

I envy your reading list. Right now I need easy reads to wind down my rough summer. I hope there's another reading challenge next summer when I have the mental energy to challenge myself.

Heather said...

I've been enjoying the SRC too and also hope we can all do this again next year. My list wasn't as wonderfully varied as yours...I was into (still am) mysteries. Perhaps next year I'll read only biographies? Only historial romances? We'll see.