Reading Challenge

I am notoriously bad at choosing what book to read next. I mean, I can spend multiple hours just among the unread books in my apartment in a state of exhilaration at the possibilities and it feels like death to eliminate all but one--which is why you'll notice I regularly have 3-4 books going at a time, a habit I tried to kick once, thinking it diminished my experience with each book to read it as one among many, but, well, I couldn't do it and I've come to embrace the ability to pick the title I'm in the mood for at any given moment.

Each year, I give myself some sort of guideline for the next twelve-months of reading, and this both eases the pain of choosing what to read next (it's a great tiebreaker) and is a fun way to bring focus and dimension to my fairly sprawling reading tastes. This past year I decided to explore books in translation with renewed vigor. The happy gifts? I introduced myself to the likes of Italo Calvino, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Per Petterson, Mohandas Gandhi's autobiography, and I read an early Vladmir Nabokov title originally written in Russian and Albert Camus. I've got an Ismail Kadare title coming up that I can't wait for.

But for this coming year, I'm going to step up my reading intentions. On at least two fronts, no less.

Here's how it's going to roll:

First, my titles-in-translation goals of the past year was fine and all, but it was too diffuse. For this coming year, I'm going amplify it. I'll read at least five works of fiction by writers who are native to countries that, in a literary sense, I'm utterly foreign too. That is, no safety spaces with my beloved Russians or "easy outs" with books written by natives of Paris or Madrid.

Among some of the writers who I might choose among to meet this part of my reading challenge:

• Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
• Ngugi wa'Thiongo (Kenya)
• Ondjaki (Angola)
• Slavenka Drakulić (Croatia)
• Dubravka Ugrešić (former Yugoslavia, now Croatia)
• Tove Jansson (Finland)
• Frigyes Karinthy (Hungary)
• Hamid Ismailov (Uzbekistan)
• Thomas MacDermot (Jamaica)
• Claude McKay (Jamaica)
• San San Nwe (Burma/Myanmar)
• Mesa Selimovic (former Yugoslavia/Bosnia)
• Aharon Megged (Israel)
• Cees Nooteboom (The Netherlands)
• Kertész Imre (Hungary)
• Amos Oz (Israel)
• Hugo Claus (Belgium)

On the second front, I'm signing on for the What's In a Name reading challenge. Popular among lit-loving bloggers (I was tipped off to this by Stefanie at the wonderful So Many Books lit blog), I'll hardly be alone. There's even small prizes offered throughout the year to participants, but of course--all together now--the reward is between the covers (I mean, the covers of the BOOKS!). Perhaps you'll join us!

Here's the What's In a Name guidelines:

Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Examples might include: The Book Thief, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Historian

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Examples might include: Twilight, Four Past Midnight, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Examples might include: Eight Cousins, My Father's Dragon, The Daughter of Time

4. A book with a "body part" in its title. Examples might include: The Bluest Eye, Bag of Bones, The Heart of Darkness

5. A book with a "building" in its title. Examples might include: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Little House on the Prairie, The Looming Tower

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title. Examples might include: Insomnia, Coma, The Plague

Jury's still out on what six titles I'll pick for this challenge. Suggestions are, of course, welcome ... on all fronts.

Life: the stuff that happens that distracts you from reading.

Comments

[Nikkapotamus]

This looks like a fun game. I may have to pop over and join it myself.

I totally think you should read Twilight for your second choice. It's such a quick read, you could polish it off in a weekend.

[Anna Clark]

Hey, thanks for the tip! Is that the book that led to the movie everyone's talking about? With a vampire?

[Ben]

The Twilight series of books is a lot like the Buffy television show; they're really cheesey, aimed at a young audience, but for some reason you just can't help but watch.

On a side note, have you been following Morning Editions series this week on new immigrant authors. A lot of the books were best sellers on the Booksense list this summer, and are fascinating reads from what I've been hearing.

[Anna Clark]

Ooo, well, I admit it, I did enjoy more than a few episodes of Buffy...I'll keep Twilight in mind. It sounds fun. Thanks!

About the Morning Edition series, do you mean the short interviews with people about Becoming American? I missed yesterday's, but I caught the one with Junot Diaz and today's with Joseph O'Neill. I think it's great, I wish they'd keep the series going. And I keep hearing good things about O'Neil's book, Netherland...