Pixie's Perusals in 2011

[Pixie]

Help! I'm drowning in a sea of books.

 

I really need to make a reading list for next year, and diminish the size of my TBR pile. I have no more book shelf space. I went through my books today, trying to find books I have read that I want to get rid of. Ummmmm, I couldn't come up with even ONE that I was certain I wanted to part with. The trouble is, the ones I didn't enjoy, I have already given away. The other trouble is, I like a lot more books than I dislike. The third trouble is there are a lot more unread books on my shelf than read ones. We're talking a 10 to 1 ratio here.

 

So I'm going to start a list, and promise myself only two new books for every ten I read.

 

Here is my planned reading list for 2011 so far. I'll begin with a list of 10 and add from there.

 

Blue - To be read

Red - Finished reading

Green - Abandoned

 

 

1. Twenty Years After (Dumas)

2. Tales from the 1001 Nights (Burton)

3. Passage (Connie Willis)

4. The Children's Book (A.S. Byatt)

5. The Gunslinger (Stephen King)

6. The Best of Gene Wolfe (Gene Wolfe)

7. The Shack (Wm. Paul Young)

8. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)

9. The Cream of the Jest (James Branch Cabell)

10. The Waste Lands (Stephen King)

11. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino)

12. Wizard and Glass (Stephen King)

13. Breakfast of Champions (Kurt Vonnegut)

14. Wolves of the Calla (Stephen King)

15. To The Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)

16. Song of Susannah (Stephen King)

17. Afterlife (Douglas Clegg)

18. The Dark Tower (Stephen King)

19. Plague (Albert Camus)

20. A Dark Matter (Peter Straub)

21. Shadow and Claw (Gene Wolfe)

22. Complete Short Stories (Oscar Wilde)

23. Sword and Citadel (Gene Wolfe)

24. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)

25. The Urth of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe)

26. Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke)

27. Handle With Care (Jodi Picoult)

28. Black Sun Rising (C.S. Friedman)

 

I will review books as I finish them. Ratings are as follows:

 

1 - Awful, nobody should read this

2 - Poor, it might be okay if you just want to waste time

3 - Fair, wasn't great but it had it's moments

4 - Good, nothing to get excited over but well worth my time

5 - Excellent, a great piece of literature with very few unneeded elements

6 - Classic, superb in every way and one I must read again some day

Edited February 16, 2011 by Pixie

[Raven]

Help! I'm drowning in a sea of books.

 

One word:

 

Shelves.

 

[Pixie]

One word:

 

Shelves.

 

Two words:

 

No space.

 

Seriously, I could probably find more space if I rearranged some furniture. Hmmmm...

[Raven]

Who needs chairs anyway?!

[poppyshake]

So I'm going to start a list, and promise myself only two new books for every ten I read.

 

Ha, good try but can you keep to it?, I know I never can, but then I have the willpower of a chocaholic let loose in Thornton's In any case I can't make that resolution until after I've spent my Christmas money. Practically all of which .. with the slightest of detours to 'White Stuff' because I've fallen in love with their winter collection ... will go on books. My local Waterstones is ten mins walk away so as soon as it opens I'll be there with a sack and I've already saved books in my Amazon basket so probably I'll be finalising the transaction before the brussell sprouts have had a chance to go down.

 

I hope you do stick to it though Pixie, it's something I need to do because I have shelves full of unread books that I must have wanted badly at some point (honestly new books are like sirens calling out to poor booklusters .. 'pick me, pick me .. look, I'm new and shiny .. and I'm part of a three for two')

 

The very best of luck with your 2011 reading Pixie, one of the books I'm planning to get with my chrissy money is Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse'. I'm intrigued by it, but it has got a difficult reputation.

[Pixie]

We'll see if I can stick to it, poppyshake.

This is my method. I stare at my shelves and look at all the books that I haven't read and convince myself that it is all clutter taking up space until I read them. In other words, I only want items of value to me in my home. Those books are not valuable until I have read them and can make that decision. I want my house full of things I love, not useless clutter. That is what I tell myself. Sound convincing?

 

Anyway, this will be my new year resolution, to only buy two for every ten I read. So I still have some books coming for the end of this year. I'm terrible about purchasing Christmas gifts for myself.

 

If I read To The Lighthouse before you do, I'll be sure to give a review.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Pixie

[poppyshake]

I'm totally with you there, I like all my books to have earned their shelf space and you just don't know if they're worthy of it until you've read them. If I read a book, and I don't particularly like it, or even one that's just a bit then it's straight to the charity shop .. unless .. I like the cover. I can hardly bear to part with a book that has a great cover and it's ridiculous because you can't see the cover when it's on the bookshelf. I need to break myself of the habit, maybe it'll be a New Years resolution (but no, I always break them so that's pointless.)

 

Look forward to reading your review of 'To the Lighthouse' Pixie, I'm sure you'll read it before I do.

[Pixie]

I will be starting on one of the books from my 2011 list today.

 

Tales from the 1001 Nights -Translated by Sir Richard Burton

 

Description from Amazon:

 

Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Shahrazad, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Shahrazad always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever.

 

Review forthcoming...

 

Oh, this is a terrible beginning to my 2011 reading list. The first book I picked up, and I can't bring myself to finish it. The translation is too formal for my taste, and because of this, I am not finding the stories engaging. Maybe I will save it for another time.

 

The good news is I have started Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas and enjoying it immensely. I expected that, though. I adored The Three Musketeers.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Pixie

[Ben]

Hey Pixie, good look with your perusals in 2011, I look forward to reading your thoughts. I too am like you, drowning in a sea of books with no space to spare. I decided on resolving the situation by buying myself an Amazon Kindle; although I'll never shy away from an actual novel and flicking through pages, it has helped already to save myself the space I would have had to try find with the new purchases made with my Christmas money. This way I haven't had too, it's great.

[Pixie]

Thank you for your post, Ben. I will definitely be reading everyone else's reviews and thoughts as well.

The Kindle really is the perfect thing for those of us who want to read everything.

I'm not ready for it yet, though. I love the feel and smell of a real book. I'll probably give in one of these days.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Pixie

[Ben]

I'm not ready for it yet, though. I love the feel and smell of a real book. I'll probably give in one of these days.

I was the same, now I'm officially converted - although it'll never replace the actual feel of a book for sure.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Ben

[Pixie]

I'm not in the mood to do a full review, so here are just a few thoughts about Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas.

 

Just like The Three Musketeers, this was a fun adventure with lots of political intrigue, although I do believe this one was a bit darker. Don't let that drive you away, though. The humor is still there between our beloved heroes, and the book was very difficult to put down. Not quite as good as the first, but still a great read.

 

My rating: 5/6 stars

[Pixie]

Passage by Connie Willis

 

Product Description from Amazon:

 

A tunnel, a light, a door. And beyond it ... the unimaginable.

 

Dr. Joanna Lander is a psychologist specializing in near-death experiences. She is about to get help from a new doctor with the power to give her the chance to get as close to death as anyone can.

 

A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Joanna’s first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined — so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why that place is so hauntingly familiar.

 

But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid.

 

Yet just when Joanna thinks she understands, she’s in for the biggest surprise of all — a shattering scenario that will keep you feverishly reading until the final climactic page.

 

My thoughts:

I loved this book! It really is a page turner, even though you can sort of see where it is going and it can sometimes be redundant. Although, I believe the redundancy adds to what the book is really about, so it really wasn't that big of an issue for me. The final chapter was a bit of a surprise for me, but it ended the way I would have wanted it to. The book is long, just short of 800 pages, but it is so engrossing, it didn't feel like a long book at all. If you find the idea of NDE's fascinating, this book poses one theory that I found very interesting and possible. The characters were not fully three-dimensional, in my opinion, but they were likable enough that I did feel for them. It was the story that really kept me hooked.

 

Get it. Read it! That's all I have to say.

 

My rating: 5/6 stars

Edited January 14, 2011 by Pixie

[Ben]

Hey Pixie, fantastic review of Passage - it certainly sounds like an intriguing read. Near-death experiences have always intrigued me, so this book sounds like it could capture my attention quite nicely. I'm adding it to my wishlist, all thanks to your glowing recommendation.

[Pixie]

You're welcome, Ben.

 

Glad you added it to your wishlist.

 

This was my first Connie Willis book. I will have to check out more by the author.

 

And now, must check into what others are reading.

[Pixie]

So I'm going to start a list, and promise myself only two new books for every ten I read.

I have only 7 more books to go, and I can purchase 2 more!

[vodkafan]

 

This is my method. I stare at my shelves and look at all the books that I haven't read and convince myself that it is all clutter taking up space until I read them. In other words, I only want items of value to me in my home. Those books are not valuable until I have read them and can make that decision. I want my house full of things I love, not useless clutter. That is what I tell myself. Sound convincing?

 

 

Like your thinking Pixie. I do hope you can stick with it because clutter really does affect one mentally.

The passage sounds good. Might check it out in the kindle store. Yes I too am a convert. Sorry print is dead MWAHAHAHA !

[Pixie]

Hi, vodkafan.

Yes, it certainly does.

 

You should check out Passage. It is excellent. And print will never die, at least not in my lifetime.

[Pixie]

I'm finally going to do it. Once I finish and give my thoughts on The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, I am going to plunge into The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

 

I read the first three books years ago, and then never finished it because Stephen King's later books have really disappointed me. I haven't liked anything I have tried since Misery came out in print.

 

However, I do want to read this entire series. I am quite apprehensive about it, though. I fear that my hopes will be for naught and it won't end to my satisfaction. We will see.

[Kidsmum]

Hi Pixie, I have The Children's Book on my TBR pile so looking forward to hearing what you think of it. As far as Stephen King goes I too liked his early stuff, The Shining was one of the scariest books I've read, but his later stuff imo was awful but I gave him another try & read Under The Dome & I can honestly say I will never bother with another Stephen King again, some of his dialogue was so bad it made me cringe. I don't know if it's an age thing as his early stuff I read when I was much younger & maybe I've just grown out of that sort of stuff .

[Pixie]

Hi, kidsmum.

 

Rest assured, The Children's Book is lovely. My thoughts will be posted soon, as I am almost finished.

 

I, too, wonder if I have just grown out of my appreciation of Stephen King. I still enjoy horror, but there are authors that I appreciate much more than him that write in that genre. I am hoping The Dark Tower series won't let me down. I did like the first three well enough.

[Peacefield]

Hey Pixie! I know I enjoyed King immensely when I was a teen in high school. In fact I think he was the only author I read for a few years there. I could go back now and read his older books (pre-IT) and enjoy them just as much as I did back then, but I've never really had an urge to read his new stuff for some reason. I do know that whenever he eventually publishes his sequel to The Shining, I'll be first in line to buy it .

[I'mRose]

Help! I'm drowning in a sea of books.

 

 

 

So I'm going to start a list, and promise myself only two new books for every ten I read.

 

 

That sounds like a great idea. I was out of shelve space my self, but I just bought another book self...and some more books. Yeah not the best idea. Good luck with your reading this year! The Passage sounds great, but I guess I will try not to buy it

[Pixie]

I do know that whenever he eventually publishes his sequel to The Shining, I'll be first in line to buy it .

Hi, peacefield.

I have been so disappointed with his later books, I am not even sure I will want that one.

 

That sounds like a great idea. I was out of shelve space my self, but I just bought another book self...and some more books. Yeah not the best idea. Good luck with your reading this year! The Passage sounds great, but I guess I will try not to buy it

Oh, you can buy the Passage, Rose. Just get the mass market paperback. They don't take up much space.

 

 

I have finished The Children's Book, but I need to think about it before I post my review. It was so good until the last 50 pages or so. I am so frustrated I want to cry.

[tunn300]

Hey Pixie! I know I enjoyed King immensely when I was a teen in high school. In fact I think he was the only author I read for a few years there. I could go back now and read his older books (pre-IT) and enjoy them just as much as I did back then, but I've never really had an urge to read his new stuff for some reason. I do know that whenever he eventually publishes his sequel to The Shining, I'll be first in line to buy it .

 

This is exactly the same as me. There was a period of about a year where I only read King. However now I am not even interested in reading his newer books. My sister did buy me one of his as a Christmas present a couple of year ago, only read the first few chapters before giving up.