Nope, Never Read It

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This past week, Egotist’s Club did a series called “Why I Haven’t Read That Book Yet.”

To sum it up best in Internet vernacular, This.

this

So much this.

If you’re a reader, you’ll appreciate this series. Or if you’re not a reader but all your friends are, and you sometimes feel stupid and uncultured, then read these and know that it’s okay. I think you will also agree with me that they are so this.

 

books to check out journalAfter reading their last post, I got out my handy-dandy notebook that my mother gave me for Christmas years ago. So far I’ve only filled up 3 pages with 115 entries of books I want to read. About 50 of those books are a part of various series, and 33 are stand-alone books by 5 different authors.

2 entries are simply the names of 2 authors I want to read, ie. “PG Wodehouse, 18 novels.”

There are 5 Russian authors and 3 Turkish authors.

37 are detective books, 22 of which feature some version of Sherlock Holmes.

34 are crossed off as read, and only 1 of those is a lie–I just grew bored and set it aside.

Looking around my room, I have several books that I just haven’t started reading. Books like Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (saw the BBC TV movie) and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (saw many movies–the SyFy Channel’s TV movie is my favorite–and 2 episodes of that horrible TV show), which are both on my list. I also have The Last Station by Jay Parini (saw the movie–still haven’t read the book).

I never did finish Anna Karenina.

I have a random Anne Lamott because everyone says she’s amazing, and I found it for 5 dollars in a bin at some grocery store, but I don’t really know what to expect, so it just sits on my shelf and looks nice.

I have started a few series but for one reason or other have never finished them: I still need to read Tuck so I can finish the King Raven Trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead, but it’s been 5 years since it was released, and I only have Scarlet in possession. I think Hood was borrowed by someone who probably now lives in some country with a beach facing the Pacific Ocean.

I want to read Son by Lois Lowry, and I reread The Giver about 2 years ago, so I think that’s covered, but there’s still Gathering Blue to reread, and I’d have to find a copy of Messenger before I could read Son, and the last I looked Son was only available in hardback, and I feel like if I should read Son, I should own Son, so that I have the complete series, even though I don’t know where Messenger has gotten to.

Looking at Terpsichore’s list, I’m reminded of the fact that I never actually read all of Canterbury Tales (Chaucer), Morte d’Arthur (Mallory), or The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck). I was always just given sections to read in high school and college.

There are a lot of holes in my Shakespeare reading. Do I really need to read Othello? It’s sounds depressing, and I’m pretty sure The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) spoiled it for me.

I like fantasy fiction, but do I really have to read all of George MacDonald?

And what’s so great about Kurt Vonnegut anyway? Can anyone tell me?

So there you go. I read, and I understand that it is impossible for me to read everything. And I have accepted that.

What have you not been reading lately?

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