Books and Music 2011

Dear Book Lovers,

This year my reading goals are going to include a genre of books that are difficult for me--long books. Most of my reading in the past couple of years has been centered on the classics of new and old literature. However, I have always used one qualifier. It can't be too.o.o.o.o long. This year, I plan to head into that storm of excessive wordiness, letting the howling sentences plash upon the prow of my vessel, setting myself adrift upon the endless roll of interminable ideas and utterances. Simply, I will read some long books. I will also read some others.

Books like Ulysses and War and Peace, even In Search of Lost Time, have long been on my list of "I couldn't get through that" books. Maybe, after this year, that list will have diminished. So far, I'm halfway through my first. I might even try to dabble in The Eight Dog Chronicles, though I don't think I want to commit the next 30 years of my life to them!

And here's a list to choose from.

Books

The Public Domain by Stephen Fishmen

Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians by Carrie Russell

Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou

American Mind Part I by Allen Guelzo

Ulysses by James Joyce--first 1/2 and I'm taking a break!

A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About your Organization by Peter F. Drucker et al

North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson Gaskell

A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar by Amadou Hampate Ba

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston

The Dark Child by Camara Laye

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion by Robert Spencer

The Enlightenment: Reason, Tolerance, and Humanity in The Modern Scholar Series by James Schmidt

The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

The Reivers by William Faulkner

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe by Stephen Hawking

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

The Life of an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Racism Explained to My Daughter by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Islam Explained by Tahar Ben Jelloun

True Grit by Charles Portis

Life and Operas of Verdi - Course 1 by Robert Greenberg

Life and Operas of Verdi - Course 2 by Robert Greenberg

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

2 States, The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhaghat

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Life and Operas of Verdi - Course 3 by Robert Greenberg

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salmon Rushdie

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie