Reading List

In order to be a good writer, one must read. A LOT. It makes sense, really. How can one be a writer but not a reader as well?

Since I graduated from college, I got out of the habit of reading regularly (for fun). because I was busy doing so many other things (i.e. grad school, being depressed about being in grad school, being a complete fangirl for certain musical genres). I'm not talking about anything I read for research (i.e. nonfiction, Greek mythology, world history, etc.). I mean good old fashioned pleasure fiction reading that requires curling up, a blanket, a mug of tea, and possibly a rainstorm outside.

I used to read voraciously in high school, and somehow I managed to read at least a half hour before bed. Now I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing just that. Also, being a regular patron of my public library is also good, karmically speaking. Libraries rock.

This evening, I've made a reading list of 20 books that I plan to get from the library over the next few weeks. Right now I'm slightly more than halfway through Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Given that at my current rate, I'll most likely finish the book this week, and I'd like to have another book ready to go. Hence the list-making...Fantasy, historical fiction, chick lit, and poetry is a good mix, right?

1. Arrows of the Queen (The Heralds of Valdemar, Book One) by Mercedes Lackey
2. The Borgia Bride: A Novel by Jeanne Kalogridis
3. Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle (Book One) by M.C. Scott
4. Bridget Jones' Diary: A Novel by Helen Fielding
5. Colman by Monica Furlong
6. Dealing With Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book One by Patricia C. Wrede
7. The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici by Jeanne Kalogridis
8. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
9. Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening by Stephen Kuusisto
10. The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson
11. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice, Book One) by George R. R. Martin
12. Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves
13. Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me by Lisa Fineberg
14. Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
15. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty
16. My Lady of Cleves: A Novel of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes
17. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles, Day One) by Patrick Rothfuss
18. The Nanny Diaries: A Novel by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin
19. Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
20. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Hopefully those should keep me busy for several weeks. My ultimate goal is to read one book a week like I used to, but since my teaching classes won't be done until the beginning of June, I might end up reading at a slower pace due to other commitments. In any case, I hope my library has all of these books. It's so much cheaper to borrow than buy!

To the athenaeum I will go, questing for brain candy!