At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples he was going to prepare a place for them—and by extension, us—in heaven. When I dream about my room in heaven, I always imagine its walls lined with books.
I’ll never find enough time to read all the books I’d like to in this lifetime. But there’s always heaven.
On earth I usually gravitate toward non-fiction books. There’s just so much to know, so much to learn about.
But recently I was tagged in several Facebook notes by different friends, all with the theme of reading great books. You know, those memes like, “15 Authors Who Influenced Your Life” or “How Many Books Have You Read from the BBC’s 100 Great Books List?”* I was reminded how many great novels I haven’t read yet.
I’m usually not one to make New Year’s resolutions. But I did think the start of a new calendar year provides an excellent opportunity to make some goals about inserting more novels into my reading schedule. I also thought sharing my goals publicly would give me a bit of accountability on following through on my goals!
So I decided to create a sort of online book club around my book list. My plan is to read one novel a month. Then near the end of each month I’ll write a post sharing my thoughts and invite you to share your thoughts as well.
All of the books I chose are well-loved…I’m sure many of you have already read them. But I’d love it if any of you would like to read (or re-read) these books along with me to share the experience. I’m posting my proposed schedule for the year in case you do join me, so you’ll have time to secure copies of the books ahead of time.
JULY: (off)
What books are you planning to read in 2011?
*This list appears to be a hoax, not actually created by the BBC. However it does include a lot of great books!
**I don’t think I’ll get through the whole series in one month! But I’m gonna see how far I can get, and then fill in as I’m able during the rest of the year.
To Kill a Mockingbird and Gilead are probably my favorite novels. You'll love them!!
ReplyDeleteOK, I would love to have a long-distance book club with you. The only 2 on the list I have read are "The Joy Luck Club" and "The Help," so I was going to replace them with "Beloved" and "Catcher in the Rye." It's so amazing because someone was just encouraging me to read the whole HP series, because it is really well written (and that way I can discuss it with Erica) What do you think?
ReplyDeleteTO
Yay, T! I'm so glad you're going to read with me! :)
ReplyDelete"Catcher" almost made it onto my list this year...I'd love to hear what you think about it when you read it. And with the "Potter" books...I had multiple reasons. One is, like you said, because clearly there's a good story there! And, because I have boys who are almost old enough to read them, I want to know what's in there. Scott and I watched all the movies this fall (we had only seen the first couple). I really love the story and characters, but the middle movies weren't as amazing as I thought they'd be. It seemed like they had to leave out so much backstory. Which is understandable. But I wanted to see if what's true for most stories was true of "Potter"...that the books are so much better than the movies. I thought it would be fun to read them all before this summer, and then join the throngs at the theater in July to watch the final installment!