It appears that two weeks after my bulk addition of titles, I must have picked up the book of books again and added more. These are all from January 15, 2010.
Wondering what this is all about? Check out the introductory post.
Titles 31-40:
#31: Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? I suspect it’s here because it’s set during World War II but doesn’t take place in Germany.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. I’m a sucker for magical realism.
Project list: none.
#32: Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? National Book Award, and it’s about race issues in the American South.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep, for now. Revisit in one year and remove if I’ve not read it yet.
Project list: none.
#33: A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? I read (and pretty much enjoyed) Didion’s memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, and I’ve been curious to check out her fiction. Also, I like the title.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep for a year.
Project list: none.
#34: Frog by Stephen Dixon
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? No idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. Despite its award nominations, the premise doesn’t grab me enough to devote 769 pages of my time to it.
Project list: N/A
#35: World’s Fair by E.L. Doctorow
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? I think Doctorow is someone I’m supposed to read but haven’t. This book, despite being set in New York City, sounds interesting and won the National Book Award.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. If I want to read Doctorow, this seems as good a place as any to start.
Project list: none.
#36: English Creek by Ivan Doig
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? It’s set in Montana, and the synopsis says that it’s “a masterpiece of vernacular in the tradition of Twain,” which sounds interesting to me.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep.
Project list: none.
#37: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Probably because it’s set in Ireland and written from the point of view of a young boy.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. I’m leery of the stream-of-consciousness aspect, and the reviews aren’t glowing enough to get me excited about reading it.
Project list: N/A
#38: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? It’s a medieval murder mystery with monks.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. It sounds a little like An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears, and I liked that one, and it would be quite different from what I usually read (literary fiction and memoirs by literary-type people).
Project list: none.
#39: The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Mexican history is a subject about which I don’t know as much as I would like to, and it’s more fun to read about it in a novel than in a history book.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep.
Project list: none (or maybe Cavalcade of Classics?)
#40: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
Date added: 01/15/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Cuba! With our back-and-forth national policy around trade and tourism with the island nation, it seems like a particularly good time to read about Cuba, and this seems like a good book about Cuba.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep!
Project list: none.
Two more titles off the list for a total of 7 out of 40 titles crossed off (nearly 1% of the original TBR).
A couple of these barely made the cut (notably the Joan Didion), and I wonder if it would make sense to have a ranked verdict. Like an A-list and a B-list for those books I choose to keep on the TBR. Maybe I’d plan to get the B-list books from the library in a big stack and then really quickly read the first 25-50 pages and decide whether to continue or not. Or maybe I should just be more quick to cut titles since they’re on these posts anyway, and I can always look them up again.
Imperfect Happiness 
Hi Charity! I was doing something similar to this post over at my place recently. I kept a running list at the bottom of each post of the HIGH priority keepers so far, then after that, a list of the moderate priority keepers {like your Joan Didion title}. I found it very useful because when I was looking for a read I could quickly glance at the books I’d analyzed as the ones I truly can’t wait to read, but I also wouldn’t forget the moderate keepers, for later. I tucked both lists at the bottom of each TBR post & just added to them cumulatively. I thought sharing this idea might be useful to you, re: your remarks on Joan Didion. Cheers. 🙂
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Ooh! I like the idea of a cumulative list. Thank you!
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