Another week, another ten books! All of these were added on March 9, 2010, from—you guessed it!—the book of books. If you see me blogging about wanting to check out a “500 books you must read” book from the library, please leave me a firmly worded comment reminding me of my current dilemma.
I decluttered my kitchen today and am in the mood for more tossing. I hope that helps me make some cuts to my TBR.
Wondering what this is all about? Check out the introductory post.
Titles 61-70:
#61: Self-Help by Lorrie Moore
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? No idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. A friend says it’s her favorite collection of modern short stories, and I’d like to see if I agree with her positive assessment.
Project list: none.
#62: The Progress of Love by Alice Munro
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Because it’s Alice Munro. (I was going to type, “Because Alice Munro,” but the absence of a verb in that “sentence” construction is quickly becoming a pet peeve.)
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. Not because I don’t love Alice Munro but because I already have another of her books on my TBR, and because I think I might have read this one but forgot about it.
Project list: n/a
#63: Henry and Cato by Iris Murdoch
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? No idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. It’s the only Iris Murdoch on my list and it sounds relatively interesting.
Project list: none.
#64: A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Maybe because he won the Nobel?
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. Neither the novels nor the reviews sound very compelling.
Project list: n/a.
#65: The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? I wish there were a better reason, but I suspect it’s because it was a television miniseries when I was in my early teens.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. Maybe I’ll try something else by Gloria Naylor, something not made into a TV show.
Project list: n/a
#66: The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Another one that I probably recognized as a movie title.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go.
Project list: none.
#67: Them by Joyce Carol Oates
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? I think I added it because I thought I’d read the first two books in the Wonderland Quartet while on a very interesting trip to California and have pleasant memories of reading one of them in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. But I don’t think it was one of The Wonderland Quartet after all. I think it was You Must Remember This.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. If I want to read the quartet, I’ll start with the first book.
Project list: n/a
#68: The Silent Cry by Kenzaburō Ōe
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? No idea on this one, either.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. I’m intrigued by the descriptions of this novel as relentlessly brutal with an unlikeable narrator. It might be a good one to read in my darker moods.
Project list: none.
#69: The Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? No idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. Apparently Philip Roth described this book of short stories as “unladylike,” among other things. That intrigues me, so on the list it remains.
Project list: none.
#70: The Funeral Makers by Cathie Pelletier
Date added: 03/09/2010
Why is it on my TBR? Again, no idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. It’s set in Maine and it’s supposed to be both funny and sad.
Project list: none.
I really must have been in a decluttering mood. FIVE more titles off the list for a total of 16 out of 70 titles crossed off (2% of the original TBR).
I’ll have to go through my next list on the same day I go through my shed. Getting rid of all of those old plastic flower pots is sure to put me in the mood to get rid of some books.
Imperfect Happiness 