PROJECT READ

During 2014 I am working on 5 Projects and 10 things. One of the projects is PROJECT READ!

 

This is what I wrote on January 1:

 

I have a lot of books, I borrow a lot of books from work. I am a Librarian, this is what we do. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of books I have lying around. I think decluttering and shelving items better will be a great start, but I need a plan. I am working on a plan of reading. Something that gives me scope for movement. I have a list of books I really want to read, new, old, classics, difficult. I am going to work on a list of what ones I will try to knock over this year. I will also try to read a certain amount every day, say 100 pages. I am yet to work out the details, I will blog about it. I do know it will include Dickens, Murakami, Mantel, Tartt, and either Proust or Dante.  

 

{And I began this blog at the end of January, but I've been too busy to finish the post, but I have been thinking about it!}

 

The first half of this project is decluttering and shelving my books. I have a lot of book shelves, but many more books. Everything that doesn't fit on the shelves are stuffed into a spare wardrobe and lying on the floor and it is shameful. First step will be to go through, cull, chuck, giveaway and gift. Then I need to purchase more book shelves and get re-organising. It will happen slowly over the year!

 

{I have half sorted this out already, with a lovely new cabinet for the lounge room, the remaining books are sorted and in neat piles on a table in the study. More bookshelves will be added to that room to cover that and give room for expansion.}

 

The second half is far more interesting...the reading!

 

First of all when you want to read as many titles as I do and own as many unread books as I do, coming up with this list for difficult. Of course I will get to whatever is not on my list in years to come, but what to read this year!

 

Secondly, you will notice they are mostly Fiction. I tend to prefer Non-Fiction, which is why these books get missed each and every time.

 

And lastly, I will still be reading the regular 'stuff' that I like to read or feel I need to read for work and my two book groups.

 

1. Favourite authors

Here is a (bad) habit of mine, I read some books by an author, decide they are a favourite author as I love their style of writing or subject matter. Then I purchase more books they have written and leave them on a dedicated section in my book shelves or even worse on a pile on the floor somewhere. And there they sit...ummm...favourites...I have never read!

 

So I shall read at least 2 titles by each of the following:

 

Haruki Murakami {read one already!}

Charles Dickens

Michael Chabon

Ernest Hemingway

Virginia Woolf

Hunter S. Thompson

Anais Nin

 

2. Modern Classics

These are mostly the big books that come out each year, that win all the awards and everyone loves but I never get around to reading.

 

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Questions of travel - Michelle de Krester

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

 

3. Classics

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe - As a lover of all things Africa, I am ashamed to say I have never read this.

The Unbearable likeness of being - Milan Kundera - I have started this book about 3-4 times, always getting about 1/4 of the way in and then putting it down for one reason or another and never finishing, not because it is not good....because it really is very good...but because...I really don't know! {almost finished and it will go right into my top ten books of all time - utter perfection}

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - I am halfway through this one, so a good head start, and must finish

 

4. The Crazy

I am either going to attempt to begin The Divine Comedy by Dante or In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

I have wanted to read both for ages, and they are daunting, hence the word 'attempt'.

 

As an over achiever I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but it's lovely to have an interesting goal.