Last Saturday, Chris, Dorothy, Hobgoblin and I went to a local used book barn, and some other stores as well.
The over $5 barn
The under $5 barn
Thankfully, I came out with only one book. It's a study of Agatha Christie's notebooks, which she used to plot her mysteries. From a writer's as well as a reader's perspective, it should be fascinating.
Dorothy's TBR challenge inspired me to take a look at the books that have been sitting on my shelves a long time, unread, and read them this year. To keep this doable and fun, I'm going to choose only twelve. Here is my list:
1) A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf. I started it before Christmas, and need to pick it up again.
2) My Garden by Mary Russell Mitford, 1787-1855. Mitford was the author of Our Village and a good friend of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This book is a collection of her letters to Browning and other friends about her garden. I bought this before I got married, which is to say, a very long time ago!
3) At least one book from the Modern Library Gardening series. Michael Pollan, of The Omnivore's Dilemma fame, edited a collection of eight out-of-print gardening titles that I desperately wanted -- you know how that goes! I've read the Eleanor Perenyi volume, Green Thoughts, and started My Summer in a Garden, and then the wheel fell off the wheelbarrow, so to speak.
The vintage volume, The Gardener's Bed-Book, was already on my shelves, so I don't have the M.L. edition.
4) A Light from Heaven. I've read all the previous volumes in the Mitford series, but because this one was the last one, I wanted to "save" it. It's now 5 years old. Argh.
5)The Parish Papers by George MacDonald. MacDonald (1824-1905) was a predecessor or mentor to C.S. Lewis, and a friend of Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain. This is nearly as old as #2.
6) Maisie Dobbs. I love mysteries, so why do I keep picking up every other one but this? Probably because it takes place during WWII, and thanks to Chris, I'm inundated with WWII era music and history already.
7) A Historical Mystery. I've collected and not read: Silent in the Grave, Consequences of Sin, The Conjurer, And Only to Deceive...all great recommendations from Danielle's blog, and all series to follow if I like these first volumes.
8) Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose.
9) Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears.
10) One of my creative writing books: The Write to Write, If You Want to Write, and a few others.
11) One of the fiction novels I've gotten from the used bookstores, like Hotel du Lac or Decline and Fall or With Violets.
12) Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayer.
One I'm not going to add to the list, because it's brand new to me, may be the most important book for me to read this year: The Friends We Keep.
Now that I've posted this list, I hope that will keep me accountable! What books are you dying to read this year? If you've put a list on your blog, please let me know that in the comments and I will check it out. I'm on Goodreads, and if you are too, I'd love to share books with you there as well.
Next post: the first finished object of 2011!!!
I always find your lists of books inspiring and I've actually found some authors and series that I would never have read otherwise!! Happy reading!!
Posted by: 2paw | January 11, 2011 at 11:46 PM
I used to love going to the Book Barn! I grew up going there -- and your pictures make me so homesick!
Posted by: sprite | January 12, 2011 at 01:46 AM
I think this is a terrific idea! I recently relocated my books from upstairs down onto my kitchen bookshelves. There were decorations on the shelves now there are mostly books - so many!
Let me know what you think of Old Herbaceous when you read it. I have that and read it several years ago. If I remember correctly I enjoyed it. Let me know when you read it and we can have a RAL. :)
Posted by: Beth | January 12, 2011 at 08:53 AM
Goodness! You and I have an awful lot of overlap on our TBR shelves/lists. And I love the fact that there is someone else in the world who bought a book before she was married (the same year I was) that she still hasn't read. I've read Maisie Dobbs, though, and am sure you will like it. I'd start with that.
Posted by: Emily Barton | January 12, 2011 at 09:41 AM
Today is a good day to get started with your 2011 reading--if you are snowed in like we are!!
Posted by: Sarah | January 12, 2011 at 11:45 AM
You have an interesting set of books to read, and I'd like to check some of them out, too. The Agatha Christie notebook looks intriguing. I have read the Woolf and EZ books on your list, and all (I think) of Anita Brookner's (Hotel du Lac).
Posted by: Kristen | January 12, 2011 at 01:09 PM
You keep adding books to my "To Read" list!
Posted by: Kara | January 12, 2011 at 03:52 PM
I am reading from my bookshelves as much as possible this year - and then I am passing them on...
And, trying to keep up with the 52 books in 52 weeks on Ravelry...
Posted by: Sara | January 12, 2011 at 05:52 PM
I have also told myself I WILL read all the unread books lying about. So many, and yet I keep acquiring new/new to me ones. Just mooched Friday Night Knitting off of BookMooch. Must. Stop.
I read Hotel du Lac a few years ago, I enjoyed it. If I remember correctly it is a "quiet" little book.
Hope you are not too stir-crazy from all this snow!
Posted by: Robin | January 12, 2011 at 05:53 PM
I haven't created a list of books I'd like to read in 2011. But, I just finished reading a book that I received as a Christmas gift -- Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol." And it definitely did not disappoint!
Posted by: madalyn | January 13, 2011 at 04:17 PM
Thanks for some reading ideas! I got a Nook for Christmas. I think it's going to help me cut down on "book clutter" and I get to lend them from family and the library. Yay!
I liked Maisie Dobbs, give it a shot. I don't love every book in the series, but the first one is fun for sure, and Winspear seemed to freshen it up in the latest of the series ... which was needed. Also, it's not WWII it actually takes place between WWI and WWII, which might be interesting for you.
Posted by: elns | January 14, 2011 at 06:17 PM
So much snow you guys have! Still the photos are lovely--and I read Dorothy's post--it sounds like a fun excursion! My library is getting that Agatha Christie book--lucky you to own it! And I love your list of books to read this year. So glad Maisie is on it--she is one of my (maybe The) favorite(s)! And as for #7--they're all good choices, so I hope you enjoy them when you get to them!!
Posted by: Danielle | January 14, 2011 at 11:36 PM