Monday, September 28, 2015

2015 Books to Read: Update!

Welp, this is embarrassing. We are 75% through the year and I've read a total of 2 books! TWO.

Can I read 12 more in the remaining 3 months, which happen to be the busiest 3 months of the year? There are so many pumpkin- and holiday-related things happening, how will I find the free time? Haha.

I had good intentions. I started several books and then life just happened and I haven't picked them up. We even went on a cross-country vacation that meant 6+ hours on an airplane twice plus waiting in airport lounges, and I never once picked up a book. I took several with me so I had the opportunity, but never chose to spend my time reading. It's really sad.

Here are the ones I read so far:
  • Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt: This book covers a 4 year period where Oswalt was doing stand-up gigs, writing on a tv show, and becoming addicted to seeing old movies in the theater. It's a good combo of comedy, reflection, name-dropping (you'll recognize just about every one of his peers who were also struggling comics at the time), and great anecdote about Van Gogh's Night Cafe that made me think about experiences in my life where nothing afterward was the same.
  • Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer: This book is everything that Rolling Stone article published about UVA wanted to be, only it has truth, reliable witnesses, and facts/science on its side.

In progress:
  • Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery: I've been reading a chapter a night, only on nights I feel like reading, so this may take a while. I can't believe I've never read this series and don't feel a bit too old for it. I'm quite in touch with my inner 13 year old. :) Just ask Dave how I acted when both Chris Hardwick and Joseph Gordon Levitt were on the Tonight Show the other night - my heart almost exploded! Haha.
  • The First Bad Man by Miranda July: I am going into this blind plot-wise, other than the hint that it's maybeMAYBE about a bad man, and am excited to read it. So many people recommended it I bought it. I'm approximately 3 pages in, so still have no idea what it's about.
  • Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill: We saw the movie already so do I need to finish?
  • Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee: meh. It's good but not great. Scout Finch is just as precocious at 25 as she was at 5, but there's really no story there. The flashbacks to Jem/Scout/Dill play sessions have been my favorite part so far!

Admitting you have a problem is the first step in fixing it, right? We'll see. My friend is in the process of reading 100+ classic books - he's reading the first 10% of each first just to jump start the project and will then go back to the beginning of the list and finish each. That lit a fire under me to finish a freaking book! 

Wish me luck!