If I could add up all the hours that I spend deciding what to read, I’d’ve read through Proust and Ulysses and Melville and Barshetshire and Les Mis a million times. At least.
So you can see why I’ve spent an untoward amount of time thinking about what to read for Orange January.
Partly because all those big books that I worry about “not having read yet” are all by the canonical boys, and this is another opportunity to reverse the trend.
Partly because I’m bent to obsess about reading lists. Many of you are bent that way too.
So I spent waaaaaay too long thinking about my reading list for this event. (You can check out Jill’s page here, if all this is new to you.)
First, I thought I’d fill the gaps with the winners I haven’t read yet. That would be six books: Berne, Levy, Dunmore, Grant, Smith, and Robinson.
But that was immediately complicated because Robinson’s isn’t really just one book, is it. I’d have to read Gilead first — and I’ve tried that once and was really in the wrong mood or something — and, anyway that would be seven books, and I’ve got a lot of other books to read in January already…
Next, I thought I’d read the biggest ones. (Like Baldwin’s, Benitez’s,Cisneros’, and DeWitt’s…and that’s just starting at ‘A’.)
I have a habit of collecting Orangies, especially the fattest ones because it’s awkward borrowing them from the library, and then neglecting them on my shelves while I borrow other books from the library and read those instead). If I read the biggest Orangies and didn’t love them to juicy li’l bits, I could make some room on my beleaguered bookshelves.
But that was foolish, right? My month would be filled with updates like “Now I”m on page 38” and “Now I’m on page 72” and “Now I’m on page 75”.
Then, I thought the shortlisted titles would be perfect: just enough to choose from — 23, I think — so that it doesn’t feel like a homework assignment and my reading mood can swing around a little, not so many to choose from that it doesn’t feel like I’m progressing.
(If you want a quick way to check which titles are long- and short-listed, they are all on the Orange January/July group on LibraryThing.)
But out of all the Orangies on my shelves, I’m missing a lot of the shortlisted titles, and I am trying to read from my own shelves these days (see above for tendencies towards abusive library usage).
So then I thought maybe I”d read all of Toni Morrison’s books, because she’s one of my MRE (Must Read Everything authors) and I’d love to read those three (Love, Paradise, A Mercy), but three books isn’t quite enough for a month of Orangies.
Which was helpful. What a breakthrough. I now knew that somewhere between 3 and 7 is the right answer for me.
So I started looking at combos. Maybe Dunmore’s and the dual Duffy’s; that would be 6 (and a winner and a shortlisted title to boot). Jensen’s and the two Jones’s: another six. Or, if six was too strenuous, the Robinson’s and the Rogers’ (for a total of four).
But a lot of those were missing from my own shelves too. I have to keep my library usage in check for at least the first couple of weeks of 2012, right?
At this point I’m realizing that I’m spent enough time to have read through a couple of volumes of Proust — not translated, either (yes, THAT long) — and I’m eyeing the stack of books that I’ve yet to finish for December — so I had to get serious.
So. I’m choosing 5 novels from this stack. Astute Orange-lovers will recognize the theme.
LOL, BIP! This is funny. Okay it’s just like what I do. We need book and list-making therapy. But seriously, I love this post.
Heheh. Thanks for saying so. Makes it seem almost “normal”. Whatever that is!
It’s so hard to pick books to read for Orange January. I haven’t decided on my list yet but I do have some goodies to choose from. Happy reading.
I’m actually finding it really hard to choose for your chunkster challenge, too. More so than expected!
I sometimes think I spend more time thinking about reading then actually reading. I’m glad I’m not alone in this. Orange January sounds like fun and if I weren’t already booked up for reading I would join in. I do have Gilead in my list for books to read next year. I loved her book Housekeeping, but Gilead sort of never quite appealed to me as much, but as I keep hearing marvelous things about it–and feel I need to read more “better” books (I tend to follow a comfort read/crime/suspense diet–not bad but I still feel a little guilty about) I am trying for a few more highbrow books.
It’s not just Orange January, but also Orange July. The first time that I heard of it, it was too late to join in for the January too. Just gave me more time to make those time-consuming lists for the summer, instead! Heh. (Glad to know I’m not alone in struggling with Robinson’s book…I had high hopes from Housekeeping too. Maybe next time.)
Thank you so much for participating in Orange January! I think you have a great month of reading ahead of you! I loved the Seiffert book. Hope you do too!
Thanks for hosting, Jill! I can’t seem to crack the Seiffert novel just now, so I’m setting it aside for one of the others. It’s just a timing thing, I’m sure.
This is very tempting – I bet I have enough Oranges on my TBR pile to keep me busy for a month, including Gilead. Enjoy your choices! Both On Beauty and The Accidental seem to be love it or hate it sort of novels, but I was firmly in the love it camp.
That’s good to know: I hope I’m in the “love it” camp too. So far I’m favouring the lightest, smallest ‘S’ books, partly because they are so easy to hang onto when reading in the evenings (when I’ve been doing my Orange reading) and partly because they’re the ones I’ve had the longest (just coincidentally) and I’m really liking the feeling of *finally* reading books that I’ve had for something-like-ten-years without having read them yet!
It’s complicated, isn’t it? And so hard to choose! I have only one Orange on my shelves at the moment so I resorted to the library for January’s reads. And I just received notice that they are ready for pickup! Let the Orange reading begin … 🙂
I’ve been taking my Orange lists — along with my VMC lists — to the college/library booksales for years, so I’ve accumulated a lot on my own shelves. The only time I borrow from the library is for the newest ones when the longlists are announced. Hence, the picking from the unread items on the ‘S’ shelves!