I'm an avid reader but even I think it will be a miracle if I get through this list in the next 3 months. Here's my Everest that I am attempting to climb:

1. Crime & Punishment by F. Dostoevsky
2. The Idiot by F. Dostoevsky
3. A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
4. Bryson's Dictionary for Writers & Editors by Bill Bryson
5. From Brokeness to Community by Jean Vanier
6. Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri Nouwen
7. Addicted to Mediocrity: Contemporary Christians & the Arts by Franky Schaeffer
8. Art & the Bible by Francis Schaeffer
9. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex Harris & Brett Harris

Books 1-3 are ones I'd like my class to read next year. I'm trying to decide which Dostoevsky to give them so I'm reading both. I might also give them one book from 7 - 9 so will have to read all to pick one. Books 4-6 are for my personal enjoyment.

So how am I going to do all this? Well, the ones for my class I will try to read during the day at work because teaching the class is part of my job, so I get to read. Maybe. If things aren't too busy. Hopefully. I'm currently reading 25 pages a day of Crime & Punishment which will get me through it in a month. I can easily read 100 pages a day (or should I say a night?) so I can fit some of the other books in there. For instance, numbers 5 through 8 are less than 125 pages each so they should be a snap.

One other way I'll get through this list is canceling 3 of my magazine subscriptions. I am cutting out The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Smithsonian. Oh, but I did just subscribe to Poets & Writers but still I'm down by two!

I'm also finding T.V. to be an even vaster wasteland than usual so am planning on spending less time on it.

What are you planning on reading this summer? Do tell!

Technorati Tags: books, reading

Comments

[Rodney Olsen]

I despair every time I see all the wonderful books on my shelf that I haven't had the chance to read yet. I'd love to be able to take a couple of weeks off to simply sit and read every day.

[Felicity]

I'm trying to finish Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird and Dorothy Day's The Long Loneliness.

[Lori]

Hello Rodney and welcome! I keep thinking there must be some job that requires you to sit in a comfy chair with a pot of tea & read all day long (without having to write a book review that is!).

Felicity, I have read "Bird by Bird" twice and just finished "Grace (Eventually)". Lamott is one of my favorite writers.

[Molly]

I've been meaning to meaning to pick up a Lamott book or two. I know she is a bit of a kook as a person, so I wondered how I'd like her as an author. Recommendations from the two of you give me a good idea though.

I'm currently reading:
1. Because God is Real, Peter Kreeft
2. What's so Great About Christianity, Dinesh D'Souza
3. Epic, John Eldridge
Next on the list are
1. Before I go: Letters to our children about what really matters, Kreeft
2. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (I just finished Caspian), Lewis
3. Why we're not emergent: by two guys who should be, DeYoung and Kluck

We also just ordered Do Hard Things for the HCC library. I hope to get around to that one eventually.

[Julana]

I don't plan ahead on reading.
I'm reading N.T. Wright's The Cross and the Christian. Also want to read the books I got at the Faith and Writing conference: Alan Jacobs' Before and After, Vinitha Hampton Wright's The Soul Tells a Story, ?'s Imagine.
I want to skim A French Woman for All Seasons for recipes and scarf knots.

[Lori]

Molly, I broke down & ordered "Hard Things" today. Julana, if I don't plan I procrastinate like crazy! I was always the kind who works better with a deadline. (Not my best trait!)