It's been forever since I've done one of these. This is a particularly interesting topic because I just weeded out a ton of old books from my shelves, mostly college history texts. So I do plan on getting to all of these or else I wouldn't have kept them.
7. Dan Simmons, Ilium
Hey look, it's 700+ pages. I didn't love the Hyperian Cantos THAT much.
6. Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen
This one's only 152 pages. Really, I have no excuse.
5. Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
I loved Oryx & Crake and got it signed when I saw Atwood at a local college last year. I actually started this but abandoned it for some reason, even though the premise was intriguing.
4. Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
I've seen him live too, along with Salman Rushdie. Unlike Atwood, who was very humorous and engaging, Rushdie and Eco were so dull I actually don't remember anything they said or did. But still, I've heard many great things about this book.
3. Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus
2. Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
I love Thomas Mann. I've read many short stories by both him, as well as novellas by his contemporary Hermann Hesse and yet I still can't bring myself to crack open either of these two thick tomes. I'll get to them eventually, I promise - I even spared them my recent Book Purge. Someday.
1. John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Srsly, WTF. This book has everything I love - experimental Modernism, New York City, the early twentieth century - and I've read The 42nd Parallel twice. And this has been on my shelf for, what, two years now???
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists! Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers. Everyone is welcome to join. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time . . . just post what you can!
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7 comments:
The Blind Assassin is a pretty awesome book. Hopefully you'll get to that one some day!
The Name of the Rose can be heavy going, but persevere - it's worth it! :)
Here’s my Top Ten Tuesday post. :)
Blind Assassin has been on my forever list as well. Maybe 2012 will be the year for that book for both of us:)
Ah, how many YEARS have I been meaning to read The Name of the Rose! It didn't make my list only because I've never actually bought a copy of it to neglect. BTW, I think of myself as all that's left of a rabidly conservative past, so we have that in common. (I'm serious--rabid. Foam at the mouth and everything.) New follower!
JNCL
<a href="http://eclecticismjncl.blogspot.com>The Beauty of Eclecticism</a>
I still can't believe I haven't read Banana Yoshimoto. I really don't have any excuse either! I need to get on it.
I can remember very little about Manhattan Transfer, but I know that I really enjoyed reading it. Something wrong there ...
What? You have to read Kitchen and In the Name of the Rose.
You should subscribe to the BBC World Book Club. There's an interview with Eco. He was very interesting and lively.
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