Nanaimo Island Reads: The final picks

Frak it I chose 40 books. But the good news is... Goodreads informs me I read 51 books last year. And 41 in 2010. And 18 so far. So 40 books is just right, cause I also have my ebooks, a couple books in Nanaimo, and anything else I can't resist this year.

Onto the 40, which you can find here.

First I arranged them alphabetically by title...

 

That was no help. Next I tried dark to light...

 

Okay, good to know I have an appropriate mix of weepies and laughs. Then I tried literary to genre...

 

A good mix. And most of the genre is top notch ("literary" if you will.) But all I managed to eliminate was four books...

• The Cairo Trilogy only for weight concerns--it's three books, wrapped in a quality hard cover.
• The Khadra just because it's not speaking to me at the moment.
• And the Martin because I don't want to read 5 books and then be on the hook for 10 years as I await the other. Ever notice how long it takes authors to get that last book out? (Looking at you Jean Auel.) Or they die and then their successors put the last book out in two volumes and that means more waiting (yes, you Robert Jordan.)
• [Forgot to photograph.] A Jennifer Crusie Harlequin, cause I already have unread books by her on my ereader.

And then I added three:

• The more I read of Wicked's themes, the better it sounded.
• I read the first pages of Still Alice and immediately wanted to keep going. (I did this with a couple books, which was a mistake! I want to read them now!)
• And I wanted Fall On Your Knees, or Mercy Among the Children. Knees sounded less crushingly depressing.

 

There are 40 books now.

Some fall in the "What's All the Fuss?" category.

• The Prey series
• The Quebec Stephen King
• Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine--supposed to be better than Rendell as Rendell
• Pratchett
• Nobel winning Toni Morrison
• Nobel winning Pamuk
• Sarah Waters
• That damned Time Traveler
• That damned burnt guy
• And I added back in Slumdog cause I want to see the movie already! (Oops I guess I added back in 4)

Then there's the games winners:

• French Books Picked by Anglos
• Nonfiction Books Chosen by People Who Haven't Read Them
• Books Picked Blindly by Country (results here)
• Books Chosen Blindly by Bombastic Reviews, First Page Images, and Other Nonstory Text

The two chosen by fate:

 

Two I chose because they're among my husband's favorite novels:

• Margaret Laurence's Jest of God - I loved the TV movie of The Diviners, and then hated the movie of Stone Angel so I read the book and it was excellent. This one's about a lonely small town teacher, living with her passive aggressive mother, and her attempt to break out.
• The Name of the Wind I bought for Fernando because customers and a work friend said it was the best fantasy novel they'd read in years.

Books from fave authors:

• Heyer's Reluctant Widow--been so long I don't remember anything about it.
• Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider
• Jane Langton: I first read her because she was recommended by Connie Willis, and I can see why. There's always a subject (Monticello, the dodo, Emily Dickinson, Escher) to thematically work alongside the mystery. And I love the professor couple who are the regulars in the series.
• I read Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries almost until I started my degrees, and then fell behind. The tone of the books are a surprisingly good match for Austen.
• Alan Moore I lobes.
• Well I only read one AJ Jacobs, but really enjoyed it. And coming from a church that followed the Old Testament rather closely, I think I'll enjoy this one.
• Cathleen Schine: Loved The Evolution of Jane, The Love Letter, and Rameau's Niece. Hated She Is Me. Own-but-too-scared-to-attempt The New Yorkers and The Three Weissmanns. Time to get back on the horse.
• No romance novelists made it because I've got a bunch in my ereader.

And others I chose when cataloging:

• My Lucky Star - About a couple New York writers going out to Hollywood, compared to screwball comedies.  I opened and read a scene at random and it actually did sound like an old screwball.
• Indiscretion - Regency romance. All the reviews say this author (who's male) is more Georgette Heyer, less Amanda Quick.
• The Serial Killer's Club - About a guy who discovers the serial killers have a club--he infiltrates and then starts killing them. And it's comedy. Also recommended by ex-colleague Groom.
• Saga - Mentioned this before, about three people writing a mini-series for no one to watch.
• Ruth Rendell - Read Simisola years ago and loved the detective and his wife.
• Starfish - This is the one about the underwater station full of mentally damaged people.
• Hominids - And the one about the parallel Neanderthal world. Also recommended by SFF reading/writing Widdershins.

 

During this process, as I came across shorter books, I eliminated them by creating a To Be Read Before I Leave Town list.

• Harvey Pekar's Quitter - I've read most of his comics, they're so so so good.
• Vonnegut's Mother Night
• A tiny Tom Stoppard play
• Some random book I came across today
• An Agatha Christie I'd started months ago (I refuse to bring along books that are partly read. Taking up precious cargo weight limit!)
• Rumpole of the Bailey short stories that I'm half done. I'd been keeping them as insomnia stories, and they're super witty. But... goes against the rules.
• Barmy in Wonderland - Might still bring cause I like to save Wodehouse for my darkest moments and I'm not totally dark right now. But this is a hard cover, and a beautiful one at that--beautiful paper, beautiful typeface. My dad bought it for me and it's one of the finest books I own. Don't want it ruined!

 

Two I've already knocked off:

• D.A. - Short story by Connie Willis. Fernando bought me this limited edition at Worldcon. About a teenager recruited for a space program, who doesn't want to be there.
• Borderline - Though eliminated in the games, I really wanted to see the movie, so I had to read the book. The movie's been duly watched as well.

Phew. Well thanks for taking the journey with me. Will report back on the books.

Shocking Update!  I was just going through the "Read It" list of my old book catalog--We Reads--and realized I picked out the wrong Jane Austen mystery (I own almost all of them, though unread.) It will be Jane and the Ghosts of Netley.

Shockinger Update!  Apparently I already read Harvey Pekar's The Quitter, too.