Saturdays

I am still not over how delicious Saturdays are when there is no homework hanging over your head. I have spent the day drinking coffee and reading magazines, washing the sheets, putting things away, and having (more) coffee with friends. It's like my house and I know each other again. So good...

It's a nice, gloomy, rainy Saturday, and I like those every now and then--especially when I am full of sun and warmth after our cruise. I'm starting to check little "projects" off of my list, like putting together my book list for 2011--something I haven't done since I started grad school. I have been inspired both by Andrea's post-college five year reading plan (assigned at the end of our senior year) and her more recent"52 for 52" list, but I am not so ambitious...and I don't handle structure that well! It's one "assigned" book a month for me.

I hope to read more than 12 books this year (way more), but this list is sort of my "Just because I'm not in school any more doesn't mean I should only read Harry Potter and Bridget Jones" list. For those other non-assigned books, I'm focusing on books that I own this year--why not, for example, read some of Jason's books? And what about the stack of books that I just keep "picking up" at Costco or when I need free shipping on Amazon? Plus, there's that whole "Library of Congress delivers to my desk" thing...

So, anyway. Reading list for 2011 (minus January, my month to accomplish nothing, because I could), in case you're interested:

February: North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Lynda gave me the movie years ago, and I loved it. Have been wanting to read the book ever since.

March: Confessions, by Augustine
Should have read in Oxford, of course (where I learned to pronounce it "AuGUSTin" instead of "AugustEEN"), but my atheist professor quoted Augustine during the semester and said, "You have to be careful reading Confessions, or you just might find yourself becoming a believer." Intriguing.

April: Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe/Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Northanger was my first Austen, so why not read the book over which Cathy obsesses throughout the novel with it?

May: Cat's Eye, by Margaret Atwood

June: The Common Reader, by Virginia Wolfe
Wolfe has been on my reading list since 2005. have yet to finish a book. Am afraid.

July: Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro

August: Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
I now have two degrees in English and have never read Tolstoy. Am ashamed.

September: The Golden Bowl, by Henry James
Uncle Chuck left it in my room at the cabin for me.

October: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

November: Don Quixote, by Cervantes
See note on August. Also, should be able to weave the word "quixotian" into a sentence with ease.

December: The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling