I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.
This is a great topic this week! As I've mentioned before, I have a to-read list that I capped some time ago and have been working through while I put everything else on a less-obligatory-sounding "might want to read" list. It will take me some time to get through everything anyway, but there are definitely a handful of titles that are probably going to be put off a little longer than the rest. Here are some of them and the reasons why!
1. Damaged Goods by Dianna Anderson
I was actually interviewed for this book but have since changed my viewpoints on a lot of things. I stopped reading Anderson's blog after its tone became endless outrage about everything, and the criticisms I've seen of this book are in a similar vein. However, I'm still interested to see what she put together.
2. Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
Since putting this on my list, I have figured out pretty conclusively that I don't like short story collections. I also got this recommendation originally from John Green and have determined that he and I have extremely different tastes. Nonetheless, I've never read any of O'Connor's work, and I'd still like to... someday.
3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
At some point I'd like to catch up on this phenomenon, but I'm generally not a fan of high fantasy, I'm especially not a fan of long fantasy books, and I don't like starting series that are still in the process of being written. I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.
4. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
I put this on my list because it was featured in some Entertainment Weekly article about "books you must read in your lifetime" and I was in a phase where I wanted to read all the books that were described that way. However, I've become a bit disillusioned by the genre of "philosophical classics by white men," which is how I envision this book, and I also did not really like Demian, so it's going to be a while until I tackle this one.
5. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
I don't generally pick up books involving vampires, but I put this on my list because it's well-loved by so many people. I abandoned the only other Anne Rice book I ever picked up, which doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence, but I do want to try this one because I think it's probably actually pretty good.
6. Outlander by Diana Galbadon
I haven't picked this up yet for most of the same reasons I listed for the A Song of Ice and Fire series above, plus there's a time travel element, which I like only if it's handled a very specific way.
7. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
The title of this book somehow led me to believe it was a quirky, humorous book, but it turns out it's a political satire, which is not the way I like my humor. I'm envisioning it as similar to Vanity Fair, which I did not enjoy.
8. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
This book is over 1,000 pages long, and with so many other books on the list, I am hesitant to commit that amount of time to a single one. Plus I've seen at least one review from someone I follow that was not very positive. I'm still interested in it generally, but I probably won't make an effort to start on it anytime soon.
9. Shōgun by James Clavell
Same as above — it's a long one. And I'm raising my eyebrow a little at a white guy writing an Asian saga. But then I've heard very good things, so we'll see.
10. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
Yes, someday I will tackle Proust, but it sounds like he requires a lot of concentration, and I don't have a lot of leisure time for reading dense prose and pondering philosophy these days.
Which books have you been putting off? Do you want to make the case for me to move any of these higher on my list?
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Small Animals, Kaffir Boy, and House of Leaves
Five years ago I was reading: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Stolen Lives, and White Teeth
Ten years ago I was reading: The Poisonwood Bible
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