It has been brought to my attention that I buy a lot of books. I've got a personal library that consists of two 6ft bookshelves that are packed to within an inch of their lives and overflowing. I haven't read them all but I have every intention to do so, honestly. I've never bought a book without wanting to read it. I'm just not exactly sure when I'll get around to reading them. Someday, hopefully.
The other day I picked up a book written by someone who seems to have the same affliction that I have. He buys tons of books and hasn't gotten around to reading them all. But he wants to...eventually. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby is a collection of his articles from the UK lit mag the Believer. I'm going to follow his example and list, at the end of each month, the books I've bought and the books I've read.
For this first book post I've combined the months of December 2008 and January 2009. With Christmas break these months kind of blended together and I can't quite remember which month I bought which book in. *Note: this lists does not include books I received as gifts.
Books Bought:
December 2008 - January 2009
Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby
Shakespeare Wrote For Money - Nick Hornby
Short Stories - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Poetry and Prose - Walt Whitman
Blackbird Singing - Paul McCartney
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
Electric Koolaid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
Residence on Earth - Pablo Neruda
Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury
Biography of Tolkien - Carpenter
Coffee with Hemingway - Kirk Curnutt
The Trouble With Poetry - Billy Collins
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2) - Douglas Adams
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
I Am Third - Gale Sayers
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Tiny Yarn Animals - Tamie Snow
*Edit: After posting this, I went to a flea market and bought a few books.
Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
Arabian Nights - some dead guy
Death of A Salesman - Arthur Miller
Books Read:
Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby
Shakespeare Wrote For Money - Nick Hornby
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
the Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury
Coffee with Hemingway - Kirk Curnutt
the Trouble with Poetry - Billy Collins
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
From inside the womb
was heard a rhythm,
a gentle thump
that sounded like
Nebraska.
She emerged from the darkness
into a familiar stranger's
waiting hands.
Callused palms that cradled her
as he swayed and sang
about a dead dog
who existence
would always bring a tear to her eye.
Together they would
sing the songs
of this six-string guitar god,
some lower deity
descended from Elvis's Mt. Olympus.
They sang of velvet rims,
yellow men,
and racin' in the street.
And no one could touch them.
Not illness or death,
nor the thick Jersey air.
They were tramps.
Together.
Born to believe.
