Failure? Impossible. TBR Challenge

Thanks to Laura Miller's post on Salon.com I have been sucked into a new challenge that I have a good 65% chance of failing - the To Be Read reading challenge being held by Adam over at Roof Beam Reader.

I say that I have a higher than even chance of failing because I'm going to be honest. The books on my To Be Read pile (or more accurately, 'piles' since I have one next to my bed, one next to my armchair and a whacking one in the incongruously named TV room) are there for a reason. For the last so many months/years, I've chosen another book instead. These books are the wallflowers, the bridesmaids, the uncoordinated last kid to be picked for kickball - these books ARE me. Strangely, when I look at the list, these aren't any kind of dogs - they're from authors I love or books I'm convinced I'll like, but for some reason, have passed over (except Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - that one is on my pile because my sister gave it to me and everyone says I should read it. If you want me to jump off a bridge, too, just ask.)

So, I need to dust them off and give them a chance. As Linus says "it's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love." Well said, blankie toting kid, well said.

My list of 12 for the TBR challenge:
1) The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
2) A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
3) The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
4) The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
5) Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter
6) The Secret History - Donna Tartt
7) Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
8) Little Black Book of Stories - A.S. Byatt
9) Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
10) The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave
11) A Certain Slant of Light - Laura Whitcomb
12) Fool - Christopher Moore

Alternates:
1) The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke
2) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Bad Reading Habits of Randomly Effective Writers

Happy New Year!

I am a bad reader. First of all, I'll read anything. I can't be without something to read and If I ever have to commute for more than 10 minutes without reading material, I tend to start biting my nails. So if Tim leaves a Dennis Wheately book lying around in the laundry room and I've got six minutes left on the 'drain & spin' cycle, I'll get stuck in the morass of a sentence like this:

"An appetite in keeping with his mighty frame had enabled Van Ryn to do ample justice to each well-chosen course and, as was his custom each time the young American arrived in England, the Duke had produced his finest wines for this, their reunion dinner at his flat."


I can't help myself. If it's a book, pamphlet or cereal box in a language that I semi-understand, I'll read it.

My second bad reading trait is that I can't read only one book at a time. Unless it's a fast-paced book (like the Hunger Games trilogy which actually had me feeling as if I'd really done some exercise instead of just sat in my armchair letting my tea get cold.) I will read two or three books at once. Take for example what I'm reading now. The light bodied read - a book I've read before: Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers, the medium read - a book I've not read before but one that can be put down and picked up again without any problem; The Fool, by Christopher Moore. And the HEAVY read - the book I feel I ought to be reading: Until the new year this was The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, but I've given that one up for now and picked up The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. We shall see if I ever find out what the ef is up with Count Fosco.

Okay, here's the other bad habit I have about books. I lie. I don't always do it on purpose, for example there is another book I'm currently reading, I guess you'd call it the stealth read: Tithe by Holly Black. I forgot I was reading it and just picked it up again. I haven't figured out if I like it or not so until I do we'll have an on again-off again relationship. But I also lie when someone asks me what I'm reading. How can I tell them I'm reading four books at once. So I usually lie and say "I'm thinking of reading GWTDT" which I am. Thinking about. One day.

I do long for the kind of brain space, time and quiet it would take me to read Bleak House (which I've tried, numerous times to get through) because I know close, careful reading has it's rewards. But my bad habits won't let me.

So, here's my New Year's resolution: Read no more than two books at a time and keep track of what I read. I got one of these from Farley's bookstore in New Hope to keep track and keep me honest. It's like a readers version of a weight watchers points system. Man, I hope I can keep to it. Maybe the number of books I try in the year will go down, but hopefully the number of books I finish and enjoy will go up.

What are your reader resolutions? What are your bad reading habits? Any one got any suggestions for me?