What to read, what to read. The good news is that my TBR is down to 120 books or so. If I can maintain last year's reading pace (84 books), the shelf will last me until mid-2014. The bad news, which isn't really bad news, is that I'll be buying more books. Here's to a vicious, delicious cycle.
Below is a partial list of what I plan to read for the year. Some are for group reads or thematic reading in my online reading groups and anticipated online reading challenges. I expect to read a lot of fiction in translation, as well as works by Filipino writers in English and Filipino/Tagalog.
1. The Appointment by Herta Müller
2. The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai - already halfway through this
3. Gun Dealers' Daughter by Gina Apostol
4. Culture and History by Nick Joaquín - partly read
5-7. My Brother, My Executioner; The Pretenders; and Mass by F. Sionil José - the last three books in the five-volume Rosales saga
8. Mangyan Treasures by Antoon Postma
9. State of War by Ninotchka Rosca - partly read
10. The Builder by Edith L. Tiempo
11. Walong Diwata ng Pagkahulog (Eight Muses of the Fall) by Edgar Calabia Samar - partly read
12. Wandering Star by J. M. G. Le Clézio
13. The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira by César Aira
14. The Eagle's Throne by Carlos Fuentes - partially read, although this early I could say it's a stinker
15. Sagarana by João Guimarães Rosa
16. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson - wish-listed for some time; it's about time I buy this
17. Mga Agos sa Disyerto (Streams in the Desert) by Efren R. Abueg, Dominador B. Mirasol, Rogelio L. Ordoñez, Edgardo M. Reyes, and Rogelio R. Sikat - actually already done with the stories in this anthology; will just have to go through the critical essays in the longish appendix
18. Mga Ibong Mandaragit (Vultures) by Amado V. Hernandez - just started this one
19. The Lord Chandos Letter and Other Writings by Hugo von Hofmannsthal - been waiting for my copy since September
20. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
21. A Place in the Country by W. G. Sebald
22. Forensic Psychology: A Very Short Introduction by David Canter
23. The Setting Sun by Dazai Osamu
24. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Mishima Yukio
25. Dublinesque and/or Montano by Enrique Vila-Matas
26. 100 Kislap (100 Flashes) by Abdon M. Balde Jr. - received this for Christmas, but I suggested the title to the giver
27. Daluyong (Gathering Storm) by Lazaro Francisco
28. Hunger by Knut Hamsun
29. The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry - reading this intermittently during the past year
30. Woodcutters by Thomas Bernhard
31. A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard - aka the first of six parts of My Struggle
32. The Golden Days by Cao Xueqin - Book One of The Story of the Stone, one of China's "four great classical novels"
33. Bulaklak sa Tubig / Flowers in Water by Joi Barrios, translated by Mark Pangilinan - poems; bilingual edition
34. The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquín - reread; I'm looking for a copy, I don't have my old one anymore
35. Ang Maikling Kuwento sa Filipinas: 1896-1949 (The Short Story in Filipinas: 1896-1949) by Virgilio S. Almario
36. The Face of Another by Abé Kobo
37. The Second Curtain by Roy Fuller
38. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
39. Timawa (Wretched) by A. C. Fabian
40. Laro sa Baga (Play With Embers) by Edgardo M. Reyes
41. The Jupiter Effect by Katrina Tuvera
42. Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary Philippine Poetry
Additions (as of January 23):
43. The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by João Guimarães Rosa - a readalong with Richard of Caravana de recuerdos and Scott of seraillon. Everyone is invited to read with us this watershed novel of Brazil. Stay tuned for details of the schedule.
44. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - end of August; for Richard's 2013 Russian Reading.
Happy New Year Rise. Put the Lampedusa novel high up on your list, it's arguably the only 'classic' here, other than the 2 'Golden's' (24 and 32).
ReplyDeleteI've read The Leopard, Hunger and The Radetzky March. I enjoyed them all. Lots of the others look very interesting - Dublinesque is one I definitely want to read this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know your thoughts about Sagarana.
ReplyDeleteThat is rather detailed considering it's only the 4th of January... I thought being booked up until February was over-organised ;)
ReplyDeleteKevin, the short length of The Leopard is encouraging at least. "Arguably", yes. I hope I'll go the entire length of the Chinese classic.
ReplyDeleteSéamus, Hunger I directly picked up from your best of list. I've seen mixed reactions about Dublinesque but it should be worth pursuing.
Miguel, I've read the first story "The Little Dust-Brown Donkey" and it's great! In English, at least.
What a fine list--and a partial one at that! I myself hope to get to the Bernhard, the Krasznahorkai, and the Roth this year + different works by some of the other writers you mentioned. Maybe actually reading them instead of just talking about them will reduce my TBR count to your more manageable numbers. Naw... P.S. Will the new Javier Marías show up on your other list? I'm going to try to get to that in February, I think.
ReplyDeleteThere's a few authors on this list that I want to read this year such as Knut Hamsun, Herta Müller, & Dazai Osamu, also want to read some more Abe. Love those Very Short Intro books, the japanese ones fantastic as is the German lit one. Also this sounds interesting Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary Philippine Poetry
ReplyDeleteTony, lol. I'm also excited to know what titles will make me depart from the list.
ReplyDeleteRichard, glad to see we got some overlaps in books and authors. Looking forward to the conversations. Now that you mentioned JM, The Infatuations has got to be in there. But I'm also thinking of getting to any of the 3 others of his (the 2 stories + The Man in Feeling) I haven't read yet.
Gary, and so we'll have reading intersections too! I've got the poetry anthology for some time now. It actually contains one translation of mine.
ReplyDeletevery sorted Rise I ve been add few from tbr pile to what I m reading this last month or two ,all the best stu
ReplyDeleteRise - a very happy new year to you, and what looks like a promising one as well!
ReplyDeleteI'm also going to attempt a few of the works on your terrific list this year - Krasznahorkai, Hamsun, Sebald, and of course whatever new Aira might come my way, and am most eagerly anticipating publication of the second volume of the Knausgaard late this spring. It's rather an addiction.
Stu, we're all set up for the year! ha, the "end of the world" didn't prevent us.
ReplyDeleteScott, so glad you're back. like you, i do foresee myself following Knausgaard’s My Struggle.