I had so many discussions on next title for read-along with you and have garnered some support to read a book together with friends, that I thought I’ll compile a list to remind myself to check back here when looking for the next reading inspiration.
Here goes:
My friend J, Wilfrid and I will be re-reading (in my case) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Bookie Mee and I will be reading East of Eden or 2666 together at some point this year.
Jenny and I will be reading Wuthering Heights for the first time this Spring. Woo hoo! 😉
Bina and I are going to read Frenchman’s Creek and My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier at some point.
I am keeping in mind that:
Vishy wants to read The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas and Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, which I think Eva is reading it now and both titles are the ones that I am dying to read!
Mel U wants to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel this year. Me too.
Anamika and Bookie Mee wants to read A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and many others who voted for the book.
Jackie (of Farmlane Book Blog) has Rice Mother in her pile and it scares both of us off with the size of it.
In Wolf and Non-wolfish Reading, Richard announced his wolfish reading plan and discussion for this year, but I’ll be looking out for these two months:
- June: Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (hosted by Claire) – I picked this one up last year and put it down and can’t get past the first chapter. Not sure what will convince me to wade through the unfamiliar Spanish terms without losing the plot. I felt as if I am missing something here.
- July: Orhan Pamuk’s Snow (hosted by E.L. Fay) – I might join in to read and discuss Snow.
and I will be reading Norwegian Wood and South of Border, West of the Sun for Murakami Challenge this year.
Did I miss any book titles that we may have a common interest in? One that you want to read this year? Feel free to join in on my mini-read along!
JoV's Book Pyramid 
Wait, wait… the size of Rice Mother scares you but NOT the size of A Suitable Boy?!!!
If you all do A Suitable Boy, I may try again with you all, but can’t promise I’ll do any better than on my last so-called readalong! :–)
Posted by rhapsodyinbooks | January 9, 2011, 2:02 pmLOL 😀 Thanks Jill. I would love to have you with us. There is a lot more buzz around A Suitable Boy and curiosity usually wins I’m afraid. 😉
Posted by JoV | January 9, 2011, 7:15 pmI’d be interested in reading A Suitable Boy along with you too, but I’m with Rhapsodyinbooks – the size of Suitable Boy scares me much more than Rice Mother 😉 !! It would be nice to try both books this year though….
Posted by Jackie (Farm Lane Books) | January 9, 2011, 5:50 pmJackie, LOL 😀 I agree!
Posted by JoV | January 9, 2011, 7:17 pmYay! I’m excited for Wuthering Heights! I am sure this will be the year that I will learn to appreciate it. (she said optimistically)
Posted by Jenny | January 9, 2011, 7:01 pmJenny, tell me about it. When I was in my teens, I gave up after 5 pages. Last year I tried reading it again and I couldn’t get through the first 10 pages. That’s why I need you to kick a** if I show signs of faltering again this year! 🙂
Posted by JoV | January 9, 2011, 7:19 pmOh no Jo, it’s written on a blog post. It made it all official and everything. I can’t change my mind now! You’re sneaky on 2666, you 😛
Do you think we can handle both 2666 and A Suitable Boy in one year? We might not have time to read anything else lol.
From your list I’ve read and loved Wuthering Heights. There’s lots of craziness in it, but that’s probably why I liked it. Not for everyone, that book.
ps: I just started Nothing to Envy this morning 🙂
Posted by mee | January 9, 2011, 9:47 pmHey Hey Mee! 😀 C’mon you can’t chicken out now? No, actually you can. I wrote this to remind myself what I have promised to do this year. So don’t feel pressured to comply. 🙂 About 2666 + A Suitable Boy, I think if I can finish these two books this year, it will be a HUGE achievement for me!
Good luck with Nothing to Envy I can’t wait to hear what you think about it! 😀
Posted by JoV | January 9, 2011, 10:17 pmooo I have Rice Mother on my pile too, its not that big (at the moment I’m reading War and Peace so it seems teeny)! I should get around to reading it too.
I read 2666, A Suitable Boy and The Count of Monte Cristo last year and survived. Looks like you have some great books to read. I keep meaning to go back to Wuthering Heights, I loved the first part and hated the second with a passion back when I was 19, now I can barely remember it.
Posted by katrina | January 9, 2011, 10:44 pmOoo Katrina, you are so well read! You read all the great Chunksters and now you are on to War and Peace!! I admire you! 😀
I hope when I get to the second part of Wuthering Heights I’ll help you recall what it is all about. 😉
Posted by JoV | January 9, 2011, 11:20 pmHello JoV, how are you? When are we doing EPL?
Posted by Wilfrid | January 10, 2011, 12:12 amHi Wilfrid, Good morning! J and I spoke about EPL and would like to get J to plan the whole thing because I am only re-reading the book. Over to J? 😉
Posted by JoV | January 10, 2011, 12:30 amOh dear, me? I am happy to dictate the time because I am a super slow reader but I have not organized any read-along, what do I have to do?
Will discuss the details over email?
Posted by J | January 10, 2011, 3:46 pmJ, look forward to see what you have planned! 😉
Posted by JoV | January 10, 2011, 9:13 pmWoohoo! All set then …
Posted by Wilfrid | January 14, 2011, 12:12 amI must say, your hands are full! I am tempted to join you for ‘Wuthering Heights’, but I put that book on the alternative list for a reason. Do you have a date in mind for this read-along? I might just jump in at the last moment.
Looks like many people want to read ‘A suitable boy’. I can’t wait for the read-along to start.
Posted by anaamica | January 10, 2011, 5:22 amAna, I think Jenny and I said Spring. March is the start of Spring in Northern hemisphere. I’ll keep you in the loop and we can get going in mid-March perhaps?
ahh.. we made it sound as if we are depending on the weather to read Wuthering Heights. I think it is a rather dark and grim tale, not suitable for dark winters, that’s the rationale. 😉
Posted by JoV | January 10, 2011, 9:17 pmHaha, I’m impressed you still know all the dates and such 🙂 Definitely at some point soon! Du Maurier is amazing. I wan to read Baba Yaga, too.
Posted by Bina | January 11, 2011, 8:12 pmBina, yeah it’s all rather woolly still. We are talking in terms of season rather than date and time now. 😉 But hope to read some of these novels listed, because I really really want to read them!
Posted by JoV | January 12, 2011, 9:14 pmI think I did put Rice Mother and A Suitable Boy on my reading lists for challenges this year, but then I found out what chunksters they were and removed them :S
I’m reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for my TBR 2011 challenge (found it really hard to get through the first time around) so I may just join you for a read-a-long in June 🙂
Posted by Chinoiseries | January 14, 2011, 10:34 amChinoseries, the chunksters really put one off, don’t they? I’m still wondering what made writers write such a long book in the first place? perhaps it was cathartic writing but those chunksters better be good!
Posted by JoV | January 14, 2011, 10:47 pm