My January reading list
How I'm staying sane in the winter
It’s winter in Maine, which means three months of reading and being creative while I hide from the cold. This is what I have lined up for the next few weeks. A little ambitious, perhaps, but I’m optimistic.
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor:1 one more to add to my collection of obscure books on which a well-known movie was based.
High Noon: the Hollywood blacklist and the making of an American classic, Glenn Frankel: a bit of movie history.
Writing Audio Drama, Richard Toscan: time to learn how to do this properly. Toscan’s one of the experts.
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle: Last year, I gave up on Nietzsche. I gave up on Marcus Aurelius. I gave up on Confucius. I’m hoping Aristotle will have something to tell me.
Essays, Montaigne: not sure why I got a hankering to re-read this for the first time in thirty-odd years. I just did.
The Medicine Man, Francisco Rojas Gonzalez: collection of Mexican short stories.
The Princess Bride, William Goldman: re-reading this for the umpteenth time in preparation for a super-secret project.
Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King: an old favorite. It was the inspiration for my YA fantasy, The Yellow Flowers. I’m hoping that re-reading it will inspire me again. (Or else help me decide that YF is just derivative crap and I should abandon it. We’ll see.)
The Gremlins, Roald Dahl: I’ve never read this. He wrote it for Disney, who planned to make a movie of it, but it never happened.
And then there are these, which I may or may not finish. Or start. Definitely stretch goals.
Warriors of the Forgotten Way & Way of the Viper, Nate Wagner. Cheesy cowboy samurai action. When I was a kid, I had a series called The Six-Gun Samurai. They were terrible, but fun. I’m hoping these will recapture some of that feeling.
Acceptance & Absolution, Jeff Vandermeer. I loved Annihilation, the first book in the Southern Reach series. Book 2 was dull and I almost didn’t finish it. I’m not optimistic that the next two will be any better, but I want to find out.
That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis. I really want to finish this trilogy, but at this point, it’s stubbornness rather than pleasure that keeps it on the bedside table.
Islamic Spain, L.P. Harvey: this one’s turning out to be turgid. I’m interested in the subject matter, but I may have to find a different book.
What’s on your January list?
Funnily enough I was thinking of putting the Nicomachean Ethics on my January list. Probably also The Mill on the Floss, which to my shame I've never read, and getting started on À la Recherche du Temps Perdu. That last one may well carry me through into February!