Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Do I HAVE to? 5 "Have To " Books of 2011

Using only my own criteria, I'm also doing a list of 5 books per year that are unappealing to me, but that I think are "necessary" to read.  This is totally my own opinion, but I feel books like War and Peace are contributing something, more generally as well as to me personally, and are therefore worth a read, even though it can seem slow and painful.  I also anticipate that some of my "have to" reads will be suprising favourites, too (or at least I hope so!).

Here are my "have to" books of 2011:

1. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - READ!
2. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (I'd normally not do two from the same author in one year, but there's another readalong later in 2011 for Anna and I found this a great way to get through War and Peace, so am signing up)
3. Candide, Voltaire (I know, I know, a classic, I've had a copy on my bookshelves for about 20 years and have just never been interested, despite being a mad classics fan).  READ!  I'm totally rocking this already!! 
4. Last of the Mohicans, Cooper (likewise)
5. Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky (I'm a legal sociologist who has never read Crime and Punishment.  The shame!)

*sigh* so there are my HAVE to reads for 2011, wish me luck with the next 3.  I'm hoping none of them will fall into the Poke Your Eye Out category.  I prepared this jaunty patch, just in case....

4 comments:

Kristi said...

I love the jaunty eye patch!

I read Anna Karenina right before I started War and Peace. There are still some boring parts, but not nearly as lengthy as the boring sections of War and Peace. One huge plus is that there is no incredibly long appendix that will make you want to poke your eye out.

I enjoyed reading it, and I really loved Kitty and Levin. The female characterizations still aren't great in it, but I didn't find them as irritating as War and Peace.

Good luck with it. It's definitely easier to get through and not nearly as long!

Kristi said...

Oops! I meant epilogue. I always want to call it an appendix for some reason. :)

Unknown said...

When do u get time to read so many books Shell?

I read Anna Karenina many moons ago. Hmmm must be over 30 years now and enjoyed it except for the Russian idiosyncrasy of using multiple names for the same person. Bloody difficult to follow until u put it all together.

War and Peace was too boring and I gave up on it. Now that book will make u poke your eye out with a sharp stick. ;-)

Dad

Selene said...

Kristi, that epilogue was SO tiresome! I skipped most of the second one (I confess).

And...@ Gordon, Hi Dad! *waves* :D