You Will Only Be Allowed To Read 5 More Books In 2022, What Do You Choose? (2/13/22)

[Marc]

A planetary crisis demands your immediate attention. This will only leave you enough time to read 5 more books in the current year—-which 5 do you choose and why?
(Assume that you solve the planetary crisis and resume a normal reading schedule in 2023.)

[Whitney]

I'm gonna cheat and pick some of the kitten squishers I still need to get to. Maybe their insights will help with the planetary crises.

The Man Without Qualities
War and Peace
Don Quixote
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Faerie Queen

[Vesna]

Ok, Marc, this comes as a perfect question for me. I'll hereby declare to myself and the rest of the reading world that I will finally read four books that I kept putting off from one year to the next plus my new commitment to T. Mann. If I don't read any of these, I'll come back here in December to witness my public self-shaming :-)

- Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin
- Virginia Woolf, The Waves
- Claudio Magris, Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea
- Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country
- Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

[Lagullande]

Whitney wrote: "I'm gonna cheat and pick some of the kitten squishers I still need to get to. Maybe their insights will help with the planetary crises.

The Man Without Qualities
War and Peace
Don Quixote
The Coun..."

I never heard of "kitten squishers" before. Hilarious :)))

[Whitney]

Lagullande wrote: "I never heard of "kitten squishers" before. Hilarious :))) ."

I have to give credit where credit is due. I first heard this from Ruby Tombstone, the erstwhile moderator of "Chaos Reading". It was too good not to steal.

[Kathleen]

This is a very good exercise! I should do this a few times a year, to keep focused. I don't know whether I want to make the pledge that Vesna is making, but I do share one of her picks. :-)

Bailey's Café, Gloria Naylor
The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
The Heroine with 1001 Faces, Maria Tatar
Things I Have Withheld, Kei Miller
Sabbaths, Wendell Berry

[LindaJ^]

Kitten Squishers is a tempting category to choose, although I'm sure I'd fail to make my way through them if not in audio. So let me think of another group of books I need to make progress on -- I think I'll try 5 from my neglected list of Best Science Fiction picked by the GR Sci Fi group I am a member of --
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Cities in Flight by James Blish
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

You'll have to ask us in December how we have done!

[Ellen]

Looking at the books I'm hoping to read or finish that I would probably need an entire year for:

Remembrance of things Past (all 7 volumes: I wonder if I can count this as one book?
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories by Joy Williams
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

[Jenna]

Such an interesting question, because it isn't simply the desert island book problem of never getting to read anything else, and if there were truly a crisis limiting things, I'd probably want to go with more entertainment in my off time reading, but also no tolerance for wasting time since the reading would be precious, and how do you know that in advance if you aren't picking classics? I have five kitten squishers on my TBR list right now, but I'm only going to put 3 here and aim for a bit of diversity in mood and genre:

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
The Door by Magda Szabó
The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor

[Vesna]

Kathleen wrote: "This is a very good exercise! I should do this a few times a year, to keep focused. I don't know whether I want to make the pledge that Vesna is making, but I do share one of her picks. :-)

[book:..."

Great to see you will also be reading TMM, Kathleen. As for my public pledge, needless to say I already regret it, but it'a too late (I guess that's my whole point of making it public) :-) I'm just tired of constantly postponing the other four books that I really want to read.

[Jennifer]

This is a hard question.

I see someone mentioned The Gormenghast Novels. I ream them like 25 years ago and have the book and have wanted to re-read it, I feel it will be better as a "proper adult"

So
The Gormenghast Novels
The Book of the New Sun - The Shadow of the Torturer,
The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch
The Book of Morgaine (its very dear to me, so I would need to have it)


Thats all I got right now.

[Whitney]

Jennifer wrote: "This is a hard question.

I see someone mentioned The Gormenghast Novels. I ream them like 25 years ago and have the book and have wanted to re-read it, I feel it will be better as a ..."

Oooh, nice. I would like to replace The Faerie Queen with The Book of the New Sun, which I've been meaning to reread forever. It IS called "Book" of the New Sun, so totally counts as one book, right?

[Jennifer]

Whitney wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "This is a hard question.

I see someone mentioned The Gormenghast Novels. I ream them like 25 years ago and have the book and have wanted to re-read it, I feel it wil..."

Yes....one book.. I have each novel individually. Sometimes its easier mentally to have them as singles, rather than a kitten squisher.

[Lark]

Miss MacIntosh, My Darling
Kin
Ice Trilogy
My Old Home: A Novel of Exile
Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

[Ellen]

lark wrote: "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling
Kin
Ice Trilogy
My Old Home: A Novel of Exile
[book:Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages|57..."

I'd love to read your reaction to Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. I was unable to finish it but I'd like to very much. You may have inspired me to try again.

[Whitney]

Ellie wrote: "lark wrote: "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling
.....
I'd love to read your reaction to Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. I was unable to finish it but I'd like to very much. You may have inspired me to try again."

I think I've mentioned it in this group before, but I read Miss MacIntosh with a Facebook group led by Steven Shaviro. It's a public group, so anyone can go back and access the posts. We read one chapter a day, which helped motivate me to keep up with the reading.

Steven regularly posted his informal notes on the book, and he compiled them into a downloadable ebook as well. I definitely recommend using the group as a helpful guide in tackling this very worthwhile monster book.

[Ellen]

Whitney wrote: "Ellie wrote: "lark wrote: "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling
.....
I'd love to read your reaction to Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. I was unable to finish it but I'd like to very much. You m..."

Thanks. I'll definitely check it out.

[Alwynne]

I'm planning to try the Marguerite Young when Dalkey Archive reissues it later this year, so will be interesting to compare reactions.

[Lark]

I'm really curious about Miss MacIntosh, My Darling but also I answered the question of the week by picking the 5 longest books on my tbr so I wouldn't run out of pages this year, given Marc's 5-book limit.

[Kathleen]

Vesna wrote: "Great to see you will also be reading TMM, Kathleen. As for my public pledge, needless to say I already regret it, but it'a too late (I guess that's my whole point of making it public) :-) I'm just tired of constantly postponing the other four books that I really want to read."

You may regret your pledge now, Vesna, but I bet you won't regret it at the end of the year, when all those lovely books are read!

[Jennifer]

Wait...this is a pledge? I thought this was fantasy...

[Whitney]

Jennifer wrote: "Wait...this is a pledge? I thought this was fantasy..."

It started as fantasy. But you know how readers get.

[Bretnie]

Whitney wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Wait...this is a pledge? I thought this was fantasy..."

It started as fantasy. But you know how readers get."

Love this. :) This and kitten squishers.

I also love that this question drives panic in most of us -"Only 5 books all year?!" but for the general public it might be an increase.

[Marc]

All pledges have been inscribed in the block chain ledger. The penalty for not completing these five books is not something I can put into words lest you all die instantly from shock. I'm sorry I had to trick you all into this devilish bargain, but I lost a wager with a lesser demon and it was the only way I could save our three cats...

Good luck! :D

[Jennifer]

If it was the only way to save the cats....😼

[Marc]

Two of the three cats are worth it!

I cheated: I didn’t want to answer this question before finishing Proust, which I just did this morning, so he doesn’t steal one of my five spots…

My five would be:
- Sterling Karat Gold (Waidner)
- The Lying Life of Adults (Ferrante)
- Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming (Krasznahorkai)
- A Brief History of Seven Killings (James)
- The Unconsoled (Ishiguro)

Having read War & Peace last year and spent a couple years on Proust, I’m happy to take a break from kitten squishers. Waidner’s book is one I’ve been excited about since it came out, Ferrante and Krasznahorkai are faves, James’s book has been on my shelf for a long time, and I have yet to read any Ishiguro.

[Cheryl]

Well, at least we know that the planetary crisis will be solved at the end of this scenario. That is a huge relief up front. Thanks.

Now, those will have to be 5 long books. And in the middle of figuring out the global crisis, it will be extremely stressful and exhausting.

Arcadia by Iains Pears (a fantasy, because I will want to escape to another world)

Emma by Jane Austen (reread a favorite for comfort, plus it is funny)

The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin (a sci-fantasy epic, second in a series, from an author who has recently become a favorite)

The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories by various authors, translated by Jay Rubin (I might only be able to read short bits when things are really bad. Short stories will be just the thing.)

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (some reflective nature poetry when I need to meditate. Get my calm back.)

I think these 5 books will get me through the crisis and help contribute to the solution of the world's problems. Wow, that is a lot to ask from a TBR. One of these books is less than 500 pages, but at 480, I think that is enough.

[Jennifer]

Cheryl wrote: "Well, at least we know that the planetary crisis will be solved at the end of this scenario. That is a huge relief up front. Thanks.

Now, those will have to be 5 long books. And in the middle of f..."

The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season / The Obelisk Gate / The Stone Skym is just utterly amazing.

[Cheryl]

Yes, Jennifer. I am so excited to continue on in The Broken Earth trilogy. I think Jemisin is an amazing writer and storyteller. Glad you love it, too. :)

[Whitney]

Cheryl wrote: "Yes, Jennifer. I am so excited to continue on in The Broken Earth trilogy. I think Jemisin is an amazing writer and storyteller. Glad you love it, too. :)"

Cheryl, we read The Fifth Season as a Wild Card pick. You can find links to the discussions here. You are, of course, welcome to contribute, but participation in prior discussions tends to be sporadic to non-existent, unfortunately.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...