April Challenge: I haven't read it because...

[Jessica]

Hello everyone! I promised you a fun mini challenge this month and here it is. Go pick any dusty book on your shelf and then tell us why you haven't read it yet and why you bought it/have it in the first place. Easy, right? And if you want to go the extra mile challenge yourself to actually read it this month. Have fun and I can't wait to see your answers! Also, be sure to check out the events on the group home page because there is a giveaway this month, too!

[Denise]

Well, I'll do the one that I am already reading this month (for the Austen theme). I am reading Minor Works by Jane Austen. I got it as part of an Austen set a long time ago. I read all of the novels, but never got around to reading this collection of juvenilia, poems, stories, unfinished works, etc. I did start it once, but only got part-way through the juvenilia. I've been inspired to finally get all the way through it (starting back at the beginning) for two reasons: This month's Austen theme, since I'm so familiar with all of the novels, so they're not dusty. Also, before the theme was announced, I had already read another dusty book, 101 Things You Didn't Know About Jane Austen, and these works were often mentioned, making me more eager to finally read them. I have since read yet another dusty book about Austen, The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen, which also had some quotes from this collection, some of which are absolutely hilarious! I loved one so much, I added the quote to Goodreads and made it one of my selected quotes on my profile:

“Beware of the insipid vanities and idle dissipations of the metropolis of England; Beware of the unmeaning luxuries of Bath and of the stinking fish of Southampton."
"Alas! (exclaimed I) how am I to avoid those evils I shall never be exposed to? What probability is there of my ever tasting the dissipations of London, the luxuries of Bath, or the stinking fish of Southamption?...”
(from the story "Love and Freindship")

[Catherine]

Douglas Adams' inaccurately named 'trilogy', The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is something I have been meaning to read for well over a decade. As soon as I started expressing my taste in literature, my father recommended it to me. I have heard much about it over the years, both from him and from my younger sister (who read it and loved it). It is not so much that I have never gotten around to this book, as that every time I try to read it, it disappears. The first two times I attempted to check it out of the library, the first two books were missing, and I refuse to start a series in media res... Later, I looked for the book just a few days after it had been packed up for a move... Then, I came home for Christmas and it was unavailable because my sister was reading it... I have finally determined that the only way that I am ever going to read this most frustratingly elusive volume is to purchase it for myself. Hopefully I will get around to that before too long!

[Jessica]

The book I'm reading this month is Paradise Lost (it's by far my dustiest book at about 10 years old). I saw a play in college that mentioned the first line and everyone laughed while I felt left out. Plus I liked reading really challenging stuff so I bought the book. I think I read 20 pages in college before I realized I had no idea what was going on. I bought the Preface to Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis to see if that would help, but I never got around to reading that either. And then Paradise Lost was mentioned several times in The Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare so I decided it was time to dust it off and finally read it!

Catherine - I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy years ago and it is awesome! He has a great sense of humor :) I hate trying to read series from the library. I usually end up buying the series if I want to read them.

Denise - I'm glad the theme read got you to read Jane Austen's minor works! I still need to read all of her novels, but it might be cool to read the other stuff she wrote.

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ]

I'm a titanic buff so bought The Discovery of the Titanic by Robert Ballard who find her, but for whatever reason had never gotten around to reading it. I've read other books about the ship, all non-fiction, just not his account of his lifelong search for her. As April 15th, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of her sinking... I've pulled it out to read it now.

[Elena]

I haven't read anything on my bookshelf yet because I keep buying more! Aaargh! I really need to stay off Amazon's website! Okay I will start (again) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that has been sitting on my nightstand for 1 year!!

[Catherine]

Briansgirl - I hope you thoroughly enjoy Ballard's account. I have not read it myself, but I did get to meet him while I was working at the Mystic Aquarium and Institute for exploration during the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the Titanic (Bob Ballard is the head of the Institute for Exploration)... If you ever get a chance to visit, they have a marvelous exhibit on the Titanic.

[Book Concierge]

Well, I'm almost done with Joshilyn Jackson's Gods in Alabama . Just have never gotten to it. One of the groups I belong to over on shelfari.com had a fun game that started this year ... we each number a list from 1-100, and completed each space with a title we wanted to clear from our tbr (we could repeat a title up to 4 times). Then we used a random "dice" throw to select the books we'd read. As we read, we threw the dice again and advanced on our "gameboard" that many spaces. I listed Gods in Alabama more than once .. and the dice FINALLY landed me on that title!

The game in the group is over, but I'm going to continue selecting books from my TBR in this fashion.

[Barbara]

Elena wrote: "I haven't read anything on my bookshelf yet because I keep buying more! Aaargh! I really need to stay off Amazon's website! Okay I will start (again) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that has bee..."

Once I started that series I couldn't put it down. If you're tempted to watch the movies after you're finished reading, I recommend the Swedish versions with the sub-titles. Much closer to the books. Disturbing but most excellent.

[Thalia]

Okay, I'll go with The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Mostly I haven't read it because, even though it short, it looks soooooo boring and doesn't sound interesting, but I've heard it's good. So I'm really trying, I swear. OTL

[Elena]

Barbara wrote: "Elena wrote: "I haven't read anything on my bookshelf yet because I keep buying more! Aaargh! I really need to stay off Amazon's website! Okay I will start (again) The Girl With The Dragon Tatto..."

I didn't see the American version because I was told how graphic it was and I can usually do without those real pictures in my head.I might try the other version though. I am looking forward to reading it now! Thanks!

[Barbara]

I didn't see the American version either. I was judging my opinion on the previews. The books and the Swedish films are graphic as well, certainly not for those weak of heart.

[Mhari]

I still haven't read Turn Coat by Jim Butcher. I'm a solid fan of the Dresden Files, but the particular title is a hardback that looks glaringly out of place on the shelf where all the previous titles are neatly lined up, all with coordinated covers (in mass market paperback format). My stepdaughter gave it to me as a birthday present, so I don't dare get rid of it yet, but when I pick up the series again, I'll have to make a final decision...

[ஐ Katya (Book Queen)ஐ]

Catherine wrote: "Briansgirl - I hope you thoroughly enjoy Ballard's account. I have not read it myself, but I did get to meet him while I was working at the Mystic Aquarium and Institute for exploration during the ..."

Would love to visit but I live in the center of the country, so am completely landlocked. I never get anywhere near an ocean, etc. I'm sure meeting Ballard would be interesting.

[April]

OK...the dustiest has to be Paradise Lost! ...and I've wanted to read it since it came into my home:) My husband had to read it in college, freshman year! So, because he had to read it and I did not...I wanted to make sure I was as smart as he was...so that is why it's been on my list. I've tried to start it time and again...but every time I would quit, give up...just put it away! So...I figured if I publicly announce that I'll be reading it...I'd have to! Now, my reasoning has changed a bit...I'm no longer worried about reading it because my man did...now I just want to read it because it's a famous book...and I like to have knowledge. I like to grow and learn because of what I read..(*I also like to read totally frivolous stuff!) But, now it has become my own challenge. So I think because my motivation has changed...I'll be able to get through it (provided I don't read it at night...unless I'm having a bout of insomnia...puts me right out!:) So THAT is why it has been on my list for WAY TOO LONG... but it's good to know that my reasons for keeping it there have hmmm...matured! LOL!:)

Oh..and bonus! Reading it this month:) Thank goodness I've got a buddy...Thanks Jessica! :) THAT should make progress a wee bit easier:) I'm already further than I've ever been~

[Alicia]

I'm going to pick 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveler' by Italo Calvino. I bought the book about a year ago. I was just browsing stuff at the bookstore and picked it up by chance. I read the first couple pages and was drawn into it immediately, but once I got home I set it aside. It's the book that's perpetually "next" on my reading list before I get distracted by an entire series, another author, or by something shiny. I actually started to read it yesterday and it's really interesting. So far the whole thing is written in the second person, which is a really tricky thing to get right but Calvino is pulling it off brilliantly. The back cover promises that this is "not one novel but ten, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense" so I suspect it'll be switching POV soon.

[Beth]

...Ethan Frome

I caught The Buccaneers on WPBY years ago and got interested. I figured then I must like the author so I went crazy on ebay buying up a bunch of books. So, I think I've had it over 10 years!
I haven't read it because I like how books look on a shelf more than actually reading them, maybe? Haha Turns out I really do prefer my ereader now and find it easier to finish a book that way, or via audio (which I use a lot). And classics are not my prefered genre so they get bypassed over and over and over again...

[Jennifer]

"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan

I've always meant to read it, but I actually got a copy after seeing the movie in a class on diversity in american drama. I loved the movie, and of course I then had to read the book. That was the summer before last, and I still haven't read it, mostly because it looks like the kind of book where you don't want to stop in the middle of chapter, and college has kept me busy. It also has the problem of not being a library book, because I always want to finish my library books before reading books in the house, and between my library books and my sister's I haven't gotten around to reading many of them. I will read it this year, and depending on how my non-college reading goes, I might get to start it this month.

[April Lyn]

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife is one that I've been meaning to read for a while now. I have it because my grandma-in-law gave it to me when I visited her in March 2011 and I was embarrassed not to have read it by this years vacation in March 2012. It's my plan to start it in the next couple days, as soon as I'm done with my current dusty book The Secret Life of Bees. There's no particular reason that I haven't gotten to it yet, except that it doesn't appear like it'd be a "quick, mindless read" and I've been looking to those a lot recently to balance out all the nonfiction I've been reading!

[Jessika]

Ooh, this sounds fun! I might try to do this for next month, even though it's not an "official" challenge. It's a good way to remember why you wanted to read it in the first place.

[Jessica]

Ooh tell me what book you pick Jessika! :)