{"id":1337,"date":"2012-12-28T09:27:35","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T15:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2012-12-28T09:27:35","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T15:27:35","slug":"final-2012-personal-reading-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

FINAL results on books I\u2019ve read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

One Sunday, when we\u2019d gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to avoid getting embroiled in a local marathon that shuts down all the streets around our church (don\u2019t ask \u2026 Tom has been enraged before to the point of risking arrest for civil disobedience).<\/p>\n

Wait, what was I saying?<\/p>\n

Oh. Right.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we were sitting around until about 1 p.m. in our jammies talking about cabbages and kings and whether pigs have wings \u2026 and<\/em> about reading and classics. I realized that I have a handful of certifiable classics which I really want to read but that I keep acting as if the Reading Fairy is going to drop extra time and a book on my lap when I\u2019ll suddenly begin reading.<\/p>\n

Bravely taking responsibility on myself, I made a list.<\/p>\n

I love making lists. Don\u2019t you? And crossing things off them.<\/p>\n

So here are my \u201cmust reads\u201d \u2026 I may not get through all of them in 2012, but I will be trying to always be reading one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.<\/p>\n

2012 Classics<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Brothers Karamazov \u2013 Dostoyevsky (begun on Jan. 1 \u2013 dropped in a few weeks. Looking for either an audio version or a different translation as I just couldn\u2019t connect with that one, though I read 150 pages. Began it again a month later. Dropped it again.) <\/span>Turns out that our book club chose this for 2013 \u2026 so I will be reading it but will take it off my \u201cpersonal\u201d reading list since it is no longer a self-imposed book.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Bleak House- Dickens \u2026 loved it!\u00a0(review<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0 review\/discussion at<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>A Good Story is Hard to Find<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Middlemarch \u2013 Eliot<\/li>\n
  4. Belly of Paris (Emile Zola)<\/li>\n
  5. Last Call \u2013 Tim Powers (not a true classic, I know \u2026 but still a \u201cchallenging\u201d read which is what all these are for me)<\/em><\/li>\n
  6. A Movable Feast \u2013 Hemingway<\/li>\n
  7. The Four Quartets \u2013 T.S. Eliot<\/li>\n
  8. Wuthering Heights \u2026 partway through and then had to take a break because I just hate Catherine and Heathcliff so very much. Will resume in 2013.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2012 Religion<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Introduction to the Devout Life \u2013 St. Francis de Sales \u2026 have begun this.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. The Way of Perfection \u2013 St. Teresa of Avila<\/li>\n
    3. The Sabbath \u2013 Abraham Heschel (read this in the spring and, although Heschel\u2019s writing could be high concept at times, found it riveting. The idea of living in sacred time, of time being our temple on earth is fascinating and one that I find very helpful in prayer.)<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Introduction to Christianity \u2013 Ratzinger,\u00a0now Pope Benedict XVI\u00a0<\/span>LOVED IT!\u00a0Dense but accessible in tons of places.\u00a0(excerpts and review\u00a0at Goodreads<\/a>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Joan of Arc \u2013 Mark Twain<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      2012 Rereading<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The Sand Pebbles<\/li>\n
      2. Fahrenheit 451 \u2013 Bradbury (read this for A Good Story is Hard to Find<\/a>\u00a0podcast and found it very thought provoking and more poetically written than I recalled.)<\/span><\/li>\n
      3. Fire and Hemlock \u2013 Diana Wynne Jones<\/li>\n
      4. Lark Rise \u2013 Flora Thompson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        2012 Nonfiction<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. A Short History of Nearly Everything \u2013 Bryson (tried it a couple of times and realized that I didn\u2019t actually care about the short history of nearly everything. Not Bryson\u2019s fault. So it is off the list.)<\/span><\/li>\n
        2. Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life \u2013 Margaret Kim Peterson<\/li>\n
        3. On Pilgrimage \u2013 Jennifer Lash<\/li>\n
        4. Twain\u2019s Feast \u2013 Beahrs<\/li>\n
        5. Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature (A good although flawed look at how revisionist tactics and understanding literature do not mix. The flaws come more from the author\u2019s vehemence and also some surprising gaps in authors covered. I mean to say, can one really discuss American literature without even mentioning Steinbeck?)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          FINAL results on books I\u2019ve read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we\u2019d gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to avoid getting embroiled in a local marathon that shuts down all the streets around our church (don\u2019t ask \u2026 Tom has been enraged before to the point of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julie Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julie Davis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/\",\"name\":\"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d\"},\"description\":\"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d\",\"name\":\"Julie Davis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julie Davis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/juliedavis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge","description":"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge","og_description":"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/","og_site_name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","article_published_time":"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00","author":"Julie Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julie Davis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/","name":"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-28T15:27:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d"},"description":"FINAL results on books I've read (or dropped) thus far. Originally written in December 2011. One Sunday, when we'd gone to the Vigil Mass on Saturday to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2012\/12\/final-2012-personal-reading-challenge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FINAL-2012 Personal Reading Challenge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/","name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d","name":"Julie Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Julie Davis"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/juliedavis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}