ROW80, Intimidating Books, and NaNoWriMo

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Top ten list of intimidating books!

I first posted about intimidating books back in 2013.

My list at the time was as follows:

  1. War and Peace
  2. Crime and Punishment (but I've read other books by Dostoyevsky)
  3. Anna Karenina
  4. Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul in Turkish and/or Turkish translation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander
  5. German translation of Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn
  6. another French book -- I asked for suggestions
  7. Le Morte d'Arthur
  8. "numbers 8, 9, 10 and higher up belong to... anything on an ereader! So far I've only read one ebook in its entirety, Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I read it on my phone, and while the experience wasn't a bad one, I just can't seem to settle down to regular e-reading. Meanwhile, the books are piling up - 50 of them last time I checked my Kindle for iPad!"

How things have changed since then!

I still haven't read the first two, but not only have I read Anna Karenina, I read it on the Kindle app on my phone!

Looking at the app now, I see I've already read 170 books, and 36 have been started. I still prefer reading books on paper, but it's undeniably handy to have books on my phone if I'm ever caught somewhere without a book in progress -- and at every hour of the night with a sleeping (or not) baby in the same bed.

Also, for this year's annual reread of The Lord of the Rings, I decided to do it on the Kindle app. It feels odd. It's more distracting. In some instances I'm noticing wording that seems different. I've highlighted those to check against the authorized paperback.

I'm still behind in reading Turkish books, never mind German, but have kept up with French reading, especially after discovering Joel Dicker.

I still have the same opinion about Malory as I did in 2013: "I've read bits and pieces, and all sorts of other versions of the Arthurian tales, but haven't read all of Malory's version yet. For someone used to Tolkien, the Morte d'Arthur just seems so haphazard, to say the least. And I feel badly for even criticising it..."

I wish I'd added Moby Dick to the original list, because I've now read and enjoyed it!

Here, then, is my current list:

Top Ten Intimidating Books I Would Like To Read

  1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul in Turkish, as well as The Museum of Innocence
  4. German translation of Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn
  5. Le Morte d'Arthur by Mallory
  6. more Greeks and Romans! I haven't read any Ovid or Aristotle, yet, for instance. Also some Old English, such as Bede
  7. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  8. Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen
  9. The Three Musketeers by Dumas, in French
  10. 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

That should last me for another six years...

As for ROW80, I've been completely wrapped up in school. I have started another knitting project! I'm doing what I hardly ever do, knitting a test piece before embarking on the actual project.

NaNoWriMo starts on Friday. I don't even have a blurb for The Antipodean Time, though I have got a timeline, and an endless list of Ask Me Anything questions. I hope they're enough to carry me through...

Here is a sample for those of you who are writing. Actually, I think I'll put them in a new tab on this blog (it's up! Under the AMA page.)

Sample story questions for characters
Can you fix an engine?

Are you awkward at parties?

What project have you spent the most time on?

Have you ever had to fight for something you cared deeply about?

Have you ever had to hurt someone, whether you wanted to or not? Would you?

If you hurt one to get at the other, what does that say about you?

There's a definite grief to having what you love stripped away by someone else, don't you think?

What are you going to gain from that?

Have you ever shown mercy to someone you know has done you wrong?


Are you doing NaNo?
Add me (denizb33) as a buddy!

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