required reading

I've been more modest in my reading ambitions this year than I have in the past; I set myself the target of reading 50 books by the end of 2007, and I haven't decided to read War and Peace or all of Proust and Dickens. Instead, I was challenged to pick ten books from my shelves to read before buying any new ones.

I feel all over-indulged in book-buying anyway. The feeling you have after Christmas and New Year when your body is crying out for fruit and vegetables and would quite like a little rest and no, no more chocolates in shiny coloured wrappers, and no more mince pies and Christmas cake with Wensleydale - that's what I have with bookshops at the moment. Too much choice, too many conflicting desires, and far too many Christmas novelty books have soured the experience. So over the next few weeks I'm going to steer clear of the shops, and read the following, picked from my bookshelves at midnight last night (when I finished A Spot of Bother):

1. The Virginian, by Owen Wister. I don't know anything about this novel, save that it's the first great Cowboy novel. I never really warmed to Cowboy films, and I never read Cowboy novels, so I don't have many preconceived ideas about this book, apart from the fact that it will certainly involve horses. I can guarantee this, because I read the first page this morning, and there is definitely a horse.  

2. To The Lighthouse. It feels horrible admitting that I haven't read it yet, but if you want to really embarrrass me, you can ask me how many Dickens novels I've read!

3. This Thing of Darkness, by Harry Thompson. It's long, and it looks engrossing, and there's nothing better.

4. Stendhal, The Red and the Black. I really don't know much about this either (do you see the general theme emerging here). The reader reviews on Amazon are amusingly pretentious, so I hope it will be very good for me!

5. Thus Spake Zarathustra. I'm slightly over-awed by this choice; I didn't even look at what the Amazon reviewers wrote, out of fear!

6. Genius, Grief, and Grace. This book is an exploration of the psychological makeup of eleven well-known Christians, including C.S. Lewis, Christina Rossetti, William Cowper, and  Gerard Manley-Hopkins. Christians are sometimes focussed so much on success and strength- not as the rest of the world views success and strength, perhaps, but our own take on it. We want the world and all our friends to see us and our faith without any cracks. I hope that this book will be a counterpoint to that approach, as it examines the lives of Christians who suffered from depression.

7. Figes - Natasha's Dance. This is subtitled A Cultural History of Russia. I don't read much non-fiction, but this was recommended to me by a friend, and I love Russian literature and history.

8. Coupland - Eleanor Rigby. I couldn't take those big heavy books all the way.

9. Jansson - A Winter's Book. This was written by the creator of the Moomins. I think that it is a collection of short stories based on the author's childhood. It had a fabulous review from Boyd Tonkin in the Independent

10. Faulks - Human Traces. I picked this up from the 10p shelf at work last year. I read Birdsong when I was 16 and absolutely loved it. I think I might find it a little mawkish now if I re-read it, and I didn't warm to any other of Faulks' novels. But this looks a little darker, so it is worth a try. With any luck it will be long and engrossing!