Well, a new year is fast approaching, and for me this entails a new book list to pound through and enjoy. My theme last year was simply “50 books or bust.” I actually read 84, and except for a few notables, loved every one of them. 2011 is going to have a more structured theme: multiples and minis. By this, I mean books in a series, multiple books by one author, or multiple books on a subject, always followed by slim volumes less than 150 pages, minis. I have a long way to go to complete my list, and I always leave room for unexpected departures, but here is what the first couple of months should look like.
Multiples
Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marías (3vol.)
- Fever and Spear
- Dance and Dream
- Poison, Shadow, and Farewell
Three history books on 18th and 19th century European history by Adam Zamoyski
- Moscow 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March
- Rites of peace: the fall of Napoleon and the congress of Vienna
- Holy Madness: romantics, patriots, and revolutionaries 1776-1871.
The Writing on the Wall by Count Miklos Banffy (3vol.)
- They were counted
- They were found wanting
- They were divided
Two travel books by Patrick Leigh Fermor
- A Time of Gifts: from the hook of Holland to the middle Danube
- Between the Woods and the Water: from the middle Danube to the Iron Gates
Minis
Bad Nature: or Elvis in Mexico by Javier Marías
Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig
The Museum of useless efforts by Cristina Peri Rossi
Old masters: a comedy by Thomas Bernhard
Running Away by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
I’m interested; tell me what books you plan to read in the new year.
