Okay, so, a few quick things about me (assuming you are not a family member, a friend who I have told I am starting a blog, or someone who has overheard a conversation I was having with someone else about same) that you may want to know. I own a lot of books. I read a lot, but I own even more on the off chance that there may be a blizzard and I'm stuck by myself, and for some reason I have enough firewood that burning the books would not be necessary for my survival, and I also have plenty of food (I don't want to go insane with fear in this hypothetical blizzard). I'm sure as a consumer you know this feeling. It is the reason people own copies of the board game Risk and a copy of The Seven Samurai (by the way, anyone who would like to make a comment about how awesome and accessible The Seven Samurai is so that my wife will watch it with me, I would really appreciate it. My argument that it is a four hour black and white movie in Japanese was sort of a nonstarter). One day there will be an afternoon or five when I will read 160 novels without pause and this will somehow not alienate me from my family and friends, nor will it make me forget about various important commitments I have to myself, such as personal grooming (or to others, like pet poop scooping). So, yes, my bookshelves are impressive looking, and while I have read a lot of the books on my shelf one might get the impression by looking at these shelves that I am a literary dynamo (in terms of reading) and, to be fair, this is not an impression I generally dissuade people of. Sometimes if someone comments on the number of books I have, I give a little bashful smile and shrug, but part of me always knows the deception involved. I've never read The Brothers Karamazov, and there it is on my shelf taking up quite a bit of space. And Mason & Dixon...that's a huge book, and, again, no I've never read it. One day I will. One magical day when I have time and feel like it. Or if there is a blizzard. And I have firewood. And food.
Now the Pulitzer Prize is an easily identifiable stamp of quality, that for years I had all but ignored when deciding what to pick up. Sure, I would note if a book I was reading had won the Pulitzer, especially if I was telling a friend they should check it out. I always feel that my recommendation might not be good enough, and a Pulitzer is sort of like a thumbs up from the Universe. Then last year I decided to see how many Pulitzer Prize winners I had read (thank you Wikipedia). I was a little surprised. I have a Bachelors and a Masters in English Lit. I have been an avid reader for quite some time. I think I had read like ten books. In order to make myself feel better I pulled up another list of "best books," which are pretty much a dime a dozen (a list that kind of cracked me up had Atlas Shrugged as the best book ever) and in no way are they really accurate since rating a book is entirely subjective. So in an entirely subjective way I decided to look at the Time Magazine Top 100. I did a little better on that list, but again, not as well as I would have wanted. So I decided, this will be my goal. This will be what I do. My reading has direction, at least for the next couple of years. And it will take me a couple of years. I know this. I am a deliberate reader, but slow, so very slow.
My purpose writing a blog is this: I will discuss my process of reading books on these two lists. My goal will be to celebrate the books on the list that I love and straight dis the ones I didn't. Not really, I will try to be respectful since winning a Pulitzer is more than I will ever do. But I know me, and I know I won't have much in the way of nice things to say about some books (I'm looking at you Eudora Welty). I will also not reveal huge plot details without ample warning. So, there's that.
Now, I hope you enjoy. I hope I have the sticktoitiveness to do this thing up right. And...begin.
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