All the Books I Haven’t Read … Yet

I’m calling myself out. 

I went around to 3 of my 5 bookshelves in the house, collecting books I’ve started to read, but haven’t finished. And here they are: 

But, let me explain (offer some lame excuses). This is how I read: I have 3-5 books that I’m actively reading, one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, one by a living room chair.  I usually finish one or two in a timely manner. Recently though, other things have pulled me away from my books; things that take up my time, are more interesting at the time, or are plain required and unavoidable. 

The first stack, annoyingly crooked, sitting on top of the pile, are books that frankly, I may never finish. It’s not because I don’t like them (I didn’t even bother putting that category in this picture), but because of the nature of their contents: poetry. I am not naturally drawn to poetry, but “they” say it’s good for a person to read some, so this is my effort at expanding my literary range. 

*The Poems and Plays of Robert Browning: I’ve read a few poems here and there in it, I’m sure there is some edifying content, I just haven’t found it yet. 

*The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Some of her poems sink right down into my soul, sit beside it and give it a hug. Others make my brain hurt. A good book to have when you have lots of interrupted time, because the poems are short. 

*Minority Report by H. L. Mencken: Not poetry, really. A collection of his religiphobic, egoistic, name-calling, judgmental commentary on society. I use it as practice for refutation, but he’s not all bad, I do agree with him at times. 

*Herbert: Poems by George Herbert, a Christian poet. 

*Shadow and Light: A collection of faith based literature. I’ve read the short stories and essays and am stuck at the poetry section. 

*Collected Narrative and Lyrical Poetry by Alexander Pushkin: Because I love 19th Century Russian writers, I thought I’d try a 19th Century Poet. Interesting. A few poems resonate with my heart strings, but he wrote a lot of lecherous poems, which makes sense to his life. He spent a large part of it stealing affection and “favors” from other mens’ wives, then died in a duel against a man who messed with his wife. 

The two piles on the bottom are novels/non-poetry I have started, but fully intend to finish. 

*Sagas of Icelanders  

Sometimes the raucous, Greek-tragedy like lives of these hardy Vikings gets to be a bit much, and the names all start to jumble together, and I take a break. I am determined to finish it, though.

*The Conquest of Gaul by Cesaer

I started this in 2014 while waiting for my older son to participate in events at robotics competitions. Now I take it to my younger son’s activities. It’s interesting for its historical content of Caesar’s part in the Gallic Wars (in France and Belgium at the time), however true it is. It’s an old cheap paperback, I won’t be upset if I lose it.  

*None Like Him by Jen Wilkin  

A regrettable buy, a contemporary book about the attributes of God, that I wish were more … deep. 

*The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

A book about Christian discipleship that I wish were more … readable. It is my fault, I think, that I don’t find it easy to read. It is translated from German and I find the syntax and flow a little terse and rough. But the book does not lack depth. 

*The Letters of Vincent VanGogh 

A fascinating look into VanGogh’s life and times. Boy, did he make some bad life decisions, and some really great pictures. He had talent and insight to see shapes and colors like no one else could. Probably due to the absinthe he drank regularly. 

*The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang 

A collection of fairy stories (folk tales) from around the world, collated by Lang. (He published 12 of these, I think. I own 6.) Some of these stories are very weird, but they all carry some shared essence of human existence that is fun to try to identify. 

*American Dreams: Lost and Found by Studs Terkel

 This is a book of short descriptive interviews with a beautiful cross section of Americans, from beauty queens to business executives to social workers to housewives, about their lives and philosophies. Printed in 1983, my copy has water stains and smells old, but it’s a great book to have when you have a lot of interrupted time, and if you find people, in general, interesting. 

*Unspoken Sermons, I, II & III by George MacDonald 

Not as gripping and attractively weird as his fiction, so I have trouble getting through some of these. 

*Trollius and Criseyde by Chaucer

 Eh. This one may just never get finished. 

*Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

If you’ve read Augustine and found him ridiculously self -deprecating, don’t read this one. It has infinite value, though, and much wisdom. 

*The Diary of a Writer, by Dostoevsky 

I think this is a collation of things he published in the newspaper. Some of the themes you find in his novels peak through these shorter pieces. It is a big book, that man had a lot of intelligent things to say. 

*The Portable MFA 

I got through the fiction chapter, but struggle to read through the poetry, screen play, essay and biography chapters. These chapters are written by writing teachers who are also authors (no mainstream, recognizable names) and as I find in so many writing books, are a tutorial on how to “write like I write.” 

*Telling True Stories 

I thought it would help me with my non-fiction. It is a transcribed book from Harvard’s Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, full of great authors giving great advice, but trying to read written passages that have been spoken is a little off-putting, but I’m sure it’s worth it … when I get to it. 

*Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr

 I loved his The Nature and Destiny of Man and this book is just as interesting, but I can’t read it if I don’t put my thinking cap on. I can’t seem to find my thinking cap just now. 

*Twice Told Tales, by Hawthorne 

Dry, wordy stories, but worth adding to my mental literary bank. 

*Great Short Works by Fyodor Dostoevsky 

I’ve read most of his short stories (they are not short, more like novellas), and have just a few to finish. 

*The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas 

This is a loooong book. Maybe I’ll start it again when I’m done with that other looong book, Sagas of Icelanders. 

*Waiting for God, the letters of Simone Weil

 Again, full of interesting, valuable insights on faith and God, but will make anyone feel like an hedonistic, soulless, profligate pagan.

*The Age of Bede 

A look at some saints around the UK, before the Reformation. 

*Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak 

I saw parts of the movie, and because I love Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn, thought I should read Pasternak. Not as edifying, but then again, I’m only half-way through.  

*Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The story is great, along the lines of Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure stories, but I find it hard to read. Awkward to read. I tried reading it out loud to my son, and I found myself stopping, pausing and stumbling over sentences because of the way they were written–perfectly comprehensible, but awkwardly constructed. As if the style were somewhere between Old English and modern day. 

And now that I've put them in a list, on a blog that anyone can see (though not many people do, and that's ok with me), it has given me impetus to get these books in my brain. Since taking the picture above, I've knocked a few off the list. 

Thank you for tolerating me.