2012: A Book a Week

I know that everyone is posting about resolutions & goals this month, so I really hate to join in...but, I am anyway.  As a great lover of lists, I am constantly adding to and revising my goals.  This time of year there is nothing really fun to do so the impulse to be unrealistically ambitious comes on extra strong.  As a general rule my mid-February ennui will bring about the end of ambition, but there's no harm in trying (this.  There can be harm in trying some things, like tightrope walking).

Of course, I have new (years) goals regarding all sorts of things, but they are ill-formed at this point and would always be boring to read about.  Most of them center around being less of a slob.  The only one I will be blogging about, or keeping track of in any consistent way, will be this: I would like to read a book a week.  School books do not count, because there is no way I would read a whole one in a week anyway (and because they are a sub-category of my 2-year goal of getting into medical school).

So, yeah.  Books.  In middle school this would not have been a goal I would have even considered.  Who needs incentive to read books?  With this in mind, I am also adding the requirement that I read one non-fiction and one classic(ish) book a month.  Of course, I have a fairly broad definition of classic so that will help.  For example: if I had not already read the Harry Potter books (several times) they would count, due to their important place in modern fantasy and children's literature.

As part of this quest, I will be blogging (eventually) all of the books that I read, with any comments, interesting sentences, or recommendations.

Right now I am working on Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is some sort of cross between regency drama and fantasy novel.  The story follows the careers of two men, Mr. Strange and Mr. Norrell, who would actually like to practice magic rather than simply discuss it.  I like the story, but the prose is extremely slow and dense.  The female characters are few and all play supporting roles due to the setting and the focus on the semi-respectable profession of magic in high-society London.  I am on page 450 (of 782).

Opening sentences: 

"Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians.  They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic." 

I would recommend this book for people who love both fantasy and historical fiction.  If you actually enjoy reading things like Jane Austen (which I can completely understand if you don't), then you will be able to handle the density of the prose and possibly be able to keep the characters straight.