Off Topic: Settling Into the Sleepy, Cicada Song Drone of August

Friend, blogger and fellow C-villian, That Girl, got me hip to this New Classics Reading Challenge and the timing couldn't be better. I am trying to turn off the TV and spend more time creating (in the garden, in the sewing room, in the kitchen) . . . and reading.

I agree with That Girl that this isn't the end-all-be-all list for me, yet the New Classics List gives me some new ideas. With vacations planned for a lake up in Michigan and a beach on the East Coast, these should weather airport layovers and sand-in-between-the-pages nicely. Oh, and I actually have until January 2009 to finish all six.

First, what I have read.

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)

And, the six-book list for my challenge.

5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)

And, what I have on my bedside table right now. To finish before the challenge.

Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, Michael Pollan