Patricia Harrelson

Some days, I bemoan the fact that I’m a laboriously slow reader. People think that because I’ve read a lot of books, I’m a fast reader, but that simply isn’t so. My daughter-in-law is a fast reader. My friend Bernadette from college who became a book reviewer is a phenomenally fast reader. Me, I’m just a plugger. I devote a good deal of time to reading but always feel like there is not enough time for all that I want to read. When I discovered audiobooks, I added hours to my reading time–thanks to my friend Christine who poked me in that direction for years before I tried it. Now I read/listen when I exercise, drive, and garden and sometimes when I do housework. But still I don’t feel like there is enough time for reading.

Instead of writing new year’s resolutions, one of my favorite bloggers, Alison Luterman, over at See How We Almost Fly wrote a list of books she wants to read in 2008. Allow me to copy that practice. Here are the books I want to read this year in no particular order:

The Gathering by Anne Enright

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman (non-fiction)

Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill

Waiting by Ha Jin

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan (and his new book too)

The Denial of Death Ernest Becker (non-fiction)

Who is My Self? A Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Ayya Khema

Speciman Days by Michael Cunningham

A History of Love by Nicole Krause

The Pacific and Other Stories by Mark Helprin

Here are the poets I will read this year: Mary Rose O’Reilley, Patricia Fargnoli, Alicia Ostricker, Leonard Cohen.

I would love to have recommendations from friends who read. Andrea, Anne, Christine are you there? Please all of you readers tell me your “must reads.”

ph