Sharpening the Saw

It's sad, but when you have very little free time, sometimes a list is what's needed to get a reading habit going again. Here's my reading plan for this year (italics are re-reads):

1. A Feast For Crows* (George R R Martin)

2. Dancing Barefoot (Wil Wheaton)

3. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit (Daniel Quinn)

4. The Angel of Darkness** (Caleb Carr)

5. Neverwhere: A Novel (Neil Gaiman)

6. Iliad*** (Homer)

7. The Song of Troy (Colleen McCullough)

8. Lost in Translation (Nicole Mones) -- not the movie, though I wouldn't mind springing for a DVD if it's really that good

9. The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth (Ralph C Wood)

10. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)

11. LOTR: The Two Towers (JRR Tolkien)

12. LOTR: Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)****



We'll see how many of these I actually get through.

I don't do resolutions. Only book lists.



* And about time too; it's been two (three?) years since A Storm of Swords. For a while I was worried Martin might be going the way of Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series, which has taken far to long to complete. I think I gave up after The Dragon Reborn (Book Three) because I didn't have the time to wait for the next book to hit the mass market -- that would have been when I was finishing NS and had leave to clear.

It might take me while to read the first three books again to get myself back into the story.

** Another old one, but I haven't gotten around to reading it. Enjoyed the first one (The Alienist) immensely though.

*** Need a refresh for Troy.

**** Which, if I time it right, should place me in good stead for when the Extended DVD Edition of LOTR:ROTK arrives from TAU, assuming I still trust them to deliver the goods -- it's been three-and-a-half months and my last order hasn't arrived.