Rhinoceros Running

The Officially Dangerous Titles

http://dangerouslychallenge.blogspot.com/

• January: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
• February: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• March: Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood
• April: Transformations, by Anne Sexton
• May: Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote
• June: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
• July: The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
• August: Maus I and II, by Art Spiegelman
• September: The Secret Lives of People in Love, by Simon Van Booy
• October: The Human Stain, by Philip Roth
• November: Assorted Short Stories
• December: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

Why not

• January: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens Being forced to read multiple volumes of Dickens in junior high has put me off him, forever. I have been watching some of the Bleak House stuff on PBS. I figure if I really want to be that depressed, I’ll just stop taking my meds.
• February: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison Read this already, and I found it devastating. Definitely a must-read, but once is probably enough for me. Again, I figure if I really want to be that depressed, I’ll just stop taking my meds.
• March: Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood I just never got into Ms. Atwood, and life is too short to read uninteresting books. Slogging through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables taught me that.
• April: Transformations, by Anne Sexton Read this, as well as other works. I also highly recommend the biography by Diane Middlebrook. Outstanding.
• May: Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote Not to be a snot, but this doesn’t qualify as a dangerous read to me.
• July: The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier Not to be a snot, but this doesn’t qualify as a dangerous read to me.
• November: Assorted Short Stories Not to be a snot, but this doesn’t qualify as a dangerous read to me.
• December: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck Not to be a snot, but this doesn’t qualify as a dangerous read to me.

My Officially Dangerous TERRIFYING! Titles

My goal for this challenge is to really challenge myself to read the big, terrifying books on my shelves. With just a couple of exceptions, I already own all these books, but I’m too stubborn to give them away until I’ve really, really tried to give them a fair read.

This will be the most difficult of the nine challenges I’ve accepted for 2008, and I’ve placed it at the top of  my list of priorities along with the 2008 Russian Reading Challenge. I know my list of books to read is overly ambitious, but I figure if I shoot high, I’ll achieve more than making “realistic” goals in this area.

• January: Europe Central, by William Vollman I have consistently loved the National Book Award winners, of which this is one. I started it a while ago, but it’s HARD. Time to get through it! UPDATE: Ulysses, by James Joyce
• February: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy Because Mr. McCarthy writes devastating stuff. I’ve started other books, but I find them emotionally very difficult. Time to challenge myself.
• March: No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. See above. 
• April: Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. I tried this book before. Kicked. My. Ass.  
• May: Ulysses, by James Joyce. I find this so intimidating, I’ve owned it for years without cracking it open. UPDATE: Europe Central, by William Vollman I pushed this to May, from it’s original January slot.
• June: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov Challenge accepted! 
• July: The Danzig Trilogy, by Gunter Grass More German Lit-Trit-Ture to prep for Maus.
• August: Maus I and II, by Art Spiegelman Challenge Accepted! 
• September: The Secret Lives of People in Love, by Simon Van Booy Challenge Accepted!
• October: The Human Stain, by Philip Roth Challenge Accepted!
• November: Marcel Proust, A Life, by Jean-Yves Tadie I don’t know what possessed me to buy this behemoth of a book, but I did, and it’s supposed to be good. I started it once, but it’s a meaty read because of the vocab. After a year of intensive study, I hope I’m ready.
• December: Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism, by John Updike This got a great review, from the NY Times Book Review, if I remember correctly, and I also feel a vague sense of guilt for not being more familiar with the work of a modern literary lion.