A List of Readings Future: The Book List

In March, four titles that I have been looking forward to will be released: Jasper Fforde’s new Thursday Next adventure, One of Our Thursday Is Missing (March 8); James Hynes’ Next, which is available in hardcover, but I’m waiting for the paperback (March 9); Sarah Vowell’s latest historical tackle, Unfamiliar Fishes (March 22); and Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley Confidential (March 29). I have all four books in my Amazon cart, ready to order. I am strongly considering placing a pre-order for them because a) I know I want them and 2) having to wait until the end of March for all four will make April reading that much more interesting. And I’ll have saved them for the reading that’s to be done poolside in Cancún.

(An aside: this is a strange book list entry, to be sure, because it’s not a review; however, I have no other way of classifying it, so into the 2011 Book List category is goes. Whee!)

So why am I looking forward to these four books? Well, I’m happy to explain!

One of Our Thursday Is Missing, Jasper Fforde: The sixth entry in the Thursday Next series, Fforde’s latest novel finds written Thursday Next at the center of the book’s plot as the real Thursday disappears. Highly imaginative, punny (sorry, Mathgeek) and clever in its observations of society of the book world (both that world of books in the novels and the real world of book publishing—apparently Vanity publishing is a new player), the novel, like many Fforde novels, is sure to be a mind-twister. Shame that Fforde won’t be coming back to Politics & Prose this year (as he did for 2010’s Shades of Grey).  However, because Fforde’s world is very complex and it’s been a few years since I read any of the Thursday Next books, I may read the last one, First Among Sequels, to reacquaint myself with the characters and where their situations last left off.  I read them all in a breathless and delighted rush in 2008. I’m looking forward to jumping back into that world.

Next, James Hynes: I came to Hynes in the early 2000s and found his wicked humor and observations on the world of academia (especially English departments) to be delightful (I remember highly enjoying The Lecturer’s Tale, but blanked completely on it when IP read it last year and we tried to discuss it; it merits a reread). I had already been disillusioned by my experiences in the Toronto grad student world and had no desire to trek forward into the minefield of doctoral programs, and then the politics of academia as a (most likely) low-level adjunct. Combined with IP’s own experiences in academia, I dropped the academic path and really haven’t regretted it. While Next has been out in hardcover for a while, and while I enjoy reading about twisted academic politics and the characters that enact them, I could wait. This particular plot weaves terrorism into its plot. Add to the fact that Hynes was at the University of Michigan and his character is trying to leave Michigan (he’s an editor, I assume with University of Michigan Press), and I’m even more intrigued. Will there be takedowns of the departments and organizations I so admired (and still do as my undergraduate shine hasn’t been taken away in pursuit of post-graduate work there)? We shall see. (Ed. Note: Amazon says that paperback in now in stock, but the release date is March 9, 2011. Hmm.)

Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell: I find Sarah Vowell to be utterly delightful, and felt offended on her behalf when Sloane Crosley’s writing was compared to hers. This time, Sarah Vowell’s knack for capturing particular moments in United States history takes her to Hawaii and its annexation in 1898. I have a particular interest in Hawaii because it’s a gateway to the U.S.’s other territories and commonweals in the Pacific—having worked extensively in all of them, and having visited some of the other areas that are under American influence (Compact of Free Association), I am always intrigued when discussing the effects of Americanization on all of these lands. While I don’t think there will be a ton of discussion on Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, they are influenced tremendously by Hawaiian politics and maneuverings (in the pursuit of federal dollars, Hawaii is the big brother while Guam and CNMI are struggling to catch up; Guam in particular has the chance to become a major player, especially with the impending military buildup that will flood the island, but it needs to redirect its efforts and organize). In sum, Hawaii’s Americanization helps inform the Americanization of places like CNMI and Guam, and I am eager to read this. Throw in Vowell’s incredible detail and writing and I am sold. Because my focus has been so much on the other islands, reorienting myself with Hawaii’s history will be useful, too.

Sweet Valley Confidential, Francine Pascal: Cheesy? Yes.  However, I’m still looking forward to this because I was an avid Sweet Valley reader as a kid. I started with Sweet Valley Twins and attempted to get into Sweet Valley High, but my mother thwarted me when I borrowed Dear Sister from the library; my mom would sneak into my room after I had fallen asleep and raid my book bag, taking the book to devour it, too; she did not like the part where Bruce Patman almost seduces the usually innocent Elizabeth Wakefield (who had undergone a personality transformation after a motorcycle accident and was acting more like her sister, Jessica) and touches—gasp!!—her breasts! The High books contained a disclaimer that the books were intended for kids 12 years and older, and I was all of nine or ten. My mom enforced this with a vengeance even though she loved those books, too. So I was never able to read as many High books as Twins (I got through about 40 of those compared to maybe five from the High series), but I got the general idea: Elizabeth was a patronizing Mary Sue and Jessica was a psychopathic blonde intent on getting her way. This book is set ten years later. I’ve already read an excerpt from the first chapter and it is laughably horrible, but I’m still looking forward to this. A preview: Elizabeth now lives in New York City and is best friends with Bruce Patman; she is not speaking to Jessica (who still lives in Sweet Valley, California) because Jess has once again betrayed her (how much you want to bet that Jessica slept with Elizabeth’s husband or fiancé or boyfriend, who will of course be Todd Wilkins?). It will be a clusterfuck of horribleness and I will be laughing at every word or throwing the book down in disgust. I think if I read the Sweet Valley book in Cancún, IP will get irritated with my snorts of laughter and my groans of derision, but it must  be read.

So, a List of Readings Future.*

Onto the book list.

Finished:

1) Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
2) Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work by Tim Gunn and Ada Calhoun
3) Beneath the Lion’s Gaze: A Novel by Maaza Mengiste
4) Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
5) Destiny and Desire: A Novel by Carlos Fuentes; Translated by Edith Grossman
6) The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
7) Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
8) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
9) The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir
10) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
11) The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Re-read:

1) Threads by Nell Gavin

Currently Reading:

1) Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Husband or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

1) The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
2) Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

* I must note that the reason these still aren’t on the waiting to be read list is because they haven’t been purchased; the list features exclusively books that are already in our possession, or are winging their way towards us. If a pre-order is made before the next book list, they will all be added to the next book list.