Reading In 2011

Ok...

I'm taking a hint from some valued friends and taking my reading schedule for this year into the realm of SERIOUS.  It's not going to work for me this year to just haphazardly pick up whatever's on my shelf and dive right in.  That presents problems, most notably:

THE CURSE OF REREADING.

Anybody else do this?  Pick up a book that you're familiar with because you want to reread a section or check a fact, and before you know it... you've been reading the dang thing for two hours already.  And now you have to finish it.  Again.  For the seventeenth time.

So, here we go.  The list.  I'm including the ones I've already read, just to make my list feel bigger.  And I'm counting on YOU, blogosphere, to help me flesh this thing out:

Completed:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
White Fang by Jack London
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (accidental reread... whoops)

To Be Completed:
On Writing by Stephen King
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (This is a non-negotiable reread. Don't Judge.)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Girl who... by Stieg Larsson (All 3)
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

That's all I've got on deck so far... any suggestions?

A View From Above

So, Jill and I really love our apartment.  We really, really do.  Most of the features are kind of a double-edged sword.  Pros and cons in a package deal.  For example.

1. The Kitchen: our kitchen is so lovely and small.  Cooking a meal with Jillian is like an elaborate dance.  In fact, we have choreography practices twice a week.  Hopefully, that will prevent me from dumping tomato sauce all over her or accidentally stabbing her with a kitchen knife.

2. The Walls: the walls are delightfully thin.  This way, if there is a national emergency we'll be able to hear the sirens before anyone else.  Or, if Publisher's Clearing House tromps up our stairs, we can greet them smilingly at the door.  It also means that when our neighbor sings made-up jazz songs, we get a front row seat.

3. The Trains: our apartment is nestled right next to what must be the last 18th century iron horse track in the nation.  The companies who own this track have quaintly decided to eschew modern forms of transportation for the nostalgic Americana that is the locomotive.  We love to hear the sound of centuries-old progress as we lie in our beds at four in the morning.

Like I said, we really do love our apartment.  There's one feature, though, that came completely sans-cons: our balcony.  Surrounded by trees, furnished with a perfect table and two chairs, and facing directly west, our balcony is ice-cold lemonade, lightning bugs, and luxury.

Or it will be as soon as this gol-danged cold snap passes.  But I digress...