After getting about three hours of sleep last night (blame a rough night at derby and a mind that just wouldn’t. stop. THINKING), I’m definitely looking forward to bidding Monday au revoir. Or ciao. Or goodbye. Whatever your language of choice.

• Date began: Jan. 25, 2012
• Genre: Fiction
• Project: n/a
• Reading List: Winter 2011-12
• Got it: At one point, I took stock of all of Joel’s and my books and made a list of the books we owned that I hadn’t read (within reason — I’m not picking up his engineering textbooks anytime soon). The Scarlet Pimpernel was a book of Joel’s I hadn’t read. Joel can’t really tell me why he owns it — he can’t remember reading it — and I’m a little confused on that score as well (we took the same high school English classes). But you know me: if there’s a book in the house I haven’t read: watch out.
• Why I picked it up: See above (re: watch out!). On a side note: it’s always a little refreshing to stumble across a “classic” that I know nothing about. I mean, I had heard of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but after reading the back of the book, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about it. This is kind of fun, but I also assume these books are challenging me, and so I tend to attack them mercilessly.
• Back of the book: By 1792, the idealism of the French Revolution had degenerated into a Reign of Terror. Ruthless mobs ruled the streets of Paris; and each day, hundreds of royals were executed by the guillotine, with hundreds more condemned to follow. Their only hope lay in being rescued by the Scarlet Pimpernel, the daring leader of an English faction that spirited aristocrats across the Channel to safety. But who was this Pimpernel, whose nom de guerre derived from the scarlet wildflower he employed as a calling card? First published in 1905, this historical adventure story — timeless in its appeal — is an irresistible blend of romance, intrigue, and suspense. Readers will thrill to the gallantry of its elusive, brave and dashing hero who becomes the darling of the people, particularly Marguerite Blakeney, who scorns her foppish husband, Percy, as ardently as she admires the Pimpernel.

• Date finished: Jan. 24, 2012
• Genre: Fiction
• Year: 2010
• Project: n/a
• Reading List: Winter 2011-12, National Book Award for Fiction
• Quick thoughts upon finishing: You know, I tried to like Lord of Misrule. I don’t know why, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like but since it was an award-winner, and it was written by a Michigan author, I tried. But I don’t know if it was the horse-racing theme, or the way it was written, but I just couldn’t get into Lord of Misrule. I never felt sympathetic to any of the character — I think I felt strongest for the poor horses — and I felt Gordon let the narrative get out of hand occasionally … like it wandered off without any real guidance as to what readers should be looking for. Plus, at the end, I really had no idea what I was supposed to learn. Like I said, I tried. But unless you’re into horse-racing a fan of Gordon, I might pass this one up.
• Grade: C

Courtesy of What I Wore

Ugh, if only the pair I tried on at Anthropologie weren’t $200. Seriously, $200 pants.

On a different note, I have been seriously delinquent with blogging. I have about five posts knocking around my head but I have had utterly no inspiration to sit down and write. Call it journalism disease.

Then, you can check out this screenshot to prove I’m telling the truth:

I’m in this video, but I’m not saying where because I was wearing ridiculously short, sparkly shorts during this bout. I knew Jenny was going to post this as I talked with her at the bout, but I was so excited when this went live. It’s such great publicity for BCRG, and I hope it helps share the derby love.

• Date began: Jan. 16, 2012
• Genre: Fiction
• Project: n/a
• Reading list: National Book Award for Fiction
  
• Got it: I believe I picked up this bad boy at our library’s book sale for a cool $1. I thought it kind of strange considering it’s so new, but also a little sad since the author had just visited our library a few months ago. Clearly, someone didn’t like it very much.
• Why I picked it up: It’s a National Book Award winner, so I’m always on the lookout for that. And it’s recent, and I rarely read new books. Might as well start somewhere.
• Back of the book: Tom Hansel has a plan: run four horses, all better than they look on paper, at long odds at Indian Mound Downs, then grab the purse — or cash a bet — and get out before anyone’s the wiser. At his side is Maggie Koderer, who finds herself powerfully drawn to the gorgeous, used-up animals of the cheap track. She also lands in the crosshairs of leading trainers Joe Dale Bigg. But as news of Tommy’s plan spreads from veteran groom Medicine Ed to loan shark Two-Tie to Kidstuff the blacksmith, it’s Maggie not Tommy or the handlers of legendary stakes horse Lord of Misrule, who will find what’s valuable in a world where everything has a price.
  

• Date finished: Jan. 15, 2012
• Genre: Fiction
• Year: 1960
• Project: Favorites Project
• Reading list: Winter 2011-12, Pulitzer Winners, BBC’s Top 100 Books, Newsweek’s Top 100 Books
• Quick thoughts upon finishing: I will go for a long while without reading To Kill a Mockingbird, but when I do, it’s like visiting with a best friend: it’s like no time has passed and I still love it harder than ever. To expound on this book’s good points is almost redundant: it’s masterful, beautifully written, tears at your heart and forces readers to come to terms with the (ugly and beautiful) reality of the human condition. Last week, I posted about the possibility of a required reading list for the entire world. While I doubt Ms. Lee would have been presumptuous enough to think her story good enough to make that list, I think this book SHOULD be required reading for every American. Every child. Every college student. Every adult, really. There’s always something you can learn from Scout, Jem, Atticus or Boo Radley.

  Now to find/borrow/buy a copy of the movie so I can enjoy that favorite as well:
  

• Grade: A++++ (it’s my blog — I make the grades!)

First thought: Why is Rupert Grint wearing a shirt with what looks like Daniel Radcliffe on it?

Second thought: Do these guys seriously hang out together in frat basements?

Now, I have to add a new BFF to my list of imaginary BFF’s: Ree Drummond, aka, the Pioneer Woman. While I have not yet stalked Ree online and learned her history, she writes a super-popular blog that covers everything from cooking, being married to the Marlboro Man, living on a ranch, eating steaks, basset hounds, photography, homeschooling and … fake eyelashes?

Anyway, I think I need to be her friend if only because she made this:

Apparently, according to Ree, if I make these spicy whiskey barbeque sliders for a New Years Eve gathering, I would be expected to have a New Years Eve gathering every year for eternity because they are THAT good. Yeah, I need to be this woman’s friend.

And that’s why I think we should have a universal required reading list, a Required Reading for Humanity project. We need a place to start. If we could construct for ourselves a list of books that are remarkable not for the statements they make but for the questions they ask and the modes of thought and inquiry they suggest, perhaps we could begin finding something like a common language. Perhaps we could begin answering the big questions together. Think of it as diplomacy by literature, global unity via the Socratic seminar.

This is idealistic, I know, but let’s put thoughts about logistics and translations and practical issues aside for a moment to consider it. I’ve read a handful of books that left me thinking The world would be a better place if everyone read this. That’s what I have in mind here–not religious texts, how-to manuals, or self-help guides, which lean to the prescriptive, but books that ask big questions, challenge us to think differently, and leave us changed. It doesn’t matter if they are fiction or nonfiction, only that they spur us forward.

I particularly like how the Book Lady notes how this desire probably comes from her “I-took-a-lot-of-English-classes Stockholm syndrome.” I can’t help but agree with her and that’s EXACTLY why.