Saturday, October 21, 2006

My BIHBTARBNAR List

When it comes to the topic of “Books I Have Been Thinking About Reading But Not Actually Reading” right at the top of the List would have to be this one… Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
I have been thinking about reading it for about sixty-seven years now.
And I even have this [as shown] pristine hardcover 1968 reprint of the original 1943 Bobbs-Merrill first edition.
So what’s the holdup?
From whence cometh my January molasses attitude toward diving into this book, which begins with the immortal sentence “Howard Roark laughed.” [?]
I don’t know. Honest to God. I have wanted to read it for so long.
When I consider some of the books I have been wanting to read for eons, I notice that they do tend to have a lot of pages… that’s at least one determining factor. For instance, here is my current BIHBTARBNAR List:

1. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
2. Middlemarch – George Eliot

3. The Odyssey – Homer

4. Barney’s Version – Mordecai Richler

5. Trinity – Leon Uris

6. Sophie’s Choice – William Styron

7. Russka – Edward Rutherfurd

8. The Crimson Petal and the White – Michel Faber

9. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand

10. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas


Does this sort of procrastinatory thing happen to you also?
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7 comments:

Rebecca H. said...

Totally. I've been meaning to read Gertrude Stein and Thomas Mann forever, for example. Sometimes books just take forever to seem like just the thing I need to read.

Isabella K said...

I HAD been meaning to read Middlemarch forever (well, a good 16 years), but then I read it, and it was awesome.

On the other hand, I've been meaning to read Dickens forever (having read only a little in high school), and I haven't gotten round to it yet.

The Fountainhead I remember loving, but I don't remember much else about it.

Just do it!

JoanneMarie Faust said...

It's always nice to find other people who do the same things as I do. I'm usually very proud of myself for getting through a book on my BIHBTARBNAR list, but that isn't enough enticement. Life and other books just get in the way.

Stefanie said...

I have those books too! The Golden Notebook, David Copperfield, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Anonymous said...

:) I may as well fact the fact: I'm never going to read some of them but Middlemarch and The Magic Mountain would be on my list.

Cipriano said...

Great comments all.
Middlemarch is something that I MUST get to.
As in MUST!
As in, I refuse to die, prior to such a thing occurring.
As it stands, I have arrived at a new motto, however, and it involves The Fountainhead situation.
It goes thus:
RAND FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

There!
I have said it and said it publicly. It is official.
I shall read the Rand during yonder yuletide season!

mattviews said...

Greeting from Hong Kong! Your list totally hits home for me. I've meant to try reading Ayn Rand but I could yet get past the first few chapters.

Middlemarch is just not up my alley.

Sophie's Choice--what's the hype?

Maybe some day. :)