Ensuring my Reading Habit

I should be working on my EQUINE BUSINESS PLAN right now. You see, I am getting my future place of dwelling and career all set up on paper. We're in the Business Plan/Time Management Unit this week. Yes, the two do go together. How can you plan your business if you can't plan your day? Basically this involves two things I struggle with: numbers and organization. I better learn it up real good.

In the meantime, Steve from querencia threw a nice little bit of recognition to me the other day! In the same post he threw to an interesting blog with a meme about books that haven't been read yet. Well. I do that. I cart books home because I am hopelessly addicted to books. I'm fanatical about them. I wash my hands before I pick them up! I'm crazy! I hold them in my hands as if they were made of butterfly wings. I mourn if a page gets bent. I have the most beautiful library and one of these days (when I dust it, haha) I'm going to take a photo of it for you.

I have enough books right now that it'll be years before I run out of reading material.

It's only been in the last two years that I can actually afford books. I used to scour thrift stores looking for that precious hardcover in good shape for a buck. I love books. I love books so much that I am somewhat afraid of bookstores. Except for uppercase books, which I discovered on one of my many travels. It's my favourite store in the world. If I only get there twice a year, it's worth it.

So, before I go log into my correspondence course, let me admit that I'm totally nuts and plan to still pursue a writing career once I get my horse farm happening. I will never have a tidy house. Here's my list of Ten Books That Have Been Brought Home But Not Read Yet.

1) Down Came The Rain by Brooke Shields. I don't usually go in for the famous people written books (although I made an exception for Tommy Lee. I had to.) This book should have come to me ten years ago. I'm looking forward to what she has to say and even though I haven't read it yet, I'm grateful to her for being public about this, and taking away some of the shame.

2) A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. I shouldn't count this because I didn't buy it; it was given to me because it's about a Mennonite girl, and I'm Mennonite. I avoided this one because from what I hear, this lady did not enjoy her upbringing. I did. I have no bitterness about being raised in this denomination. Is it because I'm Swiss Mennonite in Ontario instead of Russian Mennonite in Manitoba? I have to read it to find out. Also it's apparently extremely well written and that's why I am required to read it. I'm working on a masterpiece about, you guessed it, a couple of teenagers who are Mennonite. I need to see what my competition is.

3) East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I'm ashamed that I haven't read this yet. Just ashamed.

4) Dancing With Your Dark Horse by Chris Irwin. This guy may not be a literary heavyweight but he knows horses. I just finished his first book, Horses Don't Lie, and I loved it. I've been into horse psychology for a long time...they don't think like us, kids. And they won't. We have to understand them. I'm really looking forward to diving into Irwin's study on human behaviour as it relates to equine behaviour.

5) Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman. I love Chuck. He used to write for SPIN magazine and I think he's both brilliant and funny. He's a farm boy and he loves to rock. Plus how can you not love a guy with a name like that.

6) Kinfolk by Pearl S Buck. I've heard that this is a classic. I found it in a thrift store. It's a very old hardcover. It's on my "Vintage" shelf. Yes, I have a shelf for Vintage books. I know. Obsessive. I know.

7) The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. Critics rave about this Canadian author. I need to know why.

8) Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. It's about Lipizzan stallions, and written by the author of The Wicked Day and The Merlin Trilogy. I gotta know. Also picked up in a thrift store, this hardcover looks like it's never even been opened. Weird. Imagine buying a brand new book and then not even opening it. Ummmm.....yeah.

9) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Again, embarrassed. I just want you all to know that I have read A Tale Of Two Cities. When I was 13. And I got it. So there.

10) Writing Life: Celebrated Canadian and International Authors on Writing and Life, edited by Constance Rooke. This is my latest acquisition. I should probably read this one first.

Then there are the other twenty or so that I haven't gotten to yet, not to mention that I must reread Jonathan Strange.

It's a good feeling, this library of mine. It was one of my dreams as a kid and I've made it come true. Now, on to the next one!