This is reposted from my old blog. I’ve imported the whole post, comments and all, into a single space here. I’ve listed it here under its original date.
Filling in the Gaps
When I first heard about the fill in the gaps 100 books blog, I knew it was a place I would absolutely love. I went over and made up my list right away, and have been reading the books I’ve listed there for the past several months. Recent progress has been slow, as I am working on Infinite Jest, and it is rather a long read. You can see my complete list here.
The list works as a means to prompt the reading blogger (or is it blogging reader?) to tackle a list of 100 books that are not currently on her/his TBR list. The project is supposed to be completed in 2015, I think. There are some really fun titles to be found on the various lists on the site. As people are getting bigger and bigger portions of their lists taken care of, the discussions there are getting to be very fun.
I am, sadly, unable to access the site from China for the moment. (It’s rather fickle with access to Blogspot sites over here.) As soon as I am back in Singapore, it is one of the places I hope to be able to visit and catch up. All the same, I’m planning to keep up with my own list. Since I can’t post my reviews or join the discussions there for the time being, I will put up comments from time to time here. For now, I can say that of those I’ve completed (see the box to the right),The 8th Habit is the only one I didn’t like much. Siddhartha was quite profound and enjoyable. Woman to Woman and other poems and Mortician’s Tea are both good poetry collections, with moments of brilliance in each. Poemcrazy is a fun thought-starter for poets, and maybe writers in other creative-type genres too.
As for the book in progress… I’m struggling through Infinite Jest at the moment. I expected to love this book. Instead, it’s been a fairly tedious read for me all summer long. I don’t know why I’ve had such a hard time getting into it. I love David Foster Wallace’s writing, and usually love the type of tale he has put together here. The themes are some of my favorites. But it just isn’t working for me yet — and I am nearly 600 pages into it (in other words, not quite 2/3 done). It’s disappointing to be unable to get into a book that I actually thought would be just my thing. But still… I have a feeling I might be glad I read it when I am done. My interactions with Wallace’s writings in the past have taught me that much. Even his simple work, like introductions to anthologies, can be outstanding pieces.
If you haven’t gotten your 100 books list together, you might want to pop by over at the site and sign up. It is a lot of fun to be in on the project with the others who read and blog there.
© 2009 Shelly Bryant
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The site you mentioned is an interesting concept.
Malcolm
And yet… I am glad I’ve read it. There are some good things in it — really good. And as I’ve talked with a couple of different friends about the book, it’s begun to click for me what I do like about it. It will still take some time to sort through, but overall I am already starting to be glad this one was on my Fill in the Gaps list.
You might really enjoy having a list like that too, Malcolm. I know you are a good blogging reader. The place is just made for that, and I could see you really getting into it.
Shelly Bryant 