My insane challenge....

So....I just updated my book list, and it appears that I had drastically underestimated how many books that I own (especially the unread ones). The actual number of unread books is....103. 

ONE HUNDRED AND THREE!!!!!

Did someone sneak books into my apartment while I was sleeping???? Also, I am unsure of why I have so many books about Chinese politics.

Well, here goes nothing. I'll either know a whole lot about Chinese communism, Middle Earth, the inner workings of Poe's twisted mind, and multiple world religions by the end of this challenge, or I will go mentally insane. Please visit me with flowers and chocolate at the local nut house when I am dragged in, kicking and screaming, wondering why they won't haul my book collection along with me.....

By the way, some people (mainly my good friend Kelley B.) have asked me in what order I plan on reading my books. In case anyone wants to read along, or finds any of them interesting and would like to engage in an electronic conversation about them on my blog, I have selected the first ten books of the challenge. On the "Book List" link you will see that some of them now have a bold, red number next to them listed 1-10 (I tried to mix up the genres a little bit to keep it interesting).

At any rate, back to your regularly scheduled program. I am now in chapter 4 of The Fellowship of the Ring and to be perfectly honest, it is giving me anxiety. The Black Riders are giving me the heebie-jeebies  so badly that while walking home late at night I half expect them to jump out from behind a dumpster.

One of my favorite quotes so far is the following poem (first recited by Bilbo in chapter 1, later by Frodo in chapter 3):

The road goes ever on and on

     Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

     And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with weary feet,

     Until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet.

     And whither then? I cannot say.

This is sort of how I feel about the path of my life thus far. I moved to San Diego, only knowing the few friends that I moved here with and without a definite plan for the future. All along the way my path has grown wider as I am connecting the trails of my past. At times, I felt so exhausted in trying to find myself that I thought I never would. I do now know what trail I will follow for the immediate future, but what lies for me long term is likely to change at a moment's notice.

Maybe I am reading into this too much.

My first victim: The Fellowship of the Ring

Book #1: The Fellowship of the Ring
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Upon reading the first 50 pages of The Fellowship of the Ring, I can only ask myself one question: how have I gone so long without ever having read a sentence by Tolkien?

I guess I thought that J.K. Rowling had fulfilled the magical genre for me, but I was wrong. My first fond impression came from a simple line:

"There might have been some grumbling about dealing locally."

As a huge proponent of local business, this was enough to interest me to read further.

Now, three chapters in, 50-year-old hobbit Frodo Baggins is leaving the Shire, and I am already nervous about the journey to come. I watched the movies when they first came out, and though I don't remember any details or the ending, or much of anything about them (to be honest), I know that this isn't going to be a happy little journey to visit some elves.

Summer Reading Challenge

I have an addiction.

Luckily, my obsession isn't with drugs or alcohol or sex ala Tiger Woods, but it is instead with books. I know you're probably thinking that it isn't that big of a deal, but it is very serious issue. My tiny, 400 sq. ft. apartment, which lacks sufficient storage space, is filled to the brim with books. Even worse, many of these have never been read. 

It all started with a little used bookstore on Adams Ave. in San Diego. I would walk to the bus stop en route to school and back, stopping to check out what books they had. Well, I slowly started to build a collection, and though I knew that I had little free time due to a heavy class schedule and honors coursework, I always thought "Well, I'll read this over summer break."

Eventually summer break wasn't long enough to read the mountain of books that had mysteriously accumulated in my bedroom. Where had they all come from???

"I don't remember buying that."

"Is that mine, or did I borrow it?"

"Why do I have three copies of The Jungle?"

When I did have free time, I often reread my favorites (The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye, A Clockwork Orange, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, American Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany's, to name a few). The pile of unread books grew larger, sometimes on a weekly basis, even though I read during every dull moment.

Many people have asked me why I don't own an e-Reader of some sort, and it's because I enjoy holding a physical book. I love scouring used bookstores for old editions of classics, reading the dedications that loved ones had thoughtfully written for gift recipients, sitting in cobweb-infested corners as I choose what the next addition to my collection will be, returning home with three or four books at a time that I neatly scrawl my name into before placing them on the shelf. E-readers are impersonal and distracting, and anyone who knows me well knows that I am anything but impersonal and that I need no further distractions from my busy life.

So instead of reading The Catcher in the Rye for the 12th time this summer, I have decided to challenge myself to read all of the unread books on my shelf, regardless of length or genre. For my extensive cookbook collection, I will make a recipe from each book. 

My book collection takes up one full-sized bookshelf in my living room, one small bookshelf in the kitchen (for most of the cookbooks), a shelf on the hutch of my desk in my bedroom, and another small stack on my living room floor. These neglected, unread books account for about 70 of the 100 books in my library - yes, I realize that this is pretty sickening ratio.

So, I invite you join me in my travels, reading my blog posts as I read through my library. Feel free to comment as you see fit, enter into friendly debates with me where our views differ, and read along with me if you feel so inclined.