Finally! I'm done with American Mafia!
I can't believe I did it, but I finished it. I'm so happy to be through with it!
I'll be doing post reading research (mostly on Frank Costello, Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano and Bugsy's raucous girlfriend Virginia Hill), but I'll also be making it a priority to get started on the more pertinent research concerning industrial commerce like mining, steel production, and the maritime business like dock work and other waterfront positions.
So now that I've finished another book, I am going to list the books remaining on my list. As I've stated before, these are the books that have been started and put down at some point, meaning they have bookmarks in them. So, I put all the books that had been started into a list and ordered them from page number, the shortest to the longest.
CURRENT READING LIST
All the King's Men
Paradise Lost
Acts of Faith
I can't believe I made so much progress in one year. I'm one of the laziest and most easily distracted readers on the planet, but all the books I've mowed down these past two months proves I can read like a motherfucker when I put my mind to it. To encourage myself, here's the books I've finished this year, in no particular order:
The Help
Intimate Danger
The Blade Itself
The Elements of Style
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
Pushcart
American Mafia
Outline Your Novel
These are all paperback books, too. I've got a good mojo going. Though I hit roadblocks, my writing and reading processes have improved tremendously this year. I've become a better, more voracious reader, and because of that I've become a better writer (though progress is still on the humble side). I write a few hundred words every day, whether it's fic, outlining, or journal entries.
I've trained myself to be a more attentive reader, tuning my ear to the subtle dance and play of the words that chain the sentence together, their indispensable roles toward the intended meaning, tone, and theme of the narrative. That process of a slower, more relaxed reading, mulling the words over in my head as I would the taste of something in my tongue, has led me to a greater appreciation for the written word and spoken language. I love words. I love how they can take on their own little lives and make a person forget the present moment, creating a new universe and submerging a person's eyes and mind for a time. You're able to breathe in a space between the conceived world and reality.
Now that I've gotten my little ode to reading written out, I can now give you new reading lists. My Summer Reading List will consist of books that I've been neglecting for years and want to get out of the way first and foremost before moving on the juicy, contemporary novels I bought this year. So I took three of the newest titles (and most recent buys) off of the old Summer Reading List and was left with 9 books (still listed by page number from lowest to highest), some of which have been waiting since 2009 to be read. The 5 books not on this list (due to being very recent additions) will be read after this list is finished. After those are through, I'm gonna tackle what's on my Kindle, which shouldn't be very hard at all. I do my fastest reading on Kindle anyhow.
SUMMER READING LIST
The Castle of Otranto
High Fidelity
Chinese Folktales
Tibet, Tibet
The Fig Eater
The Short Stories of O. Henry
An Impossible Attraction
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Some of these titles look interesting, and most of them are kinda short, which can only add to my advantage. But Lord knows how long it's going to take me to get through the last one on my list - totaling in at even more pages than Acts of Faith (669 pages), if I'm not mistaken.
I've gotten this far. So it's time to put the pedal to the metal and get these books read!
I'll be doing post reading research (mostly on Frank Costello, Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano and Bugsy's raucous girlfriend Virginia Hill), but I'll also be making it a priority to get started on the more pertinent research concerning industrial commerce like mining, steel production, and the maritime business like dock work and other waterfront positions.
So now that I've finished another book, I am going to list the books remaining on my list. As I've stated before, these are the books that have been started and put down at some point, meaning they have bookmarks in them. So, I put all the books that had been started into a list and ordered them from page number, the shortest to the longest.
CURRENT READING LIST
All the King's Men
Paradise Lost
Acts of Faith
I can't believe I made so much progress in one year. I'm one of the laziest and most easily distracted readers on the planet, but all the books I've mowed down these past two months proves I can read like a motherfucker when I put my mind to it. To encourage myself, here's the books I've finished this year, in no particular order:
The Help
Intimate Danger
The Blade Itself
The Elements of Style
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
Pushcart
American Mafia
Outline Your Novel
These are all paperback books, too. I've got a good mojo going. Though I hit roadblocks, my writing and reading processes have improved tremendously this year. I've become a better, more voracious reader, and because of that I've become a better writer (though progress is still on the humble side). I write a few hundred words every day, whether it's fic, outlining, or journal entries.
I've trained myself to be a more attentive reader, tuning my ear to the subtle dance and play of the words that chain the sentence together, their indispensable roles toward the intended meaning, tone, and theme of the narrative. That process of a slower, more relaxed reading, mulling the words over in my head as I would the taste of something in my tongue, has led me to a greater appreciation for the written word and spoken language. I love words. I love how they can take on their own little lives and make a person forget the present moment, creating a new universe and submerging a person's eyes and mind for a time. You're able to breathe in a space between the conceived world and reality.
Now that I've gotten my little ode to reading written out, I can now give you new reading lists. My Summer Reading List will consist of books that I've been neglecting for years and want to get out of the way first and foremost before moving on the juicy, contemporary novels I bought this year. So I took three of the newest titles (and most recent buys) off of the old Summer Reading List and was left with 9 books (still listed by page number from lowest to highest), some of which have been waiting since 2009 to be read. The 5 books not on this list (due to being very recent additions) will be read after this list is finished. After those are through, I'm gonna tackle what's on my Kindle, which shouldn't be very hard at all. I do my fastest reading on Kindle anyhow.
SUMMER READING LIST
The Castle of Otranto
High Fidelity
Chinese Folktales
Tibet, Tibet
The Fig Eater
The Short Stories of O. Henry
An Impossible Attraction
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Some of these titles look interesting, and most of them are kinda short, which can only add to my advantage. But Lord knows how long it's going to take me to get through the last one on my list - totaling in at even more pages than Acts of Faith (669 pages), if I'm not mistaken.
I've gotten this far. So it's time to put the pedal to the metal and get these books read!