It's time for a book-related update.

[zepgoddess]

First of all, my 9-9-9 update:

Fantasy

1. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
3. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
4. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
5. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
6. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin
7. The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois Bujold
8.
9.

TBR shelf

1. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
2. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, Eds.
3. A Dirge for Sabis, C. J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish
4. Shapechangers, Jennifer Roberson
5. The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
6. The Warlock In Spite of Himself, Christopher Shasteff
7.
8.
9.

Humor

1. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
2. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl-McFhee
3. The Pirates! In an Adventure With Ahab, Gideon Defoe
4.
5.
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8.
9.

Nonfiction

1. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
2. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
3. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
4. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
5. Print is Dead: Books In Our Digital Age, Jeff Gomez
6. Al-Jazeera, Hugh Meyers
7. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, Maureen Ogle
8. The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweiki

Biography/Memoir

1. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
2. The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Wolff
3. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Jacki Lyden
4. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
5. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
6.
7.
8.
9.

Historical

1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
3.
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9.

Mystery/Suspense

1. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
2. Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
3. The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters
4.
5.
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9.

Classics, Etc.

1. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
2. Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym
3.
4.
5.
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8.
9.

Other
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.


Looking at this list, I'm wayyyy behind on my Historical and Classics categories. Anything that overflows I can toss into Other, so that won't be a problem, as long as I fit in plenty of reading between now and the end of the year. Dad loaned me a big stack of nonfiction, so that category won't be a problem - although his stuff tends to run dense (Daniel Dennett, anyone?) so it takes longer to read than a good juicy novel.

And there's always the last-ditch option of throwing in re-reads (of which I have six so far, but I really prefer not to count) and adding books to two categories (for example, The Warlock in Spite of Himself could potentially be both TBR Shelf, Fantasy, and Humor, although I'd probably call that cheating, because the point of all this is to get me to read a bigger variety of books, not books that cover a variety of genrae.)

What I really ought to do is visit the library, and pick up some classics, which I will then have to read in under two weeks, to avoid fines. I would like to read the following classics:

Rabbit Run by Updike, who just died this year and was much talked about on NPR.

Lady Chatterley's Lover, which is mostly famous for being prurient, and banned. I'm expecting it to be tame by today's standards. (Laurell Hamilton, I'm looking at you!)

The Sorrows of Young Werther, which I picked up at a book sale, and even if it's terrible, at least has the advantage of being short.

Steppenwolf, which puts me in a quandary, because technically it's a re-read, but I was fourteen the last time I read it, so I think it might qualify for a fresh take now that I'm twice that age.

Anyone have recommendations for me? Some of you know what I like, and could drum up a classic or two that: a) Aren't horribly depressing, and b) Won't put me to sleep.