What’s the first book you’ve finished or will finish in 2009?
I just finished Paradise Lost, by John Milton, as read by Nadia May.
As far as actual eyes-on-print goes, I’ll probably finished The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit before anything else.
I usually don’t make out much of a reading plan, because books I wasn’t planning on reading tend to find their way to the top of my list. But here are a few I know I’ll be working through in 2009:
- Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis. It’s literally a character flaw in me that I have not read this yet. That will be remedied as soon as I’m done with The Enchanted Castle.
- North! Or Be Eaten, Andrew Peterson. The first book in the series was fantastic, and I’m looking forward to the next with much anticipation.
- Harry Potter’s Bookshelf, John Granger. I’ve been waiting for this one since I knew it was in the works years ago.
- As much of The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge as I can get through.
- The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffery Chaucer. I loved these stories back in high school, and this is a new, unabridged translation.
- The Farthest Shore, by Ursula K. Le Guin. This is the third book of the Earthsea cycle, which is tremendous myth-making.
- Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman’s been recommended to me over and over again, and it’s about time I read him.
You?
The My Friend Amy blog is talking reading plans today as well for the weekly “Faith and Fiction Saturdays” post.
- John Granger in Touchstone – Book Binders: What I Learned About Great Books & Harry Potter. This is an interesting read, and Mr. Granger has much more about this coming in his book, Harry Potter’s Bookshelf, available for pre-order.
- You’ll also want to stop over at Hogwarts Professor, where John’s been on a roll with posts the past couple days, including a big one on Dumbledore’s commentary in Beedle, and an argument – and effective one, in my estimation – that “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” is about gay marriage.
- HP Progs Episode #95 is on Beedle. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, because my weekend’s been busy, and I’ve been occupied with this recording of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Once I’m driving back and forth to work on Tuesday, I’ll finally have a chance to listen.
- Yesterday, Thinking Matters, an online Christian publication in New Zealand, ran a lengthy article on Potter – Muggle Matters: Is Harry Potter a doorway to the occult? I have to agree with the Hogwarts Professor in saying that it’s nice to see that, on the whole, the “Harry Potter is evil” battle is over.
- I’m out of town today – traveling to Schenectady for Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God concert. After we get back tomorrow, and in between trying to get all my final papers in, I’ll be writing more about Beedle and fairy tales in the coming few weeks.