100+ Books...

I recently signed up on this "100+ Books in 2010" challenge. The challenge, essentially, is to read one hundred books in a year. So far, I'm off to a good start. I'll keep my list in this post and update it as often as I remember, but the books I read I also review (for the most part) in the blog, so...

January
1. The Likeness
2. Her Fearful Symmetry
3. In ricerca delle radici (re-read)
4. Lezioni americane
5. The Lightning Thief
6. The Sea of Monsters
7. The Titan's Curse
8. The Battle of the Labyrinth
9. Heat Wave
10. The Last Olympian
11. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

February
12. The Girl Who Played with Fire
13. Hunger Games
14. Catching Fire
15. Castello dei destini incrociati (re-read)
16. The Book Thief
17. Il sistema periodico (re-read)
18. I sommersi e i salvati (re-read)
19. Shiver
20. The Language of Sand
21. Man Without a Country
22. Se questo è un uomo (re-read)
23. Maus I (re-read)

March
24. Ireland: a novel

Newsweek's "50 Books for Our Times: What to Read Now and Why"

I'm all for lists (see my first posts to this blog - what an extensive list those are).  Best-of lists are particularly interesting, however, because they try to cut through all the excess for people who only want to know the best things to read, the most pertinent and important works that they will get the most benefit from reading.  And I think, sometimes, that is problematic, because sometimes you have to read the not-so great or influential books in order to really appreciate a work of genius or importance when you read it.  And just because something wasn't extremely influential does not mean that it is not extremely enjoyable, you know? So, take lists with a grain of salt, and remember that, ultimately, they are composed by people who sit in a room and make up lists of the best books. Those people probably also really enjoyed other books, but they did not consider them to be the most important books, so they fall by the wayside. And these lists have definite trends, so that must be considered as well.  

But that's not the point. This list by Newsweek was actually very good. A web-exclusive, it lists a variety of books--modern, victorian, ficiton, nonfiction--and tries to stray away from the books that typically makes these lists.  

You can read the whole article, and see the whole list (plus even a review by ME on the LivingSocial reviews for #37-Persepolis) here.

Types of Reading

I put the things I read into three categories.

1. School / research reading: this takes up about 90% of my reading. If it is assumed that I read 8 hours each day, more or less, then about 7:15 of those 8:00 are dedicated to the courses I'm taking and the lists below.

2. Bedside reading: this is, on the nights I don't pass out immediately, about 30 minutes of reading. Usually, this book is the one that takes me the longest to finish, since most nights I fall asleep in less than 5 minutes.

3. Morning reading: since I dry my hair upside down, I get extremely bored with my head hanging towards the floor looking at wood. So, I always keep a book handy. The best books for this type of reading are books without extremely intricate plots, since I spend about 10 minutes reading these books at a time.  I finish these books much more quickly than bedside books, because I read every time I dry my hair.

Why don't I just read one book at a time and finish it more quickly? Well, I obviously don't read school books when I get in bed or when I dry my hair because I have to actually focus on these books. It only took me four years to realize that I would get a lot more out of a book for school if I read it diligently and closely. And, of course, I need a pencil (preferably, but a pen will work in a pinch) when I read for serious purposes. And I don't want to read either my bedside or my blowdry books too quickly, because I try not to stockpile more than 4 books at a time.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Italo Calvino between the modern and the postmodern

In addition to taking an exam on 20th century literature in August, I also take something called a "Special Topic" reading list.  Formed in conjunction with my advisor, this list is supposed to theoretically help me prepare for writing a dissertation. Sometimes the exam list can go on to be a chapter or part of a chapter of the dissertation.  

When I was thinking about what would be the most beneficial way to approach the exam, I decided that the best thing to do would be to kill as many birds as possible with the fewest number of stones.  One of my courses this semester, which I love, is a seminar on Italo Calvino, one of the more internationally famous Italian writers.  So, of course, he seemed like a good choice for a special topic.  

Here is my reading list:

Primary books

Calvino, Italo. Sentiero dei nidi di ragno (1946) - Path to the spider's nest

Calvino, Italo. Ultimo viene il corvo (1949) - 

Calvino, Italo. Il visconte dimezzato (1951) - The cloven viscount

Calvino, Italo. La formica argentina (1952) - The argentine ant

Calvino, Italo. Il barone rampante (1957) - The baron in the trees

Calvino, Italo. La speculazione edilizia (1957) - A plunge into real estate

Calvino, Italo. La nuvola di smog (1958) - Smog

Calvino, Italo. Il cavaliere inesistente (1959) - The nonexistent knight

Calvino, Italo. La giornata di uno scrutatore (1963) - The watcher

Calvino, Italo. Castello dei destini incrociati (1973) - Castle of crossed destinies

Calvino, Italo. Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore (1979) - If on winter's night a traveler...

On its own, this list actually is really doable. I've read most of the books, and I feel like I could definitely use some of them in a dissertation.  But, wait for it. The secondary list is the theory, criticism and otherwise much more dense and difficult section.  

Secondary sources

Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations

Bové, Paul A. Early postmodernism: Foundational essays

Calinescu, Matei. Five faces of modernity: modernism, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, postmodernism

Cannon, Joann. Postmodern italian fiction

Hutcheon, Linda. selection from Poetics of the Postmodern

Jameson, Frederic. Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism

Luperini, Romano.  selections from Allegoria del Moderno

Markey, Constance. "Calvino and the existential dilemma"

Markey, Constance. Calvino: a journey toward the postmodern

McHale, Brian. Postmodernist fiction

Pacifici, Sergio. selection from From Verismo to Existentialism: essays on the modern italian novel

Robbe-Gillet, Alain. For a new novel--essays on fiction

Todorov, Tzvetan. The fantastic: a structural approach to literary genre

Vattimo, Gianni. The end of modernity: nihilism and hermenetics in postmodern culture

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. selection from Philosophical investigations

Honestly, I was relieved that the list was finally approved and has been filed away into my personal database of things that I need to learn between now and August. It felt really good to go in with a list that I felt would be useful and was also not too daunting and hear "You know, you have too much criticism. But I'm very pleased with this list." What a feeling!

Lists, in general

I was listening to “To The Best Of Our Knowledge” today, and the topic was lists. Why do we have lists, 1001 Books to Read/Paintings to See/Places to Visit/Foods to Taste/Wines to Drink/Albums to Hear/Places to Visit Before You Die? What does the creation and publication of the 1001 Books to Read say about the rest of the books, and any books to come after it? What do they do for us?
Having lists creates a vocabulary. It creates a shared experience, or a point of reference that you can have in common with someone else. You’ve both seen the same films, read the same books? Great, you have something to talk about. That’s why you ask people what their favorite things are, so you can cross-list their information to your own and find a way to relate to them.
In daily life, having lists helps us gain control and take the reigns in a situation which might otherwise feel chaotic and without meaning. How great does it feel to cross something off that To-Do List? How accomplished do you feel when you’ve crossed everything off it (though that rarely happens)? How many times have you written something onto that list that you’ve already done just so you can cross it off? I know I have.
In graduate school, lists are simultaneously more and less tangible. They are more tangible because we enter school knowing the list of books we will have to read during our tenure in the program; they are the lists we will be examined on at the various steps in our process. We can see a list online, hold it in our hands, and see what is ahead of us. At the beginning of each semester, we see which books we have to purchase, read and understand throughout the course of the term. When we teach, it is the list of students for whom we are accountable, who we will instruct in the list of beginning grammar - articles, adverbs, present and past tense verbs, object pronouns, etc.
Lists are less tangible in grad school because they only give you half of the information. Your course outline does not tell you which books you should have read sometime in the past and committed to memory (because it seems like some people have, and they like to make it known). It does not tell you if the books will ever arrive from the Internet Book Shop. It does not tell you how many of the books you won’t ever get to, since you will likely always be behind in discussion and you’ll probably find at least one meeting cancelled throughout the course of the term.
Your class roster does not tell you anything about your students except their name and level of study. It does not tell you who will come to class on time, late or sporadically. It does not tell you who is inclined to your subject or who wants to be inclined to your subject but just isn’t. It does not tell you if you will have a successful dynamic during your fifty minutes, or if you will have to make them do the chicken dance to come out of their shells. Hopefully, it will click sooner rather than later.
The least tangible of all lists are the master lists: THE READING LISTS. Sure, you can hold it in your hand and say, “I have to read the following 100 books in the next year,” but it will not tell you that you won’t have time to read any of them during the semester. You can say, “I’m reading a modern list and taking at modern class--yes!,” but the list will not tell you that maybe two of the ten books you will read in that class will be on your list of one hundred. It will tell you which books you may be tested on, but will not tell you that some books appear almost every exam period while others have appeared once in the past fifteen years; what’s more is that it does not tell you that you will more likely be asked about those other, more rare books when you are not ready for it, such as in an oral exam when you’re already sweating bullets trying to remember what seem to be important details that no one cares about.
I decided to use this blog as a way to share what I’m reading, for my classes, for ‘fun’ (though they are fewer than the rest), and also for my reading lists. My last written exams are scheduled for August 17th (20th century) and 19th (Special Topic: Italo Calvino from the Modern to the Postmodern). Hopefully, that will all go well, and then I will get to share my experience as I transition from the reading phase of graduate school (the first 4 years) to the writing phase (the rest). Of course, I’m towards the end of the first phase, but it’s a big end, and it will be a big step.

Modern Reading List (20th century)

In the Italian department, they divide the reading lists into sections: Medieval (1200s-1300s), Renaissance (1400s-1600s), Early Moden (1700s-1800s), Modern (1900s-present) and Linguistics. You pick 3 exams. You take 2 exams in the first round and 2 exams in the second round (the 2nd exam in this round is your "Special Topic", which is designed with your Advisor). I'm currently studying for my second round, in which I'll take the Modern Exam and my Special Topic (I took Early Modern and Linguistics in the first round back in January). If you're interested in what I'm reading, it's probably from this list. If there is an English translation to the title, I included it afterwards.

1. Pascoli, Myricae
2. Pascoli, I canti di Castelvecchio
3. D’Annunzio, Il trionfo della morte (Triumph of Death)
4. D’Annunzio. Alcyone
5. D’Annunzio, Il piacere (Child of Pleasure)
6. D’Annnzio, La figlia di Iorio (The Daughter of Jorio)
7. D’Annunzio, Poema paradisiaco:Alla nutrice.
8. Croce,Breviario di estetica (Breviary of Aesthetics)
9. Croce, La poesia (Poetry)
10-14. Pirandello, from Novelle: La giara; Ciaula; Tragedia di un personaggio; La cariola; Ieri, oggi, domani. (Jar, Ciaula, Tragedy of a character, Carriola, Yesterday, Today Tomorrow)
15. Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal (The Late Mattia Pascal)
16. Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author)
17. Pirandello, Cosí è, se vi pare (So it is, if you think so)
18. Pirandello, Enrico IV (Henry IV)
19. Aleramo, Una donna (A Woman)
20. Deledda, Canne al vento (Cane in the Wind)
21. Svevo, Senilità (A Man Grows Older)
22. Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno (Zeno’s Conscience)
23. Gozzano, Le poesie (Poetry)
24. Corrazzini, Poesie edite e inedite (Poetry edited and unedited)
25. Marinetti, selections from Teoria e invenzione futurista (Futurist Theory and Invention)
26. Marinetti, Manifesti del futurismo (Futurist manifestos)
27. Campana, Canti orfici (orphic cantos)
28. Saba, Il Canzoniere (Collection of Poems)
29. Ungaretti, L'Allegria (Happiness)
30. Ungaretti, Sentimento del tempo (Snetiment of Time)
31. Ungaretti, La terra promessa (The promised land)
32. Montale, Ossi di seppia (Cuttlefish bones)
33. Montale, Le occasioni (Occasions)
34. Montale, La bufera e altro (The storm and others)
35. Montale, Satura (Satura)
36. Montale, Diario del 71 e del 72 (Diary of ’71 and ’72)
37. Montale, Auto da fe
38. Tozzi, Il podere
39. Gramsci, Letteratura e vita nazionale (Literature and National Life)
40. Bernari, Tre operai (Three Workers)
41. Buzzati, Il deserto dei Tartari
42. Banti, Artemisia
43. Betti, Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia (Corruption at the Palace of Justice)
44. Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto in via Merulana (That Awful Mess on Via Merulana)
45. Gadda, La cognizione del dolore (Cognition of Pain)
46. Moravia, Gli indifferenti (The Indifferent Ones)
47. Moravia, Agostino
48. Moravia, La noia (Boredom)
49. Vitorini, Conversazione in Sicilia (Conversations in Sicily)
50. Vittorini, Uomini o no (Men and Not Men)
51. Pavese, La casa in collina (The House on the Hill)
52. Pavese, La luna e i falò (Moon and the bonfires)
53. Morante, La Storia (History)
54. Pratolini, Metello
55. Quasimodo, Tutte le poesie (All the poems)
56-67. Dalla scelta di Mengaldo, Poeti italiani del Novecento: Palazzeschi, Gatto, Luzi, Penna, Sereni, Pasolini, Fortini, Zanzotto, Pagliarani, Sanguineti, Porta, Rosselli.
68. Ginzburg, Le voci della sera (Voices of the night)
69. Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare (Family Sayings)
70. Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli
71. Bassani, Cinque storie ferraresi (5 Stories of Ferrara)
72. Bassani, Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (Garden of the Finzi-Continis)
73. Lampedusa, Il gattopardo (The Leopard)
74. Pasolini, Ragazzi di vita (Boys of Life)
75. Sciascia, A ciascuno il suo (To each his own)
76. Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (The path to the Spider’s nest)
77. Calvino, Le cosmicomiche (Cosmicomics)
78. Calvino, Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore (If on winter’s night a traveler)
79. Fo, Selections from Le commedie (the Comedies)
80. Malerba, Il serpente (The Serpent)
81. Manganelli, Nuovo commento (New comment)
82. Manganelli, Centuria (100 Ourbouric tales)
83. Consolo, Il sorriso dell'ignoto marinaio (The smile of the unknown mariner)
84. Celati, Le avventure di Guizzardi (Adventures of the Guizzardi)
85. Volponi, Le mosche del capitale (Flies from the capital)
86. Eco, Il nome della rosa (The name of the rose)
87. Tabucchi, Notturno indiano (Indian nights)
88. Tondelli, Camere separate (Separate bedrooms)
89. Del Giudice, Atlante occidentale (Western Atlas)
90. Maraini, La lunga vita di Marianna Ucria (The silent duchess)
91. Vassalli, La chimera (The chimera)
92. Capriolo, Il doppio regno (The double-reign)
93-120 Selections from M. Cucchi, S. Giovanardi (a cura di), Poeti italiani del secondo Novecento, 1945-1995, Milano: Mondadori Editore, 1996.: A. Bertolucci, M. Luzi, G. Carponi, V. Sereni, P. Pasolini, F. Fortini, R. Roversi, L. Erba, R. Scotellaro, M.L.Spaziani, A. Merini, A. Zanzotto, E. Pagliarani, E. Sanguineti, A. Giuliani, N. Balestrini, A. Porta, A. Rosselli, G.Giudici, G. Raboni, C. Viviani, P. Cavalli, V. Zeichen, M. Cucchi, M. De Angelis, G. Conte, V. Magrelli, Patrizia Valduga

Cinema
Visconti: Ossessione (Obsession)
Rossellini: Roma città aperta (Rome open city)
Pasolini: Accattone
Fellini: 8 1/2
Antonioni: L'avventura
Bertolucci: Il conformista