Books that I want to have read.

Do other have these a pile of books that you don't want to read but want to have read?

Yeah, if I'm up to being honest (which I apparently am), I don't want to read any more "literature" or "heavy" nonfiction. This girl just wants to read for fun. I recently bought Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings by Rene Descartes -- have no interest in reading it whatsoever. I'm famous for buying six or seven books about a topic I THINK I should know about -- and then struggling to get through them. I guess I read so much for school (I'm in year 8 of post-high-school ed) that I don't want to read similarly weighty things at home.

At the top of my TBR pile is gravity's rainbow, by thomas pynchon. I want to have read it because I want to be able to have intellegent conversations about it with my friends (and on LT, of course), and because it is seen as an important work...blah, blah, blah. However, it just seems painful.

Maybe I'll move it down a few books and read something fun.

I don't have enough time to devote to reading anymore to read something just because I "should".

That's why I gave up on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell halfway through the book. Why force myself to finish when I wasn't enjoing a bit of it; even though it was so highly touted here on LT.

I was quite happy that I had more time to read the books in my TBR pile that excite me, like Alpha Beta and Celtika.

Yes, I have a few neat stacks of those. :) A philosophy pile springs to mind. The thing is, I might enjoy it if I'd start.... even writing this, it begins to seem more interesting. Getting myself to devote the time is another thing.

There are a lot of books I'd like to have read, regardless of feeling. What I've ended up doing, even in fiction, is making short-term lists and, instead of overwhelming myself with a pile, starting with one or two and staggering my buying. I'm doing that now with fiction from different countries - just tasting - and loving many of the books.

I should add: Though I enjoy buying ahead and return to read books long after the fact of purchase, there are several subjects where I short-circuited myself by acquiring too many books before I began reading; the weight of them takes joy and achievability from the endeavor.

I'm an English major, so there's quite an amount of books that I don't want to take the time to read, but want to have read. In fact, I want to have read every classic that, as of yet, I have not read. I'll have to read most of them after I transfer. You wouldn't believe how many American and British literature courses I'll have to take (and I've already taken a few).

I know this is silly, but I would love to be able to do the Matrix download. I could get in all those books that I bought and haven't read but feel that I should. I don't want that thingy in the the back of my head though. :)

cjlib: I've thought about it more than once! To be able to download all the books I want to read but don't have the time to read. To be able to learn a new language, the history of a country, or a new field of learning in 5 minutes. Of course, this is assuming "they" aren't adding anything in like secret code words that turn me into a very literate ninja assasin. ;-)

I agree there are books that I would like to be able to do that with as well. But on second thought, I would really miss out on the often enjoyed reading experiences. My college textbooks, I wouldn't mind, however! :)

I have a stack of those, but I got recent encouragement. I finally got around to picking up Uncle Tom's Cabin (one I felt I should have read, but haven't, and finally got ready to wade through), and then I loved it. I've got a loose resolution to read at least three or four more books like that in the next few months...

I have a small omnibus of Thomas Hardy and a copy of Anna Karenina that I've been carting around for about a decade. Neither have been cracked. The old good intentions thing. Lately I moved the Tolstoy to my active TBR shelf so it might stand a chance of actually being read.

I would like to have read Crime and Punishment. I started it once and really enjoyed it, but it was sloooooow reading and very thick, so I put it aside after 50 pages or so.

Les Miserables. I have this book in my TBR pile. I actually started to read this book and couldn't get past the first few pages. I tried, I really did, but the book was putting me to sleep!

I heard that it's like this for the first few hundred and then gets good, but oh my goodness, I don't know if I can handle it. So I haven't read this book and I want to have read it...thus, its still waiting in my TBR pile! =)

Some of the classics like Ivahhoe, Gulliver's Travels (the ones I might be interested in) and so forth. Sadly..I know they'd take awhile and I have too many others that I just want to get through...