I have this habit of trying to sound cooler than I am by telling people I’ve read books I actually have never even opened. I like to seem well-read and wise beyond my years, and for a while this cycle of lies worked just fine. And then I became a librarian. When you’re a librarian, people tend to ask you for book recommendations and opinions. This is hard to do when you’ve lied about 70% of the books you’ve “read”. Seeing that my scam was unsustainable, I decided to fess up to my crimes and do the time…which is however long it takes me to read each book I’ve said I lied about in the past. This book club is more of a personal reading challenge, but you are all welcome to join me!
How does it work? Well I’ve assigned each month of the year a general genre, and each month I pick a book that I have very loudly lied about in the past within that genre. Or maybe I’ll pick a book that people might be shocked that I haven’t read, based on my interests and activities as a human. This way, by the end of the year I will have read 12 books all in different genres and will be that much closer to a clear conscience.
Here is the genre schedule as it currently stands. I have listed the 2017 book selections as well so you can plan to follow along. This is subject to change.
- January: Comedy and Humor
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman (5 stars)
- February: Romance
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1 star)
- March: Science Fiction
- 1984 by George Orwell
- April: Fantasy
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- May: Non-Fiction
- Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
- June: A librarian friend’s recommendation
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
- July: Historical Fiction
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- August: Adventure
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- September: The “Classics”
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- October: Horror/Gothic
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- November: Young Adult
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- December: Mystery/Thriller
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Take a look at the books I’ve already confessed to lying about here!
