just for you, Neal

Well, it looks like I'm giving up on my all-female reading list...finally!

I hit 10, then 50, and kept going...I didn't realize how many books by women I had on my to-read list! So I've been reading women almost exclusively for over a year now. I never thought I'd be able to stand even a few months, let alone an entire year! Well, maybe it was something I needed at the time....

However, I have recently been struggling with wanting to return to male authors, yet having such a difficult time deciding when and how. As in, should I wait until I hit a good round number, like 75 or 100? And what book should I start with? I felt like it should be something monumental, some work that was seminal in the development of literature, or else it wouldn't be such a poignant change. I considered Tolstoy, Proust, García Márquez. I felt like the decision was impossible to make. I want to read all of those, yes, and many more: but which first? Maybe it isn't even that important of a decision, but it feels like it is. I realize that I've been "cheating" a bit and reading some male authors, but for the most part I've been restricting that to book clubs or audiobooks. So I do feel like this is an important turning point for me.

So. I decided today, hell with it - why not my favorite author's new book? I know I'll enjoy it, it comes out today, and it's an easy decision to make. I don't want to wait on this new one like I've waited on others, because "a convenient time to read" this or that never actually happens, for me. I just have to pick it up and start reading. Which I'm eager to do - I do occasionally enjoy reading books that are à la mode so I can sometimes have conversations with people who aren't classics dorks like me, haha. (Not that I don't read other stuff...but usually I am at the very least a few years behind on whatever I read, largely because I tend to get books from PaperBackSwap...plus, I'd rather hear from people that a book is worth my time before picking it up, hah.)

Plus, I'm currently working on female-authored-books 68 and 69...and, after all, 69 ain't a bad number to end up on.... :)

And, buying it today gives me an excuse to visit Ant at work, which is an added bonus.

xo