personal goals

A year of reading Proust

Next year, I’m going to read Proust. I’m going to tackle In Search of Lost Time (AKA Remembrance of Things Past, or more precisely “À la recherche du temps perdu”), from beginning to end.

I say next year because I’m still working my way though this year’s reading plans. I’m made some progress, especially when I was stressed out, since I tend to read more as a coping mechanism.

I have strayed pretty far and wide from the list though. Although I planned not to buy any books, I have picked up a few things here and there. And I just put a bunch of books on hold at the library. And then there’s Stephanie’s library, currently being unpacked and placed on shelves in our new home, which opens a whole new world of reading options for me.

But I really want to read Proust. I’ve read a few reviews from people who’ve tackled the seven-volume set, and they are glowing — according to some people, Proust Can Change Your Life. Even if you don’t buy that, some people maintain that Proust’s book changed Paris. Dan Ford, one of many prolific Amazon reviewers, has an entire site about his project of Reading Proust including recommendations of the best translations to get – he recommends the more recent Penguin translations, published in the U.S. by Viking.

Either way, it sounds like a challenge I’d like to tackle.

Right after I finish this other challenge that I’m not even halfway through.

Continue ReadingA year of reading Proust

Books I plan to read in 2006

Thirty-eight books that I already own and need to read. I’m setting these aside to pick up and read in 2006. I hope I’ll get through more than just these, but this would make a big dent in my “to read” stacks.

FEB 13, 2006 UPDATE:
I ended up breaking my new years resolution and buying a few books, which I’m now adding to the list, so I don’t keep up an endless spiral of stacks of books I don’t get to.

Absolute Watchmen – Alan Moore
I bought this after reading an Entertainment Weekly review that quoted some of my favorite writers and television producers as saying it was an enormous influence on them.

A Feast for Crows – George R. R. Martin
Read My Review

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her – Melanie Rehak

Harvard’s Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals – William Wright

YOU: The Owner’s Manual : An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger – Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet Oz

Fiction

Ahab’s Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer: A Novel – by Sena Jeter Naslund

Al Capone Does My Shirts – by Gennifer Choldenko

Baudolino – Umberto Eco

Best Lesbian Erotica 2006 (Best Lesbian Erotica) – by Tristan Taormino, Eileen Myles
Read My Review

The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2) – Stephen King

The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3) – Stephen King

Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4) – Stephen King

Deception Point – Dan Brown

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

House of Leaves – by Mark Z. Danielewski

The House on the Point: A Tribute to Franklin W. Dixon and The Hardy Boys – by Benjamin Hoff

I, Robot – by Isaac Asimov

The Island of the Skull (King Kong) – by Matthew Costello

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – by Susanna Clarke

Life Mask – by Emma Donoghue

Memoirs of a Geisha – by Arthur Golden

Mr. Timothy – by Louis Bayard

The Nanny Diaries – by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

Other Side of Desire – by Paula Christian

The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga – by Edward Rutherfurd

Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) – by Neal Stephenson

Stranger In a Strange Land – by Robert Heinlein
Read My Review

Slammerkin – by Emma Donoghue

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game – by Patricia Highsmith

The Time Traveler’s Wife – by Audrey Niffenegger

Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties – by Felicia Luna Lemus

Non-Fiction

The Classic Hundred Poems – by William Harmon

The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do – by Samantha Ettus

The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty – by Kitty Kelley

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme – by Chris Roberts
Read My Review

The Hero with a Thousand Faces – by Joseph Campbell

How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization : The Time and Heroic Story of How Gay Men Shaped the Modern World – by Cathy Crimmins
I ended up not finishing this book because it wasn’t a serious history book. It was a tongue-in-cheek satire of other books on subculture groups that have an impact on mainstream culture. Funny, but not what I was interested in reading.

Jesus Is Not a Republican: The Religious Right’s War on America – by Clint Willis

Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich–and Cheat Everybody Else – by David Cay Johnston

The Right Decision Every Time : How to Reach Perfect Clarity on Tough Decisions – by Luda Kopeikin

Scaling Down – by Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker
Read My Review

The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry – by Bryan Sykes

A Short History of Nearly Everything – by Bill Bryson

Unwritten Laws: The Unofficial Rules of Life As Handed Down by Murphy and Other Sages – by Hugh Rawson

You Already Know What to Do: Ten Invitations to the Intuitive Life – by Sharon Franquemont

Continue ReadingBooks I plan to read in 2006

New Year’s Resolution: More Gay Sex

More Gay Sex StarburstRight-wing “media advocates” Accuracy in Media (AIM) are urging people to “Quit Gay Sex” and promoting a false parallel to news organizations that are urging people to “Quit to Live” smoking. They claim, falsely, that: gay people are in “the dangerous and addictive homosexual lifestyle” and “Life-threatening sexually transmitted diseases among homosexuals are on the increase.” The seem to be ignoring some facts…

1. “Homosexuality” is not just about sex, but about relationships and love.
2. Homosexuality is not “addictive” but an at-birth characteristic.
3. Not all “homosexuals” are men.
4. Lesbians have lower instances of sexually-transmitted diseases than heterosexuals.
5. Most gay men are not HIV-positive.
6. Most gay men aren’t promiscuous; most don’t practice unsafe sex.

In light of this, I’m planning to start a “More Gay Sex” campaign, urging gay people to have more (safe, healthy, responsible) gay sex during the new year. Casual encounters can be easy, just check these best places in Philly. And I’ll pledge to do so myself, as a New Year’s Resolution. I’ll be using a free fuck app to find people in my area. Who’s with me?And if you’re not gay, please use this perfect remote vibrator and have more heterosexual sex in solidarity, to show your support for my new campaign. If you’re looking for an escort service, try Houston escorts; you will definitely satisfy your sexual drive.

 

One person pointed this out: “Instead of ‘Quit Gay Sex’ how about we substitute ‘Make a Promise to Be Faithful to Just One Partner.’ Oh wait. That’d be gay marriage, wouldn’t it? My bad.”

2022-03-15 Update:
Yeah, isn’t that adorable that I had to put that parenthetical state on that starburst? Not my most sex-positive moment, despite the resolution.
Continue ReadingNew Year’s Resolution: More Gay Sex