Last week’s Top Ten Tuesday were books that I meant to read in 2018 but didn’t which is a looking back on the year, so how could I resist this weeks topic of ten books I’m looking forward to reading this year, which, of course, is looking forward.  It’s mostly better to look ahead than back. 😉  Actually, the topic is the ten newest reads I’ve added to my TBR list, but being somewhat of a non-conformist, I thought I’d change it up a bit.
While there will be one overlap from my last Top Ten Tuesday topic, I have mostly new choices in mind for this list. Â Luckily I plan to read more than ten books this year!
-  Moby Dick by Herman Melville- yes, this is a repeat from my last list but who could resist this cover?!!  And Brona’s is having a read along in February …. isn’t she …..??
- How To Be A Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship by Marcus Tullius Cicero – this one not only looks great but looks to be a relatively easy read which is not always the case with Cicero
3. Â The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri – Roof Beam Reader has mentioned reading this, I believe in the summer, and wanted some buddy readers. Â I’d love to read this again so I really hope to get to it.
4. Â High Rising by Angela Thirkell – I’ve been longing to start this series based on Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire Chronicles (of which I’ve almost finished) and a Goodreads friend has been making her way through them, inspiring me to at least check the first one off my list.
5. Â The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie – the second book in Fanda’s Agatha Christie Perpetual Reading challenge
6. Â The Republic by Plato – oh my goodness! Â I started this for my WEM History section of the challenge and stalled, not because it wasn’t interesting (it was actually fascinating) but because I wanted to understand it and I didn’t have the time to dedicate to a thorough read of it. Â I hope to get back to it this year. Â Here are my posts for the introduction, Book I and Book II.
7. Â The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare – this is one I’ve been looking forward to for years but have never read. Â Time to change that!
8. Â Roughing It In the Bush – I rarely read Canadian authors, but this one I’m anticipating with pleasure! Â I’ve read her sister’s book The Backwoods of Canada, so it will be interesting to compare the two.
9. Â The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot – I love George Eliot’s writing but I haven’t read a book of hers in awhile. Â I have this weird mind-block, in that I tend not to want to read a beloved author’s final books because then there will be no more to read. Â Get over it, me! Â Is it Cirtnecce who said she’d join me for this one?
10. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson – I don’t know why, after reading and posting on An Apology for Idlers, I just felt like reading this one.
So there’s the list and we’ll see how I do. Â Do any of these capture your fancy?
I read Moby Dick in school. The Divine Comedy is a great read too. I haven”t read The Secret Adversary but I love Agatha Christie.
Hope you enjoy all of these!
I’ve read the Divine Comedy once but Inferno a couple of times. I always say I want to choose another translator but my favourite is Ciardi! Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great week!
I know…I keep checking Brona’s blog for that anticipated official announcement. The pressure…
I’m checking too. I suppose we could start mid-February too but I’m raring to get going!
LOL, me too! 😀
Sorry, as you will have noticed, life stuff has got in the way of a Feb Moby Dick, but I’m aiming to make it work in August if you’re all still interested.
I am in for August! Looking forward to it!
Great list…I should select 10 books that I want to read.
I’m tool tired to crack a book tonight…list making is the next best thing.
Dante’s The Divine Comedy” I can suggest a great reading/study resource:
Dante’s Divine Comedy
By: The Great Courses, Ronald B. Herzman, William R. Cook
Narrated by: Ronald B. Herzman, William R. Cook
Series: The Great Courses: Western Literature
Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
You can purchase the audio on Audible.com
I loved these 2 teacher’s style, voice and insights!
🙂
You could do your top ten a day late ….. 🙂 I have that course along with some other resources for The Divine Comedy. Some authors focus only on the literature and historical aspects and gloss over the religious aspects whereas others do the opposite; if you don’t balance all of them, you miss alot of what it has too offer. I haven’t listened to the Great Courses resource yet so I’ll check it out and see how these guys do. Thanks for the reminder!
Herzman & Cook…do a terrific job.
I listened to their course on St. Augstine Confessions…
both the book and course were enlightening!
Wow, what an ambitious list! I loved the last Barsetshire book and I adore Thirkell — I bet you will too. I also love Tommy and Tuppence, and re-read Secret Adversary not too long ago.
I just refuse to deal with Moby Dick. I might, might, might do the Divine Comedy though…
Thirkell and Elizabeth Goudge are two authors I’m dying to read!! Well, I’m sad you won’t be joining us for Moby Dick; your plucky reading just might pull us all through! 😉
Great list!!!! I adore everything Agatha Christie!
My TTT: https://ichleseblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/top-ten-tuesday-ten-most-recent-additions-to-my-tbr/
Well, I’m certainly going to be reading many of her novels in the coming year(s)! 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’ve read the Secret Adversary, but without actually looking it up I can’t remember a thing from it.
Good luck with Mill on the Floss. Once you’re done, then you have re-reads to look forward too 🙂
I started The Secret Adversary today and so far it’s fun and sounds like it’s going to be interesting.
I know. I have to look at re-reads as a different experience but one that can be as enriching as the first read, don’t I? Perhaps since I’ve done so few re-reads of books it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. And when I’m old and dotty I’ll have forgotten the first read anyway and the second (or third) will have its own appeal! 😉
Re-reading is definitely its own thing in how you go about it, that is for sure. I’m a huge proponent of re-reading though, so I’m not impartial in the least 😀
Glad to hear T&T is working out for you…
What a great list! I loved “Kidnapped” when I was a teenager! It’s such an adventure story 🙂 I’m still not sure I quite understood The Republic, or if I ever will completely… I definitely should read Moby Dick again – as I only remember the funny bits, and that’s not typically what people want to talk about when they want to talk about Moby Dick
The Republic requires so much effort, and you’re so right about how challenging it is. I think it’s meant to be read a few times, with more understanding coming with each read. I do hope to read it again, so I want to get a firm base on the first read to build on. I just wish there was more time in the day! I’m glad to hear there are funny parts in Moby Dick. I’ll be on the lookout! 😎
I read Moby Dick in 2018 and didn’t really care for it. Maybe if I’d done it as a read-along I might have liked it more. I read it for my IRL book club and so we just each individually read the whole novel then met together to discuss it. Plus we read this within weeks of reading War and Peace by Tolstoy and so having read two long classics like those that close together probably didn’t help….
How to Be A Friend by Cicero sounds interesting!
I am planning to read an Agatha Christie this year. I’ve never read anything by Christie and my plan is to read Murder on the Orient Express this year.
I’ve been surprised at how many people have liked Moby Dick; I expected about 90% to be of your opinion so I still have hope. I just have to get in the mental space of learning lots about boats and whaling, I suppose. That would be hard to have two heavy classics like that one after the other. I think the pace is going to be relatively slow which is what I like with read-alongs. It gives you time to absorb …..
Oh my, if you’ve never read anything by Christie, you’re in for a treat! I don’t think anyone has been able to produce similar writing to hers. She is indeed unique!
I’m actually a bit excited to try my first Christie novel! I tend to shy away from the mystery genre. But in 2018, I read Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers and was surprised by how much I liked it. So I thought, well I might like lighter mysteries after all!
You’ve read one of Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries?! I’m so anticipating her Peter Wimsey mysteries! I really hope I can fit one in this year. Have fun with your Christie. I’d love to hear your comparison of them both.
I like the sound of How To Be a Friend. And I really need to read some Agatha Christie!
I read some of Cicero’s defence speeches and was blown away. He’s really an amazing writer who is accessible. And Christie, definitely, for a little lighter reading! 🙂
I would do an Eliot read with you – The Mill on the Floss is one I’ve not read.
Oooo yay! That would be fun! I’ve got some other books scheduled for the beginning of the year, but perhaps May or June?? Let’s keep in touch!
May or June so terrific! I can read it for the 19th Century classic category of Back to the Classics!
I love Kidnapped. And Moby Dick and The Mill on the Floss are both on my TBR as well!
reading the above comments, i’m surprised no one has mentioned the hilarious first (?) chapter in which Ishmael meets Queegqueeg for the first time and they have to sleep in the same bed! i thought it was pretty funny, anyway… the rest of the book rather turned me off, actually, in particular the technical descriptions of whale processing. now, i wish i hadn’t read it… above all, Dorothy Sayers: excellence in mysterious plotting, imo…
So I will be prepared for some comedy as well. I’m not looking forward to the whale processing bits. Ugh! 😛
I”m looking forward to Kidnapped which should be an easy read. Moby and Mill, definitely! 🙂
I LOVE Kidnapped…well, Alan Breck. Same thing right? 😛
Mudpuddle, ironically I think Ishmael is why I enjoyed Moby-Dick. He’s such a narratory-narrator…terribly verbose, introspective, and funny at times. You have to be in the mood for that, though, otherwise he’s irritating!
yes, Marian, he was… i’d forgotten about all the rest of his wry comments; i should really read it again, except i’d have to skip the ugly parts…
I will have to get myself in the mood. It’s disappointing when you look so forward to a book and it’s not as good as you expected. I think I’ll tone down my excitement a little.
I really enjoyed The Mill on the Floss! From the beginning to the end. I’ve had to grow into enjoying Middlemarch – which I think I’m going to actually finish tonight.
Thanks for the good recommendation for The Mill on the Floss; as much as I love Eliot’s writing, I was a little bit worried about it. Now I can relax! 😉
Great you’re going to finish MM!! It must seem like a huge accomplishment given the length!
Good luck with The Republic! I am sure I will want to reread it eventually. On the TWEM histories list, The Social Contract is next for me. I think I will read it this month. (Ruth reviewed it already.) I gave up on Hume’s History of England, at least for now.
Thanks! I’ll need all the luck I can get along with a heavy dose of time!
I feel so wretched that I’ve fallen behind with my WEM challenge. It’s the Republic that stalled me. Time to get going!
I really really enjoyed High Rising though I am kind of ambivalent about Moby Dick! I may join you for Merchant of Venice!
Aren’t you curious as to the many people who have loved Moby Dick (I supposed versus the number of people who couldn’t stand it. 😉 )? I want to find out which camp I’m in; I suspect the former. I really need to read High Rising soon if I’m going to start reading Thirkell, as spring is approaching and I really want to read that book in winter! Yay, for The Merchant of Venice! Would you be able to start in a couple of weeks?
Yes to Merchant of Venice!
Sounds like a great list! I read The Divine Comedy a number of years back (sheesh, must be eight or nine by now?) and really enjoyed it, although I was definitely dependent on the end-notes. I’ll have to check out the Great Courses series Nancy recommends, though, that sounds good. Enjoy!
I’m watching the Great Courses series now. It’s good but I often find when non-faith people try to speak about faith, they don’t quite understand it like someone who has it, if you know what I mean. I love that you get the background to the poem though. It’s useful to help one understand Dante’s point of view.