New year, new books

As 2011 slowly crawls into being, I'm beginning an ambitious reading list. In addition to my ongoing goal to read all of the "important" books I should have read as an English major, I've recently decided to take on all the unread books that I own. Having realized that I may have been overzealous and bought books faster than I could read them, I am aware that I presently own more unread than read books. Or started, but not finished. I'm basically a horrible person.


So, goodbye 2010 books eaten list:

• Sarah - Of Lines and Fragments by Julie Carr (poetry)
  
• Late Wife by Claudia Emerson (poetry)
  
• i was the jukebox by Sandra Beasley (poetry)
  
• The Keep by Jennifer Egan
• The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson (poetry)
  
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Stein & Kim (non-fiction)
  
• Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)
  
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July (short stories)
  

(I made bold the ones I highly recommend.)

Starting off the new list is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I started reading this book in junior year of high school. I liked it, but never finished it. I made it to page 125, apparently, as that was the page with the corner folded down. I'm happy to report that in 3 days I've passed page 125 and I expect to finish it within the week.

Giddy up.

Goals, not resolutions

Resolutions are suckers. Goals are for winners (and losers who want to win). I don't see much of anything wrong with myself, so it was difficult coming up with this list.

1. First and foremost, I should submit some poems somewhere. I mean, what the hell am I doing?

2. I will not get shitfaced this year. And if I do, it will not be in my boyfriend's backyard. And if it is, I will not pass out by the sheep. And if I do, Brian will not be there to take pictures with his cellphone.

3. As soon as I get my tuition refund, I'm going to open a savings account and get on the fast-track to adulthood. I will slowly save for a house.

4. Since I'm a poet, and not exactly prolific, I will never be able to afford a house. So, I plan to find a cute Ivy League doctor who will marry me and buy me a house. In Cambridge. Of all my goals, this is the most likely to happen.

5. I will proactively cook for myself. By 'cook', I don't mean 'pour a bowl of cereal'. But that's probably what I will end up doing. Lets be real.

6. I will try to find something in this world that I love more than my cat. Of all my goals, this is the least likely to happen. Actually, this doesn't need to happen at all. She's perfection.

Me-OW.

Note to self: stop writing 2010

Is it 2011 now? I had no idea since my head was in a toilet for the last 4 days. I saw fireworks, though. I mean, real fireworks. Not like...I puked so hard I saw stars.

Anyway, I'm feeling better, but still painfully unproductive. I bought new curtains, a tablecloth, and a wine rack, so clearly I'm ready to enter my mid-to-late-twenties. But as far as writing and garnering inspiration goes, I may not be ready for much. I think my voice is changing again and I need to let it fester.

I'm wary of the new year. I don't usually have good luck during odd years/even ages. So in 2011 I'll be 26, and I expect it to be a terrible shit show. The sequel to 2009/24. Boston has settled me, though. Maybe it'll be good.