30 Before 30: Reading List

I’ve been in a prison for the past several months, one I see no hope of escaping. It’s a prison of my own making – most prisons are – but that doesn’t make doing time any easier.

My jailer is a man named Robert Jordan. My jail, his Wheel of Time series. It seems silly that a man who died in 2007 could hold me captive, but with fourteen 800-page books in the series (three written posthumously by Brandon Sanderson), I’m trapped in his world until I turn the last page on A Memory of Light.

I have three more books to go. I’m going to be here a while.

Don’t get me wrong: I like the story. Jordan’s world-building is unparalleled, and I’ve come to love his characters. All 2,782 of them. (I’m only kidding – I only love about half those characters.) But there comes a point when I’ve read the eighty-seventh description of Rand’s tunic or yet another chapter where I know none of the characters that I try to strike a deal with the Gods: if I ever become a writer, I won’t put my readers through this. I swear.

For now, though, I’m a reader, and I’m sick of this shit. So it should come as no surprise that I’m looking forward to #11 on my 30 Before 30 list: read and blog about 30 new books.

Given my passion for speculative fiction, it might surprise you to learn that I actually enjoy most genres. I’ll read the back of a cereal box if it’s the only thing within reach that has words on it. And after my recent foray into Jordan’s epic series, I’m in need of some books that I don’t feel chained to.

I’ve already started a list of things I’d like to read:

1. The Golem and The Jinni by Helene Wecker
2. Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
3. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
5. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
6. Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
7. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
8. The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
9. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – suggested by Andrew C Review: The Shadow of the Wind
10. Inferno by Dan Brown
11. White Horse by Alex Adams – suggested by @philosofreaky
12. This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers – suggested by @philosofreaky
13. The Maze Runner by James Dashner – suggested by @philosofreaky
14. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris – suggested by @philosofreaky
15. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore – suggested by @philosofreaky Review: Lamb
    
16. Next by Michael Crichton – suggested by @philosofreaky
17. The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro – suggested by @philosofreaky
18. My Lobotomy by Howard Dully – suggested by Sheila M
19. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson – suggested by Blake L
20. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali – suggested by Dani T
21. On the Farm by Stevie Cameron – suggested by Dani T
22. Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey – suggested by Dani T
23. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman – suggested by Anita
24. The Girls by Lori Lansens – suggested by Brie
25. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – suggested by Brie @ Eat Books 
26. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – suggested by Brie @ Eat Books 
27. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb – suggested by Brie @ Eat Books 
28. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt – suggested by Brie @ Eat Books 
29. Still Alice by Lisa Genova – suggested by Brie @ Eat Books 
30. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – suggested by Andrew C  Review: Ready Player One
31. Filth by Irvine Welsh – suggested by Michael C
32. Acid House by Irvine Welsh – suggested by Michael C
33. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut – suggested by Michael C
34. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut – suggested by Michael C
35. The Story of O by Pauline Reage
36. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce – suggested by Patty M for book club Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Though my list is now “complete”, I’m always looking for book suggestions.

Tell me, friends, which books have changed your lives (or given you the perfect distraction from your lives)? Which books do I just have to read this year?