it's no secret that i love a list. more than that, i love MAKING a list and i am not shy about admitting that i am quite good at it. i think back over some of the lists i've made and, honestly, they make me smile. the to-do list that filled a piece of notebook paper (front & back!) of stuff to get done before mom and dad visited our franklin place for the first time, the list of people to invite to the wedding or to send birth announcements to, the list of pros & cons for marrying ryan...just kidding, ry.
anyway, as much as i love my lists i also love lists that other people put together. i have often dreamed about doing everything on a particular list; for example: reading all the pulitzer prize winning novels or watching the AFI 100 greatest movies (erin & i actually tried that one but, whew, some of the movies were BOOOORING). needless to say, none of those things have panned out for me. and now someone's written a book about 100 places to see before you die! yikes! talk about the pressure of a list.
recently while reading up on new fiction, i came across an article about the 2007 winner of the man booker prize. i have read a few booker prize winning novels and wondered what other books had been awarded the prize. i looked it up and found that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the prize. curious, i searched for the past 40 winners. as i was looking at the books i realized something. THIS list seems manageable. THIS list seems like fun. THIS list is going to be the list i try to conquer. i've already read two of the winning novels, amsterdam & disgrace, and have another, midnight's children, waiting for me on my nightstand. disgrace is my favorite book of all time. it was written in 2005 by j.m. coetzee who won the 2003 noble prize in literature. if you are looking for something fantastic to read (although not really upbeat), i highly recommend it. in the meantime, i'll keep you posted...maybe a new list will emerge out of this. one can only hope...
