magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

11 novels, 1 collection of novellas, 1 collection of stories, 1 collection of plays, 1 collection of poetry, 1 long poem, 1 mock anthology, 2 biographies (about 1 mathematician and 1 author), 1 memoir, 1 book of history/long-form journalism.

15 books first published, collected, or translated in the last 5 years. 7 books written before I was born; 2 books written over 100 years before I was born; 1 book written over 2000 years before I was born.

4 books in translation: 1 from Latin, 1 from French, 1 from Danish, 1 from Spanish. Books by 9 Americans, 6 Brits, 2 Canadians, 1 Mexican, 1 Dane, 1 nineteenth century Frenchman, and 1 ancient Roman.

11 books by authors I have read before, in one case the same book. 1 book that I didn't get to from my 1999 summer reading list. That book was purchased in 2008, 2 others in 2009, 6 in 2010, 12 in 2011 (8 this May). 11 books were purchased at Greenlight (my localest independent bookstore), 4 books purchased at the Strand, 3 from Better World Books, 1 at the Housing Works Bookstore, 1 from Powell's, and 1 at Crow Bookshop. I had borrowed 4 of the books from the library before purchasing.

9 hardcover books; at least 5 now available in paperback, possibly 6.

5 books with subtitles, only 1 of which is fiction. 5 book titles starting with the letter C (in 1 case, this is the entirety of the title), 3 Ds, 2 Ws (4 authors whose last names and 1 whose first name start with W as well), 1 each B, F, G, H, K, L, N, O, R, S, and T. Initial letters not represented: A, E, I, J, M, P, Q, U, V, X, Y, and Z. Only Q and Z do not appear in a title at all.

Most common cover background colour: tan.

7445 pages in total.

Yes, this is ambitious. No, I probably won't get through all of them. But I plan to do my damnedest, so we'll see.