The First Amendment

I've realized the error of my ways and have come to the conclusion that I have no choice but to revise my summer reading list. I forgot so many books and want to feel as if I'm making some headway, so here it is, in full, as of today: Saturday, May 30, 2009.

Amendment #1:
The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano
Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
The White Album, Joan Didion (and/or other Didion)
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi

Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson
Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger
Chicago Stories, various authors

There we go. I accidentally began rereading one of my favorite books last night, so it may be a couple of days before I get to another one off the list, but I feel better having admitted my lack of loyalty to the original list. Another confession to make: I treated myself to a hardcover Everyman's Library edition of Lolita (again from Barbara's), despite the public library having the same copy on hold for me right now... I couldn't help myself. Oh well; it was $20 of my hard-earned babysitting money well spent.

Besides the two books I have paid full-price for, I've been doing pretty well for myself picking up books for quarters at garage sales around the Chicagoland area and at the Brown Elephant Resale Shop on Harrison Street in Oak Park. Proceeds from the Brown Elephant go to the Howard Brown Health Center, which has provided health care and wellness programs for LGBT persons across the U.S. since 1974.