September 2013 Reads

September was a much better reading month than August.  There were 46 books read/re-read this past month, compared to 14 for August and 15 for July.  Several of these were biannual re-reads of translations of two stories that I like, but there were several other first-time reads that I also enjoyed.  If this continues for the next three months, it seems likely that each of my ambitious 2013 reading goals will be achieved (one might be achieved by this weekend or next).

211  W.S. Merwin, Collected Poems:  2996-2011 (poetry; Library of America edition; very good)

212  Myriam Campello, Cerimônia da Noite (Portuguese; good)

213  Dacia Maraini, Buio (Italian; Premio Strega winner; very good)

214  Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island (religious non-fiction; very good)

215  Terry Goodkind, The Third Kingdom (already reviewed)

216  Predrag Matvejević, Mediterranean:  A Cultural Landscape (will review in near future)

217  Shani Boianjiu, The People of Forever are not Afraid (in case I don't review it soon, excellent, excellent story)

218  Silvana Ocampo, La biografía de Irene (Spanish; short fiction collection; very good)

219  Inga Ābele, High Tide (excellent)

220  Liliana Bodoc, Los días del venado (re-read; Spanish; might write a formal review later)

221  Liliana Bodoc, The Days of the Deer (translation of the above; see above comment)

222  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince (re-read; French; one of my all-time favorites)

223  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (re-read; see above)

224  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, El Principito (re-read; Spanish; see above)

225  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Mali Princ (re-read; Serbian; see above)

226  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Der Kleine Prinz (re-read; German; see above)

227  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Regulus (re-read; Latin; see above)

228  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Il Piccolo (re-read; Italian; see above)

229  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, An Prionsa Beag (Irish; see above)

230  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, A Kis Herceg (re-read; Hungarian; see above)

231  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, El petit príncep (re-read; Catalan; see above)

232  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, O Principezinho (re-read; Portuguese; see above)

233  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Micul Prinţ (Romanian; see above)

234  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, маленький принц (Russian; see above)

235  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Mały Książę (Polish; see above)

236  Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone (Italian; excellent)

237  Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone (translation; see above)

238  Andrzej Sapkowski, Il guardiano degli innocenti (Italian; already reviewed)

239  Andrzej Sapkowski, Le Dernier Vœu (French; already reviewed)

240  Andrzej Sapkowski, O Último Desejo (Portuguese; already reviewed)

241  Andrzej Sapkowski, Der Letzte Wunsch (German; already reviewed)

242  Andrzej Sapkowski, El último deseo (re-read; Spanish; already reviewed)

243  Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish (re-read; already reviewed)

244  Alice McDermott, Someone (2013 National Book Award longlisted title for Fiction; review forthcoming)

245  Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses (2013 National Book Award longlisted title for Young Peoples' Literature; already reviewed)

246  Zoé Valdes, La nada cotidiana (Spanish; very good)

247  Elsa Morante, L'isola di Arturo (Italian; Premio Strega winner; might review in near future; excellent)

248  Margaret Mazzantini, Non ti muovere (Italian; Premio Strega winner; very good)

249  Andrzej Sapkowski, La espada del destino (re-read; Spanish; already reviewed)

250  Andrzej Sapkowski, Miecz Przeznaczenia (Polish; already reviewed)

251  Andrzej Sapkowski, L'Épée de la providence (French; already reviewed)

252  Andrzej Sapkowski, La spada del destino (Italian; already reviewed)

253  Andrzej Sapkowski, Das Schwert der Vorschung (German; already reviewed)

254  Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers (2013 National Book Award longlisted title for Fiction; review in near future)

255  Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince (2013 National Book Award longlisted title for Young Peoples' Literature; review forthcoming)

256  Elizabeth Graver, The End of the Point (2013 National Book Award longlisted title for Fiction; review forthcoming)


Yearly Goals Update: 

Total:  256/366 - 18 books off the pace, but still achievable.

Women writers:  88/256 - 34% of total, slightly above 33% minimum goal (15/46 this month)

Foreign Language:  95/100 - should achieve this goal by mid-October (31 this month)

Spanish:  37/50 - 2 off the pace, but easily achievable (6 this month)

New goal:  Italian:  11/25 - will be reading several Italian titles, including two more translations of Sapkowski's Witcher novels, in October, so this should be achievable by late December (7 this month)