My reading plan constantly changes, so I thought I would outline where I think I will be heading the next few months so you can set your interest-ometer accordingly.

I hope to hit several of the ancient Greek works by Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon over the course of the year. Plays from the ancient Greeks will be fair game. In addition to that timeframe, my non-fiction reads will also include early American documents (from Pilgrim memoirs to debates on the Constitution). The era around World War I also holds special interest for me and I hope to read Ford Maddox Ford’s Parade’s End as well as Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday this year. There are a few loose ends I’d like to complete from 2009, but I’ll try to keep those to a minimum.

I would love to attend some night classes on math and science (yeah, I’m weird that way), but between work and home I know that won’t happen. So I’ve set an ambitious goal this year for self-education. Like any good government, expect flowery updates if I succeed and silence if I don’t.

Beyond that, I’m going with whatever I feel like at the moment. Other interests I’ve followed lately include Russian novels, Spanish and Portuguese language authors, Shakespeare, and 20th century ‘classics’ (whatever that means). Some areas I hope to get to this year, but more than likely will get pushed, include ancient Roman works, early British novels (Tom Jones and Clarissa for example), satire (especially Swift, Pope and Rabelais), and works based on the Faustus legend (at least Marlowe, Goethe and Mann).

I am always amazed at the volume of reviews and recommendations I find on weblogs, so thanks to those that take the time to post about books…I greatly appreciate it.