Entering The Lists

In medieval tournaments, the "lists" or "list field" was the arena in which jousting (or other tournament fighting) took place. To enter the lists, therefore, meant to accept a challenge or engage in a contest. In more general and contemporary usage, a list is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "catalogue or roll consisting of a row or series of names, figures, words, or the like."

In this case, both definitions strike me as fitting. I am accepting a challenge, although perhaps not one that comes with a risk of losing my eye to a splintered lance. My prize upon my successful completion of this feat will not be gold or the favors of the fair princess, only a handful more books on the shelf and a somewhat depleted checking account (and possibly a mild case of eye strain). But I am, with this "catalogue or roll," entering the lists, ready to bravely combat my notorious procrastination and the occasional dragon of obtuse prose. I can do this!

I think.

Incidentally, "list" can also refer to "the flank (of pork); a long piece cut from the gammon." Who knew? The OED never ceases to amaze.

Before we engage in mortal combat, the rules of engagement: Books, even with The Strand, Amazon, and Powells, are expensive. The library is amazing but sometimes unreliable and those overdue fines will get you every time. So, I will be sticking primarily with books I already own but have not yet read. This will not be difficult, as I cannot walk away from any used bookstore or "bargain" table and always feel the need to spend $25+ on Amazon to get the free shipping. My shelves are like a Russian orphanage, overflowing with wonderful, unexplored tomes begging me to take them down and love them.

Of course, all rules have exceptions. Book club selections (when not my pick) will be outside of my control. Likewise, the parameters of the Tournament of Reading dictate that I complete two new volumes each of history and medieval literature, emphasis on new. I own many medieval books (thanks to school), but being the good little student I was, I've read them already. So those will be new, too.

Enough with the definitions and details. To the tiltyard!

*****

The List (alphabetical by author):

1. Lucrezia Borgia - Maria Bellonci
2. The Decameron - Giovanni Boccaccio*
3. Possession - A.S. Byatt
4. The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier*
5. Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
6. My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier
7. In the Company of the Courtesan - Sarah Dunant
8. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco*
9. Leonardo's Swans - Karen Essex*
10. Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times - Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally*
11. Howard's End - E.M. Forster
12. Incarnadine: The True Memoirs of Count Dracula - R.H. Greene
13. The Weight of Silence - Heather Gudenkauf
14. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
15. Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris
16. The Aviary Gate - Katie Hickman
17. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century - Ibn Battuta*
18. Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery - Eric Ives
19. The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
20. The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
21. Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence
22. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
23. The Lais of Marie de France - Marie de France*
24. Mademoiselle Boleyn - Robin Maxwell
25. The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn - Robin Maxwell
26. The House at Riverton - Kate Morton
27. Cluny: In Search of God's Lost Empire - Edwin Mullins*
28. Going Rogue: An American Life - Sarah Palin (thanks, gag xmas gift!)
29. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
30. The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl
31. Lush Life - Richard Price
32. A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym
33. Crampton Hodnet - Barbara Pym
34. Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
35. Some Tame Gazelle - Barbara Pym
36. Immortal - Traci Slatton*
37. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
38. Tales out of School - Benjamin Taylor
39. Affinity - Sarah Waters
40. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
41. The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn - Alison Weir
42. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily - Lauren Willig
43. Book Club TBA
44. Book Club TBA
45. Book Club TBA
46. Book Club TBA
47. Book Club TBA
48. Book Club TBA
49. Book Club TBA
50. Book Club TBA

(* denotes a Tournament of Reading selection. The rules of the challenge define the medieal period as anything from 500 to 1500 A.D. Several of my picks are really more Early Renaissance than Medieval, but they are set before 1500... Am I cheating? Maybe just a little.)

The gauntlet is laid. Let us begin.