Cannonballing like whooooaaa

I had a terrible day today (though my Halloween was good - will have my costume pictures up soon!) but when I got home, I remembered that November 1st is the beginning of the Super-Awesome-Amazing-Godtopulicious Cannonball Read, and I am now a little bit cheerier. I haven't finished a book yet, but I am currently three quarter of the way through one, so hopefully, after a couple more subway rides since that's where I do most of my reading, I should have a post up soon.

I've been thinking about what I want to read. If anything, the Cannonball Read will get me to read all the books that I say that I would if I could. I could, I could, and I should! Last week, I re-watched Stardust with a friend, and I realized that I have never read anything by Neil Gaiman. So perhaps I can start with Stardust...

Anyway, here's a list I've came up with:
1) Stardust by Neil Gaiman (right, you know that now.)
2) The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
3) Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson
4) The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (yea, yea I know - shoot me.)
5) The Assassin's Gate by George Packer
6) Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
7) A History of Love by Nicole Krauss (If I'm reading the husband, I gotta be reading the wife too.)
8) The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
9) Whatever else that I can find on my roommate's bookshelves.

This first book I am reading is from my roommate, and it's a non-fiction book. Looking above at my (really short) list, it may seem like I don't discriminate between fiction and non-fiction. However, I am usually more of a fiction reader. I only started on non-fiction in my free time (college books don't count! coz all the knowledge has left my brain) because I really like reading war books, so that turned me on to that kind of writing.

Speaking of war, I was in one yesterday. No, actually, I was at a party yesterday and I met a man who used to be a war correspondent for ABC News! He worked in various war-torn regions in Africa, and he speaks French, Italian and Farsi. I was pretty buzzed when I met him so I must have came off a bit fan-girl-ish and gushy. I just kept asking him questions about his career and the various wars that he's been in, and what he does now, and if he wishes to get back into it. I also remember telling him that I think anyone who is a war journalist must be a little bit crazy, which I meant as a compliment, but now that I'm thinking about it, he might not have taken it that way. I don't know.

Anyway, going back to Cannonball Read, I really should try to read more classic fiction. I feel like all I read in college was philosophical papers and newspaper articles. Granted, they were my area of study, but I do miss reading fiction. I used to say that only grown-ups read fiction, "which suuuccckkkss." I don't know if this means that I am getting more grown-up (shoot me, please.)

Point of this post: Cannonball Read makes me smile.

Update: I just got inspired by a fellow Pajiban's Cannonball Read blog. Alli has covers of the books that she is reading and books that she has finished on her sidebar, and I really wanted that too! So I went to Book Gadget, took a much longer time than I will admit to set it up (Seriously, it's embarrassing especially since I consider myself to be pretty savvy with the Internetz), and now I have it! Look!