You know what I like about January? All over the place, people are planning on being more organized. That lasts until a little later in January. But seeing that we are in the midst of the very first weekend of 2004, I will engage in a time-honored tradition of procrastinators everywhere: mainly, making a list of things to do in order to convince myself that I'm doing something, when in fact I'm putting off doing anything. To the point:

My Stack Of Things Yet To Be Read

Or: My Stack Of Things Started But Not Yet Finished)

1. The Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith. Just received it today, thought it would be a hardcover American copy, turns out it's a trade paperback British copy. I think I like this one better.

2. Kitchen Sink #5. A magazine for people who think too much, published out of Oakland, CA. Past contributors have been Warren Ellis, Laurenn McCubbin, and KellySue. Check it at [URL=http://www.kitchensinkmag.com]kitchensinkmag.com[/URL]

3. Red Ant Stories, by Ann Cummins. Got it for x-mas. The title story appeared in McSweeney's a while back and it features a girl named Bean.

4. KASPAR by Peter Handke. A play about language. It's awesome folks, just awesome.

5. Collected Stories, by Isaac Babel. He wrote 80 years in Russia, and even the translations kick my ass.

6. Frank Dell's the Temptation of St. Anthony, by the Wooster Group. Flaubert, Lenny Bruce, and Willem Dafoe!

7. Breaking the Rules: The Wooster Group, by David Savran. The pictures alone are worth it.

8. Nine Stories, by JD Salinger. Specifically, "Just Before the War with Eskimos."

9. Two issues of One Story. Check out [URL=http://www.one-story.com]one-story.com[/URL] and receive a new short story in your mailbox every few weeks.

10. The Best American Non-required Reading 2003, ed. by Dave Eggers. The intro by Zadie is what hooked me. "Tales of the Tyrant" made me want to move in.

11. The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, by F. Scott himself. Poor Zelda.

12. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway. JD and F and Ernie!

13. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Piggy!

14. AutobioGraphix, ed. by Diana Schutz. There's an Eddie Campbell story in there, and one of my new favorite comics artists, Paul Hornschemeier.

15. Giant-Size THB 1.v.2, by Paul Pope. If you don't know Paul Pope, walk away and find out.