Normally at this time I would be presenting my spring reading list but I’m still plugging along with the winter literature. Much of my selections come from four reference books. I really enjoy the suggestions from Seattle librarian Nancy Perl’s Book Lust series. I’m currently in her second book More Book Lust, focusing on Science 101. I will choose one book she recommends from that sections as I’ve done for all her sections. I also like 1000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich. I’ve read 279. And going alphabetically by author I’m up to Voices from Chernobyl by Svetland Alexievich. The third book is Great Books of the Century which are New York Times Book Reviews of the 20th century. I’m up to A Passage to India by E. M. Forster written about a hundred years ago. Finally there is The Top Ten edited by J. Peder Zane. He asked 25 leading British and American writers to “provide a list, ranked in order of what you consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time- novels, short stories collections, plays, or poems”. He received 544 separate titles. He gave ten points to each writer’s number one selection and one point to their tenth. From this he came up with the top ten list. Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and War and Peace were the top three. I’ve read 166 of the list. I’m up to Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens which is number 68. If you have any references you draw from let me know. Happy spring reading!