---

Fiction had always been for me a tolerable if not copious escape from the woes of a forlorn childhood. Able to elude the drudgery of the social peculiarity of public education, I often found myself head long engrossed in this novel or that, always categorical fiction, mostly horror, of the dark, discussing evil, sinister plots, malcontents, and with some sort of supernatural proclivities.

I’ve reckoned it a great sadness that fiction I abandoned shortly after adulthood, chasing, as it were, some kind of elusive education lacking from my years of public indoctrination.

It was not until recently, in mid-life, that I have again returned to tend the ember of fiction that longingly burns inside. To read and ruminate in the creative, to dive head-long into its bliss. Of all the stories I have thus far experienced, of so many, many more I might yet entertain. A grand adventure into the unknown, into discovery, into fascination, awe, serendipity, into inspiration.

RESEARCH SCOPE

This research project will focus on one specific areas: A Fiction Reading List (see below).

BACKGROUND

I spent my childhood reading the likes of John Saul, Dean Koontz, books like Lord of the Flies and the Magic Cottage. For so long – most of my adult life – I have desired to read all the books available to me. I’ve even spent considerable time collecting most of the popular books in digital format, so that, at some later date, I might be afforded the time to read them, study them, be transformed by them.

I know now, there is no time like the present. There is no future date from which I might be afforded more time than what I currently have.

A coworker not long ago mentioned to me in passing how, “We have been spoiled by television,” and truer words have not been spoken. It is my hope to rectify this travesty.

PROPOSED HYPOTHESIS

• I can read 52 fiction books a year.

FINAL PRODUCTS

Pending….

DIGITAL RESOURCE LIST

Adams, Richard. 2005. Watership Down: A Novel. Reprint edition. New York: Scribner.

Alighieri, Dante. 2003. The Divine Comedy. Translated by John Ciardi. The Inferno, The Purgatorio, And The Paradiso edition. New York: Berkley.

Aquinas, Thomas. 2010. Summa Theologica. Coyote Canyon Press.

Auel, Jean M. 1983. The Clan of the Cave Bear: Earth’s Children, Book One. New York: Bantam Books.
Collins, Max Allan. 2017. Dark Angel Book Series: Amazon.Com.

Collins, Suzanne. 2014. The Hunger Games Box Set: Foil Edition. Box edition. Place of publication not identified: Scholastic Press.

Cooper, James Fenimore. 2012. The Leatherstocking Tales: The Library of America Edition. Edited by Blake Nevius. Box edition. New York: Library of America.

Dekker, Ted. 2011. Circle Series 4-in-1. Thomas Nelson.

Dick, Philip K. 2017. The Philip K. Dick Collection: Philip K. Dick: 9781598530490: Amazon.Com: Books. Accessed September 7.

Donald Goines, Kevin Kenerly, and Inc. Blackstone Audio. n.d. Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp. Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Follett, Ken. 1990. The Pillars of the Earth: A Novel. New York: Penguin Books.

Friend, Reader’s. n.d. TOM CLANCY COMPLETE SERIES READING ORDER: Jack Ryan, John Clark, Jack Ryan Jr./Campus, Op-Center, Ghost Recon, EndWar, Splinter Cell, Net Force, Power Plays, and More!

Harris, Charlaine. 2015. Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood. First Paperback Edition edition. Unknown.

Herbert, Frank. 1986. The Dune Collection, Books 1-6. (Set Includes — Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse Dune) Complete Series. Berkeley Books.

Hocking, Amanda. 2010. My Blood Approves. Second Edition edition. Createspace.

Jane Austen, Karen Savage, and SAGA Egmont. n.d. Pride and Prejudice. SAGA Egmont.

Kate, Lauren. 2013. The Fallen Series: 4-Book Collection. Delacorte Press.

Kilborn, Jack, and J. A. Konrath. 2012. Afraid – A Novel of Terror. United States: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Kirn, Walter. 2002. Up in the Air: A Novel. Reprint edition. Anchor.

Konrath, J. A. 2010. Origin. Schaumburg, Ill.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

LaHaye, Tim, and Jerry B. Jenkins. 2006. The Regime: Evil Advances. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Lindsay, Jeff. 2016. Jeff Lindsay Novel Dexter Series Collection 8 Books Set. Orion.

Ludlum, Robert. 2013. The Jason Bourne Series 3-Book Bundle: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum. Bantam.

Lustbader, Eric Van. 1980. The Ninja. 1st edition. New York: M. Evans.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. 2006. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Reprint edition. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

Martin, George R. R. 2012. A-Game-of-Thrones-7-Volume-Book-Box-Set-Song-of-Ice-and-Fire-George-R-R-Martin. HarperCollins Publishers.

Mead, Richelle. 2013. Vampire Academy Box Set 1-6. Box edition. Razorbill.

Michael Page, Laural Merlington, Emily Brontë, and Brilliance Audio. n.d. Wuthering Heights. Brilliance Audio.

Milton, John. n.d. Paradise Lost.

Poe, Edgar Allan. 2009. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems. 2003 ed. edition. Edison, N.J: Castle Books.

Rand, Ayn. 2005. Atlas Shrugged. Centennial edition. Signet.

Riordan, Rick. 2014. Percy Jackson and the Olympians 5 Book Paperback Boxed Set. Box Pap/Ps edition. Place of publication not identified: Disney-Hyperion.

Rossi, Veronica. 2014. Under the Never Sky: The Complete Series Collection: Under the Never Sky, Roar and Liv, Through the Ever Night, Brooke, Into the Still Blue. HarperCollins.

Roth, Veronica. 2016. Divergent Series Four-Book Paperback Box Set: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, Four. Box Rep edition. Place of publication not identified: Katherine Tegen Books.

Shakespeare, William. 2017a. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. WS.

Tolken, J. R. R. 1965. The Lord Of The Rings and the Hobbit 4 Books Collection Set. First Ballantine Edition edition. Ballantine.

Tolkien, J. R. R. 2002. The Silmarillion. 2nd edition. New York: Del Rey.

Tolstoy, Leo. 2010. War and Peace. Edited by Forward2. Translated by Maude Aylmer. Forward2.