I've Been Meaning to Read: _________

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If reading is my super power, my kryptonite is the pile of books I've been "meaning to read".

Surely I can't be the only one with this problem, right? Sometimes picking my next book can be almost stressful - because I have to balance between books I need to read for review, books I want to read for fun, and books I feel like I ought to read because they're classics or they're supposedly lifechanging or everyone else has read them and I don't want to be out of the loop.

Right now my "meaning to read" list includes: (1) the rest of the Lymond Chronicles (2) pretty much anything in French, (3) Crime and Punishment, (4) 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, (5) assorted parenting books, (6) Macbeth and (7) The Orphan Master's Son.

And here are the reasons they're on my list.

1. I liked the first two books in the Lymond Chronicles (they're historical fiction set in the Tudor era), but they're dense reading. Archaic language, complicated sentences, whole paragraphs randomly in Latin or French or German. Dorothy Dunnett was obviously writing for people that were better educated than I am.
2. I'm a French major. Who lives in Tucson. Needless to say, language skills are getting rusty.
3. I've never read any Dostoyevsky. Or any famous Russian novelist for that matter. (See point 1; Arizona public school education doesn't exactly focus on literature). But since I've been out of high school for more than a decade now, that excuse is wearing thin.
4. I keep seeing people talk about how great 7 is. I really want to read it, but the library doesn't own it and I haven't been able to find it secondhand. I may have to actually buy a book new (gasp!).
5. I've only ever read one parenting book. I tend to sorta wing it/do what I remember my parents doing with my younger siblings. But I'm thinking that maybe a more structured plan for parenting might be helpful - especially as Eleanor gets older.
6. Here's my guilty secret: I've never read Macbeth. I can fake it pretty well, because I think everyone knows the basic plot, but nope, never got around to it. I adore Hamlet though, and I also liked King Lear, so I don't really have a good reason for why I never read Macbeth.
7. Noel really liked this book and has been pestering me to read it for months. Since our reading tastes rarely overlap, I was hoping that I would like this one. But, alas, I tried it on audio, and hated it. Maybe I can psych myself up to give the print version an attempt?

And now, I'm curious. Do you all have this same "I've been meaning to read..." anxiety? Have you ever pretended for years that you've read a book? Someone tell me that Crime and Punishment won't take me too long!

What books have you been meaning to read?

P.S. The link-up for the Summer Reading Club is in TWO DAYS! Are you ready to link up?