Saturday, January 09, 2010

Catching Up Challenge


I used to be such a challenge queen.  One year, I completed over twenty challenges.  Guess I got a little burned out because I didn't join any challenges last year, completing two joined the year before and my personal challenge, Book Around the States.  Once again, I've decided not to join any challenges this year except for a personal challenge I am setting for myself.  At the first of every year, I review my TBR list (which you can see for yourself by clicking on the link on my sidebar), and I've noticed that I tend to get sidetracked by my latest acquisitions.  The first list I ever published on January 1, 2007 had 225 books on it.  (My last count of the TBR list was 472)  Many of those have been read and many have been deleted because my interest in them waned (lovely word); but I found 30 books still on my list and on my shelves.  So the challenge is for me to get those books read this year.  That still leaves me lots of leeway in reading other books that strike my fancy at any given time.  Here's a long list of the languishing literature left to be looked at.

1.  Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley Archer
2.  Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
3.  Tara Road by Mauve Binchy
4.  Farewll Summer by Ray Bradbury
5.  Jany Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
6.  And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie
7.  Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper
8.  The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
9.  The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
10.  Inside the Dream by Katharine and Richard Green (had this book for years)
11.  The Secret River by Kate Grenville
12.  Floating in My Mother's Palm by Ursula Heigl
13.  Boston Jane by Jennifer Holm
14.  Armed Funmen, True Facts & Ridiculous Nonsense by Richard Kallam
15.  Father's Arcane Daughter by E L Konigsburg
16.  The Great Divorce by C S Lewis
17.  Norman Rockwell by Karal Ann Marling
18.  1776 by David McCullough
19.  The Great Bridge by David McCullough
20.  Atonement by Ian McEwan
21.  Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
22.  Savage Beauty - The Life of Edna Vincent Millay by Nancy Mitford
23.  Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
24.  Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson (I may have already read this one.  I'll remember when I start it again.  If so, this one comes off the list.)
25.  Mort by Terry Partchett
26.  The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
27.  How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
28.  Franny and Zooey by J D Salinger
29.  The Rug Merchant by Meg Mullins
30.  Cage of Stars by Jacqueline Mitchard

Why have I never read these books?  I certainly meant to.  By the end of the year, I will have.  This may become an annual assignment to read the books that interested me three years before.  I'm just afraid that the list is going to be considerably longer in the coming years.  I can't seem to quit buying books.  There's eight more books on the way.  I don't have two years of food storage and may starve to death; but at least I won't be bored. 

2 comments:

  1. A bunch of those books could be on my list, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I recently discovered you blog and just had to comment...

    I loved your comment about not having a two year supply of food but you DO have books!! So true....I'm glad I don't have to eat my books, but I feel a tangible relief to know that they are there!! Isn't mental security worth something???

    I love your challenge this year. I too am not going to join any reading challenges - just my own challenge to read what I have at home more than other things! Of course I do have to stop being dissuaded by lists such as yours. You are a temptress, I believe!

    ReplyDelete