2012 Challenges

Each year, there are several "novel challenges" that encourage avid readers to sign up, and commit to reading a certain number of books.  There are "around the world challenges", that dare the reader to read a book from every country.  There are challenges to read novels from the year in which one was born.  There are challenges to read books with colors in their titles.  You name it, there's a challenge for it.

This year, I decided to join two, the 2012 Support Your Library Challenge, and Off the Shelf 2012.

The 2012 Support Your Library Challenge is exactly what it sounds like, a challenge to read as many books as you can from your local library.  My goal for this challenge is 24 books, as I plan to get books from my TBR list from the library, read books for both book groups from the library, and get audio versions of some of the books for the Off the Shelf Challenge, and be able to double count those.

The Off the Shelf 2012 Challenge encourages the reader to read books that he or she already owns.  Since my nightstand is always over flowing, I think that I can make this one work.  I have to admit, however, that even in the best of circumstances, I can only expect to read 24 books from my nightstand each year, including those that I actually own on paper, but listen to on CD. 

To this end, and to my dismay, I have made an inventory of my nightstand.  After adding it all up, I have to wonder if my nightstand has secret compartments, or if it magically extends into the wall behind it to give me added storage.  Here is what it is holding right now:

1  .Emma by Jane Austen  Reviewed 3/17/12
2.  The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
3.  March by Geraldine Brooks Reviewed 4/6/12
4.  The Lost King of France by Deborah Cadbury
5.  True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
6.  Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
7.  The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
8.  The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
9.  The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
10.  I Was Told There'd be Cake by Sloane Crosley Reviewed 9/8/12
11.  Under the Table by Katherine Darling
12.  Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
13.  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant  Reviewed 9/22/12
14.  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz Reviewed 2/3/12
15.  Middlemarch by George Eliot
16.  In the Company of Liars by David Ellis
17.  The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides  Reviewed 1/6/12
18.  World Without End  by Ken Follett Reviewed 10/27/12
19.  Helen of Troy by Margaret George  Reviewed 3/22/12
20.  The Grown-Ups by Victoria Glendinning Reviewed 8/20/2012
21.  London Train by Tessa Hadley Reviewed 2/7/12
22.  Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh Reviewed 11/18/12
23.  The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
24.  Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin Reviewed 9/8/12
25.  Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin  Reviewed 4/26/12
26.  The Titans by John Jakes
27.  Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson Reviewed 2/23/12
28.  Lit by Mary Karr Reviewed 4/30/12
29.  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
30.  The Last Life by Claire Messud
31.  The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer Reviewed 6/9/12
32.  Black Swan Green by David Mitchell  Reviewed 3/31/12
33.  Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Reviewed 12/7/12
34.  We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
35.  My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk Reviewed 7/6/12
36.  Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult Reviewed 8/21/12
37.  Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
38.  Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl Reviewed 4/30/12
39.  Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff  Reviewed 12/22/12
40.  Mockingbird by Charles Shields
41.  The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart Reviewed 8/2/12
42.  The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli  Reviewed 10/11/12
43.  War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
44.  A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
45.  Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
46.  Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters Reviewed 6/13/12
47.  The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff Reviewed 7/25/12

As I read these, I'll cross them off this page, and link you to the page where I tell you about the book.

No time to blog - I've got to get reading!

Still Reading:  Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Still Listening to:  Empire Falls by Richard Russo.  This one just narrowly missed being listed above.  It had lived in my nightstand for at least 2 years before I finally decided to listen to it instead of waiting to read it.