I am so weak when it comes to challenges, and Adam from Roof Beam Reader has now dangled another one in front of me--The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge. As the Borg in Star Trek say, "Resistance is futile." I'll just give in now. Fortunately, crossovers from other challenges are allowed and I'm planning on reading a great number from my TBR list...so I'm not adding too many books to my growing "gotta read these in 2011" pile.
Here's the main point: If you join Adam's challenge, then you will sign up to read 12 books (one for each month) from your TBR list. Each of these books must have been on your TBR list for AT LEAST one year. None of the books can have a publication date of 1/1/10 or later. I'm going to restrict myself even further and only use books that I have actually had on my physical TBR shelf for at least a year. Anything which I bought in 2010 will not be allowed (I'm trying to clear out some of the books I've had hanging around for a loooonnnnggg time.)
For the full run-down of challenge details, hop over to Adam's blog (click on link above), read the rules, and join me in my challenge addiction madness.
Here's my list:
1. The Silk Stocking Murders by Anthony Berkeley (1928) [finished 2/19/11]
2. The Best of Mystery by Alfred Hitchcock (1986) [finished 7/9/11]
3. Time to be in Earnest by P. D. James [autobiography] (1999) [finished 1/18/11]
4. Therapy by David Lodge (1995) [finished 7/3/11]
5. The High Crusade by Poul Anderson (1960) [finished 11/25/11]
6. Middlemarch by George Eliot (first serialized 1871) [finished 9/27/11]
7. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford (2001) [finished 11/19/11]
8. Emma by Jane Austen (1815) [finished 1/9/11]
9. The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny (1980) [finished 3/19/11]
10. Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (1759-61, published in four volumes) [5/24/11]
11. Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse (1923) [finished 3/2/11]
12. The Detections of Dr. Sam Johnson by Lillian de la Torre (1984) [6/19/11]
Alternates (in case I just can't finish a couple)
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1860) [finished 8/24/11)
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katherine Green (1878) [finished 2/8/11]
CHALLENGE COMPLETE 11/25/11!!!
CHALLENGE COMPLETE 11/25/11!!!
Middlemarch, Emma, and Tristram Shandy all sounds like so much fun! I haven't heard of many of the others - will have to look them up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the challenge with me!
Oooh, I'm planning to read Middlemarch for another challenge next year and have Silas Marner on my TBR Challenge list. I'm reading Emma right now, and I have to say, it's not my favorite Austen novel. Hopefully you'll like it better. I've wanted to read Tristram Shandy for awhile now too...
ReplyDeleteHa, just noticed that I commented on the same three titles as Adam! Kind of funny.
@Adam & Jennifer: Tristram Shandy has been on my TBR list for eons. I keep starting it and getting to about the same place and quitting. I thought if I added it to a challenge I might actually finish it....
ReplyDeleteThe only one I've read from your list is Middlemarch. I liked it, but it took me a while to get through it. And I was so glad that I kept a notebook with all of the characters.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel - I've had the same experience with Lolita.
ReplyDeleteI'm in this one too!
ReplyDeleteI read Emma earlier this year and didn't like it at all. I hope you have better luck with it.
Just checking-in on your progress for the 2011 TBR Pile Challenge - you're doing great!!
ReplyDeleteAlso... BIG Giveaways are happening next week, and TBR Pile Challenge participants earn extra entries for linking to their lists, so be sure to visit my Giveaways section soon. ;)