One month down

One month into 2012 and things are sure looking better than last year. I have finished 16 of 100 books for my 100+ challenge, four of the 11+ that I need for my TBR pile challenge, seven of 12 for the eclectic reader challenge, 10 of 36 on the library challenge, and five of 12 on the mystery & suspense challenge. Three challenges are almost done. I have finished three of five+ on the memoirs challenge, three of four + on the foodies challenge, and three of 4+ on the dystopia challenge. The only challenge that I haven't made significant progress on in the European challenge, where I have read one of five+.

My favorite of the books I've read so far is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I also enjoyed The Hobbit well enough. Of the food books, Anthony Bourdain's is a wouldn't-read if I had it to do over, but I may read Garlic and Sapphires again sometime. Sugar Nation was a decent nutrition/memoir and was very motivational.  I read a number of mystery/cop/lawyer/PI books from authors that I like. Michael Connelly's & Sue Grafton's were the best. Faye Kellerman's was the worst. Of the dystopian novels that I read Divergent was the best and I am looking forward to the sequel.

Unless I just can't help myself, I won't be doing any individual book reviews this year. I just want to read. But I will be rounding up like this each month.

TBR List

My friend Jenn inspired me to really pull together a TBR list. I'm doing one TBR challenge this year and those books will come from this list. These are all books that I have sitting around waiting to be read. Some are "important" books to read. Some have been recommended by friends. Some are things that looked appealing in the bookstore, but that I just haven't gotten around to reading. I'll be adding to this list as I unpack more boxes, I am sure. I'll also be rearranging them by category.

2013: I'll be adding to this list, and will continue to chip away at these books.


And there is no way that I will get to all of these this year, but I will read at least 15 of them for my TBR challenge.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins 
Beach Music by Pat Conroy 
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The New Vichy Syndrome by Theodore Dalrymple
Zion on the Mississippi by Forster
North and South by Gaskell
Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
Law and Gospel by CFW Walther
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
the Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
King Leopold's Ghost
Churchill by Paul Johnson
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
A Life Worth Living by John Holt
Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536 by Reston
Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Redwall by Brian Jacques

Dead Souls by Gogol
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes
Immortal Wife by Irving Stone
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
The Postman by David Brin
The Great Shame by Thomas Keaneally
Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder  
Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
1491 by Charles C. Mann
The House of Morgan
The First Tycoon
The Fate of Africa
The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Courage and Consequence
Known and Unknown
Decision Points by George W. Bush
Statecraft by Margaret Thatcher
Theodore Rex
Wodehouse: A Life
John Adams by David McCullough
Garlic & Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of William Dampier: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer by Diana Preston
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston


 

I want to see your lists

I am adding links on my sidebar to friends' TBR lists and challenge lists. If you have a list on your blog, stick a link in the comments. If you don't have a blog and want to put your list on my blog, you'd be welcome.

2011 Wrap Up

Last year was a mixed bag. I did end up finishing most of my challenges. The only one I didn't finish was my 100+ Challenge. I ended up reading 87 books. Considering the facts that Since last January first I planned and executed a wedding for 300 people, gotten one house on the market, moved into a major fixer-upper and have been in constant project mode, and helped my hubby get settled into his commuter apartment out of state, and continued with my job and volunteer activities: I'll take 87.

I got a good start on my Filling in the Gaps Challenge, although a lot of the longest and meatiest books remain on the list. I read some very good to excellent books. I also read some that I already can't remember. The favorites for the year:

-The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (1/7/2011)(Fiction) (Gothic)(Myst & Susp) ( Gaps)
- Blackout by Connie Willis  (1/12/2011) (Time Travel/Historical Fiction)
- All Clear by Connie Willis  (1/15/2011) (Time Travel/Historical Fiction)
- A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (2/9/2011) (Post-Apocalyptic Fiction)
- Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison (3/9/2011) (Nonfiction/Memoir)
- Dune by Frank Herbert (3/19/2011) (Science Fiction) (Gothic)(Gaps)
- The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton  (3/27/2011) (Fiction) (Gothic) (Mystery)
- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (4/12/2011) (Fantasy) (Gaps)
- Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (5/31/2011) (Historical Fiction) (Gaps)
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (7/3/2011) (Fantasy)
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (7/18/2011) (Fiction) (Gaps)
-The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (12/26/2011) (fiction)


I started my first book of the New Year when I went to bed after midnight, but it may not be the first one I complete. I only got six pages in, and it wasn't one of the books I planned to start with. So I may choose another this morning.