January 7th, 2012

The To Be Read 2012 Challenge

I really enjoyed the 2011 To Be Read Challenge from the Roofbeam Reader site; so much so that I’ve decided to do the 2012 one even though signups have closed and I can’t be an official participant. I think just having the list in mind will be enough to keep me reading.

I was pleased with the challenge because it got me to read books I bought or was given as gifts–therefore, books I had a good reason for wanting to read–but was intimidated by and had been avoiding. The challenge also got me to do another thing I should do but get intimidated by, which is review. There is no better way to study and understand a book than to form a cogent piece of writing about what you think of it. And I seriously doubt I would’ve written 12+ reviews, and thus been 12+ reviews smarter, last year if this list hadn’t been pushing me. So let’s do it again.

The first two books will the alternates from last year–those were no less desirable than the others on the list, just farther down the shelf and thus listed last. Ok, here we go:

1. *Little Eurekas* by Robyn Sarah
2. *Subways Are for Sleeping* by Edmund G. Love
3. *Hamlet* by William Shakespeare (illustrated version by Harold Copping)
4. *The Story of English* by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil
4. *Beatrice and Virgil* by Yann Martel
5. *The Bull Is Not Killed* by Sarah Dearing
6. *Small Change* by Elizabeth Hay
7. *The Beauty Myth* by Naomi Wolf
8. *Moon Deluxe* by Frederick Barthelme
9. *A Nail in the Heart* by Ian Daffern
10. *Mouthing the Words* by Camilla Gibb
11. *The Book of Other People* edited by Zadie Smith
12. *On the Road* by Jack Kerouac

Alternates
1. *Burning Ground* by Pearl Luke
2. *The Pickup Artist* by Terry Bisson

Wish me luck!