DID NOT COMPLETE

Risa over at Breadcrumb Reads figured that the best way to read the Shakespeare plays that she hadn’t studied in school would be to read the with others, and to have a read-along. Hence Reading Shakespeare: A Play a Month in 2012 was born. A poll held from 01 November 2011 till 01 December 2011 determined the 12 plays we would be reading in 2012.

Since I really enjoy reading Shakespeare (since I have The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, with copious footnotes to explain the old guy), I’m going to join in. I don’t think many of the plays I voted for made it into the final list, but no matter – I want to read all of Shakespeare eventually anyway.

Here’s our schedule:
January — A Midsummer Night’s Dream
February — Macbeth
March — Henry V
April — Much Ado About Nothing
May — Antony and Cleopatra
June — Richard III
July — As You Like It
August — King Lear
September — Cymbeline
October — Twelfth Night
November — Othello
December — Pericles

Gilion at Rose City Reader is broadening our horizons by challenging to take the European Grand Reading Tour in 2012.

The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything—novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry or any other genre. Each book must be a different author and set in a different country – after all, it is a tour!

Gilion has a list of the 50 qualifying sovereign states in Europe on the challenge page, as well as several fun ways to approach things, such as being an Agritourist or a Culture Vulture.

Since I’m planning to read a lot of Canadian literature next year, I think I can only go as a Business Traveler, committing to three books. Maybe next year I’ll make the grand tour. But even so, it’ll be good to travel a little bit away from home.

Germany: Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyen Completed Mar 2012
Spain: Chickens, Mules, & Two Old Fools by Victoria Twead Completed Feb 2012
France: The Absolutist by John Boyne Completed Aug 2012
Iceland: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay Completed Jul 2012
United Kingdom (Wales): How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn Completed Oct 2012
United Kingdom (Scotland): Gillespie & I by Jane Harris Completed Apr 2012
United Kingdom (England): The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Completed May 2012
United Kingdom (England): Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Completed Jul 2012
United Kingdom (England): Oxford Messed Up by Andrea Kayne Kaufman Completed May 2012
United Kingdom (England): The Return of Captain Emmett by Elizabeth Speller >Completed Feb 2012

I’ve only occasionally read literature set in the southern USA, but I have enjoyed it just about every time I did. So I couldn’t resist the chance to improve myself a little by entering The Introverted Reader’s Southern Literature Reading Challenge.

(Isn’t this just the purtiest little button you’ve seen?)

To qualify, books must be non-fiction or fiction of any genre, adult or young adult, written by an author from the South and set mostly in the South. The southern states that Jen will allow to qualify for this challenge are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. West Virginia and Florida–as long as I find a book by a Florida author and/or set in Florida that feels Southern.

I’m entering at the “Have a glass of sweet iced tea, honey” level (3 books), just because I can’t commit to much more at this point but I do hope to exceed that goal.

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Kentucky and Louisiana) Completed January 2012

2. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield (Arkansas) Completed January 2012

3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Texas) Completed September 2012

Another TBR Pile Reading Challenge, you say? How can it possibly be a challenge to read what I’m already reading for other TBR events? Well…Evie at Bookish is requiring that I post a review for every book I count – and those who follow my monthly reading summaries know that I am very bad at that.

That encouragement to post reviews (and the fact that Evie and her co-hosts are giving away prizes!) is making this challenge worthwhile to enter. Shall I be brave and go in at the Married with Children level (41-50 books)? Sure, why not – you’re already thinking I’m insane!

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

3. My Financial Career and Other Follies by Stephen Leacock

4. A Jest of God by Maragaret Laurence

5. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler

6. Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau

7. The Canadian Food Guise by Pierre & Janet Berton

8. Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Laurence Scanlan

9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

10. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

11. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

12. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

13. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

14. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

15. The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates

16. The Mapping of Love & Death by Jacqueline Winspear

17. Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

18. At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie

19. Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie

20. Halfway House by Ellery Queen Read December 2012

21. QBI (Queen’s Bureau of Investigation) by Ellery Queen

22. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wolder

23. A Place for Johnny Bill by Ruth Juline Bishop

24. A Prairie Boy’s Winter by Willima Kurelek

25. The Market Square Dog by James Herriott

26. Coyote Sings to the Moon by Thomas King

27. One Winter Night

FAILED TO COMPLETE

I’ve joined several TBR (To Be Read) challenges for 2012 that require me to read books I already own. I really do need to make a dent in that stack!

But….. like Judith over at Leeswammes’ Blog, I also have a wishlist. This is a virtual pile of books, that I would like to own or at least read. I keep my list on an Excel spreadsheet and add to it faster than I’ll ever be able to read from it: currently it has 662 titles on it.

So I need Judith’s Wishlist Challenge! It requires me to read 12 books (one for every month of the year) that I’d like to read, but don’t already have on my shelves. The title MUST be on my wish list before January 1, 2012, so I’ve decided to commit to 12 titles right now. And, as a bonus to myself, all of the titles (but one) are fiction and all are by Canadian authors.

1. Mordecai: The Life & Times by Charles Foran

2. Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr.

3. Practical Jean by Trevor Cole

4. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

5. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

6. The Beggar’s Garden by Michael Christie

7. Mister Sandman by Barbara Gowdy

8. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston

9. A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

10. The Birth House by Ami McKay

11. Joyner’s Dream by Sylvia Tyson

12. The Calling: A Hazel Micallef Mystery by Inger Ash Wolfe

COMPLETED

Birgit at The Book Garden is hosting the Tea and Books Reading Challenge for 2012, inspired by C.S. Lewis’ words: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

To honour the spirit of those words, Birgit has thrown down the gauntlet: to settle in with a large cup of tea, because in this challenge I must read … wait for it … books with more than 700 pages.

Since both A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1474 pages) and London: The Novel by Edward Rutherford (829 pages) are on my reading list for next year, I’m going to enter this one at the Chamomile Lover level and commit to those two books.

YEAR-END UPDATE
Although I didn’t read London, I completed this challenge with the following books:

1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 1488 pages

2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 764 pages

3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King 849 pages

4. Mordecai: His Life & Times by Charles Foran 717 pages (in progress)

COMPLETED

I’ve been looking for a challenge like this one to get me back on track to reading more literary fiction. Books can be winners of any major book award and I’m allowed to read books from different categories of the same award.

Only catch: they must be the prize-winners in 2011. Because of that, and because I’m thinking of really challenging my self and reading only Canadian award winners, I think I’m going to enter at only the Silver lever, requiring me to get 6 to 9 2011 champs under my belt.

The Reading the Award Winners Book Challenge is being hosted by Girl XoXo

I managed to make four of the six Canadian award winners:

1. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyen: 2011 winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize
The Giller Prize is an annual literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English.

2. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes: 2011 winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
The Man Booker Prize is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe.

3. Practical Jean by Trevor Cole: winner of the 2011 Stepehen Leacock Medal for Humour
The Stephen Leacock Award is an annual literary award presented to the best work of humorous literature in English by a Canadian writer.

4. Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpoole: winner of the 2011 John Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal is awarded each year to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

5. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt: winner of the 2011 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction
The Governor-General’s Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields.

6. Mordecai: The Life & Times by Charles Foran: winner of the 2011 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction
The Governor-General’s Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields.

This is a fun challenge hosted by BethFishReads.

Here’s how it works: I have to read a book from each of the following categories and I don’t have to make up my list of books now, but can fit them in as I go through the year. YAY!

What’s in a Name Challenge 2012

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llwellyn Completed Oct 2012

2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title: Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpoole Completed Oct 2012

3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: A Recipe for Bees by Gail Anderson-Dergatz Completed Aug 2012

4. A book with a type of house in the title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Completed Jan 2012

5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sabine’s Notebook by Nick Bantock Completed Jan 2012

6. A book with a something you’d find on a calendar in the title: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright Completed Mar 2012

COMPLETED

Ellie over at Musings of a Book Shop Girl is hosting a Mixing It Up 2012 Reading Challenge. This is sort of like the 12 in ’12 Challenge, but Ellie defines the categories in this one. She’s described 16 categories of books and participants can choose any number of categories in which to read at least one book.

I’m going to skip the horror, romance & manga, and enter at the Two-Tier Cake level: getting ambitious with 13 categories. Although I don’t think I have to choose my books now, this will give structure to my reading in the new year. (Although I may make substitutions.)

YEAR-END UPDATE:

1. Classics: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

2. Biography: Mordecai: The Life and Times by Charles Foran

3. Cookery, Food & Wine: Canadian Food Guide by Pierre & Janet Berton

4. History: Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker

5. Modern Fiction: 419 by Will Ferguson

6. Crime & Mystery: Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie

7. Science Fiction & Fantasy: The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

8. Travel: Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

9. Poetry & Drama: A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare

10. Journalism & Humour: Notes to My Mother-in-Law by Phyllida Law

11. Science & Natural History: Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo & Robert Llewellyn

12. Children & Young Adult: A Prairie Boy’s Winter by William Kurelek

13. Social Sciences & Philosophy: Walden by Henry David Thoreau

COMPLETED

Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit and Anna of Diary of an Eccentric have been co-hosting the War Through the Generations Reading Challenge for the past three years.

They’ve delved into WWII, the Vietnam War and the American Civil War. For 2012, they’ve chosen to focus on WWI (1914-1918), also known as The Great War and The War to End All Wars.

I have a real interest in the time period around this war, which permanently changed the world, and seem to read a lot of literature centered on that era, so I thought this would be a snap. Then I looked at my TBR list for 2012 and realized that none of the books I’ve put on it thus far qualify. AAACK!

But I did find some after all:

So I’m entering at only the WADE level which requires me to read 4-10 books in any genre with WWI as a primary or secondary theme and occurring before, during, or after the war.

1. Blizzard of Glass by Sally M. Walker – non-fiction, middle-school

2. The Absolutist by John Boyne – fiction

3. The Underpainter Read in December 2012 by Jane Urquart – literary fiction

4. Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpoole – fiction, YA, Newbery Medal winner

5. The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller – fiction, mystery

6. An Unmarked Grave: A Bess Crawford mystery by Charles Todd – fiction, mystery

7. The Mapping of Love and Death: a Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear – fiction, mystery

8. Broken Music by Marjorie Eccles – fiction, mystery, romance

COMPLETED

This challenge, by The Library Thing 12 in ’12 group, requires me to choose any 12 categories of books and read as many books as I like in each.

For now, I’ll commit to just one in each category.

1. Non-Fiction, Food & Cooking: Pierre & Janet Berton’s Canadian Food Guide

2. Non-Fiction, Memoir: Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau

3. Non-Fiction, Travel: Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

4. Non-Fiction, History: Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker

5. Non-Fiction, Social Sciences: Walden by Henry David Thoreau

6. Fiction, Short Stories: African Love Stories edited by Ama Ata Aidoo

7. Fiction, Young Adult: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

8. Fiction, Children: A Prairie Boy’s Winter by William Kurelek

9. Fiction, Sci-Fi: The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

10. Fiction, Romance: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

11. Fiction, Historical Fiction/ Plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

12. Fiction, Vintage Mystery: Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie

The challenges to read my TBR pile just keep, well – ‘piling’ up! This TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader requires me to list in advance the 12 books from my shelves that I pledge to read.

Each of these 12 books must have been on my bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2010 or later.

You’ll no doubt recognize some of these titles as crossovers from other challenges I’ve entered, but I’m assuming that’s okay with Adam.

1. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth Completed Apr 2012

2. London: The Novel by Edward Rutherford

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Completed Jul 2012

4. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler Completed Sep 2012

5. A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence Completed Sep 2012

6. My Financial Career and Other Follies by Stephen Leacock Completed Feb 2012

7. Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau Completed Nov 2012

8. The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881 by Pierre Berton

9. Walden by Henry David Thoreau Completed Mar 2012

10. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck Completed Sep 2012

11. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury Completed Sep 2012

12. The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates Completed Oct 2012

Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile. I’m choosing two super-easy ones, just in case.

1. Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie Completed Jun 2012

2. Halfway House by Ellery Queen Completed Dec 2012

FAILED TO COMPLETE

The Smooth Criminals 2012 Challenge, hosted by Ben at Dead End Follies is a mystery reading challenge with an edge. Participants are required to read only eight books this year, one in each of the following categories.

For those unfamiliar with the tougher mysteries, the distinctions between genres can be fine. One of Ben’s goals was to make us do some research – and that’s what I did.

So the categories and my choices are:

1. Hardboiled Classic (Wikipedia: Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex.): One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane

2. Noir Classic (Wikipedia: Noir fiction is the name sometimes given to a mode of crime fiction regarded as a subset of the hardboiled style. (…) In this sub-genre, the protagonist is usually not a detective, but instead either a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator. He is someone tied directly to the crime, not an outsider called to solve or fix the situation.): Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

3. You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner

4. Book written by a writer who did time: The Big Gold Dream by Chester Himes

5. A book with a Psychopath protagonist: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

6. Classic Gothic fiction: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

7. Non-Crime Book where the plot revolves around crime: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

8. The “Why the hell am I doing this to myself?” book: Promise Me Eternity by Ian Fox

Didn’t I tell you I was an addict? This Off the Shelf Challenge, hosted by Bonnie at Bookish Ardour, is a gimme: reading books for several other challenges fulfills it. I’m signing up so I can up my number for the I’m an Addict challenge!

I’m in at the “On a Roll” level to read 50 of my own books next year.

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
2 MacBeth by William Shakespeare
3. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
4. My Financial Career and Other Follies by Stephen Leacock
5. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
6. A Jest of God by Maragaret Laurence
7. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
8. Memoirs by Pierre Elliott Trudeau
9. The Canadian Food Guise by Pierre & Janet Berton
10. Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place by Laurence Scanlan

11. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
12. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
13. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
14. Jane Eyre
15. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
16. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
17. White River Junctions by Dave Norman
18. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
19. The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates
20. The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill

21. The Mapping of Love & Death by Jacqueline Winspear
22. Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie
23. Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
24. At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
25. Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
26. The Tragedy of ‘Z’ by Ellery Queen
27. Halfway House by Ellery Queen Read December 2012
28. QBI (Queen’s Bureau of Investigation) by Ellery Queen
29. One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane

30. Trixie Belden & the Red Trailer Mystery
by Julie Campbell
31. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wolder
32. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
33. A Place for Johnny Bill by Ruth Juline Bishop
34. A Prairie Boy’s Winter by Willima Kurelek
35. The Market Square Dog by James Herriott
36. Coyote Sings to the Moon by Thomas King
37. One Winter Night

Here’s a boost to get me going on my Mount TBR Challenge!

C.B. at Ready When You Are, C.B. is hosting a TBR Double Dare. The rule is that from Jan 1 to April 1, 2012, I can read only books from my TBR pile. (Library books are allowed only if they are in my possession or on my holds list at 12:00 A.M. on Jan. 1.)

That ought to promote some discipline in my life!

COMPLETED

I’m starting to compile my year list of books I’ve read in 2011 and I’m astounded at the number of mysteries I’ve consumed this past year: about 35% of my reading. That, combined with the fact that I’ve already signed up for the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge makes Cruisin’ through the Cozies, hosted by Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews an easy fit.

I wasn’t going to enter at the Super Sleuth level but after compiling those stats, I’m thinking it will be a piece of cake to read 13 or more cozy mysteries in 2012.

1. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (A Flavia deLuce mystery) by Alan Bradley

2. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

3. The Mapping of Love & Death (a Maisie Dobbs mystery) by Jacqueline Winspear

4. A Lesson in Secrets (a Maisie Dobbs mystery) by Jacqueline Winspear

5. Elegy for Eddie (a Maisie Dobbs mystery) by Jacqueline Winspear

6. Murder: a Crafty Business by Lila Philips

7. The Crime at Black Dudley (an Albert Campion mystery) by Margery Allingham

8. Falling into Green: an Eco-Mystery by Cher Fischer

9. An Unmarked Grave (a Bess Crawford mystery) by Charles Todd

10. Murder at Hazelmoor by Agatha Christie

11. Dead Man’s Folly (an Hercule Poirot mystery) by Agatha Christie

12. At Bertram’s Hotel (a Miss Jane Marple mystery) by Agatha Christie

13. Postern of Fate (a Tommy & Tuppence Beresford mystery) by Agatha Christie

14. The Dog Who Knew Too Much (a Chet & Bernie mystery) by Spencer Quinn

15. Fistful of Collars (a Chet & Bernie mystery) by Spencer Quinn

16. The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern (an Asey Mayo mystery) by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

17. Trixie Belden & the Red Trailer Mystery by Julie Campbell

18. The Tragedy of Z (a Drury Lane mystery) by Ellery Queen

19. Halfway House (an Ellery Queen mystery) by Ellery Queen

Katherine over at November’s Autumn is hosting another Classics Challenge, but this with a bit of a twist. I’m required to read seven classics in 2012, only three of which may be rereads. And then on the 4th of every month, I’ll be posting thoughts on the current book in the challenge by answering a general prompt we find on Katherine’s blog that day.

It’s okay with Katherine if I double up my books for Sarah’s Back to the Classics Challenge, but I’m going to try a mix: some crossovers and a few new ones.

Subject to availability and other favourable circumstance, I’ll read these seven books:

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
2. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
3. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
4. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (read in December 2012)
5. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
6. Little Women by L.M. Alcott (the only re-read)
7. A Jane Austen other than Pride & Prejudice
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

COMPLETED

Melissa at Literary Escapism is hosting her 4th annual New Authors Reading Challenge and, since it’s new-to-me, rather than new-to-market authors, I’m in.

I do plan to touch base with a lot of familiar writers this year, by working on my TBR pile, but out of 150 books I must surely be able to read 25 new-to-me authors. So that’s my goal.

How about you? Are you staying with old friends this year or expanding your horizons with new-to-you authors?

JANUARY:
1. Bantock, Nick: Griffin and Sabine trilogy
2. Schwarz, John Burnham : Northwest Corner
3. Wingfield, Jenny: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
4. McKay, Ami: The Virgin Cure
5. Pratchett, Terry: The Carper People
6. Coady, Lynn: The Antagonist
7. Walker, Sally M.: Blizzard of Glass
8. Beecher Stowe, Harriet: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

FEBRUARY
9. Grenville, Kate: The Secret River
10. Kurelek, William: A Prairie Boy’s Winter
11. McKay, Dr. Gary D.: A Shortage of Bodies
12. Hugo, Nancy: Seeing Trees
13. Twead, Victoria: Chickens, Mules, & Two Old Fools

MARCH
14. Speller, Elizabeth: The Return of Captain John Emmett
15. Thoreau, Henry David: Walden
16. Kotler, Steven: A Small Furry Prayer
17. Edugyen, Esi: Half-Blood Blues
18. Chesterton, G.K.: The Innocence of Father Brown
19. Eccles, Marjorie: Broken Music
20. Wolfe, Inger Ash: The Calling
21. Harbach, Chad: The Art of Fielding

APRIL
22. Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy
23. Hewitt, Robert G.: Winnie & Gurley
24. Harris, Jane: Gillespie & I
25. McCleen, Grace: The Land of Decoration

MAY
26. Kaufman, Andrea Kayne: Oxford Messed Up
27. Fox, Ian: Promise Me Eternity
28. Asher, Jay: 13 Reasons Why
29. Johnston, Wayne: The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
30. Collins, Wilkie: The Woman in White
31. Law, Phyllida: Notes to My Mother-in-Law

JUNE
32. Philips, Lila: Murder is a Crafty Business
33. Humphrey, Mrs.: Manners for Women
34. Allingham, Margery: The Crime at Black Dudley
35. Spillane, Mickey: One Lonely Night
36. Leonard, Annie: The Story of Stuff
37. Stenson, Fred: Lonesome Hero
38. Tomaiuolo, Nicholas G.: UContent

JULY
39. Fischer, Cher: Falling Into Green
40. Ferguson, Will: 419
41. Barnes, Julian: The Sense of an Ending
42. Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
43. Livesay, Margot: The Flight of Gemma Hardy

AUGUST
44. Scanlan, Lawrence: Heading Home: On Starting a New Life in a Country Place
45. Boyne, John: The Absolutist
46. Anderson-Dergatz, Gail: A Recipe for Bees
47. Savage, Sam: Firmin
48. Cole, Trevor: Practical Jean
49. Godden, Rumer: The Dolls’ House

SEPTEMBER
50. Sherrill, Steven: The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
51. Wilder, Thornton: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
52. Lawson, Mary: Crow Lake
53. Marshall, William: Yellowthread Street

OCTOBER
54. Rushdie, Salman: Midnight’s Children
55. Vanderpoole, Claire: Moon Over Manifest
56. McKay, Leo Jr.: Twenty-Six
57. Llewellyn, Richard: How Green Was My Valley
58. George, Jean Craighead: Julie of the Wolves

NOVEMBER
59. Camus, Albert: The Stranger
60. Glass, Julia: Three Junes
61. Innes, Michael: Death at the President’s Lodging
62. DeWitt, Patrick: The Sisters Brothers
63. Christie, Michael: The Beggar’s Garden
64. Sachar, Louis: Holes
65. Waugh, Evelyn: Men at Arms
66. Trudeau, Pierre Elliott: Memoirs

DECEMBER
67. Powers, Richard: The Echo Maker
68. Gowdy, Barbara: Mr. Sandman
69. Ondaatje, Michael: Cat’s Table
70. Hemingway, Ernest: The Old Man and the Sea
71. Foran, Charles: Mordecai: the Life and Times

COMPLETED

Sarah, in my native Southern Ontario, blogs on Workaday Reads and won the lottery to host the official eBook Reading Challenge for 2012.

Since I won a Kindle in the fall and have yet to get into a really regular routine of reading from it, I thought I’d enter this to provide a little motivation. But just a little: I’ve joined at CD level – a commitment to read 10 eBooks in 2012. After all, I have that TBR mountain to climb.

SUCCESS!

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

2. Dove Creek

3. A Shortage of Bodies by Dr. Gary D. McKay

4. Chickens, Mules, & Two Old Fools by Victoria Twead

5. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

6. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

7. Winnie & Gurley by Robert G. Hewitt

8. Promise Me Eternity by Ian Fox

9. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

10. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

11. Falling into Green by Cher Fischer

Over the last few years, I’ve let slide reading classics so The Back to Classic Challenge 2012 hosted by SarahReadsTooMuch seems perfect to me.

Just what is a classic? Sarah defines it as “any book that has left its mark on the world.(…)In most cases these books are old.” The only question I have: What constitutes “old”? Something published in the 1950s is over half a century already, but is that a classic?

Nonetheless, I’ve tried (with one exception) to keep to books published before 1930. I admit that I’ve had trouble coming up with ideas to fit these categories (set by Sarah), so if any of you have any suggestions, I’d be glad to hear them.

Any 19th Century Classic
WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau

Any 20th Century Classic
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN by G.K. Chesterton

Reread a classic of your choice
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott

A Classic Play
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM by William Shakespeare

Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction
THE MOONSTONE by Wilkie Collins

Classic Romance
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte

Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to yours
Essays by Michel de Montaigne

THE STRANGER by Albert Camus

Classic Award Winner
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Pulitzer Prize for Literature 1921
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway (read in December 2012) Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature 1953

Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (set in China)
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder (set in Peru)