TBR Challenge 2009

I've been pondering whether or not I want to tackle challenges, not wanting to lose spontaneity in my reading choices, but also liking the idea of deadlines and accountability which might help me to read more. So I'll start out with some small and reasonable challenges and see how it goes.

The TBR (To Be Read) Challenge seems the best place to start, since I'd certainly like to read 12 books from my growing list and the list of Captive Thoughts Book Club.

1. Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner - read in June, reviewed here.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - read in May, reviewed here.
3. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden - read in April, reviewed here
4. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
5. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - read in April/May, reviewed here
6. Lilith by George MacDonald - read in January, reviewed here
7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
8. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - read in October, reviewed here
9. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
10. The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer - read in November, reviewed here
11. The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
12. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

A few alternates:

1. The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
4. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
5. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
6. The Once and Future King by T.H. White - read in June/July, reviewed here.
7. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang - read in March, reviewed here.
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
9. A Passion for Books : A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan
10. The Song of Roland translated by Dorothy Sayers
11. Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset
12. For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word, Volume 1 by D. A. Carson (this one is only on the alternate list because I don't have a good history with daily devotionals, but I'd really like to stick with this one this year).