Friday, January 02, 2009

Reading Resolution

I don't, as a rule, join reading challenges, preferring instead to read what I please, when I please. This won't really change in 2009, but I am hereby naming 2009 the year of my Reading Resolution. (Admittedly, it is rather like a challenge, except that it is for me alone and doesn't follow a theme.)

The following is a list of every unread or unfinished book currently in my possession. Some titles are new, others I've been meaning to read for years, and still others I've been in the process of reading for longer than I care to remember.

My reading resolution for 2009 is to read most, if not all, of these books. Can I do it? How long until I add a title to this list? Will I go mad from the effort? I suppose we'll have to see.

I'll be adding this post to my sidebar, and I'll be crossing off each title as I complete it. Please feel free to post with recommendations, ideas, or even some simple encouragement.


TITLES IN MY 2009 READING RESOLUTION

Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ahmed, The Land of Invisible Women
Bachelder, Bear v. Shark
Balzac, Cousin Bette
Balzac, The Unknown Masterpiece
Bambara, The Salt Eaters
Bolano, The Savage Detectives
Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Cervantes, Don Quixote
Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Collins, The Moonstone
Conescu, Being Written
Connolly, Nocturnes
Coupland, JPod
Davidson, The Gargoyle
Davis, The Thin Place
Diaz, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
Dick, Martian Time-Slip
Dick, Dr. Bloodmoney
Dick, Now Wait for Last Year
Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, A Scanner Darkly
Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
DuMaurier, Rebecca
Eco, The Name of the Rose
Eliot, Daniel Deronda
Ferris, Then We Came to the End
Fforde, The Fourth Bear
Freund, I Never Saw Paris
Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
Gottlieb, Now You See Him
Groff, The Monsters of Templeton
Hall, The Raw Shark Texts
Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hickey, The Painted Kiss
Hill, 20th Century Ghosts
Hugo, Les Miserables
Hyde, The Abortionist's Daughter
Irving, The World According to Garp
Keret, The Girl on the Fridge
King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Largo, Final Exits
Lehane, Mystic River
Lippman, What the Dead Know
Mabanckou, African Psycho
MacDonald, Fall on Your Knees
MacLean, Why the Long Face?
Mann, Death in Venice
McCabe, The Butcher Boy
McEwan, On Chesil Beach
Meek, The People's Act of Love
Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter
Moody, Right Livelihoods
Moore, Fool
Oates, We Were the Mulvaneys
Oates, Because it is Bitter, and Because it is my Heart
O'Nan, Songs for the Missing
Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl
Parker, Ovenman
Peace, Tokyo Year Zero
Pears, The Dream of Scipio
Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Powers, The Echo Maker
Price, Clockers
Przekop, Aberrations
Pyncheon, V
Radcliffe, The Italian
Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho
Rice, Blood and Gold
Russell, St. Lucy's Home
Sijie, Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
Stewart, The Ivy Tree
Stross, Accelerando
Sturgeon, Selected Stories
Teuthold, The Necromancer
Thomas, The End of Mr. Y
Thomson, Soft
Thomson, The Book of Revelation
Tinti, The Good Thief
Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, War and Peace
Trollope, Barchester Towers
Wallace, Oblivion
Wharton, The House of Mirth
Wharton, The Buccaneers
White, The Aunt's Story
White, Voss
Zweig, Beware of Pity


Whew -- that's quite a list! Wish me luck!


CURRENT PROGRESS: 33 / 88

10 comments:

Emily Coleman said...

Good luck! I've had the same goal for years except I add books to the list faster than I read them. :)

Anonymous said...

You have some great choices, as well as some books that I hated, so I'm looking forward to your reviews and thoughts.

Happy reading in 2009!

Lisa said...

There are some chunky ones on that list! Good luck.

I have a hard time with challenges too, so I set myself a list as well. Mine only has 12 items on it, so I better be able to finish it up!

purplefugue said...

Wow! That's a list! I read a pathetic number of books in 2008. My unofficial new year resolution is to read more. To find time, or make time to read more. I have no books planned - just READ!. Good luck with your list. :-)

Erika said...

Hello Ms. Bibliolatrist,

Don Quixote is on my list for 2009 too! :)

I'm a big fan of your blog (thanks to your review of "The Time Traveller's Wife", it was gifted twice for Christmas) and I'm delurking to send some encouragement your way.

I loved loved loved "Death Comes for the Archbishop" and "The Moonstone" and I was so pleased to see them on your list. My FIL gave me "Eat Pray Love" for my birthday and it was a good & quick read. Finally, as a Canadian, I have to heartily recommend Douglas Coupland (national treasure...) and I'd also point you toward his other works of fiction like "Microserfs", "Shampoo Planet", and "Girlfriend in a Coma".

Have fun reading and Happy 2009!

Erika.

Jana said...

What a great idea. Maybe I'll try it myself sometime! I agree with another commenter that you have an interesting mix of books I loved and books I hated -- I'm looking forward to the reviews.

Madeleine said...

Some good books there, I have some and they are also sitting unread. You have a great idea there.
That is a lot of reading in one year, I wish you good luck and lots of great reads.

Anna said...

Yes, this list is quite impressive! A couple of them are on my to-read list this year...this is the first time that I've created a list and am following it pretty closely. I have a little more than 40 books on the list, which is quite a lot of reading (especially because I shamefully read only about half as many last year). I am half-way thru books 9 and 10, so maybe I can make it? Good luck!

Marie Cloutier said...

What to read next? Name of the Rose. OMG one of my all time faves. Don't wait another minute! :-)

ImageNations said...

I see you are seriously on course with your reading resolution. It inspires me. Thanks