Wednesday, January 26, 2011

"Off the Shelf" Reading Challenge

So I've decided to try a reading challenge this year.  I thought the best one for me would be one that challenged me to read some of the books that are already on my bookshelf, but that I have yet to crack open the pages.  And I found this challenge that sounds great:


Off The Shelf!



I've decided to start small, and go with the "Trying" Challenge Level, where I will read 15 books off my shelf this year.  I hope to read more books than I read last year (30) but I have book club and other books that I'd like to read that don't qualify for this challenge.


I've already started, and here are some of the books that I can choose from off of my shelf:  

  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (I'm reading this one now)
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
  • Life, the Universe, and Everything, by Douglas Adams
  • So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, by Douglas Adams
  • Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams
  • Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
  • The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
  • To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
  • Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
  • Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust
  • The Lightning Theif, by Rick Riordan
  • The Oedipus Cycle, by Sophocles
  • The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
  • The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
  • Candide, by Voltaire
  • Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Night, by Elie Wiesel
  • Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
  • The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

So, my few followers, which books do you think I should read for this challenge?






5 comments:

  1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (I'm reading this one now)
    The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
    Life, the Universe, and Everything, by Douglas Adams
    So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, by Douglas Adams
    Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams
    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
    To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
    The Lightning Theif, by Rick Riordan
    The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks
    Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
    The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
    The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

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  3. Find a good mix of quick reads and more demanding reads. I admire your challenge chutzpa, you have some seriously formidable books on your list.

    Hitchhiker's Guide would have made the list even if you weren't already reading it.
    The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
    Little Women
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    Walden
    Lord of the Rings
    The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    The Lightning Theif
    Ethan Frome
    The Great Gatsby

    Those are my suggestions, for what they're worth. I think that's 13, if you count LoTR as three books.

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  4. first of all this morning when I was blog hopping I found one called Quick Quotes Quills and it is a blog all about HP and one of the posts showed different kinds of HP bookends and they were really cool so of course I thought of you. here is the address

    http://quickquotesquills.blogspot.com/

    anyway, that list is made up of some pretty heavy stuff! I wouldn't sell yourself short and only focus on the quick reads but don't get too caught up in books like Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. I can't believe 15 books is only considered as "trying"!!!

    Good Luck

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  5. I liked Anna Karenina. It has one of my favorite first lines. But it is sad. And long.

    My favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird. But I say, mix it up. Read a fantasy, then historical, then mainstream.

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