When I was in elementary school, my town's main library brand held a contest each summer. They would publish a list of 50 books for each age category and anyone who successfully checked out and read through their whole list before the first day of school won a prize. Parents had to vouch for their children's reading, but to make sure, they required each child complete a quiz that asked specific questions about the stories.
I won every summer. I have no memory of what the prize was, but I remember that my name made it onto a little award bulletin board in the library and it stayed there for the entire school year until the next contest began.
Ever since, I have religiously read book reviews and spent any free time I had in bookstores. Over the last decade of my life, I have read less and less because work, life etc (and my addiction to television) has gotten in the way. This past holiday season when I wasn't working, I realized how much I missed the habit of reading. And if I want to ever grow in my writing, I need to read more.
So this year, I am going to read 50 books. It's a big goal, but if I read 50 books in a summer as a child, I can read 50 in a calendar year. Here is my list - some I have already read (but it's been years), some are new, and some are suggestions from friends:
About Alice - Calvin Trillin
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Allegiant - Veronica Roth
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson
Being Peace - Thich Nhat Hahn
The Best American Short Stories 2013 - Various
Betsy in Spite of Herself - Maud Hart Lovelace
Black Tickets - Jayne Anne Phillips
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
Breaking Night - Liz Murray
The Catcher in the Rye - JD Sallinger
Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury
Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War - Annia Ciezadlo
Early Autumn - Robert B Parker
The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter
Election - Tom Perrotta
Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell
The Fault in our Stars - John Green
The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
Foster - Claire Keegan
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Happier at Home - Gretchen Rubin
A Hologram for the King - Dave Eggers
Home of the Brave - Various
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling
Katherine - Anne Seton
King of the Hill - AE Hotchner
A Kiss Before Dying - Ira Levin
Kitchen Literacy - Ann Vileisis
The Last Lion, V1 - William Manchester
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
The Lover - Marguerite Duras
The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Roll of Thunder, Hear y Cry - Mildred Taylor
The Second Shift - Arlie Hochschold
The Seven Story Mountain - Thomas Merton
Stitches - Ann Lamott
The Street - Ann Petry
Strong Willed Child - James Dobson
The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver
Without Feathers - Woody Allen
Years of Grace - Margaret Ayer Barnes
Wish me luck!
Also if anyone in NC has copies of any of these books, I'd love to borrow them (I plan to use the library a lot this year!)
Gone Girl, Allegiant, and The Fault in Our Stars are all awesome books! Sounds like a good reading list to me :)
ReplyDeleteYou have some great picks there!! Excellent goal-- good luck!! :)
ReplyDeleteGone Girl is wonderful. Just finished Eleanor & Park yesterday...it made me remember why I love to read
ReplyDeleteAllegient was awful, but the other books in the series were good! I'm on a reading kick this year too, and I've read some good ones! Jodi Picoult books are always great. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree about Allegiant - just finished it and was sorely disappointed!
DeleteI agree with both those statements- I get Jodi Picoult's new book every March when she releases them! Allegiant was a major disappointment.
DeleteIs it super sad that, besides the obvious childhood classics, the only book I have read on your list is the one written by a comedian? Maybe that fact will inspire me to read more!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read most of them either ;)
DeleteCry the beloved country. I recently watched the movie and sobbed. I capture the castle was a lovely movie. If you have time read Room by Emma Donoghue. Best book I read last year.
ReplyDelete