Nancy Reads 11 in 11

Here are the categories I'm currently considering:

1. Are You There God, It's Me Nancy (Religion/Faith/Spirituality)
2. Read Locally (US History/Current Events)
3. Read Globally (Books Set Outside the US)
4. Begin at the Beginning (1st in Series)
5. Can't Go Wrong (LT-Inspired)
6. All About ME (Memoir/Autobiography)
7. Worth Waiting For (Books I've Owned since 2009 or Earlier)
8. And the Statue Goes To (Award Winners)
9. Loop de Loop (Knitting)
10. We're Here We're Queer We Have Books (GLBTQ)
11. Welcome to the World (Released in 2011)

I'm thinking at least two in each. After that we'll see how it goes. I love to make the categories and lists, but then I dislike actually feeling "forced" to read certain things. I tried to be realistic in my categories while at the same time expanding the boundaries of my reading a bit...

Are You There God, It's Me Nancy
(Religion/Faith/Spirituality)

A Sampling of Books I Own That Fit the Category:

Mormon America by Richard Ostling
Fall to Grace by Jay Bakker
What the Gospels Meant by Garry Wills
Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth
The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by James Martin
A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt
Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong

Read Locally
(US History/Current Events)

A Sampling of Books I Own That Fit the Category:

A Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Celebration, U.S.A. by Douglas Frantz
Moyers on America by Bill Moyers
The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America by Ruth Rosen
The Johnstown Flood by Dave McCullough
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina

Read Globally
(Books Set Outside the US)

A Sampling of Books I Own:

Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia (Cuba)
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (China)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (China)
Embers by Sandor Marai (Hungary)
Our Sacred Land: Voices of the Palestine-Israeli Conflict (Israel/Palestine)
The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (Liberia)
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (Bosnia)
The Secret River by Kate Grenville (Australia)

Begin at the Beginning
(1st in Series)

I have an unbelievable 68(!) books in my possession with this tag. Here is a sample:

Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
A Drink of Deadly Wine by Kate Charles
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Sworn to Silence by Ann Castillo
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill
The Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews

Can't Go Wrong
(LT-Inspired)

I'm not even going to tell you how many books I own with this tag. That does not include wishlist books with it. The number is embarrassing. Here are some:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe by Kenneth J. Harvey
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Old Books Rare Friends by Madeline B. Stern
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

All About ME
(Memoir/Autobiography)

This is a genre that I buy routinely but tend not to read. Weird. Here are some that I own:

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Mistress's Daughter by A. M. Homes
Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Family Man and About Alice by Calvin Trillin
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Boy Alone: A Brother's Memoir by Taro Karl Greenfield
The Last Gift of Time by Caroline G. Heilbrun
Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam