Bucketyell tries again...

I will try for 50 and if that goes well, I will try to finish last years challenge as well. After April, exams will be over and I can hopefully start making a significant dent in the pile.

The rules? There are none. Anything counts, new or old, out the door or returned to the shelf. My goal is to READ WHAT I OWN instead of just bringing new stuff in and piling it on top.

January:

1) Raven Black by Cleeves. Received from my Secret Santa just before 2012 began so I can count it. It was quite good and now I will pass it along to family and friends who I am sure will also enjoy it.
2) Swamplandia by Russell
3) The Orange Girl by Gaarder
4) Fault Lines by Huston
5) Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie
6) The Blue Flower by Fitzgerald
7) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Shriver

February:

8) Tilt: A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa by Shrady - who knew that one little tower had so much history!
9) Cool Water by Warren
10) The Eyre Affair by Fforde
11) Lost in a Good Book by Fforde
12) The English Patient by Ondaatje
13) The Well of Lost Plots by Fforde
14) Jigsaw Puzzles by Williams
15) Something Rotten by Fforde
16) The Miracle Worker by Gibson
17) The Maltese Falcon by Hammett
18) Great Expectations by Dickens
19) First Among Sequels by Fforde
20) Our Town by Wilder
21) Perfect Mess by Abrahamson

March:

22) Death of a Salesman by Miller
23) Foundation by Asimov
24) Nadirs by Muller
25) Doctor Faustus by Marlowe
26) 2666 by Bolano
27) The Sealed Letter by Donoghue
28) Ficciones by Borges

April

29) Cape Breton Road by MacDonald
30) Summer Gone by Macfarlane
31) Hello? Is There Anybody There? by Gaarder
32) Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose by Balfour
33) Elegance of the Hedgehog by Barbery
34) Dracula by Stoker
35) Kit's Law by Morrisey

May

36) Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Lam
37) The Knowledge of Good & Evil by Kleier
38) Greyfriars Bobby by Atkinson
39) Corked by Borel
40) The Seduction of Water by Goodman
41) Ash Wednesday by Hawke
42) Leaning, Leaning Over Water by Itani
43) 100 Cats who Changed Civilization by Stall
44) The Outcast by Jones
45) The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
46) Literary Life: A Second Memoir by McMurtry

June

47) Everything is Illuminated by Foer
48) A Mind of Winter by Nayman
49) The Green Man by Bedard
50) Surfacing by Atwood
51) Fifty Shades of Grey by James
52) The Mercury Fountain by Factor
53) The Free World by Bezmozgis
54) Walden by Thoreau
55) Around the World in 80 Days by Verne
56) Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Verne
57) Julius Caesar by Shakespeare
58) A Town Like Alice by Shute

And with that, I am done. I will continue on and get more off the shelf but I probably won't have quite the drive for the second part of the year.

Congratulations on meeting your goal!! :D

Thanks! I think I will plug away and try to hit 100.

What fun Verne is! Why has I never read these before?!?

He is so fun! Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is probably my favourite. (It even has a Canadian character!) I want to read him in the original French sometime, although I will probably be confused at some points because the English I have is abridged and the French will most probably be the full text.

(edit because my explanation of my confusion was confusing)

I have that one kicking around so I will read it soon. Thanks for the endorsement!

July:

59) Fanny Hill by Cleland
60) Is It Me Or Is Everything Shit by McArthur
61) Casino & Other Stories by Burnard
62) The Girls Who Went Away by Fessler

August:

63) Road to Valor by McConnon
64) The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Buzbee
65) Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Orenstein
66) Ad Nauseam by McLaren
67) Chocky by Wyndham
68) The Magician's Nephew by Lewis
69) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Lewis
70) The Horse and His Boy by Lewis
71) Prince Caspian by Lewis
72) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by Lewis
73) The Silver Chair by Lewis
74) The Last Battle by Lewis
75) Icefields by Wharton
76) Bear by Engel
77) Maclean by Donaldson
78) Charlotte Gray by Faulks
79) Chess Story by Zweig
80) That Reminds Me by Kurc
81) The Mermaid Chair by Monk
82) Blood and Guts in High School by Acker
83) Alligator by Moore

Okay, so I am up to 69 oldies read which isn't bad. BUT... I just checked and realised that I actually have 1267 unread books in the house (not counting my husband's mess). I thought hitting 1000 was bad but this is ridiculous. I really need to pick up the pace or my house will come down around me.

September:

84) Book Business by Epstein
85) Reading Life by Birkerts
86) The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Mishima
87) Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America by Barich
88) White Teeth by Smith
89) Cold Beer and Crocodiles by Smith
90) Contingency Plan by Allin
91) Travels as a Brussels Scout by Middleton
92) Runaway by Munro

October:

93) Flaubert's Parrot by Barnes
94) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Borroff
95) Female Chauvinist Pigs by Levy - this book made me weep for the future of this continent
96) Middlemarch by Eliot (FINALLY!)
97) Blindness by Saramago
98) Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Hanff
99) Kissing the Witch by Donoghue
100) Foreign Bodies by Ozick

Already starting October's list? I'm so jealous.

I have the week off and can sit around reading all day long... pure bliss!

Lucky! Enjoy! :D

November:

101) Deception by Kellerman
102) Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by Garner
103) Once Upon a More Enlightened Time by Garner
104) Politically Correct Holiday Stories by Garner
105) Casino Royale by Fleming
106) Forest of Hands and Teeth by Ryan
107) The Princess of Burundi by Eriksson
108) Casual Vacancy by Rowling

December:

109) Pan by Hamsun
110) Silent Gondoliers by Goldman
111) The Woman Who Died A Lot by Fforde
112) Deep Down True by Fay
113) Clay by Harrison
114) It's Not an All Night Fair by Toer

And with that, the year is over (where did it go?). 114 of my own stuff read is a lovely number. Now to read even more in 2013!