nataramozer's 1010 Challenge

Having discovered LT only late last year I was disappointed that I had missed the opportunity to be part of reading challenges. When I spotted this group I was totally stoked.

As an individual that loves reading I don't nearly read as much as I would like. This is mostly attributed to the fact that I never know what to read next. I am certain that participating in this challenge will rectify this problem as I have planned out exactly what I need to read in order to complete the said task. I am aiming for 54 books by Jan 1, 2011, following the pattern of one book from the first category, 2 books from the second category, three books from the third, etc; Very exciting stuff!

Fantasy

1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Travel

1. Down Under by Bill Bryson
2. Me, Myself and Prague by Rachael Weiss

Science

1. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human by Joel Garreau
2. The Elegant Universe by Briane Greene
3. The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins

Books I Didn't Finish

1. Anna Karinina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

History/Politics/War

1. Arthur's Britain by Lesle Alcock
2. The Black Death by Philip Ziegler
3. The History of the Devil by Gerald Messadie
4. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
5. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

Books From '1001 Books to Read Before You Die'

1. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
2. Atonement by Ian McEwan
3. Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
5. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
6. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

Classics

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2. Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
4. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
5. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
6. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
7. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Popular Authors I Have Not Read

1. Watership Down by Richard Adams
2. Vox by Nicholson Baker
3. So This Is Depravity by Russell Baker
4. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
5. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
6. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
7. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
8. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Prize Winners

1. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
2. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
3. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells
4. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
6. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
7. Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie
8. Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
9. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Book Club Books

1. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
3. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
4. The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis
5. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
6. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
9. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Great list of books, including a number that are on my list for this year and even more on my imaginary almost-list for next. Plus I like John Irving. I am starring your thread.

Thanks NeverStopTrying. No one creates a character like John Irving. I am a huge fan of his already. I will have to check out your list.

Good luck with your "Books I Didn't Finish", I find that once I put a book aside, it's really hard for me to pick it back up again!

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

One word: *yawn*. Okay, not technically a word, more of an action. But this book was severely lacking in characters of any substance. The structure of the book was beautiful, and Atwood knows how to string a sentence and how to use her words (the one thing I loved about the novel). When I read a piece of fiction I want decent characters. They don't necessarily have to be likable, but they have to be more than an empty shell.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

L.O.V.E.D. it! No more commentary needed. Those of you that have read it will understand. Those of you that haven't... do so immediately.

Re> 16: I fully agree! I read it after a recommendation and haven't regretted it. It is a special story.

I thought Radical Evolution was some good journalism that wandered off the beaten path. Curious to see what your thoughts on it will be.