The 40 list- Month 2 (beginning)

Hello all! Well, the 40 list continues on. I've decided this month to knock out a few books from the same author. So February will be the month of Twain. I finished Huck Finn today and will be starting on Tom Sawyer tomorrow (and yes, I know I'm reading them backwards, but I had a copy of Finn before Sawyer). After that, I'm thinking Connecticut Yankee and that will take care of February's 3 books. More to report as the list grows... or shrinks depending on your outlook :-)
Happy reading!

The 40 list- Month 1

Hello everybody. Well, so far, so good! The 40 list is on track and this month's three books are complete. On deck for this month were "Christmas Carol", "Oliver Twist" and "The Count of Monte Cristo". While all three were quite enjoyable, I will be AVOIDING Dickens for a few months. I think the man got paid by the word.
As to what the next month holds... I'll figure it out later :-)

Happy reading!

The "40" list.

Ah, the New Year. A time for making yourself short term promises that even you know you won’t keep past February. I myself am guilty of the “New Year’s Resolution” trap. This particular bit of madness came from a few different things: talking to Adrienne (my roommate) about how there seems to be a difference between a “list” and a “resolution”, inspired by my cousin-in-law Michelle and her “life list” and another conversation I had had a few years ago on a Sherlock Holmes discussion board about the definition of being “well read”. A few months ago I got a ridiculous idea in my head. I went trolling through the internet and found 3 lists- the best books of the 20th century (1 as decided by editors and the other by readers) and the best books of the 19th century. I was a little surprised to find that I had read more of the 19th than 20th, but it made me think. What if I could read them all? I thought no, that’s just silly. There’s no way I’d be able to do it. Fate, as we know, has a sense of humor. I had recently purchased a Nook & Barnes and Noble.com did a promotion for a few months: FREE downloads of classic 19th and 20th century literature. Okay Fate, I got it.

I went through my list and downloaded as many as I could and I wound up with 60 title. Now, taking out doubles on the 20th century editors and readers list, that leaves me with a total of 297 books. I then went through the list and crossed out those I had already read, 40 in total. I also took into account a number of books I had started and never finished, a total of 6. This left me with 251 books. Now, I’m not crazy… well, not THAT much at any rate. I sat with my calculator and worked it out. If I read 3 books every month, I could be finished the list by my 40th birthday. And if I didn’t finish, well, at least I’ll have put on hell of a dent in it!

You can find the list located on the right hand side of my blog and follow along with me. The titles in bold are finished titles, the ones in italics are in process. It’ll be a long road, and possible a frustrating one (Have you ever tried to read Finnegans Wake? Ugh.), but if nothing else, it’ll be a great topic of conversation!

Happy reading everyone!

March 5, 2010

March 4, 2010

March 3, 2010

March 2, 2010