Hosted by Andi and Heather here.
“My Year of Reading Dangerously: A Challenge” begins on January 1, 2008 and consist of some very simple rules. Namely, read authors or genres that intimidate us. The twelve official titles are below, but we are allowed to substitute some if we wish. My substitutions are in green.
The Twelve “Official” Novels by month with completed titles in bold:
January: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens (Independent People by Halldor Laxness, an Icelandic Nobel laureate)
February: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
March: Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood
April: Transformations, by Anne Sexton
May: Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote
June: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
July: The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
August: Maus I and Maus II, by Art Spiegelman
September: The Secret Lives of People in Love, by Simon Van Booy
October: The Human Stain, by Philip Roth (American Pastoral by Philip Roth because I dislike Roth and this is a Pulitzer which I have to read for the Pulitzer Project anyway.)
November: A Month of Classic Short Stories, Various – watch for a list
December: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (I’ve already read this and East of Eden, so something else by Steinbeck, possibly The Wayward Bus or Cannery Row.)
Great substitutions, many of which are books I’d like to read as well. Thanks for joining us. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the books!
I don’t know about this one, Michelle. Picking books that indimidate you or you don’t like? I guess it is like eating vegetables because they are good for you and sometimes you find a new one you didn’t know you liked – I ate brussel sprouts for the first time this weekend, and they were OK.
That’s a pretty scary list – I haven’t enjoyed any Morrison or Roth that I’ve read. And weren’t you doing Maus for the graphic novel challenge anyway? excellent.
I’m just about done Lolita right now, and I recommend the annoted edition, if you don’t have it already. I can probably send mine if you want it for June.
I could see reading 6 of these books, but 12 seems like too many to me.
I can’t seem to keep up with you on these challenges at all!:)
Oh no! This sounds so good. I want to join but I hesitate to fill my plate too full before the year has even started. I’ll have to think on this one.