The 2011 TBR Challenge

I know this is a cooking blog, but I have to post this somewhere so here will have to do. I'm a chronic buyer, borrower and general acquirer of books and while I can get through a lot of books, often very quickly, there is always a huge stack of unread books that seems to constantly grow, and grow, and...

Which is why I'm signing up to this 2011 TBR Pile Challenge:




The goal of this challenge is "to finally read 12 books from your "to be read" pile, within 12 months."

Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or "To Be Read" list for at least one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2010 or later (any book published in the year 2009 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile). Two alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the "can't get through" pile.

My 12 books
* indicates I borrowed the book and therefore it's way, way overdue...

1. The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits - Emma Donoghue [20/02/2011]
2. Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope [19/02/2011]
3. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens [13/11/2011]
4. The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon - William Thackeray [17/01/2011]
5. Further Tales of the City - Armistead Maupin [21/04/2011]
6. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn* [15/01/2011]
7. Good As Gold - Joseph Heller [6/03/2011]
8. The Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb* [5/12/2011]
9. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton [30/01/2011]
10. Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson
11. With Nails - Richard E. Grant* [6/07/2011]
12. Suttree - Cormac McCarthy

Alternates
1. The King's Peace - Jo Walton
2. Once A Hero - Michael R. Stackpole

I've just cracked Another Bullshit Night In Suck City (finally! sorry Judith...) and so far, so good. The rest of the list may not be so easy. I've been avoiding some of these for a reason, ha.

For more on book challenges, see Be A Better Reader in 2011 (Salon).