As Hallowe’en approaches I tend to look back on my reading record to see how well I’ve done throughout the year. Although I am heading nicely towards my target of 60 books, I was not pleased to discover that I had grossly deviated from my other book challenges, especially the most important one: 1001 Book Challenge.
It’s not an easy list to conquer, as anyone who is currently undertaking it will know. The sheer number of books aside, it is probably the only list that well and truly makes you ‘feel’ your mortality. Especially if you have (like me) gauged their yearly reading speed. Mine stands at approximately 50 books a year, placing me in the ‘slow reader’ category compared to some readers who manage well over 100 books a year!
One good thing about gargantuan challenges like the 1001 Book List is that many people are attempting it. It’s tough but it’s highly popular and if you can find a good online reading group (I’m a member of the goodreads one) there is plenty of camaraderie to be had along the way. And you’ll soon discover that most people are there to discover truly good books that deserve their time and effort. There is no pressure to actually COMPLETE the list. In reality, it would take a lifetime of reading. So the challenge is viewed as one that allows you to read a lifetime of ‘quality’ titles that have been tried and tested by critics.
Joining a group also means you’ll meet many people who have varying reading habits, some quite surprising. Some people begin to read the books in list order, finding a sort of rhythm as they tick off the books one by one. Some like me, tend to pick and choose haphazardly whereas others read books in ‘author’ order, e.g. reading all titles that happen to be in the list by Dickens, then go onto another author and so on. If you can’t be bothered to choose a book from the list yourself (and there are plenty of lists floating around in all formats) or you rather can’t bear to look at that heart-stopping list for fear of fainting then there is always the monthly readalongs that let you know which books are being read by the whole group. This is best by those who like to enter into heated debates. I like a good discussion every once in a while, but it’s rare that I choose to do a readalong, mainly because as soon as I commit something is bound to come up and stop me from joining in!
Now this year has been very up and down for me reading wise and with all good intentions I have not had the chance to make the best use of my time. I also believe that because I have 3 different 1001 lists (2006, 2008 and 2010), I have put myself off a bit. Just a tad. So I sort of gave up on it. But I won’t let that happen for 2012. Oh no, I’ve decided to make a shortlist of 1001 books that I have been DYING to get my hands on. My list is a mish-mash of titles taken from all three versions which makes things a bit more manageable.
Here’s what my proposed 1001 Book Challenge for the coming year looks like:
Pre 1700’s
*Don Quixote (Own)
*Oroonoko (Own)
*Tale of Genji
*Aesop’s Fable
*Metamorphoses1700’s
*Rasselas (Own)
*120 Days of Sodom
*Caleb Williams
*Camilla
*Wilhelm Maisters Apprenticeship1800’s
*La Bete Humaine
*Germinal
*Bel-Ami
*Against Nature
*Nana
*Erewhon
*The Moonstone (Own)
*Crime and Punishment (Own)
*Woman in White (Own)
*The Red and the Black
*The Brothers Karamazov
*Tale of Two Cities (Own)1900’s
*Locus Solus
*Rashomon
*The Great Gatsby (Own)
*The the Lighthouse (Own)
*Steppenwolf
*Lady Chatterley’s Lover
*Les Enfants Terribles
*Tender is the Night (Own)
*Nausea
*The Little Prince
*Zorba the Greek
*Love in a Cold Climate
*Go Tell it to the Mountain
*Casino Royale
*Bonjour Tristesse
*The Mandarins
*The Talented Mr. Ripley
*Pale Fire
*Ada
*Heartbreak Tango
*The House of Spirits (Own)
*If not now, When?
*Beloved
*The Black Dahlia
*Kitchen
*Buddha of Suburbia (Own)
*The Virgin Suicides
*A Suitable Boy
*The Poisonwood Bible2000’s
*Kafka on the Shore
*Suite Francaise
*Elegance of the Hedgehog
*The Children’s Book
*On Beauty
*After the Quake
There are a total of 58 books, which means it is well within my means to conquer such a list. Obviously I hope to read more than that, as each year I try to stretch myself beyond the 50 mark. This year I’m trying for 60 books, of which I have read 47 so far. I know it’s a bit early to be making New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m really determined to take a big chunk out of that 1001 list. There are so many important books on there that I just have to make the knowledge of them ‘mine’! But considering that the list is updated every two years, I won’t be making much of a dent in it really.
So, enough of my list mania, what about yours? How do you handle your Book challenges? Is there a particular order, pattern to how you pick your next read? I don’t care how wacky it is, I would love to know.
Wordly Obsessions 
I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to challenges in that I usually only attempt ones that I’m confident I can complete. Many of the titles on your list are ones I’ve been meaning to read though, I should probably just be daring and jump into one of the grander challenges sometime!
Please do! Jump into this one if you like 🙂 Yes, I think they are probably on most people’s list. Some of them I class as ‘the scary books’ like Don Quixote. It’s massive. But then again I actually read 20 pages of it on the train home once and thought ‘it’s alright really’.
I’m another one thats undertaking this huge challenge! I’ve very shamefully only read 6 books from the list this year, I’m determined to do better next year.
I like how organised you are with your list for next year! I think i might have to join a group as I am struggling to do it by myself!
Happy reading )
Well why don’t you join our group? Are you a member of goodreads? It’s one of the groups on there. You can’t miss it really, it has hundreds of followers. Come on board! The more the merrier!
Oh, and I’m not organised at all. This is my ATTEMPT at organisation. There’s a 60% chance I won’t follow this list and just make up another one!
LOL Zee, I handle book challenges by not engaging in them! Every now and then I’m tempted, and if I were to be tempted it would be something loose and non-challenging like this. I do have the spreadsheet marked up in my system but I haven’t checked it for a while to see if I’ve read any more.
I’m like you, a slow reader … about ten years ago I calculated how many more books I’m likely to read in my life given, say, I live to a healthy 80 (though I’d like more than that). I was horrified at the number and decided to think upon’t no more for fear I’d simple give up reading altogether!
We readers are so fatalistic like that! The spreadsheet I have calculates on average how many books I should read a year to complete the list. I think it said 80 something! It fair takes the wind out of you.
Has no one ever done a study of this kind of psychology? I’m pretty sure that it’s much more than just bibliophilia! You should visit your list. You might discover you’ve read more than you think.
I did visit it after reading your post … and discovered I’d read less than I hoped but, on the plus side and rather accidentally, more than I had last time I looked!
I spend all of my reading time reading in my genre, to hone my thriller writing. That’s a couple of books a week, but few classics. When I get this writing bug out of my psyche, I’ll return to more substantive reading.
Well that’s a good thing in a way. You are doing close-reading of a particular genre, getting to know what works and what doesn’t. I’m sure your novels will be a success.
That’s a very good, albeit scary, list. I definitely need to start reading and writing more reviews (in fact, I ended up here searching for inspiration to tackle my review of Crime and Punishment), I might be joining you in this challenge 🙂
you and i are same, we both are slow readers 😉
I choose my challenges based on books I normally read…I don’t want to challenge myself with books I don’t like. You won’t see me start reading romance challenge as I find reading that kind of book as something of a time waste.
good look with your read Zee