Thursday, December 30, 2010

2011: The Great Unread

After the relative success of my self-imposed book challenge in 2010, I’ve set myself a new goal for 2011.

Each month, I’m going to do something radical and read a novel or play from my own shelves. Despite moving every few years, and shedding books along the way, I still have a number of works that I insist on keeping for my (limited) fiction shelves, but that I haven’t actually read. Some, such as A.S. Byatt’s Possession, I’ve started and liked, but never finished, others, such as Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions, are gifts I always intended to read, but never made time for, and some are recent additions, like my fancy clothbound editions of Dickens (designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith). Luckily, many of these coordinate with upcoming book salon topics.

First up will be The Name of the Rose, which I will read for our holiday season book salon in mid-January. The theme is “Because Atheism Has No Holidays” and features books with religious characters or settings. I’d also love to read either Gilead by Marilynne Robinson or A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving for this salon, but I don’t want to get overly ambitious as I tended to do last year.

If you’d like to join me in this challenge, please post a comment, and check in monthly to report your progress. I’d love to have others involved in this effort!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm with you! I've been eyeing my stacks for days, wondering where to begin.

Sylvie said...

I'd say start with either the shortest, or the one you've had the longest.

Anonymous said...

I'm in! I have tons of unread books on my shelves.

Anonymous said...

I will absolutely be doing this. I don't even know what's on my shelves that needs reading, right at the moment, but I'm sure I can find something for January and (I hope) get more organized for the rest of the year).

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful idea. I will try to join you all in this!

Sylvie said...

Thanks for joining in! I will check in with everyone midway through this month after my next book salon, and then again at the end to make sure everyone (including myself) is on track. You'll notice I've added pages at the top of my blog for both the salon and the challenge. If you want your progress added to the challenge page, I'm happy to do it.