TBR (To Be Read) Challenge 2009

I came across a recent article from Cynthia Crossen in The Wall Street Journal about books on our shelves that we’ve ignored for ages, purchased with the full intention of reading but end up collecting dust instead. We give ourselves 1001 excuses and convince ourselves that it’s just not the right time to read them. Quoting Crossen from her article:

“As I scanned my shelves, I found I had convincing arguments why I shouldn’t read each one of the orphans—or convincing to me anyway. I rejected a book called “English, August,” by Upamanyu Chatterjee because it is after all November. No to “The Ragged Trousered Philantrophist” by Robert Tressel because the book jacket says it’s about “the desperate lives of working people.” No to “The Unconsoled” byKazua Ishiguro because I heard it wasn’t nearly as good as “Remains of the Day” or “Never Let Me Go.”

Completely understand what you mean because I’ve done the same thing myself! As I studied my own bookshelves I realized, BOY do I have A LOT of unread books. Anyway, I supposed it wasn’t a coincidence that I saw All About {n} participating in a TBR 2009 Challenge, I take it as a sign that my dusty books need my tender loving attention.

So my orphaned books, I’ve been inspired and will read you next year by taking part in the challenge myself. If I don’t, the whole wide world will know that I have failed you. My lists of books to be read in 2009 are:

1. How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job- Dale Carnegie

2. I Know This Much Is True- Wally Lamb

3. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

4. A Child Called ‘It’- Dave Pelzer
5. The Last Secret of The Temple- Paul Sussman

6. The View From Castle Rock- Alice Munro

7. The Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follet

8. The Book Thief- Markus Zusak

9. The Diary of A Young Girl- Anne Frank

10.The Hound of the Baskervilles- Arthur Conan Doyle

11. The Russian Concubine- Kate Furnival

12. Evening is A Whole Day- Preeta Samarasan

Alternate list:

1. The Glass Palace- Amitav Ghosh

2. The Queen & I- Sue Townsend

3. A Spot of Bother- Mark Haddon

4. The Almost Moon- Alice Sebold

5. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky- Deng, Deng, Ajak

6. Screw It, Let's Do It- Richard Branson

7. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou

8. The God of Small Things- Arundhati Roy

9. Labyrinth - Kate Moss

10. A New Earth- Eckhart Tolle

11. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

12. The Good Earth- Pearl S. Buck

If you are interested to take part in the challenge, please click here to visit MizB’s blog where the challenge is being hosted.