It is now winter, a new year, and time to assess what progress I made on my lists in 2009 and what I hope to read this year.
My List of Lists is over in the right-side column. These are Prize Winners, Must Reads, and other lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column is a list of my favorite authors. I add to both lists from time to time.
This is a three-part assessment. This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will deal with the challenges I participated in last year and plan to join this year. Part Three will run through the author lists.
THE LISTS
1899 Top 100
Books read so far: 7/100
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
- The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
- Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
All-TIME Top 100
Books read so far: 73/100
Books read in 2009: one-third (I read The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.)
Books I hope to read in 2010: two-thirds (I really hope to finish The Lord of the Rings.)
Books on my TBR shelf: 15
Anthony Burgess
Books read so far: 26/99
Books read in 2009: one (How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong; reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
- A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
- Strangers and Brothers by C.P. Snow
BBC's Big Read
Books read so far: 52/100
Books read in 2009: 5+
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham(reviewed here)
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens(reviewed here)
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Crime and Punishment
- I Capture the Castle
- plus another one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books on my TBR shelf: 11
Book Club
Books read so far: 15/16
Books read in 2009: 6
- Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Keysey
- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Davita's Harp by Chiam Potok
- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
- Plainsong by Kent Haruf
- Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Books on my TBR shelf: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
College Board
Books read so far: 75/101
Books read in 2009: one (Treasure Island)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14
Costa Book of the Year
Books read so far: 3/24
Books read in 2009: two
- Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, reviewed here
- The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, reviewed here
- The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
- Small Island by Andrea Levy
Easton Press
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2009: 3
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan)
Books on my TBR shelf: 25
Edgar Award
Books read so far: 4/55
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5
Erica Jong
Books read so far: 29/100
Books read in 2009: one (The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley)
Books I hope to read in 2010: several, including
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
French Connection
Books read so far: 42/107 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2009: one (Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger; reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2
- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
- The Flaneur by Edmund White
Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2009: same
Books I hope to read in 2010: 5
- The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
- The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda
- The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
- Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell
- The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulka Langer
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2009: one (Saturday by Ian McEwan)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry)
Books on my TBR shelf: 7
LT Early Reviewers
Books read so far: 21/25
Books read in 2009: 10
- The Amish Cook at Home by Lovina Eicher (reviewed here)
- Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer (reviewed here)
- American Rust by Philipp Meyer (reviewed here)
- Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger (reviewed here)
- Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak (reviewed here)
- The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley (reviewed here)
- The Stettheimer Dollhouse by Sheila W. Clark (reviewed here)
- Joker One by Donovan Campbell (reviewed here)
- The Fire by Katherine Neville (reviewed here)
- American Lion by Jon Meacham (reviewed here)
- Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
- Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow
- The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies
- A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (audiobook)
Man Booker Prize
Books read so far: 21/43
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I don't know which
Books on my TBR shelf: 14
MLA's 30
Books read so far: 21/30
Books read in 2009: one and 1/3
- The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books on my TBR shelf: 4
Modern Library
Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2009: zero ( finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2010: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero
National Book Award
Books read so far: 24/63
Books read in 2009: 4
- The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
- The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
- The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
- Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here)
Books on my TBR shelf: 13
NBCC Award
Books read so far: 15/33
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
- Counterlife by Philip Roth
Nobel Laureates
Authors read so far: 19/105
Books read in 2009: 3
- The Complete Short Stories by Earnest Hemingway (reviewed here)
- The Beggar by Naguib Mahfouz (reviewed here)
- The Plague by Albert Camus
Books on my TBR shelf: 30 (but most by authors already read)
Observer's Top 100
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2009: 3+
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (reviewed here)
- Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- plus another one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
- Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- the last two book in The Lord of the Rings
Orange Prize
Books read so far: 1/13
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Small Island by Andrea Levy
Books on my TBR shelf: 4
Oregon Books
Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2009: two
- The River Why by David Duncan
- Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Books on my TBR shelf: 2
Pulitzer Prize
Books read so far: 38
Books read in 2009: 3
- Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (reviewed here)
- The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
- March by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
- something for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge, but I haven't picked yet
Radcliffe's Top 100
Books read so far: 86/100
Books read in 2009: one-third for The Fellowship of the Ring
Books I hope to read in 2010:6+
- O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
- the rest of The Lord of the Rings
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
- Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
- Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
RCR Top 10
Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2009: zero (the list did not change -- so far)
Books I hope to Read in 2010: maybe a new book will make it to the list
Books on my TBR shelf: zero
Well-Stocked Bookcase
Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2009: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14
I am thinking of concentrating on the Radcliffe list in 2010 because I have a shot at finishing that one once and for all. The books remaining also overlap with several other lists, so I could really make hay.