The goal? To finally read 12 books from your “to be read” pile (within 12 months). Click on the link above to read about the specifics and to sign up.
Here I was, thinking about how 2013 will be challenge free for this blogger. Along comes Adam and his awesome idea and I’m off the wagon before I even climbed on.
I figure that a TBR challenge doesn’t really count though. Right? Right! Guess what else? I can combine this challenge with the Classics Club books that I should be reading anyway. Ha, it’s a win/win! See how I justified joining in this challenge? Yea, I’m that good.
My 2013 TBR Pile Challenge List:
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Once Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
- The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
Alternates:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Wish me luck! Have you joined this challenge?
The Relentless Reader 
Great selection of books, Jennifer. It's nice that the challenge will crossover with other reading pursuits. I'm also participating in this one, and many of my selections will overlap with the Historical Fiction Challenge I'm also taking part it.
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This is a fantsatic list! I know you mentioned you might be mentioning some changes, but still. Anna Karenina? Great. Willa Cather? Love! Great Expectations!! The Reader, so lovely. Uncle Tom's Cabin… a must read. The Great Gatsby – SO much brilliance packed into one short book. Ah, man. There are a few here I really need to read, but all the ones that I have read I really loved. You've got a good year ahead of ya!
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Thanks Melissa! Some of these are books I've had FOREVER that I haven't gotten around to and some are also on my classics club list. 2 birds, one stone, etc. 😉
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I've looked for a book challenge that I can join and still haven't found one. Maybe I better grow a following and start my own. I don't know about this one–even though several books have been on my TBR list for a long time now!
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You know, I think I'm going to leave the list alone. The re-reads that I have on here I haven't read in AGES. I know I'll have a new appreciation/perspective of them. I'm excited!
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What kind of a challenge are you looking for? I might be able to help you out! Go check this one out…12 books, 12 months. Easy Breezy!
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Seems there's an overall drive for next year and tackling the pile. I've joined Ana and Iris's January one, though I might have to go for this one too to add to the positive pressure. This is a good challenge, not quite like others – I'd agree in saying you've not completely given up your challenge-free status. I love how you've dedicated it to the classics. Anna Karenina's on mine, too (for getting to as well as the club), and hope you enjoy Great Expectations!
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn should be your next read no matter what. It's one of my all times like To Kill a Mockingbird. It's right up there with all the greatness of that book for real.
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I jumped onto every little challenge I could in the past 6 months. Blogging has changed my reading habits enough, I have to stop with the challenges that don't line up with ME and my life. This one will fit right in 🙂
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I've read it, but not since I was a young lass 🙂 I'm excited to read it now with all of this life experience and wisdom (ha!) under my belt.
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I saw the title of this post and burst out laughing! You couldn't even make it to 2013 to sign up for another challenge!!! Hahaha! But it actually works because it's only that you're reading your Classics Club books, so in a way, it's just like setting a goal for yourself. But still, you signed up for a challenge!
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I'm not big on the challenges either, but I just got an email about the Eclectic Reading Challenge hosted by Shellyrae. I'm thinking about it…they are so tempting! You have some great books planned for the year, and I think 12 books is a short enough list that you won't feel like they are all you can read.
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I'm pretty sure that if you weighed your TBR pile it would be about 50 pounds. 😉 Best of luck to you! Some big chunksters on your list. Wishing that I had some overlap so we could do a readalong but no AK for me next year. Instead I'll be doing a few more King books and Vanity Fair. The rest is all unplanned.Enjoy! And I loved Atonement so much. It's one I wish I could read for the first time again.
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Wow, if you read all of these, 2013 will be a fantastic reading year for you!I love Anna K, I read it a few years book and honestly it was amazing. I thought it would be hard to read and dry, but it's completely the opposite. You're in for a treat 🙂
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That is an ambitious and impressive list. But I guess that one classic a month would be doable. Good luck with it!
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Perfect! It doesn't count as a challenge if you're just pledging to read books you already OWN and want to read. I may use this justification myself!Also, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn this year, and I loved it so hard. I'm excited that you'll be reading it 🙂
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Great list! I may have to sign up for this one (once I narrow down my list, that is)
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I've got The Good Earth on my list for next year another challenge–maybe we could readalong together? 🙂
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I know! Shut up! 😉
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They are a bunch that I've been meaning to get to anyway so why not right? This way I'll be able to yap about them with the cool kids too! 😉
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I hope to do one of these a month…or maybe more depending on my mood/schedule. I really want 2013 to be pressure free darn it! 🙂
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I'm excited! AK is one I've read, but like some of the others it's been SO many years since I read it that I'm looking forward to enjoying it again. I can't wait to see how my late 30's self will like some of these 🙂
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Thanks! I think it's doable..it had better be 😉 I really do want to be a more relaxed reader this coming year
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See! That is what I think too. It doesn't count! 😀
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The lists! The lists! I do love making a nice list 🙂
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You have some great books on that list.As the vast majority of what I read is on my TBR list and have been on my TBR list for a long time so this really would not be too much a challenge to get through twelve titles for the year.
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That's exactly why I don't count this as a challenge. I have to justify it that way since I swore I wasn't going to do challenges in '13! 😉
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Nice! This challenge is right up my alley, too. I have maybe around 40 that I own (or borrowed from my mother) that I need to get around to… or at least decide just NOT to read a few of them. Although with getting more into blogging this year my reading pace has increased, so maybe I can do it, at least 12 of them! The Eclectic Reader challenge from Shelleyrae at Book'd Out looks good, but I'm going to try not to buy as many books in 2013, so I would only do that one if my current TBR pile has titles that fits in with that challenge too. I need to take stock and make lists!
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Terrific list! I love Anna Karenina and My Antonia. I read Madame Bovary in college but don't remember it well. I also read Uncle Tom's Cabin in college and disliked it — I'll be curious to see what you think. 🙂 I saw the movie adaptation of The Reader — very interesting! And you have many books here I haven't read but would like to.
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I've read a lot of them, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them. The Betty Smith's novel is delicious, Flaubert's one is a great classic and Anna Karenina… well, it's Anna Karenina 🙂
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I did a TBR challenge last year and am definitely doing one again this year – my shelves are overflowing and I need to remember to read the ones I have! My Antonia is one of my favorite novels – you have some great ones on your list!
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Angela's Ashes is GREAT! So is The Great Gatsby. Enjoy! 🙂
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I'm joining in too, but haven't written my post yet. You've got a great list of books there. Not all the easiest ones, but I hope you'll get them all read and it will be such a great accomplishment.
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Great list! Anna Karenina took me more than a month to read, but I thought it was worth it. My daughter just read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She loved it and would periodically run to me to read funny passages. I think you'll enjoy it. Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of my favorites as well.
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I did this challenge last year and plan to sign up for it again. Of course, I finished it within the first month or two, I think. I seriously need a challenge that requires reading 100 books from my TBR pile. THAT would be a challenge these days! ;)I love your book selection. Excellent choices – I've read all but one of them on your list. You will definitely enjoy them!
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I'm participating in this challenge this year and I've really enjoyed it. I've yet to finalize my challenges for next year.
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I really should go through my shelves and donate the things I'll never read, or never read again. I don't even buy books anymore but somehow they accumulate!
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Thanks! The couple of re-reads on this list I read so so long ago that I can't wait to see what I'll think of them now.
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Right?? Right! I'm looking forward to diving into this list 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 I've got to streamline my reading..and my bookshelves. 🙂
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Thanks Steph. I cannot believe that I've never read Angela's Ashes. Somehow I bypassed it. But it's been sitting on my shelf for a while now and it's TIME. 🙂
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I'll look forward to seeing your list Judith!
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I've read Huckleberry Finn but not since dinosaurs roamed. Ok, maybe not quite that long ago but you get the idea 😉
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Michelle, lol! Don't tell anyone but I'm hoping to do the same..read them all in a fairly quick manner 😉
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I'm hoping that I won't have anything left on my shelves that I haven't read, making it impossible to participate in 2014. Ha ha, we'll see about that 😉
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I swear I commented on this post already–somewhere! Anyway, great list. I'll be reading The Good Earth in 2013, too…maybe we could do a readalong? 🙂
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WOW Check out all the Classics!!! I haven't been adventurous enough to join the Classics Club but I do have it in the back of my mind for when I'm ready for it.I do want to re-read Great Expectations, too, someday.. A few of your reads I had not heard of yet! Good luck on the challenge(s)!!!Here's my 2013 TBR Challenge Post.
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I have been thinking about joining the historical fiction challenge myself. There is a fabulous story about ancient Egypt that has inspired me- \”Shadow of the Sun\” by Merrie P. Wycoff.
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That is quite an ambitious list! You can do it! Good luck with the challenge.
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What a wonderful list! I have a Tree Grows in Brooklyn on mine as well. Happy reading!
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