Thursday, June 28, 2012

30 x 30

I have a long list of books I want to read. A really long list. Right now, goodreads puts that number at 213, but that doesn't count all those books I've taken note of over the years and tucked into a little wrinkle in the brain. So do I prioritize? If so, how?

Well, for me, the answer to the first question is YES - I want to prioritize. I want a plan. I don't want to say, in another three years, I still haven't read anything by Murakami. I want to feel like I'm making progress with my reading. I know to some people that will sound silly. Reading should be fun! Just read what you want! It doesn't matter! Truly, it doesn't matter. I encourage everyone to read what they want, what they enjoy. But part of my enjoyment is tied to crossing certain books of a mental checklist.

Haruki Murakami
I've joined several challenges throughout the blogosphere, and this personal goal will overlap with those. At the same time, the books I've chose are ones that I consciously chose based on being able to say I've read them before I'm thirty. Ones that I've been meaning to get around to for far too long. Ones I need to read again, now that I'm not am immature high schooler. Ones that will teach me something. The "Thirty" deadline gives me just under two years. Plenty of time to make a dent in that never-ending TBR pile.
  1. Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi
  2. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
  3. Something by Haruki Murakami. I don't really care which book.
    1. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (done)
    2. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (done)
    3. The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank (done)
    4. Beloved, Toni Morrison (reread)
    5. A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf
    6. Invitation to a Beheading, Vladimir Nabokov
    7. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
    8. The Illiad, Homer
    9. The Odyssey, Homer
    10. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
    11. Candide, Voltaire
    12. The Golden Bowl, Henry James
    13. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (reread)
    14. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (reread)
    15. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    16. The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (done)
    17. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Sojourner Truth
    18. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
    19. Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway
    20. The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chinua Achebe
    21. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
    22. If Not, Winter, Sappho
    23. The Princess Bride, William Goldman
    24. The Way We Never Were, Stephanie Coontz
    25. The Power Broker, Robert Caro
    26. Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine
    27. Emancipation Betrayed, Paul Ortiz

    5 comments:

    Lexi said...

    That's a good list. My problem is that there is SO MUCH I want to read to feel well-read that I could never narrow it down to just 30. Well, that, and I'm way past thirty now anyway. ;) I've read six off your list so far, so maybe I've at least gotten a start on being "literary." These days, I feel like just reading at all is an accomplishment.

    Anonymous said...

    I like this challenge you've set up for yourself, and your list is fantastic.

    Candice @ The Grown-Up YA said...

    Good luck with this! I've got a similar list, only mine is more 30 things I want to do before I'm 30... doesn't help that I've only done about 5 of them and I turn 30 in about 6 months! Good luck with getting these books read and hope you enjoy them all!

    MJ said...

    @Lexi: Thanks! There are a lot more I want to read, too, but this is at least a start.

    @Heather: Thank you! If you have any input on where to start, I'd be happy to hear it.

    @Candice: I started a 30 things by 30, but didn't get very far with it. Then my priorities shifted a bit, anyway :-)

    Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

    This is a great list MJ!! I really like reading with purpose--even if it's not every book. Some of my favorites are on here and many I'd still love to read. I've only read Kafka on the Shore but loved it!