TBR Challenge

I read about Emily’s Attacking the TBR Tome Challenge over on Of Books and Bicycles, and it seems like a useful thing for me, though I suspect I am not going to participate in the not-buying-new-books part of it. These days most of my book acquisition isn’t actually purchasing books, anyhow: mostly, it’s picking up books from the sidewalk (I live in a bookish neighborhood!) or from the kitchen at work (I work in publishing, with other bookish people!). But I have been buying the Proust books as I slowly read my way through them, and want to continue to do so.

So here we go: 20 books I currently own that I aim to read by December 31, 2010, not necessarily in this order!

1. The Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust, trans. C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin: I’ve picked this one up and put it down a few times but want to pick it up again and get back in the Proustian mood!
2. Inventing Japan by Ian Buruma: seems like smart nonfiction; I like smart nonfiction.
3. Waiting for the Weekend by Witold Rybczynski: ditto the above
4. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald: I think I bought this for school but only read part of it. But I think I liked it.
5. Eating for England by Nigel Slater: picked this up when I was in England for work last year, but haven’t read it yet. It is about food and the UK and seems light and fun.
6. White Teeth by Zadie Smith: seems like everyone else has read it already!
7. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: ditto the above
8. The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal: because I haven’t read any Stendhal.
9. The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald : because I never read any of the Great Brain books as a kid, and should have.
10. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter: because I’ve never read any Angela Carter.
11. Elegy for Iris by John Bayley: I bought this when Iris, the movie, came out, but sadly, didn’t read it.
12. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg: do I lose queer points for not having read this yet?
13. Seeing Through Places by Mary Gordon: I think I read this in college but I sure don’t remember it. I think I kept it because it was good. I’d like to find out!
14. The Green and Burning Tree by Eleanor Cameron: I’m excited for this—it’s all about children’s literature—though it will surely just add a bunch of children’s books to the list of books I want to read!
15. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman: I bought this in college but never read it; Megan read it over the summer and said it was really good.
16. The Uses of Literature by Italo Calvino: mm Calvino. I bought this in college but never read it.
17. Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf: mm Woolf. I bought this for a college class on autobiographical writing that I ended up dropping; I kept the books because it was a good reading list, but I’ve never gotten to this one.
18. The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson: mm walking. I loved Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit and have heard this is another satisfying walking book.
19. Witch Grass by Raymond Queneau: when I first bought this I knew nothing about Oulipo but thought I’d like it. Now I know a little more about Oulipo and still think I’ll like it.
20. How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith: I got this for Christmas last year and should have read it by now! This one might actually be tied with Proust for the one of these I plan on reading first—I think this book will be a good start to 2010. If you are not familiar with Keri Smith, go look at her blog and prepare to smile.

    and a bonus number 21…

21. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, because Josh said I’d like it.

We shall see how this goes, as I’m not normally very list-directed in my reading habits, which is of course why I end up owning a bunch of books I haven’t read yet.