Reading Challenge

(If you’re going to post this on your own blog, please link back!)

There’s something I’ve decided I’m going to do that I will, without any doubt, regret. Probably tomorrow morning after I’ve had a nightmare featuring great writers of the past two centuries chasing me out onto a stage with one single spotlight shining harshly where I stand (the spotlight dream is a recurring one that I’ve had since I was 4-years-old) while a large crowd, shrouded in darkness waits for me to sing. Terrifying. But here goes.

I’m not putting any time limit on this thing because goodness knows that I will fail miserably. Here’s the plan.

• 1. Make a list of books from the 19th and 20th centuries, one book from each year.
• 2. They must be books you have never read before, with one exception (See #3).
• 3. Rereads are allowed in instances where the book has not been read in over 1 year.
• 4. Read them.

There you have it. Ambitious, I know, but I am trying to throw myself back into reading and it’s been such a challenge since college. There are some things that the University of Oklahoma ruined for me. I’m not going to let my love of reading be one of them.

I thought of a few other stipulations to throw in there that I decided against at the last minute. The biggest one was that no two books on the list could be by the same author. If you really wanted a challenge, that would be the way to go. That would throw a kink in my plans to read all the L.M. Montgomery novels I haven’t gotten to yet. I will only be reading numerous works by one author in cases of a real favorite though. I also decided to let my challenge go from 1800 to present…whatever “present” is when I finish.

Would you like to join in? If so, leave the link to your 200 year list in the Mr. Linky below. Be sure to link back and let others know about the challenge! I’ll be posting a button or two for you to use soon.

200 Year Reading Challenge Participants

Now, I need YOUR help. I need you to suggest some titles for my list. It’s something I’d probably be able to come up with on my own, but I like input. Can’t promise that I’ll add every suggestion, but it would help to give me some variety.

1800. Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller

1801. The Peasant of Ardenne Forest by Eliza Parsons

1802.

1803.

1804.

1805.

1806.

1807.

1808.

1809.

1810.

1811. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

1812. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

1813. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

1814. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

1815. Emma by Jane Austen

1816.

1817. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

1818. Persuasion by Jane Austen

1819.

1820.

1821.

1822.

1823.

1824. The Inheritance by Susan Ferrier

1825.

1826.

1827.

1828.

1829.

1830.

1831.

1832.

1833.

1834.

1835.

1836.

1837.

1838.

1839.

1840.

1841.

1842.

1843.

1844.

1845.

1846.

1847.

1848. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

1849.

1850.

1851. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871. Lady Susan by Jane Austen

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880. Anne by Constance Fenimore Woolson

1881.

1882.

1883.

1884.

1885.

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

1892. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1893.

1894.

1895. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

1896.

1897.

1898.

1899.

1900.

1901.

1902.

1903.

1904.

1905.

1906.

1907.

1908. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

1909. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

1910. Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery

1911. Fantômas by Pierre Souvestre & Marcel Allain

1912.

1913.

1914. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

1915. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

1916.

1917. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

1918. My Ántonia by Willa Cather

1919.

1920.

1921. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1922. The Enormous Room by e.e. cummings

1923. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

1924.

1925. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1926.

1927.

1928.

1929.

1930.

1931.

1932.

1933.

1934.

1935.

1936.

1937.

1938.

1939.

1940.

1941.

1942.

1943. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

1944.

1945. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

1946. Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty

1947.

1948.

1949.

1950.

1951.

1952.

1953. Picnic (play) by William Inge

1954.

1955.

1956.

1957.

1958.

1959. A Separate Peace by John Knowles

1960.

1961.

1962. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle & The Island by Aldous Huxley

1963.

1964.

1965.

1966.

1967.

1968.

1969.

1970. Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff by William Inge

1971.

1972.

1973. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

1974.

1975.

1976. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

1977.

1978. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

1979.

1980.

1981.

1982.

1983.

1984. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera – October 22, 2009

1985.

1986.

1987. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons – December 10, 2009

1988.

1989.

1990.

1991.

1992.

1993. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

1994. How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto

1995.

1996. The End of Alice by A. M. Homes – October 22, 2009

1997. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

1998. Eucalyptus by Murray Bail

1999.

2000. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

2001.

2002.

2003. The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe

2004.

2005. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

2006. The Road by Cormac McCarthy – February 1, 2010