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Perhaps with the new challenges coming up, I will get more books on the shelf read, but here's a list of of books on my bookselves that aren't apart of the challenge that I hope to get to in the near future:

1. Paradise Lost
2. The Mysteries of Udolpho
3. Death on the Installment Plan
4. The Decameron Second Edition 28 Sept 10
5. Sanditon and The Watsons Austen's Unfinished Novels 07 Mar 10
6. The Woman in White 09 Nov 10
7. Dune Messiah
8. The Faculty of Useless Knowledge
9. The Princesse de Cleves The Princesse de Montpensier, The Comtesse de Tende 21 Jun 10
10. Night
11. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 14 Jan 10
12. The Treasure of the City of Ladies or The Book of Three Virtues
13. Crying of Lot 49 04 Jul 10
14. V.
15. Voyager 09 Jan 10
16. A Hero of Our Time 27 Jan 10
17. Dead Souls 05 Dec 10
18. The Books in My Life 30 Mar 10
19. In the Stacks Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians
20. Book Row An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade
21. A Passion for Books A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books
22. The Labyrinth of Solitude The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre 31 Dec
23. We Are Iran The Persian Blogs 30 May 10
24. Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America (tried reading most of it, end of Jan)
25. Sor Juana Or, the Traps of Faith
26. An Acquaintance with Darkness
27. The History of Western Philosophy

Hum, this list is rather long though not exhaustive of everything in my collection...

2010
Jan: Woohoo! four off my list!
Feb: Not so great, but then I was sick for a week or so.
Mar: 2 more down!
Apr: When did it become May?!
May: 1 more off the list; not too bad.
Jun: Hum, just 1?
Jul: 1 down at the beginning of the month must be a good sign.
Sept: 1 very heafty book and 1 very important test have slowed things down.
Nov: 12 down, 15 to go.
Dec: 14 left for the next year, perhaps I should start taking bets on how many I will get a year from now, 31 Dec?!

Verity wrote: "2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the whole series, all three books) "

I hate to break it to you, but the trilogy is in fact 5 books

Damn, when did that happen?

the 6th is a new one written by a different author

Ah, I thought there was one that had been. It is good to know that there are knowledgable people on this site.

I guess I'm going to have to do something like this because it's the only way I'm going to get some of these damn books I own read.

That's what I thought.

Shakespearean Challenge

Read all of Shakespeare's non-popular plays with the histories in order (in italics), 2/month. (*=currently reading)

Feb: Have decided to add one line commentary after reading them to eventually compare critiques with Shakespeare Abridged when done.
May: Might have to go back to the original idea of 1 play/month, at the rate I am going, or not going!

January 2010
1. King John (if plays were the only remaining record of history, king John would be screwed)
2. Troilus and Cressida (unnecessarily long and yet incomplete; more bad greek tragedy than comedy)
February
3. Coriolanus (Stay true to one's self and cause)
4. Richard II (Begging on one's knees sometimes works)
March
5. Two Gentlemen of Verona (I love you, I love you not; I love you!)
6. Two Noble Kinsmen (hum, actually written by John Fletcher and Shakespeare so not sure I should include it...)
April
7. Henry IV, Part I (Round 1...Us:2, Them:2)
8. Measure for Measure (If only the good guys could swoop in to save the world these days!)
May
9. Titus Andronicus (Don't get involved in Roman politics!)
10. Henry IV, Part II (Round 2: the winner - Us!)
June
11. All’s Well That Ends Well (She could do better w/o him these days!)

January 2011
February
12. Pericles (The short version of a Greek play or the screen play before the film?)
March
April
13. Henry V (So that's where those quotes come from!)
14. As You Like It
15. Tempest
16. Henry VI, Part I
17. Anthony and Cleopatra
18. Love’s Labor’s Lost
19. Henry VI, Part II
20. Julius Caesar
21. Winter’s Tale
22. Henry VI, Part III
23. Cymbeline
24. Timon of Athens
25. Richard III
26. King Lear
27. Merry Wives of Windsor
28. Henry VIII

'How many books am I reading/year?' I wonder.

2009: 50 books
2010: 30 books, 11 of which were plays

The Decameron is recommended for anyone who needs a light break from studying, whilst improving vocab, or at least seeing it in context. ...Things are slow in this August heat.

End of one year means the beginning of a new challenge, and this year, I think I will make my own.

Books on the Nightstand Challenge
For all the books that have been waiting patiently, whether purchased recently or that I have partially read, this is your time. I am hoping to get to at least 10 of these and all the Shakespeare remaining by the end of 2011!

Started reading:
Drums of Autumn 27 Jan
The Monarch of the Glen 20 Jan
Rasskazy: new fiction from a new russia 10 Mar
The Black Swan
Edith Wharton
On the stand:
Yo, la peor (thinking I will learn Spanish)
Kahlil Gibram: selected works
A Novel Bookstore 27 Mar

And then whatever is on the top list that suits my fancy.

One down! Now back to the Shakespeare.

I feel guilty reading when looking for work.

Why is it that the first three months of the year always go by faster than the rest of the year? And how do you use your time more efficently when you have to spend most of energy searching and applying for work you are not going to get; and then a month goes by and it feels like you have accomplished nothing of real value in your life or worked on anything that you have been wanting to do for ages when you had the time?

A fortune cookie message I found while buying a (unwinning) lottery ticket reads 'The architect of your destiny is yourself.' But what kind of destiny do I want?

Long time it has been working unsteadily as my reading. I have only completed two books, no plays and become addicted to paperbackswap.com (I need steady work!)

Finished:
Castle Rackrent and the Absentee
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise

Really wish Borders was not going out of business but hopefully there will be some good deals.

Ugh. Only 8 books read in 2011 with no real dent made in Shakespeare and have added a huge stack to the TBR pile due to Paperbackswap.com (very addictive). Not good. Started 3 books last year too, which I didn't finish either:

The Friday Night Knitting Club
Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai: A Novel

Think I am getting too old for this group, though will try to add things if I actually complete something already listed.