Reading Plans for 2013

A new year is beginning and I've been looking back at the stack of books I've read - I started flipping through The Well-Educated Mind and trying to figure out how long it will take me to finish up reading through the section on novels. I started with Don Quixote in 2010. It took me a year (of sporadic reading) to finish two books - Don Quixote and Pilgrim's Progress. In 2011 I read the next 4 novels. In 2012 I found some other bloggers working through the novels list and, I have to say, it has helped me so much to keep up with my reading, knowing that other people are there to read and discuss the books. Because of the motivation of fellow-readers, I finished 7 books on the novels list. If I keep up with my reading as I have this past year it will only take me about 2 more years to finish Susan Wise Bauer's list of novels. I'm not sure if I should groan or laugh about that fact.

I'm also looking ahead to my reading list for 2013. Ideally, I'd like to read the next 9 books from The Well-Educated Mind novel list this year. I have no idea how long or difficult each of those novels will be, but that's the goal!

The list:
The Portrait of a Lady
Huckleberry Finn
The Red Badge of Courage
Heart of Darkness
The House of Mirth
The Great Gatsby
Mrs. Dalloway
The Trial
Native Son

I read piles of other books throughout the year as well - The Well-Educated Mind is for my "serious" reading and literary analysis and everything else is just an assortment - review books, recommendations from other bloggers or people in real life, reading aloud with my daughter, etc.  So, this year I decided to join a few year-long book challenges to expand my reading horizons.

The first is an A to Z Challenge (details here) - basically, throughout the year you read through a list of books (predetermined or as-you-go, it's your choice) that correspond with each letter of the alphabet. Here's my list (I'll be adding to it as the year goes on):

A - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B - Blessed Beyond Measure
C - Called to Conquer
D - Divergent
E - Eve & Adam
F - Frankenstein
G - The Great Gatsby
H - The Hobbit
I - I am Half Sick of Shadows
J - John Adams
K -
L -
M - Mrs. Dalloway
N - Native Son
O -
P - The Portrait of a Lady
Q -
R - The Red Badge of Courage
S -
T - The Trial
U - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
V - Vanished
W - The Way of the Wise
X -
Y -
Z -


I'm also going to participate in the Literary Exploration Reading Challenge. I tend to read a lot of historical fiction and I'd like to expand my horizons a bit this year and this challenge will be a perfect opportunity for that.

Hard Challenge (24 books):
Adventure - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Auto-Biography/Biography - Flora Thompson: The Story of the Lark Rise Writer
Chick-Lit - I've Got Your Number
Classics - The House of Mirth
Drama -
Fantasy - The Hobbit
Graphic Novels -
Historical Fiction - The Red Badge of Courage
Horror - Frankenstein
Humour - Thursday Next in the Woman Who Died A Lot
Literary Fiction - The Great Gatsby
Magical Realism -
Mystery - I am Half Sick of Shadows
Non Fiction - John Adams
Paranormal - Deadlocked
Philosophical -
Poetry -
Pulp - Heat Wave
Romance -
Science Fiction -
Steampunk -
Thriller - Gone Girl
Victorian - The Portrait of a Lady
Young Adult - Eve & Adam


Are you looking for a reading challenge or two to join? You can find a ton of them at A Novel Challenge.

Other books read during 2013, not listed above:
The Tutor's Daughter
The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise
A Rush of Wings
The Blessed Life
Insurgent
Freefall
Picture Perfect
Fools Rush In
Reached
Unrivaled
Moonlight Masquerade
The Healer's Apprentice
The Dance
Delirium
Pandemonium