2011 reading list.

Last year, I compiled a reading list that I had hoped would become a new, annual tradition of mine, inspired by a friend of mine. The list was comprised of 20 books, picked and chosen from Oprah's Book Club and the New York Times' Best-Seller list. Needless to say, I had failed due to x-amount of excuses, school readings being the main excuse; out of the 20 books, to-date I have only read four, including Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist which I finished yesterday. Hi, my name is Celestine, and I fail at accomplishing relatively easy goals.

So today I am making an attempt to finish my 2010 reading list. I definitely don't want to rush through the list, because I have learned to appreciate and engage in active reading, being able to absorb the information I've read rather than zipping through the readings and being left with little account of what happened, ie. reading Harry Potter books in one sitting and watching the movies thinking, "Wait, that happened?!" On the other hand, although I don't want to zip through the reading list, I also don't want to be sitting here a year later thinking, "WTF- how did I only read two books from that list in a year?!"

I used to love leisurely reading, so here's to trying to get back on that horse. AND I finally get to make use of the Nook I received last September...

2011 reading list, originally compiled in 2010:

• Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
• Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
• Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
• A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
• Half Broke Horses: A True-life Novel by Jeannette Walls
• A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Night by Elie Wiesel

There are five more books that I've decided to not include in the 2011 list from the 2010 list, mostly because I think challenging myself to 12 books for the rest of the year will suffice for now.