Charmingly Modern

I’ve challenged myself to read 52 books in 2012. This might be a silly goal since I’m expecting a child… but oh well. Let’s just see how well I do!

This project started because I realized I had a lot of books on my shelves that I’ve yet to read. Twenty-seven of the 52 titles are from my own shelves, with the list below. I’ll cross them off as I finish. If I write a review, I’ll link the review. If a title has an asterisk next to it, it means I started reading it but gave up… and in those cases, I’ll start again at the beginning (which is a very good place to start!).

Here’s the list of 26 from my shelves:

1. Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig
2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Finished 2/23)
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft*
6. The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe
7. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson*
8. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood*
9. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
10. Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne (Finished 03/09)
11. The Inner Vision: Liberty and Literature by Edward McClean
12. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss* – Currently Reading!
13. Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates*
14. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley*
15. Modern Art in the USA: Issues and Controversies of the 20th Century by Patricia Hills*
16. Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley
17. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection by James West Davidson*
18. Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France by Evelyne Lever
19. Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady
20. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
21. Women and Writing by Virginia Woolf
22. Murder at the Brown Palace: A True Story of Seduction and Betrayal by Dick Kreck*
23. Lies my Teacher Told Me by James Loewen
24. Shakespeare by Michael Wood
25. Living by Fiction by Annie Dillard
26. The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel*

Here are 10 additional I’d like to read (from Amazon’s Top 100 of 2011)

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
3. The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
4. A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor
5. Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
6. The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje
7. Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
8. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
9. Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan
10. Sister by Rosamund Lupton

Other books toward the goal:

1. Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge (Finished 03/21)
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Finished 03/26)
3. Bringing up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman (Finished 04/05)
4. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
5. Mom, Incorporated: A Guide to Business + Baby by Aliza Sherman and Danielle Smith (Finished 06/14)
6. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond (Finished 05/10)
7. Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, the bloggess (Finished 06/11)
8. The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings (Finished by 06/28)
9. Mom, Inc: The Essential Guide to Running a Business Close to Home by Meg Mateo Ilasco
10. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
11. What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff (Finished 04/12)
12. Momsense: A Common-Sense Guide to Confident Mothering by Jean Blackmer (Finished 06/15)
13. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Finished 06/19)
14. The Swami’s Ring by Carolyn Keene (Finished 06/23)
15. The Honorable Imposter by Gilbert Morris (Finished 06/24)
16. The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings (Finished 06/28)
17. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Finished 07/01)
18. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (Finished 07/02)
19. All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Check out my monthly updates to keep track of my progress!

January & February Update

March & April Update

May & June Update

July & August Update