I Am Going to Read 50 Books in 2011

I don't generally make New Years Resolutions. I try to stick to goals. And I do have a goal for 2011. I want to read 50 books. Just under 1 book each week. I think this is doable. I've got a decent list built up that I want to read, and I know I can find more as the year goes on.

I'm going to keep a list here of the books I plan to read or have read. I'll update fairly frequently as it regards to this goal. I'm of course going to keep more specific tracking over on GoodReads.

The first 20 books on my list are books that have won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for science fiction. I'm in a group that is going to go through these throughout the year (on a side note, if you're interested in joining us for this, come visit our group here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41533.Hugo_and_Nebula_Awards).

The rules? Nothing too concrete, but it has to be a mostly word book. In other words, I won't count the latest treasury of "Pearls Before Swine," or a compilation book from the "I Can Has Cheezburger" site. But I would count a blog-turned-book book like "Stuff White People Like" or "FU Penguin," since it's mostly text. The book doesn't have to be all high falutin' or anything. Young Adult does count, I plan to read the 2nd book in the "Lorien Legacies" series (i.e. the sequel to "I Am Number Four"). I also would like to re-read some books I read as a kid ("Where the Red Fern Grows," "A Wrinkle in Time") and that I never did read as a kid ("The Chronicles of Narnia" series). Other than that, I'll adjust the rules as necessary.

1/7/11
Currently the list stands at 36 books I plan to read, with 1 completed. So I've got my plan of attack, plus room for a little over a dozen books that I can randomly find throughout the year!

1/29/11
Six books done, 44 to go. I'm well on pace (although Maus and The Metamorphosis were pretty short, I do admit that).

3/19/11

Seventeen done in eleven weeks. Good pace, actually a lot better than I thought I was!

7/21/11
I haven't really been keeping track, since this is all but done! 40 books down!

On to the list!

1. The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 1/15/11, Finished 1/19/11
2. The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon, Started 1/19/11, Finished 1/26/11
3. Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold, Started 2/16/11, Finished 3/3/11
   
4. American Gods, Neil Gaiman, Started 3/9/11, Finished 3/13/11
   
5. Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman, Started 4/22/11, Finished 4/29/11
6. Doomsday Book, Connie Willis, Started 5/14/11, Finished 6/11/11
7. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, Started 6/15/11, Finished 6/18/11
   
8. Speaker For the Dead, Orson Scott Card, Started 6/18/11, Finished 6/24/11
   
9. Neuromancer, William Gibson, Started 6/28/11, Finished 7/5/11
   
10. Startide Rising, David Brin, Started 7/17/11
    
11. The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke
12. Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
13. Gateway, Frederick Pohl
14. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman, Started 4/2/11, Finished 4/6/11
15. The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, Ursula K. Le Guin
16. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
17. The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
18. Ringworld, Larry Niven
19. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
20. Dune, Frank Herbert
21. Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood, Started 1/3/11, Finished 1/6/11
22. In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks, Adam Carolla
23. Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
24. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
25. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, Started 1/16/11, Finished 1/28/11
26. The Meowmorphosis, Franz Kafka and Cook Cooleridge
27. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz
28. The Rookie, Scott Sigler, Started 6/25/11, Finished 6/27/11
    
29. Ancestor, Scott Sigler, Started 1/28/11, Finished 1/21/11
30. City of the Dead, Brian Keene
31. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold, Started 1/29/11, Finished 2/13/11
32. The Living Dead 2, J.L. Bourne (Various Authors)
33. The King of Plagues, Jonathan Maberry, Started 3/28/11, 4/2/11
    
34. Dust and Decay, Jonathan Maberry
35. The Night Eternal, Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro
36. The Power of Six, Pittacus Lore
37. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Graham Smith, Started 1/6/11, Finished 1/14/11
38. Maus, Art Spiegelman, Started 1/26/11, Finished 1/27/11
39. The Hangman's Daughter, Oliver Potzsch, Started 1/31/11, Finished 2/6/11
    
40. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay, Started 2/8/11, Finished 2/16/11
41. Zombielicious, Timothy McGivney, Started 2/21/11, Finished 2/23/11
42. You Might be a Zombie And Other Bad News, Cracked.Com, Started 2/28/11, Finished 3/5/11
    
43. The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood, Started 3/4/11, Finished 3/9/11
44. 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, The Oatmeal, Started 3/9/11, Finished 3/13/11
    
45. Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 3/13/11, Finished 3/16/11
46. Breaking News: An Autozombiography, N.J. Hallard, Started 3/14/11
47. Catalyst, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Started 3/18/11, Finished 3/28/11
48. The Fiche Room, Suzie Carr, Started 3/19/11, Finished 3/25/11
49. Dearly Devoted Dexter, Jeff Lindsay, Started 4/6/11, Finished 4/9/11
50. Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba, Started 3/14/11, Finished 4/12/11
51. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sedaris, Started 4/5/11, Finished 4/5/11
    
52. The Zombie Autopsies, Steven C. Schlozman, Started 4/11/11, Finished 4/13/11
53. Dead Spell, Belinda Frisch, Started 4/14/11, Finished 4/21/11
54. What You See In The Dark, Manuel Munoz, Started 5/1/11, Finished 5/14/11
55. Bossypants, Tina Fey, Started 5/6/11, Finished 5/8/11
56. Blood is Red, Scott Sigler, Started 5/8/11, Finished 5/8/11
57. Coraline, Neil Gaiman, Started 5/14/11, Finished 5/31/11
58. Pump Six, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 5/31/11, Finished 6/5/11
59. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro, Started 6/12/11, Finished 6/15/11
60. Sundiver, David Brin, Started 7/6/11, Finished 7/16/11