Do the 2009 TBR challenge

I’m giving up on this so I can start fresh in 2010. I think I picked too many very long and serious books. I didn’t want to make myself miserable by forcing myself to read them all in the next month or so.

Maybe I’ll include a few of the ones I missed in 2009, but not all of them.

1. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
2. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
3. Underworld by Don DeLillo
4. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
6. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
11. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
12. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

This was fantastic, as expected. Also as expected – hilarious, witty, bizarre, etc.

1. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
2. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
3. Underworld by Don DeLillo
4. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
6. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
11. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
12. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Hmm…this was okay. A bit overrated I think, and written in an experimental style that was poorly executed. Eh, whatever.

What to choose next?

1. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
2. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
3. Underworld by Don DeLillo
4. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
6. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
11. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
12. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Wow…this was a good one, another from the pile of “things I should’ve read in high school but somehow missed!” I’m glad I got to it eventually. Read this in two short night sittings, kinda wish it was longer because I was enjoying it so much.

1. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
2. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
3. Underworld by Don DeLillo
4. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
6. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
11. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
12. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

I figured I would get started on this goal first thing. This book ended up feeling oddly familiar. I think I may have read it before, long long ago, but I can’t actually recall doing so. It was alright, although I really like my books to engross me for more than a day or two. This went by so quickly, I didn’t have time to grow any sort of attachment to the story. Hmm.

1. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
2. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
3. Underworld by Don DeLillo
4. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
5. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
6. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
9. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
11. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
12. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

There are another couple of books on here that most people read in high school, which I seemed to have missed somehow. Some are on my mental “must read in order to be called well-read” list. All are those I’ve owned forever and never managed to get to.