Reading Challenges 2017

It's been forever since I blogged so I'm starting fresh with a whole new blog dedicated to my favorite pastime: reading! Since I started at Barnes and Noble last February, I've tried to really step up my reading habit--the better read I am, the better I can help my customers. I managed to read forty-nine books in 2016 and believe I can totally beat that for 2017. To help me along the way, I'm joining up with a few online reading challenges (you can find an incredible master list of challenges here at GirlXOXO.com )

I'm including a couple twists to my own personal challenge of 50+ books:
1.) Read a book that begins with each letter of the alphabet
2.) Read a book by an author's name for each letter of the alphabet and
3.) Beat my Backlist. I have a ridiculous TBR stash and for the point of accountability, here it is:

1.      2666-Bolano

2.      Alice in Wonderland-Lewis

3.      Anne of Green Gables-Montgomery

4.      Austerlitz-Sebold

5.      Barkskins-Proulx

6.      The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath

7.      Beloved-Toni Morrison

8.      Bernaby Ridge-Dickens

9.      Black Prism-Weeks

10.  Bleak House-Dickens

11.  Blood of Flowers-Amirrezani

12.  Book of Laughter and Forgetting-Kundera

13.  Bridget Jones’ Diary-Fielding

14.  Catch 22-Heller

15.  Clash of Kings-Martin

16.  Cloud Atlas

17.  Corelli’s Mandolin-de Bernieres

18.  Count of Monte Christo-Dumas

19.  Crime and Punishment-Dostoyevsky

20.  Dance With Dragons-Martin

21.  Daylight War-Brett

22.  The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore

23.  David Copperfield-Dickens

24.  Desert Spear-Brett

25.  Divine Comedy-Aligheri

26.  Don Quioxte-Cervantes

27.  Dornby & Son-Dickens

28.  Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde-Stevenson

29.  Eat Pray Love-Gilbert

30.  Empire Falls-Russo

31.  End of Watch-King

32.  English Patient-Ondaatje

33.  Everything’s Eventual-King

34.  A Fine Balance-Mistry

35.  Feast for Crows-Martin

36.  Game of Thrones-Martin #1

37.  Gentleman in Moscow-Towles

38.  Germinal-Zola

39.  Giselle’s Bucket List-Watt

40.  Goldfinch

41.  Go Tell it on the Mountain-Baldwin

42.  Great Expectations-Dickens

43.  Hamlet-Shakespeare

44.  Hard Times-Dickens

45.  Harry Potter Deathly Hallows-Rowling

46.  Harry Potter Half Blood Prince-Rowling

47.  Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix-Rowling

48.  Heart of Darkness-Conrad

49.  Hero of Ages-Sanderson

50.  Hero of the Empire-Millard

51.  Homegoing-Gyasi

52.  Hunchback of Notre Dame-Hugo

53.  Invisible Man-Ellison

54.  Jude the Obscure-Hardy

55.  Knight of the Seven Kingdoms-Martin

56.  Lanark-Gray

57.  Lilac Girls

58.  Lily and the Octopus

59.  Little Dorit-Dickens

60.  Little Life-Yanagahari

61.  Little Prince-St Exupery

62.  Lord of the Flies-Golding

63.  Love in the Time of Cholera-Marquez

64.  A Man Called Ove-Backman

65.  March-Doctorow

66.  Martian-Weir

67.  Martin Chuzzlewit-Dickens

68.  Memoirs of a Geisha-Golden

69.  Mercy-Morrison

70.  Middlemarch-Eliot

71.  Mistborn-Sanderson

72.  Moon and Sixpence-Maugham

73.  My Antonia-Cather

74.  Mystery of Edwin Drood-Dickens

75.  Name of the Rose-Eco

76.  Native Son-Wright

77.  News of the World

78.  Nicholas Nickleby-Dickens

79.  Nine of Us

80.  Nix

81.  NOS4A2-Hill

82.  Old Man and the Sea-Hemingway

83.  Old Curiosity Shop-Dickens

84.  Oliver Twist-Dickens

85.  One Hundred Years of Solitude-Marquez

86.  Orphan Train-Kline

87.  Oryx and Crake-Atwood

88.  Our Mutual Friend-Dickens

89.  Pickwick Papers-Dickens

90.  Plot Against America-Roth

91.  Possession-Byatt

92.  Prayer for Owen Meany-Irving

93.  Ravensbruck-Helm

94.  Regeneration-Barker

95.  Remains of the Day-Ishiguiro

96.  Robinson Crusoe-DeFoe

97.  A Separate Peace-Knowles

98.  Shadow of the Wind-Zafon

99.  Skull Throne-Brett

100.                      Storm of Swords-Martin

101.                      A Stranger in a Strange Land-Heinlein

102.                      The Stranger-Camus

103.                      A Suitable Boy-Vikram

104.                      Tale of Two Cities-Dickens

105.                      Tenant of Wildfell Hall-Bronte

106.                      Three Muskateers-Dumas

107.                      Tom Jones-Fielding

108.                      A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-Smith

109.                      Unbearable Lightness of Being-Kundera

110.                      The Vagrants-Li

111.                      Versions of Us

112.                      War and Peace-Tolstoy

113.                      Warded Man-Brett #1

114.                      Watership Down-Adams

115.                      Well of Ascension-Sanderson

116.                      White Tiger-Adiga

117.                      Winter People

 Reading Key (Blue-paper, Green-Nook, Yellow highlight-ARC)

Okay, there are some in there that are re-reads--Harry Potter and the Game of Thrones series and a few old classics. But this is where I'm starting the new year, hence my intention to beat a good chunk of this list. There is zero doubt I'll be adding new books to this list as the year goes on, but I'm hoping to read more than I buy and I'd be thrilled to reduce this list count by a third at the end of the year (78 books?) That feels doable to me at least. So--off we go! I've chosen War and Peace to begin the year--start a challenge with a challenge, right?? Why not. Who's with me--comment below with your reading commitments for 2017!