Although I have very little interest in the man himself, I think the idea of a yearly personal challenge is compelling. It's less flimsy than a New Year's resolution but more flexible than a vow. I have a new friend whose boys go Beacon Hill that inspires me so much in her personal challenges. (Among them making her own movie, competing in a figure competition, and winning statewide TaeKwonDo tournaments.)
Just this week I made my own personal challenge. It's been a while since my half-marathon challenge and I'm really excited! I want to read the top 50 books I've never made time to read but have always wanted to. My children are all out of the baby stage and I'm finding myself strangely with some time on my hands during the morning hours! So instead of catching up on whatever brain candy reality show is on hulu from the night before, I'm going to use the time to become what my husband needs me to be: thoughtful, well-read, and discerning.
Here's my list:
1. Swiss Family Robinson
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Susan Wise Bauer's History of the Ancient World
4. Susan Wise Bauer's History of the Medieval World
5. Augustine's Confessions
6. Robinson Crusoe
7. Capon's The Supper of the Lamb
8. Gulliver's Travels
9. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
10. The Canterbury Tales
11. Ann of Green Gables
12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
13. Mary Poppins
14. Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
15. Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship
16. Here I Stand (bio of Matin Luther)
17. Uncle Tom's Cabin
18. Lewis' Surprised by Joy
19. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
20. Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno
21. Dante's Divine Comedy: Purgatory
22. Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradise
23. Leithart's Ascent to Love
24. Paradise Lost
25. The Pilgrim's Progress (2nd time)
26. The Jungle Book
27. Around the World in 80 Days
28. ten Boom's The Hiding Place
29. Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
30. Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces
31. The Lord of the Flies
32. David Copperfield
33. Mere Christianity
34. The Brothers Karamazov
35. The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle
36. The Call of the Wild
37. Steinbeck's East of Eden
38. Shaeffer's The God Who is There
39. O'Conner's Wise Blood
40. Don Quixote
41. Calvin's Institutes (portions)
42. Jordan's Through New Eyes
43. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
44. MacBeth
45. Hamlet
46. Leithart's Greatest Heaven of Invention
47. Chesterton's Orthodoxy
48. The Odyssey (2nd time)
49. Jane Eyre
50. Moby Dick
There is so much great stuff out there it was hard to narrow it down. If I'm successful, I already have a list ready for next year.
