999 Challenge book list

I'm feeling extremely ambitious right now, so I went ahead and signed up for this challenge along with all my others. There will be significant overlap between them, but it still means committing to reading a lot more books in 1 year than I usually do. "I can do it" is now my mantra.

For this one, the idea is to read 9 books in each of 9 different self-made categories, for a total of 81 books. Whew! A little overlap between categories is allowed, but no more than 9 books total, so the minimum to read is still 72. And to make it as challenging as possible, the goal is to finish by 9/9/09.

There is a website for the challenge here, but the heart of the challenge is happening at LibraryThing here. (Side note: I made the button myself, but anyone is welcome to grab it).

Okay, so what am I going to tackle? I'm keeping my options open for specific books and will post them as I read them. The categories I've chosen are:

1. 1001 Books

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -- review

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie -- review

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre -- review

The Cubs and Other Stories by Mario Vargas Llosa -- review

Middlemarch by George Eliot -- review

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen -- review

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley -- review

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- review

2. Man Booker and National Book Award winners and finalists

Atonement by Ian McEwan -- review

The World According to Garp by John Irving -- review

A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul -- review

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth -- review

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor - review

3. Through the Decades (overlaps with Decades '09 challenge)

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne -- review

The Fall of the House of Usher and other stories by Edgar Allen Poe -- review

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle -- review

Howards End by E. M. Forster -- review

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -- review

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells -- review

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell -- review

Nana by Emile Zola -- review

4. Dewey's Books (overlaps with Dewey's Books challenge)

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) by Antoine de St.-Exupéry -- review

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman -- review

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett -- review

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer -- review

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris -- review

Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger E. Axtell -- review

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton -- review

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer -- review

5. C.S. Lewis nonfiction

The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis -- review

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis -- review

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis -- review

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis -- review

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

6. Biographies -- COMPLETE

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography by Marion Meade -- review

Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox, 1750-1832 by Stella Tillyard -- review

Josephine: A Life of the Empress by Carolly Erickson -- review

Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser -- review

Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman -- review

Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and Betrayal by Meihong Xu and Larry Engelmann -- review

Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford -- review

Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration by Antonia Fraser -- review

Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown by Maureen Waller -- review

7. Travel -- COMPLETE

Bella Tuscany: the Sweet Life in Italy by Frances Mayes -- review

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah MacDonald -- review

The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah -- review

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson -- review

Everyday Life in Imperial Japan by Charles J. Dunn -- review

Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey by Alison Wearing -- review

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert -- review

Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle -- review

A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat by Jeremy Seal -- review

8. Catholicism -- COMPLETE

Catholicism for Dummies by Rev. John Trigilio Jr. and Rev. Kenneth Brighenti -- review

The Rosary: A Journey to the Beloved by Gary Jansen -- review

On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard -- review

The Catholic Woman: Difficult Choices in a Modern World by Jeanne Pieper -- review

The Truth of Catholicism: Inside the Essential Teachings and Controversies of the Church Today by George Weigel -- review

Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination by Pope John Paul II -- review

Catholicism Today: A Survey of Catholic Belief and Practice by Matthew Kohmescher -- review

What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life by Thomas Groome -- review

No Greater Love by Mother Theresa -- review

9. Dewey Decimal (overlaps with Dewey Decimal challenge) -- COMPLETE

The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them by Roxanne Coady and Joy Johannessen -- review

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell -- review

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester -- review

Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country by Joe Queenan -- review

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer -- review

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein -- review

Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi -- review

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier -- review

Outline of English Architecture by A. H. Gardner -- review