The 1% Well-Read Challenge

I am a voracious reader and love keeping track of the things I read (hmm -- obvious purpose for this blog, right?). The 1% Well-Read Challenge is going on again, and it encourages reading. Duh. The idea is to read 10 books in 10 months from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall. There are 2 editions, each slightly different, and I am going with the 2006 edition. The 2008 edition is way too heavy on modern fiction for me -- there are too many classics I haven't read yet! You can find a link to the 2006 list here.

I have finished 9 books off the list already this year and am almost finished with a 10th. I'll get through a few more in the second half of the year. I am quite excited with my progress. I don't intend to read all 1001; about 25% really interest me. Here's what I have read from the list so far this year:

1. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
2. Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)
3. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
4. American Pastoral (Philip Roth) -- this one overlaps with my Pulitzer goal
5. The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas)
6. The Jungle (Upton Sinclair)
7. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
8. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
9. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)