To Be Read Challenge

Ok, I'm lame. I tried to join the TBR Ring (see: http://cafe-books.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-challenge-you.html) , but I can't figure out links so I'll just play along on my own.

I found this actually t an opportune moment because I had just been reminded of the BBC's "The Big Read" (which surveyed the British for their 100 "best-loved" books). [see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/ ] Turns out I've only read 25 of them. I might feel bad save for the fact that I have become comfortable with reading only what I want to not what other folks think I should. So, most of the list I am happy to consign to oblivion. The 25 I *did* read were:
The Lord of the Rings
Pride and Prejudice
misc Harry Potters
Winnie the Pooh
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Jane Eyre
War and Peace
Tess of the d'Ubervilles
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Great Gatsby
Animal Farm
A Christmas Carol
Black Beauty
Crime and Punishment
Mort
Good Omens
Guards! Guards!
Night Watch
The Colour of Magic

Looking at The Big Read lead me to remember the MLA's list of the best novels in the English language. [see: http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html ]
Of those I've managed to read 10. lol Apparently the MLA and I don't see eye to eye. The ones of the MLA's that I read were:
The Great Gaysby
Darkness at Noon
The Grapes of Wrath
1984
An American Tragedy
Animal Farm
Sister Carrie
All the King's Men
The Call of the Wild
The Magnificent Ambersons

Back to the point at hand, the idea of hte TBR Challenge is to name 12 books (paper or audio) that you "promise" to complete by 12/31/2007. Yeah, I should be able to do that. I might even have to think of a suitable bonus for finishing extras. ;-)

My 12-ish are (in the order of photo convenience):
1-5. Tony Hillerman. The Fallen Man; Dance Hall of the Dead; Wailing Wind; Skinwalkers; Skeleton Man


6. Simon Green. Agents of Light and Darkness


7. Roger Zelazny. This Immortal


8. Jonathan Trouern-Trend. Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq


9-11. James White. The Watch Below; Mike Resnick, ed. Space Cadets; Erodes and Ortiz, eds. American Indian Myths and Legends [as an aside if anyone knows of good audio books of Indian storytelling, I'd appreciate knowing about them-- all I can find are children's books]


12. Sean McMullen. Souls in the Great Machine


13. Barbara Hambly. Renfield


14. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Hotel Transylvania


15. Wil McCarthy. Collapsium


16. Patricia McKillip. The Book of Atrix Wolfe


17. Syne Mitchell. The Last Mortal Man


18. Jane Lindskold. Through a Wolf's Eyes; or Changer


19. Glen Cook. Old Tin Sorrows or Dread Brass Shadows or whichever Garrett, PI I'm up to now
20. Jack McDevitt. The Hercules Text
21. Jim Butcher. Storm Front
22. Simon Green. The Man withthe Golden Torque
23-4. Jasper Fforde. The Eyre Affair; The Well of Lost Plots
25-29. Rex Stout. Fer-de-Lance; The League of Frightened Men; The Rubber Band; The Red Box; Too Many Cooks
30-34+. Terry Pratchett. Wintersmith; Truckers; Diggers; Wings; The Carpet People; and whatever comes out this year.

And in case you think that might stress my library....

These are just the tree, mostly double-stacked shelves next to my bed. This doesn't count the boxes and boxes of books heading for storage. Sigh.