2009 Read Your Own Books Challenge

Lately I’ve noticed that several of my book blog friends will be participating in the 2009 “Read Your Own Books” Challenge. Sounds like the perfect challenge for me! I plan to read 12 books (at least) and I’ll list them here as I read them.

Challenge rules:

1. set a goal for how many of your OWN books you’d like to read in 2009

2. read from your own collection between January 1st and December 31st, 2009

If you want to sign up for the challenge click here.

1. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (reviewed here)

2. Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (reviewed here)

3. Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (reviewed here)

4. The Rock Orchard by Paula Wall (reviewed here)

5. Fireside by Susan Wiggs * * *

6. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg (reviewed here)

7. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (reviewed here)

8. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (reviewed here)

9. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich * * *

10. Catholics by Brian Moore (reviewed here)

11. Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr (reviewed here)

12. Too Good to be True by Kristan Higgins (reviewed here)

13. Feels Like Family by Sherryl Woods (reviewed here)

14. The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’Neal (reviewed here)

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

From the book flap: When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J.R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.

The Uncommon Reader has been on my TBR list for a while now. I decided to read it today, and what a good decision that was. It’s quite the witty ode to reading – what one reads, why one reads, and what others think of one who reads. I liked it very much and plan to give it as a Christmas gift to one of my reading relatives. I recommend it to all my book lover friends.