The Goodreads 2011 Challenge

I'm a big fan of the website Goodreads- it's kind of like Facebook for books. You can keep a list of books you're reading, what you are going to read and what you've read. You can also review the books you've read. One reason I liken it to Facebook is that you can see what your friends are reading, how they rated a book, what they are going to read, etc. It's pretty nerdy, but also really fun if you're into books.

One thing that I really use it for is to keep track of the books that I've read. I know that sounds random- how can I not remember?- but for some reason, I sometimes forget if I've read a certain book by an author I read a lot or all those chick-lit books that have a similar cover and similar story; it's nice to know what I should pick up at the airport and what I have already read. I also like having a good place to keep a list of what I'd like to read next. I am always adding books to this list from book recommendations in the newspaper, magazines, online, from friends...

I heard (through a friend) about the 2011 Goodreads Challenge where you challenge yourself to read a certain number of books this year. Before I committed to now many books I'd like to read in 2011, I thought I'd figure out how many I read in 2010. Good thing I can see via Goodreads when I completed each book- grand total:  35 books!!

So, for the 2011 Challenge, my goal is 38 books. It's a weird number, I know, but somehow it made sense to me. I'm in the middle of three books right now, so I think I'm off to a good start. However, I'd like to try to include more memoirs, more non-fiction books and a couple of classics. [Anna Karenina for example has always been on my list to read; I think this is the year].

In the meantime, I figured out that I can now slip one more list into my posts-of-lists this week: here are most of the books I read in 2010. If you want thoughts on any of them, leave a note in the comments, I have many I would recommend and others I would not.

Books of 2010
The Lovely Bones
Devil in the Junior League
1st to Die
2nd Chance
3rd Degree (all James Patterson Women's Murder Club books)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
Olive Kitteridge
God of Small Things
Something Borrowed
Something Blue
Perfect on Paper
The Help
Elegance of the Hedgehog
Little Bee
Bel Canto
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Lost Symbol
One Day
Fly Away Home
Falling Out of Fashion
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Barefoot
Tender at the Bone
Heart of the Matter
Love the One You're With
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel
A Gate at the Stairs
Nanny Returns
The Carrie Diaries
Prospect Park West
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society