Reading Lists for 2009

• 9 Books for 2009: one book from each of nine categories
• A to Z: 26 books, A to Z, from a number of options (e.g. author, title, country)
• Daniel Defoe: a mini-project
• Decades 09: a minimum of nine books from nine consecutive decades – for me, 1880s to 1960s

Ongoing Reading Projects

• 1001 Books: the full list from 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
• Australian Literature: an act of patriotism, and a New Year’s Resolution
• Genre Challenge: a personal project in which I will attempt to challenge myself as little as possible, by re-reading old favourites
• Popular Penguins: all ninety nine titles from the lovely vintage-inspired series :)
• Pre-Shakespearian Classics: pre-Shakespearian classics; Homer, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer. That sort of thing
• Read the Nobels: a selected list from the works of Nobel Prize in Literature laureates
• Summer Reading: a self-compiled list of books to read over my five month summer holiday

Miscellaneous Projects

• 18th – 19th Century Women Writers: books written by female authors between 1700 – 1899
• Centuries: four books from four centuries
• Chunkster: (450+ pages) – let’s face reality. I can’t do this by November 15, 2009.
• German Literature: exactly what the title suggests
• Read Your Name: books with first title letters that spell out my ‘name’, tuesday
• World Citizen: history, politics, culture, world issues, memoir

Reading the [Almost] Complete Works of:

• Virginia Woolf: an almost complete collection of Woolf. Includes essays and various autobiographical works, although I’m focusing mostly on the novels
• Michael Ondaatje: I fell in love with Ondaatje’s poetic writing in Anil’s Ghost, and want to explore every single one of his novels (as well as some of his poetry)
• Leo Tolstoy: the novels only
• The Victorians: Victorian women, to be more specific. So far: George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte.
• Haruki Murakami: I’ve never read any of his works, to be honest, but I’m intrigued by what I’ve heard
• Jane Austen: I have yet to read her unfinished novels – Lady Susan, etc – and I have yet to review the others on my blog
• William Shakespeare: regardless of the perpetual controversy surrounding his name, the Bard of Avon is still, without a doubt, considered one of – if not the – greatest writer in the English language. I think that’s reason enough for me to be reading his complete works.
• Kazuo Ishiguro: after reading his latest offering, Never Let Me Go, I was mesmerised by Ishiguro’s writing. It can’t hurt to add him to this ever-growing list, because he only has six novels to his name.