2012 book challenge

in 2011 i challenged myself to read 25 books.  it was a great success!  i read 38 books, exceeding my goal by a margin i honestly couldn't have imagined a year ago.  let's not forget that in 2010 i read 15 books.

an accounting of those 38 books reveals that:
26 were fiction and 12 were non-fiction.
18 were by women and 20 were by men.
i read two serieses of books (probably not the term you're supposed to use): the 3 hunger games books and the 5 game of thrones books.  i love a good series - if you like the first book you know that there are more to enjoy.

and i loved that i was refocusing on reading more.  life is/was good.

because i can't just appreciate a good thing, i'm taking the challenge a bit further this year.

in 2012 i am again challenging myself to read 25 books.  (this is the official goal.  i don't feel compelled to pressure myself to read more than that - if i do, i do, but 25 was a manageable goal during the busier months.  but of course i'd love to read 30 or more again this year if it's in the cards.  do you like what i just did?  said the goal was 25 when we all know it's really 38+?  ugh.  pull yourself together, miss claire.)  so: 2012 - 25 books.  but!  10 of those books need to be ones that have been on my bookshelf for a LONG time and i've never read.  actually, i won't force myself to read them if i hate them.  but i need to attempt to read them...and then i can donate them to goodwill if they aren't up to snuff.

i've picked the 10 books off my bookshelf that have been there for quite a while - 5 fiction, 5 non-fiction.  they are:
mountains beyond mountains, by tracy kidder
naked economics, by charles wheelan (i started this one, but never finished)
the nine: inside the secret world of the supreme court, by jeffrey toobin (ditto)
papillon, by henri charriere
when victims become killers, by mahmood mamdani
the palace thief, by ethan canin
the cider house rules, by john irving (ditto, and i've never seen the movie because i'm "waiting to read the book first."  how long can one use this excuse?)
the march, by e.l. doctorow
postcards, by e. annie proulx
vinegar hill, by a. manette ansay

blog readers, have you read any of these books?  please give me hope, as this is a daunting prospect.  these books have been sitting on my shelf for a reason - i don't WANT to read them.  but you know what?  i either need to read them or i need to get rid of them.  so 2012: here we come.

(note: yes, i am trying to go to grad school beginning on the fall of 2012.  yes, this might (read: will definitely) get in the way of my book challenge.  yes, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.)