My personal goal is to read 10 books by authors I dread to read but know I should:

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
6. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
7. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
8. Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories, Vol I by Arthur Conan Doyle (Vol 2 will have to wait for another year)
9. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
10. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

These two are just because I need 12:
11. The Glass Castle A Memoir by Jeannette Walls*
12. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

*I really don't want to read this one but kind of feel like I should since I own the book. May change before January.

All the ACD? Couldn't just do Baskervilles, and call it a day?

I tried to think of an Italian government joke (Mussolini) -- there are so many -- but I'm a little tired. So maybe next time?

(My best friend lives near Rome, and the Italians used to rib my friend about the re-election of a certain former president. They quickly shut up after they re-elected Berlusconi for the third time.)

Keep East of Eden, it is such a GREAT book! I had to read Flaubert back in HS in France, and I re-read it 20 years later. I still have trouble with French 19th century writers...
Was very moved by The Glass Castle and bery angry at her parents too!

Don't dread East of Eden, it is very good. My favorite Steinbeck, I think.

Nathaniel wrote: "All the ACD? Couldn't just do Baskervilles, and call it a day?..."

LOL. That would be a reason to dread it!

It was very late and I was avoiding going to bed. I definitely clicked on the wrong book. Although, to hear some of my friends, yes, I should read all ACD.

Lynn wrote: "Don't dread East of Eden, it is very good. My favorite Steinbeck, I think."

That's what my friend told me. I think it's just I think his stories tend to be on the depressing side, and I'm not much for downers. But I just read Tortilla Flat and didn't mind it at all.

Hi Meghan. Great list. I may put in a couple of extra books. What happens if you hate a book and you just can't finish it? I'll have to ask Miss GP. I love Steinbeck. I haven't read "East of Eden," but "Grapes of Wrath," is one of my favorites. I also have "The Glass Castle," and "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," on my TBR list.

Marbear

I started Hearbreaking Work and I thought it would be funny and maybe I didn't read far enough, but I didn't find it funny at all. But I've noticed my reading tastes have changed a lot in the past 10 years so it's about time I give it another go.

I don't know where I got this phobia of reading Steinbeck. Probably after having to dissect Of Mice and Men and The Pearl in school so often. But I have yet to find anyone who says they don't like him (not including high school kids--ha ha).

After reading everyone else's lists, it reminded me that I have a Roth book sitting on my shelf for years. I've tried two others of his and can't get past chapter two. I vaguely remember the desire to visit the dentist as opposed to finishing the books. I'm hoping that this story arc is more inline with my preferences.

(But I've read a lot of posts from people who are Roth fans and people who are Mailer fans. It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of love between the two. And I love Mailer. So maybe that explains it.)

Hi Meghan - I love your list!

I just finished Madame Bovary over the summer with another online group and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, although the characters are not that likeable. Flaubert's writing is poetic and lyrical and there were many beautiful passages throughout the book. It is definitely written in a romantic vs. realism format. We had fun picking out motifs while we were reading the book -- horses, flowers, windows, liquids, religion and what any good French novel should have, food!

I have read East of Eden several times and while rating our top 20 novels for our Book Addict top 100 list it made my top five. Fantastic good vs. evil (Cain vs. Abel)story and Kate has always been my favorite villan.

Looks like THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA has made its way onto several people's TBR challenge for 2010.

Daphne wrote: "Hi Meghan - I love your list!

I just finished Madame Bovary over the summer with another online group and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, although the characters are not that likeabl..."

I enjoyed your take on Madame Bovary. I actually started it years ago. But at the time I was extremely judgmental about unlikeable characters. I'm hoping, now in my more mellowed age, I will be able to appreciate the story for what it is. Thanks!

David wrote: "Looks like THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA has made its way onto several people's TBR challenge for 2010."

I remember reading the dust jacket and thinking "this is so up my alley". And then I tried reading a couple others of his and was like "yeah, no." So I'm hoping I can get past his writing style and just enjoy the story.

I know just what you mean Meghan that's why its been on my TBR for so long too......Great Minds LOL!

What a great list!

I see that you have not fully chosen which Hemingway will make it to the final list. Of the three I have read "The Sun also Rises" is my favorite.

Can I toss a vote to "A Moveable Feast??"

Meghan wrote: "David wrote: "Looks like THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA has made its way onto several people's TBR challenge for 2010."

I remember reading the dust jacket and thinking "this is so up my alley". And th..."
A book group I was in for several years uniformly considered "The Human Stain" to be the worst book we read as a group. Granted, that's reflective of the tastes of our members....but it did serve to turn me off of Roth.

Your Hemingway and Steinbeck choices are excellent.

LemonLinda wrote: "I see that you have not fully chosen which Hemingway will make it to the final list. Of the three I have read "The Sun also Rises" is my favorite."

My best friend is a huge Hemingway fan and she recommends that one too. It's pretty much set, unless for some reason someone gives me high incentive to read a different one.

Nathaniel wrote: "Can I toss a vote to "A Moveable Feast??" "

Well, after reading the synopsis, this is definitely more to my taste. I think I may have to add it to the line up. Although, I'm having a hard time imagining reading TWO Hemingways. (But I really don't want to read the Jeannette Walls book, so it's a matter of being the lesser of two evils? heh)

Amalia wrote: "Meghan wrote: "David wrote: "Looks like THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA has made its way onto several people's TBR challenge for 2010."

I remember reading the dust jacket and thinking "this is so up my a..."

Oh good. I'm not the only one! I tried to read the Human Stain three times and it never turned out well. I had hoped it was due to my "young" age and that I just wasn't old enough to appreciate it.

Meghan, I thought Jeanette Wall's book was good. It gives insight to a world and growing up in that environment so many people have to endure. It was well written.

Jill wrote: "Meghan, I thought Jeanette Wall's book was good. It gives insight to a world and growing up in that environment so many people have to endure. It was well written."

I know. My face-to-face bookclub read it and everyone really enjoyed it. And I've been told by a couple other friends who like memoirs that hers is well-written. The problem is I don't like memoirs like these. I hated Angela's Ashes. It's not that I don't feel sorry for them, but I just don't enjoy reading about it. But I get a kick out of her column so I probaly won't mind her writing style.

Thanks for the review. It does help to hear one person say how good it is.

I was totally hooked by Angela's Ashes. I spent a lot of the time with that book wiping tears and thinking that no child should have to live through such despair, but it also was, I think, a realistic glimpse of life into that time and that place.

What I got out of Wall's book was not pity, but how strong and normal she grew up to be despite the madness.