Target Lists. What lists can you recommend for next year?

[NancyJ]

Last year I had a goal to read at least one book from each of 12 different target lists. Can you suggest lists I should consider for next year?

Many of my target lists were inspired directly by topics I found right here in Footnotes, and some were based on reading challenge prompts.

Here are my 12 lists. I read the most from NPR Concierge, and Abe's list of 100 Essential Female Authors - 16 each. I only read one each from Obama's reading Lists (with two more pending), and TED Talks Reading lists. The books are listed on my Member Challenge Tracking 2021 post (message 7) if you're interested in seeing them.

🎯2021 NANCY's TARGET LISTS- Read at least one book from each list. Overlaps are allowed. Some of the awards lists allow any year, short list or finalists, and international books.
Warwick Women in Translation nominees/winners ✅2 books
Women's Prize for Fiction ✅ 7
Obama's List(s) ✅ 1
TED reading list✅ 1
NPR lists - focus on eye opening, culture/identity, good writing ✅ 16
NY Time Notables ✅ 8
Booker short list or winners, plus International nominees ✅ 5
Pulitzer prize✅ 3
Nobel prize ✅ 3
Abe list of Essential Female Authors (best of all time) ✅ 14 authors + 1 in process. 16+1 books
https://www.abebooks.com/books/best-f...
USA Today's list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read✅ 3
Dublin Literary Awards, plus International nominees ✅ 3

I also read books from the Are you Well Read in World Literature list.
https://www.listchallenges.com/are-yo...
I would like to find something else on world literature.

For 2022, I plan to include:

NPR Books we Love, aka Book Concierge
https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view...

NPR 50 Favorite Sci-Fi-Fantasy books of the last decade
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/102715...

The Times 100 Best YA Books
https://time.com/collection/100-best-...

I'd like to try other awards next year, even if I have to combine them in some way. I should include a non-fiction variation too. I plan to drop TED, and keep Obama (any of his lists).

[Book Concierge]

I don't ever use lists.

[~*Kim*~]

Book Concierge wrote: "I don't ever use lists."

LOL, me either. In fact I hardly read what's popular at the moment or new releases. I used to read the newest Picoult book when it would come out, but I haven't even done that for the last few of her releases.

[Theresa]

Not a list consulter in general except out of curiosity. Far prefer spending my time grabbing a book from my TBR Towers or that reach out to me in the bookstores I regularly troll - well at leat prior to pandemic. Then sharing my thoughts on those books with all and sundry as soon as I can, often while still reading it. Only lists I make are related to Trim challenges.

I read at least 145 books a year from my massive TBR Towers, including one or two bucket chunkster reads.

[Robin P]

I just checked and I read 75 books that I owned at the beginning of the year, whether paper, ebook or audio but that is out of 217. And I hate to think how many new books I acquired, although I've read some of those already.

I look at lists for ideas of what to add to my Want to Read list but I only read from lists if a challenge requires it, or I decide to read the book for some other reason.

[NancyJ]

LOL that was helpful. I know some of you look at Awards lists all the time, which ones are most likely to influence your reading choices?

Some of my absolute happiest reading this year came from books I discovered on the Women's Prize list, 100 Essential Female Authors, and Warwick Women in Translation. I might never have read Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead if it wasn't on award lists. This year, I finally read and loved books by Virginia Wolf, Louise Erdrich, Ursula K le Guin, Ruth Ozeki, Maggie OFarrell, A.S. Byatt, and others.

[Peacejanz]

I agree - we need to promote women authors and black and hispanic and multi-race or gender authors. We have had white men (or women who used initials or men's names) in order to be published. Hooray for you, NancyJ, for reading some of these authors. I loved Drive Your Plow and love so many of the women you named. Expand your vision. I agree some lists help us. Happy holidays. peace, janz

[Booknblues]

I follow the awards and try to read some of those nominated.
We had great fun with the Edgars last year and I will do it again this year.
Besides the various book awards and prizes, I do follow the chosen reads for Literati, as they always seem to have some that I have on my TBR and have forgotten about.
I try to read from my TBR, and I count on PBT to bring some to the top, but I also enjoy reading recently published books.
Amy doing the trim every year helps to whittle theTBR as well.

[Joy D]

NancyJ wrote: "LOL that was helpful. I know some of you look at Awards lists all the time, which ones are most likely to influence your reading choices?

Some of my absolute happiest reading this year came from ..."

I have an ongoing project to read from the Boxall 1001 List of Books You "Must" Read in a Lifetime (the official title says "before you die" but that seems pretty morbid so I changed it, lol). Also, I am not planning to read all 1001 but I find older books of quality this way and I enjoy reading older books.

As for prizes, I generally read the Booker Longlist, The Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, the US National Book Award short list, and the Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction (and try to read the Non-Fiction winner, too) for the current year.

I do not make a habit of consulting lists such as those you posted, Nancy, but I am going to check them out and see if I might do so in the future.

[Booknblues]

Here is kind of a handy list of prizes and awards:

http://www.5minlib.com/2016/01/the-ul...

[NancyJ]

Joy D wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "LOL that was helpful. I know some of you look at Awards lists all the time, which ones are most likely to influence your reading choices?

Some of my absolute happiest reading this ..."

We're working on three of the same awards - Women's Prize, Pulitzer, Booker. I could add Pulitzer non-fiction winner too.

I also have Nobel prize, Dublin Literary prize, and Warwick Prize. Warwick women in translation is harder, but you might like it. About half awards, half others. There are a couple more on the aty 22 lists. I include the Booker and Dublin international lists too.

[NancyJ]

Booknblues wrote: "Here is kind of a handy list of prizes and awards:

http://www.5minlib.com/2016/01/the-ul..."

Thanks! This is handy site. I bookmarked it.