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I'm breaking this down into smaller categories, just to keep it interesting and challenging throughout the year.

10 books from -

1. Things Fall Apart
2. Memoirs of Hadrian
3. Fairy Tales Of Hans Christian Andersen
4. A Doll's House
5. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

20 books that have been sitting around in my room collecting dust for months -

1. The Custodian of Paradise
2. Jamaica Inn
3. The Dead Secret
4. The Trumpet-Major
5. The Alienist
6. The Girl in Blue
7. Micah Clarke: A Tale of the Monmouth Rebellion
8. The Jungle Book
9. The House of the Dead
10. Time and Again

10 books in foreign languages -

French:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Spanish:
1.
2.
3.

Russian:
1.
2.

Latin
1.

50 books from my mile-long to-read list that don't fit into any of these other categories -

1. The Island of Dr. Moreau
2. Rebecca
3. Ithaca
4. The Book Thief
5. The Hunger Games
6. The Lost King of France: How DNA Solved the Mystery of the Murdered Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
7. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
8. The Zookeeper's Wife
9. 100 More Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces
10. The Eyre Affair
11. Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages
12. The Help
13. Far from the Madding Crowd
14. Catching Fire
15. Mockingjay
16. Thunderstruck
17. The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line
18. The Moon in Close-Up: A Next Generation Astronomer's Guide
19. Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
20. Journey to the Center of the Earth
21. Children of Dune
22. My Cousin Rachel
23. Mary Poppins
24. The Art of Fiction
25. Vanity Fair
26. The Warden
27. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
28. Typhoon and Other Stories
29. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
30. We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever
31. The Invisible Man
32. The Lovely Bones
33. We
34. The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within
35. A Passage to India
36. A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems
37. Lost Horizon
38. The Wombles Go Round the World

Why does it never sound like enough??

90 books! Great :)
Best of luck Faye.

Thanks!

What do you think your foreign-language picks will be, Faye? Any idea, or will you pick on the spot?

90 books is big! I can't wait to see what some of your picks are!

Ola wrote: "What do you think your foreign-language picks will be, Faye? Any idea, or will you pick on the spot?"

I have a Spanish dual-language book of short stories that I haven't read yet, so that will definitely be one of them, and there's a book of Russian fairy tales that I'd love to read, which would be my first time reading a book in Russian. Beyond that, I have no idea! I'm not at a very high reading level in any of these languages, so it probably won't be anything too difficult at first, but I'd love to read some Dumas or Hugo in the original French by the end of the year.

Holly wrote: "90 books is big! I can't wait to see what some of your picks are!"

And yet it still won't feel like I'm reading fast enough! *headdesk*

Good luck Faye! ^_^

Love the books in foreign languages challenge. At one point I had some facility with French, German, and Russian, but would probably have to resort to children's board books now. *lol* Rock those challenges, Faye. You can do it!

Thanks, LuAnn! Probably a few of them will be children's books for me, LOL. I'm not at a very high reading level just yet, especially with Russian. Sadly, I don't think they do children's books in Latin, though. I'll have to dive in at the deep end with that one!

Good luck Faye! 90 books is a huge number, I bow down to you. Any ideas yet on which books you'll be picking from the Top 100 books in world literature yet? I've never seen that list before so I'm going to take a browse for my own lists as well.

Kassandra wrote: "Good luck Faye! 90 books is a huge number, I bow down to you. Any ideas yet on which books you'll be picking from the Top 100 books in world literature yet? I've never seen that list before so I'm ..."

Thanks, Kassandra!

I'll definitely be reading Berlin Alexanderplatz, Memoirs of Hadrian, and Things Fall Apart, because I already have those here. I hope to read Ulysses, Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Kafka, Henrik Ibsen, Hans Christian Anderson, Hunger, In Search of Lost Time, and the Samuel Beckett series that's on the list. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. :)

so what are you going to read first faye?

90 books sounds good, Faye. I like your categories, and I can't wait to see what books you're going to fit in.

Good luck!

Thanks, Bouchra!

Amber, I'm reading The Island of Dr. Moreau first, which counts towards the 30 books from my to-read list.

Awesome Faye! Let me know how it is. ^_^

My reads so far this year -

The Island of Dr. Moreau - Jan. 5
Rebecca - Jan. 12

I 5-starred them both, though I wouldn't say that they will end up on my "favourite books" list. I found them well-written, enjoyable, and even though they were a bit predictable to my modern mind, they still kept me guessing at times and held my interest. They both must have been quite shocking back in their day!

Ah, Rebecca is such a beautiful novel.

I've been meaning to read more HG Wells. What did you think of The Island of Dr. Moreau?

Holly wrote: "Ah, Rebecca is such a beautiful novel.

I've been meaning to read more HG Wells. What did you think of The Island of Dr. Moreau?"

It was quite disturbing, actually, haha! But in kind of a reserved way, like a Hitchcock movie - what you don't see creeps the heck out of you. He was certainly a skillful writer!

I must admit, I'm highly jealous of your '10 books in foreign languages'. I'd love to learn a language, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I hated the idea of studying at school, so I never have done!

I might pick it up while I'm at Uni.

Holly wrote: "I must admit, I'm highly jealous of your '10 books in foreign languages'. I'd love to learn a language, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I hated the idea of studying at school, so I never have..."

I might be aiming too high with that one! I love studying languages, though. LOVE. I always wanted to be a translator, but aside from taking some French in school as a kid, I've never had the opportunity to take any language classes. It's a bit slow-going trying to learn them on my own, but I'm getting there. :)

This is a children's story in Latin, Faye Miffa Ad Mare

Good luck with the Challenge!

Holly wrote: "I must admit, I'm highly jealous of your '10 books in foreign languages'. I'd love to learn a language, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I hated the idea of studying at school, so I never have..."

Holly, have you tried ? That's what I'm using to learn German. The way it's set up is almost like a smartphone game, so it doesn't feel like studying. :)

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely check it out!1

Margriet wrote: "This is a children's story in Latin, Faye Miffa Ad Mare

Good luck with the Challenge!"

Miffy in Latin?? That's awesome! Thanks, Margriet!

Narin wrote: "Aitziber wrote: "Holly wrote: "I must admit, I'm highly jealous of your '10 books in foreign languages'. I'd love to learn a language, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I hated the idea of stud..."

Narin, my first language is Spanish! My username there is 'moodswinger', feel free to add me there if you have any questions or need help. :D

And so I don't hijack Faye's thread with Duolingo love -- Faye, are you thinking of any specific book to read in Spanish? :)

Aitziber wrote: "And so I don't hijack Faye's thread with Duolingo love -- Faye, are you thinking of any specific book to read in Spanish? :)"

By all means, share the language love! :)

I have a book of short stories in Spanish that I definitely plan to read. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. If anybody has suggestions, I'm open.

Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, which counts towards my goal of 30 books from the Top 100 Books in World Literature list.

I didn't enjoy it at all, unfortunately. It follows a rather unlikeable character, and spends more time describing Nigerian culture and superstitions than it spends on building a decent plot. It felt like the author was trying to emulate the ancient epics like Gilgamesh, which can be forgiven their scattered plots and lack of character building because of when they were written. I couldn't overlook the faults in that approach coming from a modern pen.

Wow, I haven't updated here in ages! I've read 8 books this month and only posted 3, so here are the last 5...

4. Ithaca
5. The Book Thief
6. The Hunger Games
7. The Lost King of France: How DNA Solved the Mystery of the Murdered Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
8. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

I've enjoyed all of them, but my favourite was definitely The Hunger Games.

Faye - I'm so excited that you liked the Hunger Games! Are you going to read the rest of the trilogy?

Good deal. I am planning to read Hunger Games in the next 2 weeks.

Good luck with the rest of your challenge.

Kassandra wrote: "Faye - I'm so excited that you liked the Hunger Games! Are you going to read the rest of the trilogy?"

Definitely! I plan on buying the boxset just as soon as I've read some of the books I already own, haha!

Rob wrote: "Good deal. I am planning to read Hunger Games in the next 2 weeks.

Good luck with the rest of your challenge."

Thanks, Rob!

9. The Zookeeper's Wife
10. 100 More Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces
11. The Eyre Affair
12. Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages

Mango Bookworm wrote: "I am hoping to attempt German poetry as part of my Goodread's reading challenge."

Nice! I have Faust in German, but I haven't started studying that language yet.

If no children's books in Latin, then, perhaps, speeches. Just a thought. :)

Renee wrote: "If no children's books in Latin, then, perhaps, speeches. Just a thought. :)"

Good idea, thanks. :)

13. The Help

Absolutely fantastic. :)

Lorah wrote: "I can't wait to read The Help, everyone says it's great. I haven't seen the film yet either."

The film changed a few things that seemed pretty important in the book, and of course it left a lot of things out, so while the film is great and I really loved it, I definitely recommend reading the book.

14. The Custodian of Paradise

I wrote a review for this one, which is here.

15. Jamaica Inn

It was good, but I found the ending disappointing. I think it was supposed to be a happy ending, but I didn't see it that way.

That's sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read! How does it compare to other Du Mauriers?

Same gorgeous writing and haunting atmosphere. Really good characterization and plot. I wasn't quite as blown away by it as I was by Rebecca, but it's still an excellent book. :)

16. The Dead Secret

Meh.

17. The Trumpet-Major

Ahh, Thomas Hardy, how I love thee and thy sadly realistic endings...

I keep forgetting to update this thread!

18. Far from the Madding Crowd
19. Catching Fire
20. Mockingjay
21. Thunderstruck
22. The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line
23. The Moon in Close-Up: A Next Generation Astronomer's Guide

24 The Alienist
25. The Girl in Blue
26. Micah Clarke: A Tale of the Monmouth Rebellion

27. Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
28. The Jungle Book
29. Memoirs of Hadrian

Finally, I crossed off another one from the Top 100 Works in World Literature list!

Great going! That's a fun list of books, too. And you haven't even begun the month of doing nothing but reading.

Renee wrote: "Great going! That's a fun list of books, too. And you haven't even begun the month of doing nothing but reading."

It is going to be GLORIOUS. :)