Checking In

A few weeks ago Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea commented that there were only 92 days left in 2011. This caused me to pause and think a bit. I have a few challenges I signed up for in 2011, none of which I have completed. The rate things are going, they simply won't be completed. Back in January I published this list of books I have sitting on my shelves that I really would like to move through. And I have read some. But, I have read books from my shelves that aren't on this list. And I continue to read library books ahead of my own purchases. Part of me is irritated with myself, and part is happy that at least I have a list and am making progress- even though it is not great- and thatsome of those books that otherwise might get lost in the piles again have been read.
Obviously I have some work to do. And many of these titles I would enjoy if I took the time to sit down and read them. So far I have read 12 of the 42 titles. While I know I won't get through all the titles, I can make a pretty good dent in the rest and have a few that I have already started.

Adult Titles:
1. Clara's War by Clara Kramer
2. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
3. Shelf Awareness by Lizzie Skurnick
4. The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center
5. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
6. Mockingbird by Charles Shields
7. Sister of My Heart by Chita Banerjee Divakaruni
8. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
9. Safe From the Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough
10. Roses by Leila Meacham
11. The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
12. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
13. Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch
14. Four Spirits by Sena Jeter Naslund
15. Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
16. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
17. Self Storage by Gayle Brandeis
18. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
19. Ask for a Convertible by Danit Brown
20. Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith
21. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
22. Dirty Secret by Jessie Sholl

Middle Grade and YA Titles:

1. Tell Me Who by Jessica Wollman
2. Dangerously Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson
4. The Alchemyst by Nicholas Flamel
5. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
6. Percy Jackson the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
7. Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner
8. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
9. Countdown by Deborah Wiles
10. Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
11. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
12. Eli the Good by Silas House
13. Assignment Rescue: an Autobiography of Varian Fry by Varian Fry
14. Good bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
15. The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White
16. Envy by Anna Godberson
17. Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
18. White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages
19. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia
20. Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney