Beginning the 2011 TBR Pile Challenge

So in the spirit of adding a little more structure to my life--which I hate and need in almost equal measure--I have decided to sign up for this reading challenge.  The idea is to give myself an incentive to whittle down my to-be-read pile.  It's not that the books on my list don't sound good to me; I bought them for goodness sake, and I'm pretty well past the need to read for show.  No, sadly, these book titles just slipped to the bottom of my pile because I am a book buying magpie, continually distracted by newer, shinier books I hear about.  And since I am always attracted to lists of recommended books--well, you get the idea.

It took some time to assemble my list, but it was enjoyable.  Some of these books I have lying around really sound good!  Jeez.  I also tried to make sure to include some of those which have lingered the longest.  Here goes:

1. The Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes
2. Troubles, by J.G. Farrell
3. The Color of Water, by James McBride
4. Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson
5. Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew Crawford
6. Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson
7. Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury
8. Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
9. Over the Edge of the World, by Laurence Bergreen
10. Lonely Planets, by David Grinspoon
11. Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut
12. Annuls of the Former World, by John McPhee

My alternates are:

1. Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens, and
2. Enduring Lives, by Carol Lee Flinders