Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012

I have decided to take part in the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012. I am shooting for Mt Vancouver (25 books) with the extra personal hurdle that the books have to have been added to my TBR before 2011.  I'll keep my running list here throughout the year.

1. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3. Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell
4. City of the Century by Donald L. Miller
5. The Radical & the Republican by James Oakes
6. Best American Short Stories 1998 ed by Garrison Keillor
7. After Race: Racism after Multiculturalism by Antonia Darder & Rodolfo D. Torres
8. The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike
9. Nothing But You: Love Stories from the New Yorker  published by The New Yorker
10. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
11. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
12. The Department of Lost & Found by Allison Winn Scotch
13. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
14. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
15. Dune by Frank Herbert
16. Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado & Jean Stefacnic
17. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
18. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
19. Chain of Command by Seymour Hersch
20. Who Will Write Our History? by Samuel D. Kassow
21. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
22. The Angel's Game by Carols Ruiz Zafon
23. Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
24. Who's Got Your Back by Keith Ferrazzi 
25. Infidel by Ayaan Kirsi Ali

2012 Ebook Challenge Sign-up

Thanks to Adam at Roof Beam Reader I have decided to participate in the 2012 Ebook Challenge, hosted by Sarah at Workaday Reads. This post suffices as the direct URL to link to and I'll update my list as soon the fall quarter projects are complete.  I'll add my monthly wrap-up links to this post as we move forward. I'm aiming for DVD status (25 ebooks).

Care to join me?

Shelf Awareness for Readers

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Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

I am a bit behind on updating my latest reads toward my two book challenges: Where Are You Reading? and Support Your Local Library.  Whew -- just added six more books:

HBR on Return, Reenergize & Reinvent

I'm writing this blog post in January, to post in March, just as my students leave for Spring Break.  Why? Because about that time we'll be closing in on then of Q1 for 2011, so I'll need reevaluate my progress on my 2011 goals and also determine if how to keep myself going until the end of the semester (for my students) and through the next quarter of my own classes.  So thanks Harvard Business Review blogs, for giving me inspiration throughout the year, even when I actually plan two months in advance to tap into it :-)

Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

I finished Kate Morton's The Distant Hours, a novel about the ties that bind us, the perceptions we carry into the world, and what we will do to hide from our worst selves. Another book that counts toward the Support Your Local Library Challenge, but only as a bonus for the Where Are You Reading Challenge, as it set in Kent, England.

Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

I picked up Craig Robinson's A Game of Character as a lighter, uplifting read. I like these kinds of lighter reads for my ebook picks as it is easier to pick up with interruptions, are wont to happen during my daily commute. I used the Chicago Public Library's ebook system to download it onto my iPad, which has it count for the Support Your Local Library Challenge.  As the parts I enjoyed the best (though were largely glossed over), were his Princeton years, I also added this to cover New Jersey for the Where Are You Reading Challenge.

Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

Goal #3 of Reading More Broadly --  I've finished Wes Moore's The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. This one actually counts toward my goal in the Where Are You Reading Challenge? (as their stories largely intersect in Maryland, that is where I'll pin this one) for my Where Are You Reading Challenge? plus my Support Your Public Library Challenge.The writing was a bit simplistic, and some of the story rushed (likely due to not being able to fully develop or mine all the information), but I enjoyed it as a quick read that underscores the uphill battle, and various broken systems, that exist in climbing out of poverty.

Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

Goal #3 of Reading More Broadly --  I've finished Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me. It only counts as a bonus  (as it is largely set in England & Scotland -- I'll add this pin to Scotland) for my Where Are You Reading Challenge? but it still counts fully toward the Support Your Public Library Challenge. If you want to contemplate solitude, and the ways we respond when we are lonely, disenchanted, or adrift, you'll enjoy this book. My flavor of Catholicism is different, so some of those pieces dragged for me.

Goal #3: Reading More Broadly

Goal #3 of Reading More Broadly -- yesterday I finished Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It only counts as a bonus for my Where Are You Reading Challenge? but it still counts fully toward the Support Your Public Library Challenge. It was an interesting read, and I've placed The Girl Who Played with Fire on hold as an eBook through Chicago Public Library.

Goal #3: Where Are You Reading? Update

As part of Goal #3: Reading More Broadly, subcategory Where Are You Reading? Challenge, I completed Fannie Flagg's I Still Dream About You, set in Birmingham, Alabama. Makes me ready to go visit my family all over again! Updated reading map here.

Goal #3: Support Your Local Library Challenge Update

I just finished Fannie Flagg's I Still Dream About You, which I checked out from Chicago Public Library, in support of Goal #3: Reading More Broadly, subcategory: Support Your Local Library Challenge.  This is only my second book this year, which means when I'm not taking classes, I'll definitely be working on getting caught up!

Goal #1: Already Abandoned

My sanity and sleep won out and I'm down to taking only one class this term, which means that I'll stick to this plan, and just be okay with it being June or December 2012 before I'm done.  That's just the way it is.

Book Giveaway: Dirty Secret

Check out this very cool Book Giveaway from The Girl from the Ghetto of Jessie Sholl's Dirty Secret.  I can't wait to read this one myself!  Especially if I can do my small part to help demystify and destigmatize mental illness.

Goal #3: Support Your Local Library Challenge Update

Earlier today, I updated my Goal #3: Support Your Local Library Challenge with Tami Hoag's Deeper than the Dead, which I read via an ebook on my iPad.

Goal #3: Where Are You Reading Challenge Update

Earlier today I added Tami Hoag's Deeper than the Dead for my California entry on Goal #3: Where Are You Reading Challenge.

Goal #1: Complete my Graduate Degree

In Fall 2009, I began the Master of Science in Public Service Management degree at DePaul University School of Public Service.  Credit-wise, I'm just less than half finished.  But if I sacrifice some sleep, I might be able to finish it in 2011.  So here's what's up for Winter Quarter 2011:

Goal #3: Support Your Local Library Challenge

So Goal #3 for 2011 is to READ MORE BROADLY. One of the Book Challenges I've signed up for is the Support Your Libraries Challenge (Mega Size: 51+) to help me with that goal while also working on Goal #4: Save More Money. Here's the running list (started on January 6, 2011, and with the updated dates to follow each subsequent title).

Goal #3: Where Are You Reading Challenge

In order to support Goal #3 of Reading More Broadly, I have signed up for the Where Are You Reading Challenge. This also fits with the Support Your Local Library Challenge very well and forces me into a bit of creativity -- I'm pretty excited about finding new blogs written by folks who love to read about their home town/state/region, and those librarians that also promote local reading. This will be a running list as I progress through the year and this is the map.
View Alisa's Where Are You Reading Challenge Map in a larger map I'll update the list as I go with all the places I go in my mind with the appropriate date.

2011 Goals

In the adventures of my life, I have four major goals for 2011:

Goal #4: Save More Money

Goal #4 for 2011 is to Save More Money.  I'm trying to stick to simple ways to do this as I don't have time to engage in an elaborate system.  Step One is to Set Clear Financial Goals.  Here's what I've got: