Now you know that it’s very difficult for me to avoid challenges, especially if it lets me wittle down the TBR pile! And I have a couple challenges ending in June, so I should be able to take on another one…oh, why am I even pretending that my challenge addiction is rational? Hehe.

Anyway, the 1% Well Read Challenge (and you gotta love that title) is being hosted by Michelle. The idea is to pick ten books from the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die list and read them over the next ten months (so the challenge ends Feb 28, 2009). While I have no burning desire to read the entire list, I can never resist a spreadsheet, and I happen to have several books from there waiting on my shelves! So, here are my ten picks…
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (I’m about half-way through it now, and expect to finish it this month, so it should count.)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (I mooched this ages ago thanks to Imani, so it’s about time I read it)
To the North by Elizabeth Bowen (I mooched this after loving The Last September, and it’s been patiently waiting ever since.)
Howard’s End by E.M. Forster (I found an omnibus of this, Maurice, and A Room With a View in a used bookstore: so far, I’ve only read A Room.)
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates (I just scored this from bookmooch-I’ve never read any Oates, because I really wanted to start with this one all about Marilyn Monroe, and my library didn’t have it.)
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (I mooched this ages ago as well, based on Danielle’s enjoyment of another book by her, Fingersmith.)
The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie (I love Rushdie, and I’m working my way through all of his books: this one I mooched because it’s up next!)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (This isn’t a definite, since my library’s online catalog is down, but I’m assuming they’ll have a copy. If not, I’m going to reread Sense and Sensibility.)
Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (I recently listened to Carry On, Jeeves and loved it, so I’m hoping my library will have this one in book form. If not, I’ll reread To Kill a Mockingbird.)
The Sea, the Sea, The Black Prince, The Nice and the Good, A Severed Head, The Bell, or Under the Net by Irish Murdoch (Once again, this depends on the library’s willingness to play along…if not, I’ll reread The Unbearable Lightness of Being.)

Now, I know that rereads seem weird alternatives in a challenge focused on finishing 1% of the list, so I’d like to point out that I’m reading six new-to-me books from the list for other challenges: Evelina by Frances Burney, Oroonoko by Aphra Behn, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. And in case anyone else uses the spreadsheet and is curious, I’ve already read 124 books, or 12.39%. I’m not really concerned about reading them all, though, since it’s really heavy on contemporary fiction.