30 Books Before 30

February 6, 2011 Update:
Finished the HP series about a month ago. Love them. Starting Love in the Time of Cholera … now.

January 13, 2011 Update:
Since Swiss Family Robinson, I’ve read War of the Worlds, Anne of Green Gables, Alice in Wonderland, Bridge to Terabithia, Harry Potter 1-5. In the midst of HP6. Loving it!

August 15, 2010 Update:
Starting Swiss Family Robinson tomorrow. Four books down, 26 to go. Average of 41 days per remaining book.

July 28, 2010 Update:
I am (almost) giving up. I’m breaking out the LOTR and Harry Potter books and eliminating six nine of the originals books on the list to keep it at 30 (and to give me a fighting chance of completing this task). Just finished LOTR trilogy. Here is my revised 30 Before 30 list:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien) Review
   
2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien) Review
3. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien) Review
   
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling) Review
   
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling) Review
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling) Review
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling) Review
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling) Review
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling) Review
10. Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows (J.K. Rowling) Review
11. Frankenstein (Mary Shelly)
12. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
13. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
14. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)
15. Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
16. Call of the Wild (Jack London)
17. Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss) – Review
    
18. Little Women (Luisa May Alcott)
19. Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
20. The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
21. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Max Brooks)
22. From Here to Eternity (James Jones)
23. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchel)
24. Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
25. Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut)
26. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia)
27. Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maude Montgomery)
28. Why is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask (Jancee Dunn)
29. War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells) – Review
    
30. Reader’s Choice: The Hour I First Believed (Wally Lamb)

Removed:

Ulysses (James Joyce)
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
The Boys of Summer (Roger Kahn)
Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
Suite Francais (Irene Nemirovsky)
A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)

P.S. I’m almost finished with the last of the three LOTR. Review to come.

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June 20, 2010 Update:
My reader’s choice book is going to be Wally Lamb’s The Hour I First Believed. I had a few people suggest this, and a few more suggest his other book, This I Know for Sure, but it was too darn long and I’m already pretty sure this 30 Before 30 list is going to be more like 30 Before 33. P.S. I’m only half-way through the second book of Lord of the Rings.

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June 6, 2010

Last week, I put a tab on this blog detailing an elaborate plan to read 50 books before I turned 30. I thought of the plan that night. I googled a “best of” list (this one). I read about two of the titles on the list. I said I would read the top 50 from that list before I turned 30. It meant I would have to finish a book every 23 days.

The next day, I read through the list carefully, decided I’d quit and deleted the list.

But, I’ve put some thought into my new elaborate plan and have a revised list. This list is a compilation of several formal lists, as well as a few books I’ve just been meaning to read. Plus a guilty pleasures book. So here’s the deal: I’ve chosen 29 books (looking for one more). My goal is to read them all before I’m 30. Some are classics, but there’s a good mix of science fiction and children’s books as well. I haven’t ready any of these books. It all breaks down to 38 days for each book.

I’m starting with the Lord of the Rings series because I just finished The Fellowship of the Ring. After that, I’ll use a random number generator to choose the next book. I’m also planning to write a review of each book. Below is my list (red = need to read; black = check!) in no particular order.

1. Lord of the Rings, series (J.R.R. Tolkien)
2. Frankenstein (Mary Shelly)
3. Ulysses (James Joyce)
4. War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)
5. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
6. Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
   
7. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
   
8. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)
   
9. Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
   
10. Harry Potter, series (J.K. Rowling)
11. Call of the Wild (Jack London)
12. Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss)
    
13. Little Women (Luisa May Alcott)
14. The Boys of Summer (Roger Kahn)
    
15. Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
    
16. The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
    
17. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Max Brooks)
    
18. From Here to Eternity (James Jones)
    
19. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchel)
    
20. Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
21. Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard)
    
22. Atonement (Ian McEwan)
    
23. Suite Francais (Irene Nemirovsky)
    
24. Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut)
    
25. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
26. A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
    
27. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia)
    
28. Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maude Montgomery)
    
29. Why is Mother Getting a Tattoo? And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask (Jancee Dunn)
    
30. Reader’s Choice: The Hour I First Believed (Wally Lamb)