52 Books in 52 Weeks

Someone on The Well-Trained Mind message boards issued a challenge to homeschool parents to read 52 books in 2009. I decided to attempt it, although I am fairly certain that I will not be able to keep it up all year long. I figure if I am pushing myself to get close to that number, I will push myself to read all sorts of books that I would not have otherwise read even if I don't keep the pace of one full book each week.

As of tomorrow, five weeks of 2009 will be over. I have read my first six books, so I am at least starting strong and even ahead of schedule. Here is what I have read so far this year, not including the stacks and stacks of picture books I have read to Basia or the books I read aloud to Brishen or the books I read to preview what I will be assigning Brishen to read. These are the grown-up books I have read so far this year:

1. Still Life With Chickens
2. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
3. Sprouts: The Miracle Food
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns
5. The Nanny Diaries
6. Waiter Rant

Jon is thinking about joining me in the challenge, and Brishen overheard me talking about it last night. There's no keeping him away from such a challenge. These are the books he has read for pleasure so far this year.

1. Lightening Thief
2. Sea of Monsters
3. The Titan's Curse
4. Adventures of Ordinary Boy
5. Oops
6. Attack of the Growling Eyeballs