The Reading Challenge Group discussion

I'm sure we all have really long to-read lists, I sure know it's the bane of my life.

But there are some you really really want to read. The ones that are accomplishments or friends favourites, or something that's been sitting on your shelf for years.

What are the 5 books you really really want to read this year?

The Golem and the Jinni
The Shining Girls

these 2 I really want to read that two friends recommended to me.

Illusion
Kingdom Keepers 7
These 2 I'll be reading in April as they both come out then.

I'm reading the bible too as part of a bible reading challenge my church is doing to read the bible in a year so started that yesterday with my mom.

Oh, that is a tough question!
My top 5 are:

1. The Book Thief -- I'm currently reading it :) Yay!
2. Complete Works of T. S. Eliot.
3. The Iliad & The Odyssey.
4. The Divine Comedy.
5. The Holy Bible -- I'm currently reading it too ^_^

Hopefully, I'll get these done:

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings / A Storm of Swords / A Feast for Crows - I'm cheating a bit here: all of them
Catch-22
We
The Iliad & The Odyssey
Ulysses

Only 5? *whimpers*

Well... I definitely want to read Joyce's Ulysses and get started on Proust's In Search of Lost Time series/novel-in-volumes/whatever-it-is. So there's 2. There are loads that I plan to read, most of which I've been looking forward to for a long time, but as for really-really-want-to-reads...

The Book Thief
Vanity Fair
The Grapes of Wrath

Wow, that was painful...

Unhinged
Juliet
Lisey's Story
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Ocean at the End of the Lane

but there are so many more

I would like to read:

The "Veda" or at least an introduction to them.
The Upanishads, same thing as with the Veda. It's nearly impossible to read all the Upanishad, so I will be happy to read a good introduction to them.
The "Purana". Same thing as with the other books.

These are all spiritual and religious texts from Hinduism.

Till now I am sure I want to read these three books.

Only 5? That's a really tough question Holly! I've selected these ones because they've been sitting on my shelf for a while and even though I'm really excited about them...another book has always been chosen in its place.

Jack of Diamonds - Bryce Courtenay
Voluntary Madness - Norah Vincent
Kite Runner - Khaled Hasseini
The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman
The Last Letter from your Lover - Jojo Moyes

Kassandra wrote: "Only 5? That's a really tough question Holly! I've selected these ones because they've been sitting on my shelf for a while and even though I'm really excited about them...another book has always b..."

Great choices! Loved bothThe Last Letter from Your Lover and The Light Between Oceans

Thank you Roseanne - I'm really looking forward to it. Which of the 2 did you like better?

Holly, I'm the same - really want to finish the A Song of Ice and Fire books!

My other 4 (for now!) are:

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
How to Be a Woman, Caitlin Moran
MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

I like The Last Letter from Your Lover better

The light between oceans is pretty good. That was my first book club read. :-)

Lucy, I really need to finish the MaddAddam series. I loved O&C so much, and I have The Year of the Flood out of the library. Should really read it!

There's some really amazing lists here!

1. The Book Thief
2. Ready Player One
3. Throne of Glass
4. The Infernal Devices
5. Heroes of Olympus

1. Lord of the rings trilogy
2. Things fall apart
3. Infinite Jest
4. A brief history of time
5. Lost World- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Gabriela,
The Book Thief is great! I'm currently reading it. Enjoy ^_^

i'm reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak as well, and want to finish before I it comes out in the cinema at the end of the month.

I'm also reading

War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy - Translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky

Jewish as a Second Language: How to Worry, How to Interrupt, How to Say the Opposite of What You Mean , by Molly Katz

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future...: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned , by Michael J. Fox

The Vintage Tea Party Book by Angel Adoree

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

POSTHUMOUS - the life and Deaths of Hannah Franklin , by James Davidson

The Lady With the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 , by Anton Chekhov

The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy , by Wendy Leigh

Math City by Ahmad Amani

The Mammoth Book of Jokes by Geoff Tibbals

and The Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes by David Minkoff

My 5 are in the Classics: The Woman in White, War and Peace, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, and Sons and Lovers. I am currently in the middle of The Woman in White and really really like it. I have a feeling I am going to read more of Wilkie Collins this year.

Emad wrote: "Oh, that is a tough question!
My top 5 are:

1. The Book Thief -- I'm currently reading it :) Yay!
2. Complete Works of T. S. Eliot.
3. The Iliad & The Odyssey.
4. The Divine Comedy.
5. The Holy..."

Emad, are you sure you wanna read the entire Divine Comedy? Really sure? XD I admire you.

My absolutely-to-read list is:
1- The Scarlett letter
2- The book thief
3- Tale of two cities
4- Doctor sleep (sequel of The Shining *-*)
5- Divergent trilogy

I agree with you Iasa! At the moment I'm looking forward to these:

Chicago
Avontuur Amerika: alle reizen
Zomertijd
Jodenjacht: de onthutsende rol van de Nederlandse politie in de Tweede Wereldoorlog
Stasi-kinderen

To keep it down to 5 I'll list ones that might require a little extra push (instead of my "ooh, I want to read that" ones).

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Old Man's War
Middlemarch
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Nine Princes in Amber (although I've been saving Zelazny in case I ever do one of those A-Z challenges)

1 - Anything by Neil Gaiman - I've not read a single book by him despite the fact that my friends all love him. I haveNeverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane on reserve at the library. - Finished the Ocean at the End of the Lane.
2 - The Great Gatsby - a classic I've never read
3 - Rebecca - One that's appeared on book lists for multiple groups Im in. It looks interesting, but I couldnt find it on the kindle library or bookstore so I've slacked at reading it.
4 - Outlander - Recommended to me by a friend.
5 - Days of Blood & Starlight - Read the first one with mixed results and was told book 2 was better.

I really want to read Anna Karenina too!

Holly wrote: "I really want to read Anna Karenina too!"

Do you have any prior knowledge about the book? Me, I'm going in totally oblivious.

Honestly, none at all. I'll probably do some research right before I read it, just so I have a small idea.

Edit: We could do a buddy-read if you want. Would be quite interesting!

I'd be delighted to. But don't you have enough on your plate, figuratively? If I choose a book to read, I usually read it quickly. We probably won't be able to finish it at the same time...

Salem's lot is pretty good. I read it last year and it is stephen king's vampire novel.

Amber wrote: "Salem's lot is pretty good. I read it last year and it is stephen king's vampire novel."

So I've heard. I'm hasty to read more Stephen King. I've already read the first two Dark Tower series books.

Luffy, how about we don't do an official buddy read, but when we both finish it in our own time, we can talk about it over PM.

That stops the pressure of finishing it quickly. We can just talk about it when we're both done?

Holly wrote: "Honestly, none at all. I'll probably do some research right before I read it, just so I have a small idea.

Edit: We could do a buddy-read if you want. Would be quite interesting!"

I like going blind into a novel. No expectations beforehand leaves no disappointment sometimes :)

I'm half and half, Chase. Depending on the book, I'll meticulously research it, or I'll go in completely blind.

Going into books blind can really provide some spectacular surprises!

Chase - I'm a lot like that as well. I have found that if my expectations are built up too much for a book by recommendations, then I end up disappointed. Going in blind (sometimes I will pick up a book just because of the cover!) has given me some wonderful surprises.

I pick based on cover sometimes too.

I want to finish these books in 2014:
Non-fiction
1. Hitlers Bürokraten. Eichmann, seine willigen Vollstrecker und die Banalität des Bösen
2. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
3. The 43 GroupThe Language of the Third Reich: LTI -- Lingua Tertii Imperii: A Philologist's Notebook
4. Why the Germans? Why the Jews?: Envy, Race Hatred, and the Prehistory of the Holocaust
5. Flüchtige Tage. Erinnerungen aus dem Weather Underground

Fiction:
1. Porno

Travel report (that is non-fiction, is it?):
1. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America

Then I have picked these books to read this year (all non-fiction and some of them I have read already or at least started to read but that was so long ago that I have to start again):
1. Faschistische Ideologie
2. Geschichte des Zionismus
3. Die Geschichte Des Zionismus. Ein Nes Ammim Buch
4. Jiddisch
5. Hitlers Hiwis. Iwan Demjanjuk und die Trawniki-Männer

1. Totalitarismustheorien: Die Entwicklung Der Diskussion Von Den Anfangen Bis Heute
2. Das Kann Man Nicht Erzählen: Aktion 1005. Wie Die Nazis Die Spuren Ihrer Massenmorde in Osteuropa Beseitigten
3. Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus
4. Lesendie Grösste Erfindung Der Menschheit Und Was Dabei In Unseren Köpfen Passiert

Obviously I can't limit myself to just 5 books ...

For such a straight-forward question, this is really difficult to answer! It's really made me think though...

1. A Clash of KingsA Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin
2. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
3. Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks
4. Death or Victory: The Battle of Quebec and the Birth of Empire, Dan Snow and
5. Tower, Nigel Jones.

No doubt I'll change my mind tomorrow! I'd be delighted if I get through these though

If anyone wants to read Anna Karenina slowly and savour it over a bit of time i'll be happy to do a read through. I've got the Pevear and Volokhonsky version. This is a strange question though. i'm currently reading 17 books, and have just finished 6 one day last week and finished about 5 more since January started. Making 11 finished in the last 19 days. I'd like to finish all 17 of these and read quite a few others besides.

The books i definately want to read are all classics

1.Animal Farm
2.Life of Pi
3.Lord of the flies
4.To kill a Mockingbird
5.Catcher in the rye

If u havnt read these, give them a go!Classic books are almost worth reading

This is such a difficult question but at the moment I`d really like to read
1.The Grapes of Wrath
2.Birdsong
3.Love of seven dolls
4.Swallows and Amazons
5.Right Ho Jeeves

I'm making my list from books I know I "should" read -- those classics I have somehow managed to not read yet.

1. Rebecca
2. Lord of the Flies
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Anna Karenina
5. East of Eden

Sarah, Birdsong is seriously beautiful.

Jennifer, I also want to read Pride and Prejudice, and Anna Karenina!

John Steinbeck seems really popular with people!

I just finished sorting through my to-read list. Here's the five that I'll definitely read this year:

No return was awesome ms. Evans! Enjoy. :-)

Come what may I definitely wan to read the following:
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Hitch hiker's guide trilogy in a quartet
3. Infinite jest
4. My name is red
5. India after Independence

This is an ambitious list for me and are purely going to be my accomplishments, though I am really excited about reading some of them.

I love the Night Circus. It was one of my favourites of 2013!

I absolutely LOVED the Night Circus. It's definitely become one of my favorites.

Five books I'm finally going to read this year:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman (to be published this summer)
The Complete Novels of Flann O'Brien (or at least Third Policeman)

I'm actually going to completely revamp my list. I really want to read 5 'monster' books (aka, massive ones).

1. Ulysses
2. Moby-Dick
3. Les Miserables
4. War and Peace
5. The Count of Monte Cristo

Holly, if you haven't read Bleak house yet, you really should! It's fabulous!
Anyway, I sent you a pm.