The 50 Book Challenge

Mission Statement (from the Shelfari group)

Steve Jobs said: “The fact is that people don’t read anymore…”

Shelfari’s 50 Book Challenge said: “Fie! Steve Jobs,” (We say Fie because we read a lot and we know a lot of words.) “Fie! Steve Jobs! We read 16,892 books in 2008.”

To elaborate: When asked about the new Amazon Kindle product, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple computer had this to say:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

Welcome to the the 50 Book Challenge, where we fly in the face of Steve Jobs.

Basically …. the challenge is to read 50 books in one year. OR … establish a goal for yourself more or less, it’s up to you, just because we say 50 books doesn’t mean that has to be your goal too.

Take I (26/06/2008-25/06/2009)

ADULT FICTION
01. Jim Butcher – Small Favour [Dresden Files 10]
02. MFW Curran – The Secret War
03. Yasmine Galenorn – Witchling [Otherworld 1]
04. Yasmine Galenorn – Changeling [Otherworld 2]
05. Yasmine Galenorn – Darkling [Otherworld 3]
06. David Gemmell – Waylander II
07. DCI Gene Hunt – The Future of Modern Policing
08. Andrew Lang – A Collection of Ballads
09. Kate Mosse – The Cave
10. Liza Palmer – Conversations With the Fat Girl
11. Adele Parks – Playing Away
12. Lynda La Plante – The Red Dahlia
13. Terry Pratchett – Sourcery
14. Terry Pratchett – Wyrd Sisters
15. Alexander Pushkin – Boris Godunov
16. John Shirley – Subterranean
17. V/A – Mystery Tales
18. V/A – Supernatural Tales

JUVENILE FICTION
19. Adam Blade – Beast Quest: Sethir the Storm Monster
20. Terry Deary & Martin Brown – Groovy Greeks
21. Joseph Delaney – The Spook’s Tale
22. Neil Gaiman – Odd and the Frost Giants
23. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades
24. Andy Stanton – Mr Gum in The Hound of Lamonic Bibber
25. Mark Walden – Interception Point
26. V/A – The Compendium of Vampyres and Other Perilous Creatures

NONFICTION
27. Pamela J. Ball – Natural Magic
28. Clarissa Pinkola Estés – Women Who Run With the Wolves
29. Danu Forest – Nature Spirits: Wyrd Lore and Wild Fey Magic
30. Liz Fraser – The Yummy Mummy’s Survival Guide
31. Annabel Karmel – The New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner
32. Amy Sophia Marashinsky – Mermaid Magic
33. Mother Mary & Archmandrite Kallistos Ware – Psalter According to the Septuagint
34. Fr. Andrew Phillips – Orthodox Christianity and the Old English Church
35. Fr. Andrew Phillips – A Practical Guide to the Worship of the Orthodox Church
36. Steven Saunders – Mind Tricks Ancient and Modern
37. Tara Ward – The Healing Handbook
38. Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine – The Survival Guide
39. Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine – Who Do You Want to Be Today?
40. V/A – Birth to Five

Take II (26/06/2009-25/06/2010)

ADULT FICTION
01. Sherwood Anderson – Winesburg, Ohio
02. Oliver Bowden – Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance
03. Edgar Rice Burroughs – At the Earth’s Core [Pellucidar 1]
04. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Pellucidar [Pellucidar 2]
05. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tanar of Pellucidar [Pellucidar 3]
06. Glenn Cooper – Library of the Dead
07. Stephen Crane – Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
08. Barbara Erskine – Sands of Time
09. E.M. Forster – Howards End
10. Stella Gibbons – Cold Comfort Farm
11. James Joyce – Dubliners
12. Stephanie Laurens – The Reasons for Marriage [Lester Family 1]
13. Stephanie Laurens – A Lady of Expectations [Lester Family 2]
14. Stephanie Laurens – An Unwilling Conquest [Lester Family 3]
15. Stephanie Laurens – A Comfortable Wife [Lester Family 4]
16. Tanith Lee – Volkhavaar
17. Kathy Lette – How to Kill Your Husband (And Other Handy Household Hints)
18. C.S. Lewis – Out of the Silent Planet [Space Trilogy 1]
19. Jack London – The Scarlet Plague
20. James Maxey – Bitterwood
21. Richelle Mead – Succubus Blues [Georgina Kincaid 1]
22. Richelle Mead – Succubus On Top [Georgina Kincaid 2]
23. Kate Mosse – Labyrinth
24. George Orwell – 1984
25. George Orwell – Animal Farm
26. Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea
27. J.K. Rowling – The Tales of Beedle the Bard
28. May Sinclair – Life and Death of Harriett Frean
29. Curtis Sittenfeld – Prep
30. Kelley St. John – Real Women Don’t Wear Size 2
31. Jan Struther – Mrs. Miniver
32. H.G. Wells – The Invisible Man
33. H.G. Wells – The Island of Dr. Moreau
34. H.G. Wells – The Time Machine
35. H.G. Wells – The War of the Worlds
36. Thornton Wilder – The Bridge of San Luis Rey
37. Tad Williams – The Dragonbone Chair [Memory, Sorrow & Thorn 1]
38. Tad Williams – Stone of Farewell [Memory, Sorrow & Thorn 2]
39. W.B. Yeats – The Celtic Twilight
40. V/A – Satisfy Me
41. V/A – Stories Worth Rereading

JUVENILE FICTION
42. Cathy Hopkins – Mates, Dates: An episode from The Secret Story
43. Matt and Dave (Matthew Morgan & David Sinden) – Yuck’s Rotten Joke
44. Laura Owen & Korky Paul – Winnie to the Rescue!
45. Jenny Valentine – Ten Stations
46. Chris Wooding – Catchman
47. Chris Wooding – Endgame

NONFICTION
48. Chris Baty – No Plot? No Problem!
49. Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo – He’s Just Not That Into You
50. Chuck Klosterman – Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs
51. Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner – Freakonomics
52. Robert Louis Stevenson – Essays in the Art of Writing
53. Allegra Stratton – Muhajababes
54. Janet Street-Porter – Life’s Too F***ing Short
55. Tarthang Tulku – Tibetan Relaxation
56. Tara Ward – Meditation and Dreamwork
57. V/A – Soul Secrets

Take III (26/06/2010-25/06/2011)

ADULT FICTION
01. Cecelia Ahern – If You Could See Me Now
02. Maeve Binchy – Nights of Rain and Stars
03. Maeve Binchy – Whitethorn Woods
04. Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Bloody Sun
05. Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Heirs of Hammerfell
06. Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Winds of Darkover
07. Marion Zimmer Bradley – Two to Conquer
08. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan at the Earth’s Core [Pellucidar 4]
09. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Back to the Stone Age [Pellucidar 5]
10. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Land of Terror [Pellucidar 6]
11. Edgar Rice Burroughs – Savage Pellucidar [Pellucidar 7]
12. Louise Candlish – I’ll Be There For You
13. Michael Carson – Stripping Penguins Bare
14. Jane Fallon – Got You Back
15. Thomas Harris – Red Dragon
16. Lindsey Kelk – I Heart New York
17. George R.R. Martin – A Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire 1]
18. Jane Moore – Perfect Match
19. Jane Moore – The Second Wives Club
20. Gervase Phinn – All These Lonely People
21. Jodi Picoult – Songs of the Humpback Whale
22. Rosamunde Pilcher – The Empty House
23. Theresa Rebeck – Three Girls and Their Brother
24. Bryan Smith – Soultaker
25. Robert Louis Stevenson – The Master of Ballantrae
26. JRR Tolkien – The Children of Húrin
27. Tad Williams – To Green Angel Tower [Memory, Sorrow & Thorn 3]
28. V/A – Best Russian Short Stories
29. V/A – Pulp Idol 2006
30. V/A – Pulp Idol 2007
31. V/A – Pulp Idol 2008

JUVENILE FICTION
32. Philip Ardagh – Grubtown Tales: The Great Pasta Disaster
33. Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore – The Lost Diary of Robin Hood’s Money Man
34. Chris Bradford – Young Samurai: The Way of Fire
35. Darcey Bussell – Magic Ballerina: The Magic Dance
36. Clive Dickinson – The Lost Diary of Tutankhamun’s Mummy
37. Dan Freedman – Born to Play
38. Chris Higgins – Walking the Walls
39. Sophie McKenzie – Medusa Project: The Thief
40. Meomi – The Octonauts and the Frown Fish
41. Meomi – The Octonauts and the Only Lonely Monster
42. Meomi – The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade
43. Amy Meredith – Shadows [Dark Touch 1]
44. Virginia Miller – Bartholomew Bear: Five Toddler Tales
45. Charlie Small – Valley of Terrors
46. Rex Stone – Dinosaur Cove: Battle of the Giants
47. Kaye Umansky – Pongwiffy and the Important Announcement
48. Anna Wilson – Kitten Chaos
49. Jacqueline Wilson – The Illustrated Mum
50. Jacqueline Wilson – The Story of Tracy Beaker

NONFICTION
51. Z. Budapest – The Goddess in the Office
52. Greg Crowfoot – Crossroads
53. Terry Deary – Horrible Histories: The 20th Century
54. Sorita D’Este & David Rankine – Hekate’s Liminal Rites
55. John Farman – The Short and Bloody History of Highwaymen
56. John Farman – The Short and Bloody History of Pirates
57. Erica Jong – Witches
58. Raven Kaldera & Tannin Schwartzstein – The Urban Primitive
59. Marisa Acocella Marchetto – Cancer Vixen
60. Starhawk – The Spiral Dance