A Challenge to Myself

Since having Micah, I realized that I haven't really done anything to challenge myself - you know, other than trying to stay one step ahead of him at all times, which can be difficult. Before he was in the picture, I ran a marathon (well, he was around for that although not really for the training) and completed my master's degree. So I decided I needed a new challenge, one that will hopefully stretch me and make me a little bit better of a person. My challenge is to read all of books on Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 100 books of the last 25 years. Here's the link: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_20207387_20207349,00.html I have read all of the following, and had read every one except "The Year of Magical Thinking" before I read the list and came up with my challenge. 11. "Into Thin Air", by Jon Krakauer 33. "The Year of Magical Thinking", by Joan Didion 34. "The Lovely Bones", by Alice Sebold 67. "The Kite Runner", by Khaled Hosseini 72. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", by Mark Haddon 78. "Eat, Pray, Love", by Elizabeth Gilbert 96. "The DaVinci Code", by Dan Brown Seven down, 93 to go! I'm currently reading #1 on the list: "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy. I have to note here that I'm cheating only slightly. I "read" Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" and my current selection in the car on audiobook while driving. I love to listen to books while driving; it keeps my mind occupied even on small errands around town. Plus, if you've ever read Cormac McCarthy, you'll know that even though he's rated one of the top American writers of all time, the man doesn't properly use punctuation and that drives me nuts! I read his "All the Pretty Horses" several years ago and it was all I could do to get through it. "No Country for Old Men" was a brilliant film and I'm enjoying hearing "The Road" read to me in the audiobook format. I'm not sure that there's any other way I could read that one. It may be brilliant to write without punctuation, but for those of us fond of being grammatically correct, reading people who aren't is like constant fingernails on a chalkboard. So I would welcome any discussion on the books that I have read, or if anyone needs a recommendation, I can do that too. If you'd like a recommendation as to which one I should read next, I'll take that too as I'm obviously not going in order. Is anyone else in the middle of a challenge? I'd love to hear about that too! (And Tim, living with me does NOT count as a challenge... :)