The 2012 "Books I Started but Didn't Finish Challenge."

I know, I know. I have signed up for so many challenges, but hey, here is one more. :)

This challenge is being hosted by Jillian at A Room of One's Own.

It all started when Jillian discussed the stress of having a pile of "unfinished" titles going into the New Year. I know how she feels-I like to have everything wrapped up and ready to go come January 1! But, sometimes it doesn't happen, and sometimes, we set aside books for a moment. Before you know it, months have gone by and that book is still sitting there, unfinished.

This is a challenge to fix that, since all the books to complete this challenge, are well...incomplete!

Here are the details:

The goal:

• Commit to finish some or all of the books you began to read in 2011 (or before) and never completed.

Prizes:

• I will not give away prizes or otherwise motivate people to complete their goals for this challenge.
• Instead, I encourage you to self-motivate.
• Keep your list central on your blog (or elsewhere) and commit to buy yourself some sort of reward when you finish the task. (A book? A bookmark? Whatever you know will inspire YOU.)

The rules:

• Post a list of the books you began reading in 2011 (or at some point in your life) and never finished reading. (Maybe even say why you stopped reading!)
• You can list as few or as many titles as you intend to complete in 2012. One or twenty or a hundred – it’s YOUR challenge.
• You can include whatever genres you please in this challenge.
• It doesn’t matter how you go about finishing these books. You can combine them with any other challenges.
• You do not need a blog to participate. You can simply list the books you want to finish in the comments below.
• List the prize you will gift yourself when you complete this challenge in your challenge post (to make it official.)
• Write yourself a little manifesto about how you intend to approach these left-over books.
• Commit to finish your list by the end of 2012.
• You are NOT allowed to stress if it takes longer than 2012 to finish your list! Just commit again in 2013!!

Doesn't it sound like a good time? ;)

I've decided to tackle a few of the books I've set aside during this project. I do have some books that I stopped reading from years ago, but I want to get through my 250 list before I worry about them.

Here is what I am going to read for this challenge:

1. Kim by Rudyard Kipling: I started this one back in the spring and made it about 30 or so pages before I set it aside. I was having a hard time getting into it, so I took a short break. That break has lasted until now.
2. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad: I actually think I started this one in 2010. I made it 50 pages in before wanting to stab my eyes out. Maybe a second try will work out for me?
3. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray: I find it kind of hilarious that I hosted a readalong for this and never finished. I was 200 pages in when the end of school took over in June. The book got shoved aside on my nightstand, then somehow got reshelved. It is sitting right next to me on the bookshelf with the bookmark still in place.
   
4. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak: This is another title I attempted to read and has a bookmark about 40 pages in. I think, like Vanity Fair, it just got shoved aside when I found other things to read.
   
5. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding: This one has been sitting on my nightstand since we moved into this apartment over a year ago. And it sat on my nightstand for a year before that! Again, I probably stopped reading it about 50 pages in...for no real reason. This one is on another challenge list for the coming year.

My Prize:

My next project after my 250 is to read some complete works by some authors. When I finish this challenge, I am going to buy myself the rest of Gaskell's and Cather's novels. :)

Manifesto:

I will read all of these to get closer to finishing my 250 classics! And I will enjoy them and cherish them (except maybe Conrad).