35 to 35

Well, given that I haven't yet completely finished the 30-to-30 challenge, even now that it's been a full summer/100 days since my birthday, it might be somewhat foolhardy to discuss the next list that I'm tackling, but let it never be said that I let up on myself.

Ever.

I've opted to treat the 35-to-35 list a bit differently, having learned a few things from 30-to-30. First off, you might notice the window of time is considerably more generous. I've got 1726 days to get this one done. Who knows, perhaps I'll get to all these quite quickly and I'll have to write a second challenge (ha!), but perhaps I'll forget and end up scrambling at the end anyway. Second, instead of being so rigid with my selections, I've decided to pick a few key titles and authors but leave all the other slots somewhat open-ended where a number of books might meet that requirement. Titles written in specific time period, novels recognized by an award, a book I've carted around since high school, etc. Mostly fiction, but some nonfiction is required, too. Certain titles might fit in more than one category, but they can only be the fulfillment of one. In this way, I hope to be allowing myself some wiggle room so things can still feel fresh. Sure, I may have a few books in mind and for each of those open-ended slots, I've jotted down some possible contenders (it will surprise no one that by "jotted down" I mean I made detailed Excel documents with at least three options for every category), but I'm not going to hold myself to those in case others pop up that meet the stated criteria. Don't try to read too much in to the required titles... they either fit too many categories below or none of them and I knew I wanted to cross them off. I also gave myself two "wild card" slots but even those have a requirement.

So here we go, once more into the breach...


The Required Reading:
1. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
3. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
4. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Authors:
6. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7. John Green
8. Erica Jong
9. Salman Rushdie
10. Edith Wharton

The Award Winners:
11. Pulitzer Prize winner
12. National Book Award winner
13. Man Booker Prize winner
14. Newbery Award winner
15. Nobel Prize winning author (book published before he/she won)

The Miscellany:
16. A pre-1800 title
17. Staff recommendation: something a friend has directly recommended
18. "Thanks! I'll read this right away!" : aka, "yes, I still have that novel you gave/loaned to me and no, I haven’t read it yet"
19. The doorstop: a 600+ page epic
20. This book has moved apartments with me... probably more than once
21. Judging a book by its cover: something I bought on pure whim based on title or jacket
22. "You'll hate it." : a book that I've specifically been told I will not enjoy
23. Everyone else read it for school except me
24. Not lost in translation: a work translated from another language
25. "Of course I've read that!" : a book I've pretended to have read
26. Redhead pride: a work with a redheaded main character/author
27. Thar be dragons here: a science fiction/fantasy epic, preferably written by a woman
28. A tribute: a work read the year following the author's passing

The Nonfiction Categories:
29. A biography
30. A memoir
31. A history title on a specific topic
32. A contemporary (post 1975) political/historical study
33. A travelogue

The Wild Cards:
34. Title must be listed in 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
35. Title must be listed in 1001 Books to Read Before You Die