Who, Me? Take on a Book Challenge?

Everyone knows. The number and variety of book challenges out there can be dizzying. In general, I make an unconscious effort to balance my book selections, which means that I follow only my cravings. These inexplicable urges, which I rarely analyze, usually have a basis in literary nutrition. For example, after digesting several memoirs, I am overcome by a yen for novels, and after many novels by U.S. writers, I move on to European novels, and then I'm drawn to science and nature books, and on it goes.


But I announce here today that I will sign up for one 2010 book challenge; that is, until I sign up for an additional one. I'm choosing The 2010 Pub Challenge. I took a fancy to it because I love pubs and I was hoping that it would give me permission to read in pubs while consuming my favorite alcoholic beverages (merlots and red zins). No such luck.

What amazes me is that even when I learned that the challenge has nothing to do with pubs, bars, or taverns, I still wanted to do it. It's simple. Just read 10 books, fiction or nonfiction, first published in 2010 by midnight December 31st. (For a better description of the rules, please follow the link.) I can definitely do this challenge, and the novel The Three Weissmans of Westport by Cathleen Schine will be my first book, even though I'm only about one-third through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. (See below.)