Sorry it took me awhile to set up this year's 2011 Pub Challenge . This year, I did away with the restriction on children/YA books. The requirement is 11 books, though! Click the above icon to sign up.

It's difficult to know which books I'll want to read for the challenge this year, but below is a preliminary list. Any recommendations?

• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver
• Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I hope everyone had fun reading from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list in the last challenge. Are you ready to try it again? This time, since the editors have a 2010 edition out and have added even more titles to the list, the challenge only has one option: read 13 books from the 1294 titles that have ever been on any list (2006, 2008, or 2010) .

The challenge runs from April 1, 2010 through April 30, 2011.

Click the pic at the right to sign-up.

My pool of choices, with 1001 editions in parentheses:

1. Small Island by Andrea Levy
2. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
3. Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
4. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
5. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

• The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas - Gertrude Stein
• This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Borowski
• The River Between - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
• Villette by Charlotte Bronte
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Barbery (2010)
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (2006)
• Home by Marilynne Robinson (2010)
• What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Kafka on the Shore by Murakami (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Possession by A.S. Byatt (2006)
• Watchmen by Alan Moore (2006, 2008, 2010)
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (2006, 2008, 2010)
• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Ficciones by Borges (2006)
• Labyrinths by Borges (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Doctor Zhivago by Pasternak (2006, 2008, 2010)
• How Late It Was, How Late - James Kelman (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Deep River by Shusaku Endo (2008, 2010)
• Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Love Medicine by Louise Erdich (2008, 2010)
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Some Prefer Nettles by Tanizaki (2008, 2010)
• Rashomon - Akutagawa Ryunosuke (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Kokoro - Natsume Soseki (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Hunger - Knut Hamsun (2006, 2008, 2010)
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (2006)
• I, Robot - Isaac Asimov (2006, 2008, 2010)
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (2006, 2008, 2010)

I have several perpetual challenges going on, and last year it was my goal to read 6 books in each category. I made my goal in some categories but not in others. This year, I'll have two different levels. Some categories will have a 6 book goal, and some will have a 3 book goal. I'll list some possible titles below under each category, but I do reserve the right to change my titles at any time.

Here is the plan for 2010:

Pulitzer Prize - 6 titles

• 2010 winner
• 2002 - Empire Falls (Russo)
• 2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Chabon)
• 1992 - A Thousand Acres (Smiley)
• 1989 - Breathing Lessons (Tyler)
• 1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)
• 1937 - Gone with the Wind (Mitchell)
• 1936 - Honey in the Horn (Davis)
• 1935 - Now in November (Johnson)
• 1925 - So Big (Ferber)

Booker Prize - 6 titles

• 2010 winner
• 1999 Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
• 1998 Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan
• 1990 Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
• 1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
• 1982 Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
• 1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Newbery Medal - 6 titles

• Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• The View from Saturday by Konigsburg
• Holes by Sachar

NYT Notable - 6 titles

• American Rust by Phillipp Meyer
• In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Home by Marilynne Robinson
• The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
• Kafka on the Shore by Murakami
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain

Orange Prize - 3 titles

• 2009 Home, by Marilynne Robinson
• 2008 The Road Home, by Rose Tremain
• 2006 On Beauty, by Zadie Smith
• 2005 We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
• 2004 Small Island, by Andrea Levy
• 2002 Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
• 2001 The Idea of Perfection, by Kate Grenville
• 1998 Larry's Party, by Carol Shields

Printz Project - 3 titles

• 2009 Jellicoe Road by Marchetta
• 2006 Looking for Alaska by John Green
• 2001 Kit's Wilderness by Steve Almond

Nobel laureates - 3 titles from 3 different laureates

• 2007 - Doris Lessing
• 2004 - Elfriede Jelinek
• 1999 - Gunter Grass
• 1998 - Jose Saramago
• 1994 - Kenzaburo Oe
• 1991 - Nadine Gordimer
• 1976 - Saul Bellow
• 1958 - Boris Pasternak
• 1957 - Albert Camus
• 1949 - William Faulkner
• 1929 - Thomas Mann

Science in Fiction - 3 titles

• The Oxford Murders by Martinez
• Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
• Periodic Table by Primo Levi
• The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
• Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
• Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
• Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers
• Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
• Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
• Kepler by John Banville