The 2013 Reading Challenge.

At long last, my long overdue reading-challenge list.

In case you are out of the loop and have not yet heard about this challenge, following are the pertinent details: pick 5 books in 5 categories and commit to reading them this year. This challenge was created to inspire a public that does not normally devote itself to reading to do so. On the surface this seems like an easy challenge, ok! I said, I will read books I have intended to read and commit to it, picking books and categories will be easy! This was certainly not the case. However, after much deliberation the list has been set (yes, there are many thing left off of it that I would like to include, but this is my story, and I'm sticking to it).

The Categories are...

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
    1. The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh- A.A. Milne
    2. A Wrinkle in Time- Madeline L'Engle
    3.The Phantom Tollbooth- Norton Juster
    4. The Tale of Peter Rabbit- Beatrix Potter
    5. The Tale of Desperaux- Katie DiCamillo

SCIENCE FICTION
    1. Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card
    2. Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut
    3. Martian Chronicles- Ray Bradbury
    4. Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
    5. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?- Philip K. Dick

CHRISTIAN CLASSICS
     1. Pilgrim's Progress- John Bunyan
     2. Imitation of Christ- Thomas a Kempis
     3. Dark Night of the Soul- St. John of the Cross
     4. Confessions- St. Augustine
     5. The Cost of Discipleship- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

HISTORICAL LITERATURE (NEW)
     1. Wolf Hall- Hilary Mantel
     2. Brooklyn- Colm Toibin
     3. The Greater Journey- David McCullough
     4. The Hour of Peril- David Stashower
     5. To Marry an English Lord- Gail MacColl

BESTSELLERS/AWARD WINNERS
    1. Skippy Dies- Paul Murray
    2. Death Comes to Pemberly- P.D. James
    3. The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
    4. World War Z- Max Brooks
    5. On Chesil Beach- Ian McEwan


And my added category that I plan to read along with these others for the challenge:

POETRY COLLECTIONS
    1. Elizabeth Bishop
    2. Rumi
    3. Leaves of Grass- Walt Whitman
    4. Rilke
    5. W.H. Auden

"The House By The Side Of The Road" by Sam Walter Foss

"There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
in the peace of their self-content;
there are souls like stars that dwell apart,
in a fellowless firmament;
there are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
where highways never went;
but let me live by the side of the road
and try to be a friend.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
with people passing by--
the ones who are good, and the ones who are bad,
as good and bad as I.
I would not sit on a scorner's seat,
or hurl the cynic's ban;
let me live in a house by the side of the road
and be the friend I can.

I see from my house by the side of the road
by the side of the highway of life,
those who press with the ardour of hope,
and others who faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears--
both parts of an infinite plan.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
and be the friend I can.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
and mountains of wearisome height;
that road passes on through the long afternoon,
and stretches away to the night;
but still I rejoice when the travellers rejoice,
and weep with the strangers that moan,
nor live in my house by the side of the road
like someone who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
where all manner of folk go by.
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
wise, foolish--so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat
or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
and be the friend I can."


May this be a picture of my life. To live the life of a loving friend walking with those who rejoice and those who mourn no matter who they are or who I am. Beautiful.