The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge

 
  I think the book blogging challenge gods are really trying to help me deal with my overwhelming TBR shelves (and save my husband from the heart palpitations he gets everytime he sees how many books are on them).

  Adam at Roof Beam Reader has created a challenge for 2011 that seems catered exclusively to me:  a TBR Pile Challenge.  The goal of this challenge is to read at least 12 books from your to-read pile(s) that have been there for at least a year and that have a publication date prior to January 1, 2010. 
 
  So here's my list:

• Fabulous Small Jews stories by Joseph Epstein  Completed!  Reviewed here
• East of the Sun by Julia Gregson Completed!  Reviewed here
• Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga Completed!  Reviewed here
• The Gathering by Anne Enright  (side note:  this is a book where I distinctly remember when & where I purchased it -- I bought it during a visit to Dublin in February of 2009)  Completed! Reviewed here
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant 
• Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo  Completed!  Reviewed here
• Ornament of the World:  How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal  Completed!
• The Battle for Spain:  The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Antony Beevor Completed!  Reviewed here
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
• The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton
• Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves  Completed!  Reviewed here
• Ghost Soldiers:  The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides

  My two alternate books are:

• The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
• The Most Beautiful Book in the World by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt  Completed!  Reviewed here

  This should free up some space on the shelves for some new books (but don't tell my husband!)

  What do you think of my list?