The Book Awards Reading Challenge is a fantastic idea for a reading challenge. I have considered doing something similar as a personal challenge but then this came up. The idea in a nutshell is to, “Read any 12 award-winning books from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.” This is only the second challenge I’ve joined and I’m looking forward to getting started. I ended up with 19 books on my list so I’m posting 12 plus 7 alternates.

1. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Man Booker)
2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Hugo, Nebula)
3. Europe Central by William Vollmann (National Book Award)
4. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (National Book Award)
5. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (National Book Award)
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Nobel)
7. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Orange)
8. War Trash by Ha Jin (Pen/Faulkner)
9. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel)
10. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Pulitzer)
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Pulitzer)
12. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Pulitzer)

I didn’t have Half of a Yellow Sun on my TBR list before but looked into it signing up for this challenge. People have been raving about it so I decided to throw it in the mix.

And now for some alternates just in case I decide to change it up a bit.

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Governor General, Arthur C. Clarke)
2. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (Arthur C. Clarke)
3. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (Hugo)
4. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Pen/Faulkner, Orange)
5. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Pulitzer)
6. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Pulitzer, Spur)
7. Seeker by Jack McDevitt (Nebula)

Nearly every one of these book was already on my list, and some I had been putting off, but no longer!

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