75.

I have to preface this by saying that I am so beyond tired right now! No interesting reasons why, but there it is. And rather then get myself to bed, I thought I'd write the post I've been meaning to write all day, namely: seventy-five. Yes, I am seventy-five books into my 100 Greatest Books Challenge, the challenge I started a little less than a year ago having read already twenty-six. It's a challenge I sometimes focus on, sometimes forget, and never put a time limit on. I thought last night, perhaps I'll finish by the end of this year. But, perhaps I won't. I don't know. But it was, for a little while, the cornerstone of this blog because it was the only book challenge I set myself until October, when I started Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare (perhaps Shakespeare started a little earlier, I'm not sure). It's been a good challenge, and I've already written about how it got me into books I never would have tried (I wrote a post in November when I hit fifty).

I think it might be easier if I told you the books I haven't read, so here's what's left on the list:

1. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien   
2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
3. The Bible
4. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
5. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
6. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
7. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
8. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
9. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
10. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
11. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
12. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
13. Atonement - Ian McEwan
14. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
15. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
16. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
17. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
18. Vanity Fair - William Thackeray
19. Possession - AS Byatt
20. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
21. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
22. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
23. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
24. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
25. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

I have to say, I'm at an awkward point: there is a reason why I haven't read these yet, so should I say, there is a reason why I have read what I have read so far: they were all books I was particularly interested in reading, or books that came my way. I don't own some of these books: eight have not been sitting waiting for me in a charity shop or second hand book stall, and it's not so feasible to go out and by the missing eight brand new. I will eventually get a hold of them, I see one of them (Birdsong) is a book my mother owns, for example (actually, I used to own it, Lord knows what happened to it). So there's that.

And, the second not-very-good excuse: some of them don't appeal, either because I don't know much (or anything) about them, or simply because I'm not drawn to them. Hardy, for example - I cannot, try as I might, get into either Tess or Far From The Madding Crowd. I wish this was not the case, and I don't for the life of me understand why. And Vanity Fair - I've tried three times and failed. As for Lord of the Rings - it is not even vaguely appealing, which is unfortunate because there are three of them. Finally, I had false starts with both Three Muskateers and Count of Monte Cristo. So, I'm officially at the "daunted" phase!

However, there is still a few books to go before I reach the "I hate this" phase. Even though I have no luck with Vanity Fair, I still have hope. I'm also looking forward to To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Birdsong, and from no where, I find that Midnight's Children is on my mind quite a lot this week. On my currently reading pile, there is a very slim volume of poetry by Patti Smith, Nicholas Nickleby, and of course The Bible (I feel close to the end of that, so I'm not at all daunted by finishing it: it's familiar to me, now). Just three books: I can easily add another, so I may possibly bring down Rushdie and have a look, give it a try. I'm sorry to say I'm not sure I even know what it's about.

So then, yes: seventy-five books in! I'm pleased with that. And now, after this brief and bitty post, I am going to summon not the energy but the self control to get Trotwood downstairs, make myself a drink, get changed and go to bed. I have all day free tomorrow, and I hope it's warm so I can sit outside again with Trot and read!