The 11 in 2011 Challenge

2011 is here! And while there is absolutely no reason why this should be a special year (apart from the epic 11/11/11 event), I felt like doing something challenging... and seeing as I have a new Kindle, it made sense to make that something involve books.

Last year, I let reading fall by the wayside... until, of course, I started writing. And for some reason that should be painfully obvious, the more I write, the more I long to read. And the more I read, the more I long to write. So the more I started brainstorming and plotting and developing characters, the more I wanted to read. And I began to knock back book after book. But December 31st, my reading list looked like this:

Under the Dome by Stephen King (x2)
On Writing by Stephen King
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
You’ll be Sor-ree! by Sid Phillips
Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie
With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
The First Evil by R.L. Stine
The Second Evil by R.L. Stine
The Third Evil by R.L. Stine
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Running Man by Stephen King
1984 by George Orwell

And those are just the ones I can remember. This list, along with the list of books I was looking forward to reading, was fairly dominated by Stephen King. Which is fine... he's my favorite author, the biggest reason why I want to be a writer, and he's good at what he does. His books are all fairly amazing.

But there are also some fantastic books out there, by fantastic authors that aren't Stephen King (I know, shocker), and I decided that I would take part in a new challenge this year. The challenge has two parts.

PART I: Read 11 books this year (2011) by authors other than Stephen King. 

I'm also going to try very hard to not pick the same author twice... so, seeing as Coraline by Neil Gaiman is on the list, I'll try not to count Good Omens if I get around to finishing it. Stuff like that. And it's proven far more difficult than I thought. Half the books I initially picked are by Stephen King... again, not bad... but I want to expand my literary tastes. And, if I want to become a more competent writer, I need to experience other writing styles to help develop and tune my own.

PART II: Read books that either A. have a movie adaptation already out or B. have a movie adaptation that will be out by this year. 

I'm not sure why this intrigued me as much as it did, seeing as it narrows the list of books significantly... but I felt it would be exciting to read a book, review it, then see the movie and review that. I think I'm up to about 6 or 7 books with movie adaptations, with only 2 that I've actually seen, and 1 that has a remake coming out (hopefully) this year.

So that's the challenge! I've already started, having read my first book and started on my second. Keep your eyes peeled for updates! :D