TBR Challenge 2008

I am participating in the To Be Read (TBR) Challenge 2008. I buy, receive and borrow so many books, and I really mean to read them all. I just don't always get to them. So I'm doing the challenge! Below is my list of books and alternates (which are also listed on the side of my other blog, Cara Mama), and I will strike them out (or mark as "= DONE" on Cara Mama) when I've finished them. I will also review each book when I've finished it.

The books in order of how I plan to read them:
1. Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
2. Desiring Italy, collection edited by Susan Cahill
3. Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan
4. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
5. Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, By Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
6. The Blind Mirror, by Christopher Pike
7. The Pact, by Jodi Picoult
8. It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
9. Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen
10. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality, by Brian Greene
11. The Last Days of Dogtown, by Anita Diamant
12. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

The alternates (in no particular order):
1. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
2. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
3. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
4. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
5. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
6. The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl
7. A Conspiracy of Paper, by David Liss
8. Eon, by Greg Bear
9. The Accidental Buddhist, by Dinty Moore
10. Bella Tuscany, by Frances Mayes
11. Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier
12. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

These lists initially looked really ambitious to me, especially considering that I read other books in addition to these. And I need to read a romance novel or two a month, because I need a regular stream of light-hearted, happy-ending stories to keep me a happy girl. But so far, I'm doing alright.

Oh, and there is a story behind each of the books I selected, so I'll also relate the story of why I bought the book and why it has been on my shelf for over 6 months.

(Edited from post originally on Cara Mama.)