342,745 Ways to Herd Cats challenge

I have no idea why this challenge is called this; it seems to me that a more apt name would coordinate with the challenge’s button:

I think a good name would be tl;dr — which means, in case you were wondering, too long; didn’t read.

I found the challenge at The Hidden Side of a Leaf; it was created by Renay.

Here’s how it works:

Right now, until May 1, each participant can create a list of 10 book recommendations. Oh, you’re ‘sposed to love the books you recommend. Then, each participant can choose (from all the compiled lists) a minimum of 3 books to read, between May 1 and November 30. (It’s OK to start early, according to Renay.)

It’s certainly acceptable to recommend a book that’s already been recommended — that just makes those titles more likely to be read by others.

The list to choose from is well over 300 titles right now, so it shouldn’t be hard for anyone to find titles they’d like to read.

Here’s the information page, the participants page, a reading lists page, and a master book list page.

So, now I have to create a list of books I love. While it’s not hard to think of books I love, it is difficult to create a list, to narrow it down, to feel like I’ve set such a list in stone. Therefore, I shall hedge: This is just the list I’m making now, it may not be the list I’d have made yesterday, or the list I’d make next week.

OK, now that list, in no particular order:
1. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
2. Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4. Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset
5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
6. The Story of the Stone, Vol. 1 by Cao Xueqin
7. Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) by Dorothy L. Sayers
8. Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
9. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
10. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Whew! OK, the list has some heavy tomes, but it also has some lighter fare.

I haven’t figured out which three (or more) from the master list I’ll tackle yet, but I did notice Cloudstreet by Tim Winton there, and it’s already in my to-be-read list, so that’s probably one of them.

Come join me in the challenge! It’s only 3 books …