Reading Challenges & Lists

Warning: This is Personal

My wife Hoang and I started reading the 121 books on the Modern Library Top 100 English Language Novels of the 20th Century list in 2000. Reviews and progress here.

Of course I read any and all Connecticut books for this Connecticut-centric site over here .

2,000 Books Since I Turned 50 Reading Challenge

The above comprises the old school book content on CTMQ which includes reviews. But I love lists and when I turned 50 in 2022, I began reading book lists that interest me in earnest. Mostly of my own creation, pulling from tons of “best of” lists and pulling out those that appeared the most/highest. There are around 2,000 books in all – a ridiculous number of course – but when I die I want to be able to say I read some of the best of the genres I like.

I maintain a large and lovely Google Sheet with all of my book lists and tallies and data and short reviews and… I love it. It gives me joy and peace. Inter-library loans, Libby, thrift stores, used book stores, little free libraries… most of what I want to read can be found one way or another. If anyone actually is on this page and curious about one list or another, just let me know.

My lists are made up of:

My top 250 Horror & Stephen King books
Best of all time Manga/Graphic Novels
Modern Library 121 (above)
The Guardian 100 Best 2000-2020
NYT 100 Best 2000-2024
NYT Readers 100 Best 2000-2024
My Top 250 Mystery, Caper, Thriller 250
TIME Top 100 Mysteries & Thrillers
100 Must Read Thrillers (some book I found)
Top 200 SciFi/Fantasy
My Own/Favorite 200 books/authors
Top 100 Sports books
Top 100 Food & Travel books
Top 100 Science & Nature books
100 Biography/History/Memoirs I’m interested in
100 Connecticut books