The Books Lists Life Personal Reading Challege

I don't usually do very well at reading challenges. I'm not sure I've actually ever completed one successfully. I get a little jealous of all the fun lists everyone else is making, but I'm realistic and I know I won't complete a challenge anyway. Despite this, I decided that I wanted to do a little personal challenge with a couple of friends. I thought that maybe I would slowly work my way through my reading friends, and maybe stir up a little conversation with them.

The idea is that we'd each make a list of 5 or 6 books and then the other person would read 4 or 5 of them. We are allowed an out, in case the other person picked something horrible, like poetry or a play. There is no time limit on the challenge and no pressure.

The first person I asked my my good friend Shawna. Shawna lives in Rapid City so we don't see each other often, and we don't read all the same books, but we both share a love of books and libraries (like many of you.) Shawna's favorite books are ones that make you cry. They rip your heart out and stomp on them, and make you ache for the characters. She likes serious books and women's fiction, with a big dose of non-fiction and memoirs to round it out. The more drama the better.  We both read and loved The Time Traveler's Wife, Me & Emma, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

For Shawna, I chose:

• Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons. This one is set in a fictional Auburn during integration. I've read it at least 6 times and love it.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth. I loved this one last year and want to make everyone else read it.
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It's possible I don't love it as much as I once did, but it made a big impact on me in college, so here it is.
• Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner. For an unreligious person (I prefer to think of myself as spiritual. Hork.), I seem to read a lot of religious memoirs.
• Moon Called (Mercy Thompson) by Patricia Briggs. This is the first book in what is, hands down, my favorite series.

I did NOT give her any traditional romances. I was tempted, but I did not.

For me, Shawna picked:

• A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" by Marianne Williamson.
• Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn.
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• The Wizard of Oz (Puffin Classics) by L Frank Baum
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (I've actually read this, but it was in high school and I don't remember much of it at all.)

The second person I asked was another Lisa, who (used to, ahem) blog at Git Down Kitty. Lisa is a quilt and craft blogger, not a books blogger, but as we've chatted extensively online it's come to light that we both do a good bit of reading. She reads more in the chick lit and mystery genres, with the occasional young adult thrown in for good measure. She's one of the many people encouraging me to read Outlander .

For Lisa, I chose:

• Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth.
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock. If you haven't read this, please do, so I can ask you a Question!

For me, Lisa chose:

• The Prince of Tides: A Novel by Pat Conroy (unrelated note, my ex-sister-in-law's two cats were Conroy and Austen.)
• Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
• Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
• Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
• Whiskey Sour (Jack Daniels Mysteries) by J. A. Konrath

My original list for Lisa was much longer, but I managed to narrow it down. For now.

If you were to pick a list of books for another blogger, would it be the same list for everyone, or would you prefer to match it to the other blogger? I had a hard time with this decision, I think my ultimate list would have ended up differently if I wasn't able to swap up a couple books. I wanted to formalize this as a challenge for myself, because someone when people say "Oh you HAVE to read this!" I don't ever DO it. This is a way to push myself to read books that other people truly loved.

How about you? Do you tend to push those recommendations to the side? Do you read them immediately? Especially for books that aren't new releases? Would you do a challenge of this type with a friend?