2. Catch up on my reading.

My love affair with books started early (see above). Reading is my most perfect escape, and to me books are the most loyal of friends. (Along with Teddy, obviously.)

Most all of my reading is done for pure pleasure...not for the direct improvement of my mind (although I would argue that something can be learned from even the trashiest read), and I am as addicted to finding something new to read as much as any junkie. But as I prowl the bookstores and libraries for my next fix, it started to occur to me that there are a lot of great books out there that I have never read. (And by great, I mean great with a capital "G".)

So as part of my countdown list, I am going to read 80 books (40 each year) that I have never read before, and let you know what I think about them. I did not necessarily choose the most popular book by each author, instead I choose the book that sounded the most interesting to me personally. (Which means that yes, I really did some research to choose these books! Again, I know what a geek I am, thanks.) There are biographies, short stories, children's titles....and a few books that actually rocked the world.

The first 40, as you will notice, are all by female authors...I had to narrow the list down somehow! It was actually really hard to choose...but here is the final cut. If you have (or haven't) read any of these titles, I would love to hear what YOU thought!

1. Helen Keller: The Story of My Life


2. Anne Frank: The Diary of Anne Frank


3. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women


4. Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar


5. Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird


6. Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale


7. Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye


8. Amy Tan: The Hundred Secret Senses


9. Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings


10. Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind


11. Virginia Woolfe: A Room of One's Own


12. Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre


13. Alice Walker: The Color Purple


14. Flannery O'Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find


15. Alice Steinbach: Without Reservations


16. Julia Child: My Life in France


17. Erica Jong: Fear of Flying


18. Isabel Allende: Daughter of Fortune


19. Ursula Le Guin: Lavinia


20. SARK: Succulent Wild Woman


21. Barbara Robinson: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever


22. Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones' Diary


23. Candace Bushnell: Sex & the City


24. Pearl Buck: The Good Earth


25. Daphne de Murier: Rebecca


26. Anne Morrow Lindbergh: A Gift from the Sea


27. Dorothy Parker: The Portable Dorothy Parker


28. Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique


29. Anita Diamant: The Red Tent


30. Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden


31. Judy Blume: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret


32. Katherine Paterson: Bridge to Terabithia


33. Naomi Wolf: The Beauty Myth


34. Jane Austen: Pride & Prejudice


35. Jane Austen: Persuasion


36. Jane Austen: Emma


37. Jane Austen: Mansfield Park


38. Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey


39. Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged


40. Enid Blyton: The Enchanted Wood