Books of the Century Challenge

I was so intrigued by Daniel Immerwahr's The Books of the Century website, that I decided to launch a reading challenge based on it.

Immerwhar has compiled a list for each year of the 20th Century based on:

1. The top ten bestsellers in fiction, as recorded by Publishers Weekly;
2. The top ten bestsellers in nonfiction, also as recorded by Publishers Weekly;
3. The main selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, founded in 1926;
4. "Critically acclaimed and historically significant books, as identified by consulting various critics' and historians' lists of important books."

In light of the years covered and the range and breadth of the books, I thought this a particularly good opportunity to combine some excellent and classic reading from the history of popular American reading.  Given the number of books, this will be a perpetual challenge.  The books need not be read exclusively for this challenge.

At least for the first year, the levels will be:

• Popular Literary Culture 101 -- Five books from the entire list.
• Popular Literary Culture 201 -- Ten books from the entire list.
• Popular Literary Culture 301 -- One book from any of five different decades on the list.
• Popular Literary Culture 401 -- One book from each decade on the list.
• Master's in Popular Literary Culture -- Twenty books from the entire list, with at least each decade represented once.
• Doctorate in Popular Literary Culture -- Two or more books from each decade on the list.

Go ahead and join with Mr. Linky below.  Please try to link to a specific post on your blog about the challenge.  It is up to you whether you want to designate the books you are going to read ahead of time or just the level you are shooting for.  I will email participants so they can post reviews on the blog.

Hope you like the concept.