This is almost totally revised from first my posting. I had put books on here that worked for other challenges, but I want this one to be about reading the books I bought in hardover and did not read right away.
The Rules: read 12 books from the TBR pile that have been there for at least a year. 2 alternates are allowed.
Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimik
Curiosity by Joan Thomas
Going Ashore by Mavis Gallant
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
The Last Supper by Rachel Cusk
Little, Big by John Crowley (abandoned)
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker
The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt
The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon. Toronto: Coach House Press, 2007. Will read for Canada Reads Independently.
Still Life with June by Darren Greer. Toronto: Cormorant, 2003. Will read for Canada Reads Independently.
Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb. London: J.M. Dent, 1906. Will read for essay challenge.
A Plea for Eros by Siri Hustvedt. New York: Picador, 2006. Will read for essay challenge.
The Big House by George Howe Colt. New York: Scribner, 2003. Will read for other TBR challenges.
Boredom: A Literary History of a State of Mind by Patricia Meyer Spacks. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
The Plot by Madeleine Bunting. London: Granta, 2009.
The Girl on the Wall by Jean Baggott. London: Icon, 2009.
The Pattern in the Carpet by Margaret Drabble. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith. Toronto: Hamish Hamilton, 2009.
Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane. New York: Norton, 2009. Will read for science book challenge.
The Element by Ken Robinson. New York: Viking, 2009. Will read for science book challenge.
Alternates:
Stolen Words: The Classic Book on Plagiarism by Thomas Mallon. New York: Penguin, 1991.
Proust and the Squid: The Story of Science and the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.
Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon
The Origin of Species Nino Ricci
Nathalie Foy 
Thanks for taking the challenge with me! I have honestly never heard of any of these books, so I am very excited to read your reviews and learn something about each of them – maybe add a few to my own ever-growing TBR pile. 🙂
Thanks, Adam. It’s a great idea for a challenge.
The Pattern in the Carpet is SO SO good. I love Margaret Drabble and this lived up to all my expections.
And I rushed out to get it because I knew I’d love it, but then it got buried.
Mm, I want to read both Proust and the Squid and The Pattern in the Carpet.
The only one on your list that I’ve read is A Plea for Eros, which I read in 2006 and remember very dimly – though I remember I liked it. (Though looking back at my blog post about it just now – http://www.lettersandsodas.com/books/?p=93 – I was reminded that the title essay felt like it was stating the obvious, though I realize that’s in part a question of cultural/generational perspective.)
Is Proust and Squid related to your Proust project or just co-incidence?
Just coincidence – my boyfriend picked up a free copy of it at work and enjoyed it, and so I’ve been meaning to read it too.
Just checking-in on your progress for the 2011 TBR Pile Challenge – how are things going so far?! Don’t forget to link your reviews to your master list. 🙂
Also… BIG Giveaways are happening next week, and TBR Pile Challenge participants earn extra entries for linking to their lists, so be sure to visit my Giveaways section soon! 😉