Barbara made me do it

Barbara posted on her blog about the Winter Reading Challenge, so I thought I'd take it up and see if I could do it. Heaven knows there are enough books on my shelves that I've bought and never read, so this will be good incentive to read some of them. Here are my five books, in no particular order:

1. Looking Backward: 2000-1887 - Edward Bellamy. Dr. Wilshire mentioned this book in one of my history classes, and I was fascinated with the idea. I bought the book, and it's been lying around for probably close to 10 years now.
2. The Man Who Was Thursday - G. K. Chesterton. I think I bought this book because I liked the title. We'll see if it lives up to it.
3. Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. A book that I've always felt like I should read.
4. Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel. NO, I've never read it. Yes, I KNOW you can't believe it.
5. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. Heard it's good. One of those books that you should be able to say you've read, much like Animal Farm. Which I also haven't read.

So there they are. I tried to make myself throw in Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, but I just can't bring myself to choke down Russian lit in the winter. But I did put things on my list that are more than fluff. Because fluff is mostly what I've been reading lately. I do most of my reading between 10:00 and midnight, and by that time I'm lazy and feel like I can't handle anything that requires a lot of thought. But I need to get back in the habit, so here I go. I'm starting with Looking Backward. But I'm pretty sure I'll be dovetailing in a whole lot of Jan Caron and the Mitford books at the same time, because they're light and fun and comforting. Nobody in Mitford ever tries to overthrow the government and start a new world order.