To Be Read Challenge 2013

I didn't do many reading challenges this year but decided to join for 2013 the TBR Pile Challenge over at Roof Beam Reader. The challenge is to read 12 books over the course of the year (nominating a list of 14 in case a couple fail to live up to expectations), the rule being that books have to have been in the pile for at least a year, and to be honest it was quite difficult to find a dozen that I have had that long. I have not bought a huge number of books over the last year or so, I still trawl the charity shops from time to time but much less regularly than before. The library has become my haunt of choice since I often read about something and want to read it and just immediately look it up in the catalogue. I work on the principle that with limited finances I can borrow books for free but you can't borrow yarn. Anyway here is my list (from the bottom of the pile) (author name will link to author info or website and when completed the title will be a link to the review):

1. Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto (the only non-fiction, bought new probably 2010)
2. District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (charity shop find)
3. Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy (charity shop find after loving Small Island)
4. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (part of challenge to read all his books)
5. Austerlitz by W.G. Seabald (charity shop find, recommended by Susan Hill in Howards End is on the Landing)
6. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (charity shop find, Booker longlist 2010)
7. Unless by Carol Shields (charity shop find)
8. Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue (so old I can't recall, same author who wrote Room)
9. Wise Children by Angela Carter (another very old, think I may have started it once before)
10. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (charity shop find)
11. Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope (might have been bought new)
12. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (another very old, says Oxfam 49p, they charge at least £2.99 these days)
13. Howards End by E.M. Forster (20p from box outside a charity shop)
14. The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (Orange Prize winner 2010, not on the pile here, to be borrowed from Julie)

I will do a recap at the end of the year to see how things have gone. I have a pile of three from the library that I will be working on first and maybe I will just pick a random number - ok, the first book will be number 4.