Engrossed: brenpike's 12 x 12 in 12

New to the group, I may be overestimating how much I can read in 2012, but I'll try for 144.

1. Companion Reads (sequential or thematically linked books)
2. Debut Books (authors' firsts)
3. 2012 Prize Winners
4. Biographies/Memoirs
5. New-to-me Authors
6. History
7. Orange Prize Nominees and Winners
8. LT Group, Tandem or Shared Reads
9. RL Group Reads
10. Madeline's Monthly TIOLI Challenge
11. Citizenjoyce's TIOLI Challenge
12. And also . . .

#1 Companion Reads

1. The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance Edmund de Waal
2. READING Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
3. Balzac's Omelette: A Delicious Tour of French Food and Culture with Honore de Balzac Anka Muhlstein
4. The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition Susan Solomon
5. The Cruelest Month Louise Penny
6. The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard
7. Halsman at Work Yvonne Halsman
8. Dali's Mustache Salvador Dali, Philippe Halsman
9. The Jump Artist Austin Ratner
10. The Maps of Gettysburg Bradley Gottfried
11. The Killer Angels Michael Shaara
12. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher:The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis Timothy Egan
13. The Plains Indian Photographs of Edward S. Curtis Edward Curtis

#2 Debut Books

1. White Ghost Girls Alice Greenway
2. Sister Rosamund Lupton
3. The Angel Makers Jessica Gregson
4. The Wandering Falcon Jamil Ahmad
5. A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True Brigid Pasulka
6. Aya Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie
7. Snow Angels Stewart O'Nan
8. In the Bleak Midwinter Julia Spencer-Fleming
9. Island of Wings Karin Altenberg
10. The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern
11. Between Shades of Gray Ruta Sepetys
12. Incendiary Chris Cleave
13. The Snow Child Eowyn Ivey
14. Rules of Civility Amor Towles
15. The Coward's Tale Vanessa Gebbie
16. Absolution Patrick Flanery
17. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Rachel Joyce
18. The Lighthouse Alison Moore
19. The Paperbark Shoe Goldie Goldbloom
20. A Cupboard Full of Coats Yvvette Edwards
21. The Light Between Oceans M.L. Stedman

#3 2012 Prize Winners

1. Caldecott Medal A Ball for Daisy Chris Raschka
2. Coretta Scott King Award Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans Kadir Nelson
3. Newbery Medal Dead End in Norvelt Jack Gantos
4. Orange Prize The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller
5. Booker Prize Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel
6. National Book Award Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo
7. Edgar Award Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President Candice Millard
8. U.S. Poet Laureat Natasha Trethewey Beyond Katrina:A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
9. Nobel Winner Mo Yan Red Sorghum
10. National Book Award The Round House Louise Erdrich
11. Guardian First Book Award The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers
12. Wellcome Trust Book Prize William Harvey: A Life in Circulation Thomas Wright
13. Samuel Johnson Prize Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest Wade Davis
14. Saltire Society (Scottish Book of the Year) Mo Said She Was Quirky James Kelman

#4 Biographies/Memoirs

1. Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies Lauren Redniss
2. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef Gabrielle Hamilton
3. Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House Elizabeth Keckley
4. Confessions of an Art Addict Peggy Guggenheim
5. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace Dang Thuy Tram
6. Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story Kapka Kassabova
7. Art Lover: A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim Anton Gill
8. Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle Fiona Carnarvon
9. One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, A Marriage, and the Language of Healing Diane Ackerman
10. Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father John Matteson
11. Henry and June Anais Nin
12. Baby's in Black: Astrid Kirschherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and the Beatles in Hamburg Arne Bellstorf
13. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake Anna Quindlen
14. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson
15. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed
16. The Girlhood Diary of Louisa May Alcott 1843-1846 Ed Kerry Graves
17. The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe John Rabe
18. The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China Ed Young

#5 New-to-me Authors

1. Eugenie Grandet Honere de Balzac
2. Drawing from Memory Allen Say
3. The Misremembered Man Christina McKenna
4. Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward
5. Lysistrata Aristophanes
6. Inside Out & Back Again Thanhha Lai
7. The Enchanted April Elizabeth von Arnim
8. Sita's Ramayana Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar
9. The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark
10. A Monster Calls: Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd Patrick Ness
11. Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found Sophie Blackall
12. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Barbara Demick
13. Missing May Cynthia Rylant
14. Through Black Spruce Joseph Boyden
15. June 29, 1999 David Weisner
16. In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez
17. Trapeze Simon Mawer
18. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti Mohammed Hanif
19. Philida Andre Brink
20. The Thief and the Dogs Naguib Mahfouz
21. Scenes From Early Life Philip Hensher
22. Skios Michael Frayn
23. Inside Alix Ohlin
24. The Teleportation Accident Ned Beauman
25. Falling Man Don DeLillo
26. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China Ed Young
27. Stick Out Your Tongue Ma Jian
28. Umbrella Will Self
29. Second Reading Jonathan Yardley

#6 History

1. Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock David Margolick
2. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France Caroline Moorehead
3. Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945 Frederick Taylor
4. Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters Louis Begley
5. Last Dinner on the Titanic Rick Archbold, Dana McCauley
6. Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, and the Worlds They Came From Richard Davenport-Hines
7. Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community Brenda Child
8. Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West Dorothy Wickenden
9. Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
10. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Gilbert King
11. October 1964 David Halberstam
12. The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln Kate Clifford Larson

#7 Orange Prize Nominees and Winners

1. Sorry Gail Jones
2. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle Monique Roffey
3. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers Xiaolu Guo
4. Gillespie and I Jane Harris
5. There But For The Ali Smith
6. Foreign Bodies Cynthia Ozick
7. The Forgotten Waltz Anne Enright
8. Painter of Silence Georgina Harding
9. When I Lived in Modern Times Linda Grant
10. Five Quarters of the Orange Joanne Harris
11. The Septembers of Shiraz Dalia Sofer
12. Gilgamesh Joan London

#8 LT Group, Tandem or Shared Reads

1. The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka
3. The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane William Holtz
4. Woe to Live On Daniel Woodrell
5. Clair de Lune Jetta Carlton
6. Remarkable Creatures Tracy Chevalier
7. Fieldwork Mischa Berlinski
8. The Fault in Our Stars John Green
9. Scenes from Village Life Amos Oz
10. Light in August William Faulkner
11. Narcopolis Jeet Thayil
12. Swimming Home Deborah Levy
13. The Garden of Evening Mists Tan Twan Eng
14. Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
15. Dressing Up for the Carnival Carol Shields
16. Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz
17. Crusoe's Daughter Jane Gardam
18. The Beautiful Mystery Louise Penny
19. Stoner John Williams

#9 RL Group Reads

1. The Wednesday Sisters Meg Waite Clayton
2. Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson
3. The Bells Richard Harvell
4. Hard Times Charles Dickens
5. My Name is Mary Sutter Robin Oliveira
6. The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt
7. At Home: A Short History of Private Life Bill Bryson
8. The Paris Wife Paula McLain
9. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid Bill Bryson
10. Snow Orhan Pamuk
11. English Creek Ivan Doig
12. Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
13. The Young Wan Brendan O'Carroll
14. Lost Memory of Skin Russell Banks

#10 Madeline's Monthly TIOLI Challenge

1. Letter from the Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. February Lisa Moore
3. The March E.L. Doctorow
4. The Lover's Dictionary David Levithan
5. A Rule Against Murder Louise Penny
6. Becoming Madame Mao Anchee Min
7. Village of the Small Houses: A Memoir of Sorts Ian Ferguson
8. The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks
9. Memento Mori Muriel Spark
10. November 22, 1963 Adam Braver
11. Notes From No Man's Land:American Essays Eula Biss
12. Empty Cradles Margaret Humphreys

#11 Citizenjoyce's TIOLI Challenge

1. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Maxine Hong Kingston
2. Letters of a Woman Homesteader Elinore Pruitt Stewart
3. Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell
4. Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story Ann Kirschner
5. These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories Nancy Turner
6. Sarah's Quilt Nancy Turner
7. The Star Garden Nancy Turner
8. Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead Barbara Comyns
9. The Legend of Pradeep Mathew Shehan Karunatilaka
10. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America David von Drehle
11. Three Weeks in December Audrey Schulman
12. Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs Ken Jennings

#12 And also. . .

1. January's Sparrow Patricia Polacco
2. In the Heart of the Country J.M. Coetzee
3. Keats's Neighborhood Ezra Jack Keats
4. The Odds Stewart O'Nan
5. Goodnight iPad: A Parody for the Next Generation Ann Droyd
6. Why Read Moby-Dick? Nathaniel Philbrick
7. Aya of Yop City Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie
8. Aya: The Secrets Come Out Marguerite Abouet & Clement Oubrerie
9. The Buffalo Soldier Chris Bohjalian
10. Bertrand Russell's Best: Silhouettes in Satire Robert Egner
11. Horton Hatches the Egg Dr. Seuss
12. April in Paris Michael Wallner
13. Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems
Diane Ackerman
14. Heft Liz Moore
15. The Brutal Telling Louise Penny
16. Bury Your Dead Louise Penny
17. A Trick of the Light Louise Penny
18. Life & Times of Michael K J.M. Coetzee
19. Nineteenth Century Houses in Lawrence, KS Univ of KS Museum of Art
20. The Coffin Quilt:The Feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys Ann Rinaldi
21. A Hologram for the King Dave Eggers
22. This Is How You Lose Her Junot Diaz
23. Memories of My Melancholy Whores Gabriel Garcia Marquez
24. Limelight Larry Leigh Hodgkinson
25. The Night Before Christmas Clement Moore

Welcome to the challenge! You've got a few categories that will interest me, I'll look forward to seeing what you read next year.

Ditto to the welcome!

Hi Brenda and welcome to the challenge. Looking forward to following your reading next year.

Welcome to the challenge! I am an Orange, Prize winners and debut follower so I look forward to following your reading. Have fun and happy reading!

Welcome, Brenda!

Hi Brenda, I'm predicting that you will have no problem reading 144 books!

Hi Brenda! I jumping over from the 75 Book Challenge, too.

Hi all. Welcome . . .
An explanation on challenge #1: I'll list the companion books, even though I've not completed them so this listing will make some kind of sense! And, I'll try to remember to add a comment about how they're related.

The Hare with Amber Eyes:A Hidden Inheritance was fascinating, especially the section about the author's ancestor, Charles Ephrussi. Ephrussi was a contemporary of and friends with many of the painters (Monet, Manet, Pissaro, etc.) and writers (Proust, Zola) of the day. Proust modeled Charles Swann in Swann's Way after Charles Ephrussi.
This is my first Proust and I'm finding it tedious. It is also a very long (e-reader) book, so it may take me a long time to finish!

Balzac's Omelette: A Delicious Tour of French Food and Culture with Honore de Balzac by Anka Muhlstein.

This witty book about food and table in 17th century France, and about the way Balzac incorporated them into his novels was an interesting read. I read Balzac's Eugenie Grandet earlier this month, so it's references in Muhlstein's book made it more enjoyable. I'll follow Balzac's Omelette with The Human Comedy by Balzac.
I am also adding several books by other writers of that era: Zola The Belly of Paris, Maupassant Bel-Ami, Flaubert A Sentimental Education. Plus another Balzac The Lily of the Valley.

The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition by Susan Solomon

This account of the 1912 ascent to the South Pole by a British team of 5 members led by Robert Falcon Scott is told from the perspective of a meteorologist and confirms that us usually severe weather conditions contributed to the deaths of the party on their return trip. I am planning to read The Worst Journey by Apsley Cherry-Garrard who was a member of the larger expedition group and was a close personal friend of the men whose lives were lost in March, 1912.

I really enjoyed The Worst Journey in the World and I hope you do too!

I'm currently reading Scott's last expedition and read the worst journey in the world last year - stirring stuff!

I'm eager to get (ILL) and start The Worst Journey in the World. I'm still thinking about The Coldest March and will probably continue to do so. Cherry-Garrard's first person narrative will be even more compelling I'm sure. . .

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

Third book in the Three Pines Mystery series. I read the first two last year and will continue to read the series.

With the addition of Brainiac in #11, I have finished my 12x12 in 12 challenges. Woo Hoo!

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congrats on completing your challenge.

Congratulations!