Last year, I did a reading challenge where I had to read 24 books in 2019. I accomplished this challenge and was a bit surprised that I did accomplish it. My life now, doesn’t leave much space for reading. I’m delighted that I’m back in the habit of picking up a book.

For 2020, I don’t want to read a quantity of books. I want to broaden my reading horizon and improve my writing skills. To do this, I’ve come up with a new plan: a reading list. Today, I jotted down a whole heap of books I want to read, and I’ll list them here. My one rule is that I’m not allowed to re-read a book. Absolutely no book that I’ve already read, because I always go down that rabbit hole and then wonder why I’m bored. This list won’t be set in stone, I may read other books that aren’t on this list. This is a guide of what I would like to read this year. If I don’t succeed in reading these books, I’ll add them to the 2021 reading list post that I’ll do next year.

So far the books are in three categories: English, français and Buddhism/Meditation. In no specific order:

English

• Macbeth, William Shakespeare
• Motherfocloir, Darach O’Séaghdha
• Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
• The Good Girls Revolt, Lynn Povich
• Bleak House, Charles Dickens
• Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
• The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
• Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
• The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
• Fear of Flying, Erica Jong

Français

• L’Etranger, Albert Camus
• L’Enfant Noir, Camara Laye
• Entre les Murs, François Bégaudeau
• La Maison de Claudine, Colette
• Candide, Voltaire
• Notre Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo
• Soumission, Michel Houellebeg
• Le Père Goriot, Honoré de Balzac
• Les Fleurs du Mal, Honoré de Balzac
• Fables, Jean de La Fontaine
• Le petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

Buddhism & Meditation

• Approaching the Dhamma: Buddhist Texts and Practices in South and South-East Asia, Anne M. Blackburn
• The Art of Dying, Osho
• The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation: As Taught by S. N. Goenka, William Hart
• The Buddha’s Ancient Path, Piyadassi Thera
• Mindfulness in Plain English, Henepolo Gunaratana
• What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula
• The Dhammapada, Anonymous
• A Practical and Spiritual Path: An Introduction to Vipassana Meditation

Image: English: A Bookshelf by Stewart Butterfield License