1000 Books Project 2026 - Charles Darwin

Project Backstory:

I picked up a copy of James Mustich's amazing 1000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life Changing List and upon looking through it, I realized it really is a well-rounded reading recommendation book. I was pleased to discover I have read quite a few of the books he lists, and that many of them are on my personal reading lists (and they are books I own). So, to ever expand my reading horizons, and include others in the journey, I decided to create a read-along challenge, or project, if you will.

It's fairly obvious that the United States is in a constitutional crisis. We may as well say we are a country in crisis...period. Logic, kindness, equality, science, books and literature are all becoming products of the past, at least in the eyes of the current regime. Well, I for one have been taking a stand, and I will keep taking a stand in any way I can until we get past this mess. 

1000 Books will be focusing on topics listed above (and more) for the foreseeable future. Science, social justice, history (true history), government, banned books, etc. because Reading Is Political.

"It was only recently that I realized that it is a privilege to have access to my books and these stories. I have the material capital to purchase books from bookstores and easy access to a public library. I have the education it takes to read the words on the pages and the comprehension skills to understand what they are saying.

Reading is fun, yes. It is enjoyable, it is a good pastime, it is a good skill to have and to hone.

But we must also never forget that reading is political.

Not everyone has the privilege of engaging with ideas found in books. Literacy is still inaccessible for many people, and even for those who can read, the ability to access books is actively being threatened. When books are banned, when libraries are defunded, when stories are erased from curriculums, we are stripping people of the opportunity to learn, grow and think critically. The ability to read and read freely is not just a personal joy — it should be considered a fundamental right.

It feels strange to write that in the 21st century, this right is under attack. While our very institutions work to limit our access to books and knowledge, we can push back. We can challenge censorship, support libraries, share books and advocate for literacy programs. Reading is a privilege, yes — but it is also an act of resistance."

From an article in The Pitt News by Livia LaMarca (February 25, 2025) Read the full article here.

I chose Darwin's The Origin of Species (and The Voyage of the Beagle) because, for me, Darwin's discovery of evolution is one of the most important discoveries in science. Yet there are still many who believe the earth is only 6000 years old. It's really no surprise that it's the most commonly banned science book.

A Censored Science Book for Banned Books Week

"I was not at all surprised to discover that the most commonly banned science book is Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, first published in 1859 and banned in 1895 for contradicting Christian beliefs. Darwin’s publication has been called “the most influential banned book.” On the Origin of Species lays the groundwork for modern evolutionary biology. Very little about science is understandable without a basic knowledge of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

As a former secondary science teacher, I know the importance of accurately teaching evolution as well as encouraging students to learn more about Darwin’s theory. It’s doubly important today as science naysayers spread misinformation that influence public and political decision making. Genetics, population biology, and even epidemiology, especially the study of pathogens that evolve rapidly like the COVID-19 virus, all depend on an understanding of evolution. According to a 2011 article from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, knowledge of the fundamental basics of evolutionary biology is necessary to the understanding of disease and public health.

I think Charles Darwin would agree. Darwin studied hundreds of plants and animals as he traveled around the world on the British ship H.M.S. Beagle in 1831. He observed that no two individuals in a population are exactly alike, and he recognized how favorable inherited variations influence the success of a species. A majority of Darwin’s observations were made during his visit to the Galápagos Islands, and today the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island helps conserve this laboratory of life."

Article by Kellyanne Burbage on the Intellectual Freedom Blog (September 30, 2021) Read the full article here.

We will read The Origin of Species first, January through May, and The Voyage of the Beagle in June, July, and August. 

My edition of The Origin of Species - Gramercy Books (Random House), 1979. Hardcover, 460 pages. The Foreword and Gallery of Animal Illustrations (as well as the Glossary at the back), are not included in the reading schedule.

Reading schedule for The Origin of Species:

• January: A Historical Sketch - Ch. 3, pp 53 - 129
  Discussion: January 31
• February: Ch. 4 - 6, pp 130 - 233
  Discussion: February 28
• March: Ch. 7 - 9, pp 234 - 316
  Discussion: March 31
• April: Ch. 10 - 12, pp 317 - 396
  Discussion: April 30
• May: Ch. 13 - 14, pp 397 - 459
  Discussion: May 31

My edition of The Voyage of the Beagle - Open Road Media, 2016. Kindle, 388 pages. Since this Kindle book does not include page numbers, I had to base the schedule on chapters alone.

• June: Ch. 1 - 7
  Discussion: June 30
• July: Ch. 8 - 14
  Discussion: July 31
• August: Ch. 15 -21
  Discussion: August 31

Discussions will be posted here on the blog on the dates indicated in the schedules. Feel free to stop by the discussions any time. Post your thoughts in the comments, or share a link to a blog post.

I have a Goodreads group that is now defunct called Lit Collective. I'm planning to change that group over to a group for Gather Together and Read so there will be a thread for 1000 Books on there as well. I will update this post with a link to the group for you to join if you're on Goodreads.

If you would like to join us, sign up by leaving a comment below (and a link, if you post about it on your blog or social media).

1000 Books Project - Beloved Discussion

Yes, I missed the first discussion (doing this during the holidays is not a great idea...next year's challenge will avoid that), and I finished the book early. Just getting around to posting this. I won't say much because I have tons of stuff to get done before New Year's (our family Christmas is on New Year's Day). Also, to those who celebrate, I hope you had a great Christmas!

Books about slavery are always a hard read for me. Ever since I was a child, when my parents let me watch Roots, it is a subject that has affected me deeply. No matter how long I live in this world, I still cannot wrap my head around the horrific treatment of fellow human beings. 

What Sethe feels she must do to keep her children from being taken back to slavery is both horrifying and understandable at the same time. Imagine thinking death would be better for them than living as slaves. I imagine many former slaves had post-traumatic stress disorder, something I think Sethe suffers from. 

The supernatural aspect of the book...Beloved. She is so disturbing. When Sethe finally comes to the realization of who she really is, the story becomes even more disquieting. My theory is that Beloved is the physical incarnation of Sethe's guilt, and it almost ends up killing her. It's a statement on what a person's guilt can do to them. In those days, there was little to no help for the mentally ill, and probably highly doubtful for former slaves. As shown at the end of the book, it's community that these people relied on to get them through tough times. That was a truly heartening aspect of the book. 

Despite the difficult subject matter, I thought this book was excellent. Yet another testament to Toni Morrison's brilliance.

If you joined me for the read-along, I'd like to thank you. Please share any final thoughts you had on the book in the comments.

I'll be announcing the 2024 1000 Books Project this week so stay tuned!

1000 Books Project - Beloved Reading Schedule

Pardon me for being late with the schedule. The month crept up on me!

Time to start our next book in our 1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023 read-along challenge...Toni Morrison's Beloved, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. 

My edition: Plume (Penguin Books) 1998 - trade paperback, movie tie-in edition, 275 pages.

Discussions will be posted here on the blog on the dates indicated in the schedule. Feel free to stop by the discussions any time. Post your thoughts in the comments, or share a link to a blog post.

Since the holidays are coming up, I'm going to make this easy (and it won't be hard since it's such a short book). There are two parts. We will discuss Part One at the end of November and Part Two at the end of December.

• November - Part One, pp. 1 - 165
  Discussion post will go up on Thursday, November 30
• December - Part Two, pp. 167 - 275 (end)
  Discussion post will go up on Sunday, December 31

The original 2023 1000 Books challenge post with info and sign-up is here.

I hope you will join me!

1000 Books Project - The House of the Spirits Discussion Two (Final)

I apologize for delaying and combining the final two discussions into one. I'll admit I struggled with the middle section of the book. While I enjoyed the magical realism, I sometimes felt Allende went into too much detail. 

Frankly, I was horrified when it came down to the coup d'etat with the government and military. The warnings early on of what was probably going to happen, with the left and the right constantly at odds, and the right not giving a shit about the poor. Sound familiar? I can only hope that our country never comes to that, but I'm certainly not going to say it could never happen because the sad reality is...it could. 

I did a Google search to see if there was any historical context regarding the political upheavals in the book (which I figured there was some basis in fact). Turns out...

HOS could be considered a fictional version of the history of Chile from the 1930s to the 1970s leading up to the military coup d’état led by General Pinochet. In fact, politics is a major theme throughout the novel, as there is constant conflict between the socialists and conservatives. The characters in the novel resemble known characters during the Chilean revolution. For example, Pedro Tercero parallels the tale of Victor Jara. Both were musicians and used songwriting to express their revolutionary ideas. Unlike how Jara was murdered, Tercero was simply kicked out of the Tres Marias and eventually runs away to Canada with Blanca. Other parallels include the novel's the Poet and real life, famous Pablo Neruda, whose real death came twelve days after the coup d’état. The Poet’s funeral was somberly described in the final pages of the novel. Another parallel was the fictional character, the President, in conjunction with real life Salvador Allende, who was assassinated very accurately described in the novel. The behind-the-scenes drama of left versus right and super power USA versus USSR was also dramatically brought to life in this novel.

Most importantly, General Hertado correlates with the persona of Augusto Pinochet. Both yearned for power and money. Similar to how Pinochet overthrew socialist President, Allende, Trueba dedicated all his work to support the right-wing government. Ultimately, Pinochet became president and Trueba became disenchanted, isolated, and ignored by the military rulers. The 1970-1980s were the saddest period in Chilean history where a “brain-drain” where the talented and well-educated fled the country and stripped the nation of its best and brightest for a generation including Miss Allende.  

Source: The House of the Spirits - Historical Context

What befell Alba during the upheaval was horrific. It was heartening to learn that Trueba had worked with Miguel to find her. I think in the end Trueba finally realized how wrong he had been about everything. His political ideology had harmed his family, and I feel family, above all, was ultimately the most important thing to him. Clara, with her clairvoyance, never truly abandoned him because I think she knew deep down the truth about him. 

At the end, I was teary-eyed. The quote below really got me at the end. The older I get the more I think back and try to remember things that happened in my life, particularly having to do with my sons. I wish I had written down more, kept notebooks, as Clara did. My mom has always kept a journal so I know when she finally leaves this world it will be sad to read them, but also a blessing to have all those memories captured for all time. Personally, I have started thinking back and writing things down because I feel it's never too late. 

"I write, she wrote, that memory is fragile and the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously--as the three Mora sisters said, who could see the spirits of all eras mingled in space. That's why my Grandmother Clara wrote in her notebooks, in order to see things in their true dimension and to defy her own poor memory."

If you joined me for the read-along, I'd like to thank you. Please share any final thoughts you had on the book in the comments.

I did a more extensive write-up about this book for Banned Books Week at my main site, True Book Addict. You can read that here.

Our next book for the 1000 Books Project is Beloved by Toni Morrison which we will read in November. I will post the reading schedule by the end of October.  

1000 Books Project - Update on The House of the Spirits read-along and plans for the Beloved read-along

Just wanted to post a quick update on The House of the Spirits. I had intended on posting the next discussion on September 16th. Clearly that didn't happen. I will post the final discussion, over the second half of the book on Sunday, October 1st. If you missed the discussion over the first half of the book, you can check that out here.

I've decided to move the Beloved (Toni Morrison) read-along to November. I have way too much reading on my plate in October (because...spooky season) so November will work better for me. Hope that's okay for everyone who is reading along. I'll post the reading schedule sometime in October.

1000 Books Project - The House of the Spirits Discussion One

Yes, I realize I am totally off schedule with the first two reading sections. I apologize. I can't explain what happened in August. I'll just say it wasn't pretty. lol

This book is truly wonderful. It's loaded with magical realism which I love. But it also takes a good look at class differences in 20th century South America. The politics spoken about, and the mention of Socialism, made me think of current murmurings in American politics. Esteban Trueba is a right bastard. It has been a while since I've disliked a character this much. His treatment of the women in and around Tres Marias, and his clear disdain for all women..."I didn't dare leave my house, where there was clearly need for a man among so many hysterical women" is almost unbearable to read. The earthquake was terrible. His beating of Blanca was horrible. He certainly deserved for Clara to never speak to him/have anything to do with him from that point on. We shall see what transpires in the second half of the book. 

I remember the film The House of the Spirits and I was looking at the cast online. How very white-washed. Jeremy Irons as Esteban. Meryl Streep as Clara. Winona Ryder as Blanca. Glenn Close as Ferula. The only Hispanic actors were Antonio Banderas as Pedro Tercero, Sarita Choudhury as Pancha, and a few others in supporting, and other minor, roles. I did enjoy the film, and plan a rewatch after finishing the book, but I can only hope that if this film was made in the present day, it would feature a far more diverse cast. 

One of the reasons we are reading this book is in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month which runs from September 15 through October 15. And, of course, as a banned book...

Though the novel has never been officially banned, it has faced several challenges in schools since the time of its publication in 1982, often being characterized as “pornagraphic”, “immoral” and “defaming the Catholic faith”. The most recent, and perhaps most significant, challenge came about in 2013 when several parents at a North Carolina high school raised formal complaints to the school board regarding the book being a part of the English curriculum. The book was retained after three appeals and a defense letter from Isabel Allende herself. In the letter, the author writes:

“I find myself in the unusual and awkward position of having to “defend” my novel The House of the Spirits that risks being banned from a high school in Boone, North Carolina. Banning of books is a common practice in police states, like Cuba or North Korea, and by religious fundamentalist groups like the Taliban, but I did not expect it in our democracy…” Source

What did you think of the first half of the book? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.

I will make a concerted effort to post the next discussion on time, according to the reading schedule. Thank you for bearing with me. 

1000 Books Project - The House of the Spirits Reading Schedule

Time to start our next book in our 1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023 read-along challenge...Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in September.

My edition: Alfred A. Knopf 1985 - hardcover, 368 pages.

Discussions will be posted here on the blog on the dates indicated in the schedule. Feel free to stop by the discussions any time. Post your thoughts in the comments, or share a link to a blog post.

Reading Schedule:

• August 1 - 15, Chapters 1 - 3, pp. 3 - 88
  Discussion post will go up on Wednesday, August 16
• August 16 - 31, Chapters 4 - 6, pp. 89 - 178
  Discussion post will go up on Friday, September 1
• September 1 - 15, Chapters 7 - 10, pp. 179 - 269
  Discussion post will go up on Saturday, September 16
• September 16 - 30, Chapters 11 - Epilogue, pp. 270 - 368 (end)
  Discussion post will go up on Sunday, October 1

The original 2023 1000 Books challenge post with info and sign-up is here.

Happy reading!

1000 Books Project - Brave New World Final Thoughts

I apologize for not having two discussions like I planned. The month got away from me, and I was having trouble getting into the book. I finally finished it today. 

I've heard a lot of great things about this book so I guess I was expecting to be wowed. I didn't hate it or anything (4 stars on Goodreads, but maybe closer to 3.5). It just had a lot of ups and downs for me. Just when it would start to get exciting, the long philosophical talks would start. But that's enough nitpicking. Let's talk about how appalling it would be if the world was to come to be as it is in this book. 

No families, no parents, a caste system decided by level of intelligence which is genetically engineered in every person. It's normal for seven year old children (and probably younger and older as well) to participate in erotic play (!). No books, meaning literature...no Shakespeare, etc. No one grows old because they're disposed of before they can even become elderly. Psychological manipulation and conditioning. The list goes on and on. It's such a generic society, it does border on hilarity. The way they talk, act. It would be a shock if you had not always lived like that so I completely understand John's (who they call the Savage) reaction. How else could someone who had grown up reading the beautiful words of Shakespeare act? 

Huxley was a visionary in a lot of this, as this was published in 1932. He writes about many of the things we are now capable of in our current society. Pretty scary. I hope I'm long gone off this earth if this kind of world ever comes to pass. Not a brave new world in my opinion.

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What did you think? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.

Our next book for the 1000 Books Project is The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. We will read and discuss in August and September, with the latter month being Hispanic Heritage Month and Banned Books Week also falls in September. I will post the reading schedule before the end of July. 

1000 Books Project - Brave New World Reading Schedule

Time to start our next book in our 1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023 read-along challenge...Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

My edition: HarperPerennial, 1998 - trade paperback, 268 pages.

Discussions will be posted here on the blog on the dates indicated in the schedule. Feel free to stop by the discussions any time. Post your thoughts in the comments, or share a link to a blog post.

Reading Schedule:

• June 1 - 15 - Chapters 1 - 9, pp. 3 - 145
  Discussion post will go up on Friday, June 16
• June 16 - 29, Chapters 10 - 18, pp. 146 - 259
  Discussion post will go up on Friday, June 30

I've invited the participants in June's Sci-Fi Summer Readathon (hosted on my Seasons of Reading blog) to join us in this read-along. If you would like to join us for the readathon, you will find all the info and sign-up here.

The original 2023 1000 Books challenge post with info and sign-up is here.

Happy reading!

1000 Books Project: Part Three of Elie Wiesel's Night Trilogy - Discussing The Accident

I'm sorry I am SO late with this post. I finished the last novel in the trilogy at the very beginning of April. Just haven't had a chance to get over here. 

I don't really know what to say about The Accident. It is what it is. What I will say is that the story in this novel really illustrates the guilt Holocaust survivors carry. That they survived while others didn't. Even to the point where, after surviving all of that, their will to live is not very strong. Is this character in The Accident autobiographically based on Elie's own experiences. I wonder. Perhaps he knew of other survivors who did have this mentality, this not being able to carry on a normal, happy life because of the memories. Having survived one of the most horrific and tragic events in history is something that would be very hard to reconcile with living a normal life. This is my opinion, of course. 

What did you think of The Accident? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.

Our next book for the 1000 Books Project is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Since the book is relatively short (my copy is 268 pages), we will be doing the read-along for this one in June, during my Sci-Fi Summer Readathon at Seasons of Reading. I will be inviting readathon participants to join us for the read-along. I will post the reading schedule in May. 

1000 Books Project: Part Two of Elie Wiesel's Night Trilogy - Discussing Dawn

I don't really have too much to say about Dawn. Not quite as compelling as Night, but still gripping in its own right. I did find myself wondering how many young people who survived the Holocaust (the camps) ended up exactly where Elisha did...part of a terrorist movement? It's sad to become so consumed with hate, but it is very understandable. I can see how fighting back against oppression is very important to them. Of course, Gad is a convincing recruiter. 

"Gad's stories were utterly fascinating. I saw in him a prince of Jewish history, a legendary messenger sent by fate to awaken my imagination, to tell the people whose past was now their religion: Come, come; the future is waiting for you with open arms. From now on you will no longer be humiliated, persecuted, or even pitied. You will not be strangers encamped in an age and a place that are not yours. Come, brothers, come!"

The ending is truly hard to read. I think to myself, I could never kill another human being, but I have never been faced with oppression. That being said, is terrorism really the answer? It has been around for hundreds of years, and nothing has ever really changed. Much the same as war. Something to think about.

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What did you think of Dawn? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.

We are reading Book Three of the Night Trilogy, The Accident, this month. According to our reading schedule, I will post the discussion on (around) March 31.

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1000 Books Project: Part One of Elie Wiesel's Night Trilogy - Discussing Night

I will never ever understand how human beings could treat their fellow man so horrifically. The Holocaust is what happens when people turn a blind eye to what is slowly developing in their back yards. It could happen again, people. As much as I hate to say that, I can't help but believe it. I don't want to get political, but I just have to say that I never thought I would see America becoming what it is becoming. Our very Democracy trampled upon.

Let's talk a bit about why this Night has been challenged or banned. First, some information...

One of the key consequences of book banning is erasure. When we decide that some things are too uncomfortable to talk about, we risk losing the memory of how things happen. We lose context, we lose people, we lose the truth.

That seems to be the case according to a recent study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The New York Times summarizes, “Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials, cannot say what Auschwitz was. And 52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force.”

Read that second paragraph again. Let it sink in. That is a very high percentage of people who know nothing, but let's ban all the books about it so we can get that up to 100 percent. I knew about the Holocaust when I was as young as elementary school age. My parents did not shield me from it because they understood the importance of knowing and acknowledging what happened. 

In 2017, the Conejo Valley Unified School District adopted an opt-out policy where parents could object to reading materials in the core list. While no books were actually taken off the list, enough parents opted-out their children from reading Night that the teacher could not effectively teach it to the rest of the class.

The other thing to point out in the second paragraph above "52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force." Night starts out when Elie and his family are still living their daily lives, but we start to see gradual changes in their lives, until finally, the family is separated and Elie and his father are on their way to Auschwitz. Even the Jewish people, their neighbors and friends, ignored the warning signs because, really, what did they have to compare it with. In their minds, they could not fathom it, even when Moche the Beadle warned them. 

Only through history, and learning these subjects, instead of brushing them under the rug, can we understand how easily Hitler accomplished what he set out to accomplish. We cannot turn a blind eye to things going on in the world just because they are difficult to face, or because we think it could never happen. It happened. It could happen again. 

Elie Wiesel said: "We may use words to break the prison." In this video, he explains that he wrote his memoir Night out of a duty to bear witness to his experiences in the Holocaust.

We must keep reading books with subjects of injustice. We must keep reading, and spreading the word about how and why books are challenged or banned. 

International Holocaust Remembrance day is on January 27 every year. Let us never forget what happened. Let us not let future generations forget. 

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What did you think of Night? Share any and all thoughts in the comments.

We are reading Book Two of the Night Trilogy, Dawn, this month. According to our reading schedule, I will post the discussion on (around) February 28. 

Sources of quoted (italicized) information:

5 Banned Books That Will Help You Learn About the Holocaust

Facing History and Ourselves, “We May Use Words to Break the Prison: Elie Wiesel on Writing Night,” video, last updated April 19, 2022.

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1000 Books Project - The Night Trilogy Reading Schedule

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first book in our 1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023 read-along challenge.

Time to start Elie Wiesel's Night Trilogy. 

My edition: Hill and Wang, New York - trade paperback, 318 pages.

Discussions will be posted here on the blog on the dates indicated in the schedule. Feel free to stop by the discussions any time. Post your thoughts in the comments, or share a link to a blog post.

Reading Schedule:

• January: Night (starting with the short introduction on page 3), pp. 3 - 119
  Discussion post will go up on January 31
• February: Dawn, pp. 121 - 204
  Discussion post will go up on February 28
• March: The Accident, pp. 205 - 318 (end)
  Discussion will go up on March 31

The original challenge post with info and sign-up is here.

Happy reading!

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1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023

Challenge Backstory:

I picked up a copy of James Mustich's amazing 1000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life Changing List and upon looking through it, I realized it really is a well-rounded reading recommendation book. I was pleased to discover I have read quite a few of the books he lists, and that many of them are on my personal reading lists (and they are books I own). So, to ever expand my reading horizons, and include others in the journey, I decided to create a read-along challenge, or project, if you will.

Sadly, the 2022 1000 Books Project was a bust, at least for me. I'm still reading The Once and Future King (gradually), and I had to give up on the Gormenghast Trilogy and set it aside for another day. I guess those selections were just too daunting for my 2022. What about you? If you participated, did you finish? 

Taking into consideration the above, I decided to try to make things a bit easier for 2023. We will read four much shorter books (instead of chunksters), meaning books at around 400 pages or less. One book each quarter. And the theme this year is Banned Books. There has been so much going on in the past couple of years regarding the banning and challenging of books, with actual libraries having to close down due to lack of funding from city governments who object to diverse and/or boundary challenging reading material. Any way I can raise awareness about this issue...I'm going to do it. 

And so, without further ado, here are our reading selections for 2023...

January, February, March - in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27

The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident (The Night Trilogy #1-3)
by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel (Translator)

Reference: Page 851-852 in 1000 Books to Read Before You Die

April, May, June 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Reference: Page 398 - 399 in 1000 Books to Read Before You Die

July, August, September - in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in September

Reference: Page 16 in 1000 Books to Read Before You Die

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

October, November, December

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Strangely enough, I have seen this book on some horror recommendation lists so I thought this would be a good read for October (and going into November/December, if needed)

Reference: Page 569-570 in 1000 Books to Read Before You Die

Watch for the reading schedule for our first read-along, The Night Trilogy, which I will have posted on January 1st, or there about. 

If you're joining us, please leave a comment below (and a link, if you post about it on your blog or social media). 

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