Challenge Update

For the rest of the year, I'm planning to use my Thursday posts to update my progress with the Books I Should Have Read By Now challenge. The challenge itself hasn't started yet, but I'm mulling over my list of books. Last time I chose my books for June, so now I'm going to list some of the books I'm thinking about for July and August.

July
The Great Gatsby. I really cannot believe that I haven't read this one yet. I have a beautiful edition that's been sitting on my shelf for years. This also appeared recently on a list of 20 classic novels that can be read in one sitting, which will make it ideal for July because I'll be spending about a quarter of the month riding my bike across the state of Iowa. I don't think I'll do much reading during that week ;)

Jitterbug Perfume. I picked this one up when we went to New Orleans in January because part of it takes place in New Orleans. It's outside of my literary comfort zone, but I read the first few pages before I bought it and was intrigued. Also, several people have told me that I should read something by Tom Robbins, which I have not yet done.

Daughter of Time. I promised my mom I'd read this one in July so she can borrow it. Josephine Tey is one of my favorite writers and the only reason I haven't read this one yet is because my list of unread Teys is dwindling. I can't save it forever, though.

August
This Side of Paradise. I picked this one up on the bargain table at my local bookstore recently and would like to read it before it's been on my shelf for as long as The Great Gatsby! 

The Warden. I've read and enjoyed some of Anthony Trollope's longest novels--He Knew He Was Right, Can You Forgive Her?, and The Way We Live Now--but for some reason I've never been able to read more than a couple chapters of this one. I'm going to give it another go because I've heard that the rest of this series is excellent.

Kristin Lavransdatter (Tiina Nunally translation). My other two choices for August are short because I want to tackle this behemoth. I bought this edition at one of my favorite bookstores in DC, which closed a few months afterwards. This trilogy has been on my TBR list for around ten years. Wow, just typing that makes me feel old. It's definitely past time to read it.

I have several other books in mind for this challenge and reserve the right to switch things up a bit. My only read guideline is that, with the exception of July, I'd like to cross at least one really long book off my list each month.