My 2016 MUST read list

I've given up on "to-read" lists, those random lists of tons of books that I rarely actually get to. Or those reading goals where you try to read a certain amount of books. Both have their place, and can be great but my needs are a bit bigger this time around.

See, life has been a bit crazy and my reading has suffered. Ever since I had a baby I've been reading less and I want that to change. There are some books that I keep hearing about but never get around to reading. Even some I have sitting on my shelf (or e-reader), already bought and ready. So I've decided to try a new approach at reading goals.

So I've spent the last two days compiling a list.  Books that I've heard a lot about, or books that people have compared to my own novel to, or awesome sounding 2016 books, or books by friends/Pitch Wars mentors, plus a few recs I received from twitter.

I ended up with 36 books. (which still leaves me a bit of space to pull from my regular, low pressure, to-read list!)

And the books are.....

 The same list on goodreads for easy following and adds: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/38978972?shelf=will-read-in-2016

So here are my rules:
- I have to get to them all by the end of 2016 (this is starting now, so I'm a month behind the year reading goals)
- I don't have to finish them all. I'm not the kind of person to keep reading even if I don't like a book. But I have to read at least 50 pages, if it's a physical book, or 25% if it's an ebook before I can cross it off. I'm pretty sure I won't have too much of a problem with not finishing these books though. I doubt there are many duds in this list!
-I'll update here every once in a while, to say which books I've crossed off my list, how/why they made my list, and how I felt about them.  


I most definitely have an awesome year of reading ahead of me. I'm super excited to get started!

What's on your to-read list? Have you ever done a "must read" list? How did it go?