Where to start?

One could take the logical approach and start at the beginning. Or one could throw a virtual dart. What I don't want to do is start with an author whose work I have already read. On the other hand, I'd like the first selection to be at least possibly relevant to my own writing.

The obvious choice, then, is an old book recently translated into English. "Every Man Dies Alone" by Hans Fallada set during WWII in Nazi Germany.

The Mission

2010 is the year I will finally get around to read the New York Times Notable Fiction list. I've been meaning to do so for years - maybe decades - but life intervened. No more. It may take longer than a year, but I am determined to make it through the latest list.

The list:

1. 'Amateur Barbarians' By ROBERT COHEN

2. 'American Rust' By PHILIPP MEYER

3. 'The Anthologist' By NICHOLSON BAKER

4. 'The Art Student’s War' By BRAD LEITHAUSER

5. 'Asterios Polyp' Written and illustrated by DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI

6. 'Await Your Reply' By DAN CHAON

7. 'Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It' By MAILE MELOY

8. 'The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein' By PETER ACKROYD

9. 'Chronic City' By JONATHAN LETHEM

10. 'The Confessions of Edward Day' By VALERIE MARTIN

11. 'Dearest Creature' By AMY GERSTLER

13. 'Do Not Deny Me: Stories' By JEAN THOMPSON

14. 'Don’t Cry: Stories' By MARY GAITSKILL

15. 'Every Man Dies Alone' By HANS FALLADA; translated by MICHAEL HOFMANN

16. 'Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned' By WELLS TOWER

17. 'Family Album' By PENELOPE LIVELY

18 ‘Follow Me’ By JOANNA SCOTT

19. 'A Gate at the Stairs' By LORRIE MOORE

20. 'Generosity: An Enhancement' By RICHARD POWERS

21. 'Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel' By JEANNETTE WALLS

22. 'How it Ended: New and Collected Stories' By JAY McINERNEY

23. 'In Other Rooms, Other Wonders' By DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN

24. 'Invisible' By PAUL AUSTER

25. 'Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi' By GEOFF DYER

26. 'The Lacuna' By BARBARA KINGSOLVER

27. 'Lark and Termite' By JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS

28. 'Let the Great World Spin' By COLUM McCANN

29. 'The Little Stranger' By SARAH WATERS

30. 'Love and Obstacles: Stories' By ALEKSANDAR HEMON

31. 'Love and Summer' By WILLIAM TREVOR

32. 'The Museum of Innocence' By ORHAN PAMUK; translated by MAUREEN FREELY

33. 'My Father’s Tears: And Other Stories' By JOHN UPDIKE

34. 'Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall' By KAZUO ISHIGURO

35. 'Nothing Right: Short Stories' By ANTONYA NELSON

36. 'Once the Shore: Stories' By PAUL YOON

37. 'One D.O.A., One on the Way' By MARY ROBISON

38. 'Sag Harbor' By COLSON WHITEHEAD

39. 'A Short History of Women' By KATE WALBERT

40. 'The Sky Below' By STACEY D’ERASMO

41. 'The Song Is You' By ARTHUR PHILLIPS

42. 'Too Much Happiness' By ALICE MUNRO

43. 'Typhoon' By CHARLES CUMMING

44. 'A Village Life' By LOUISE GLÜCK

45. 'Wolf Hall' By HILARY MANTEL

46. 'The Year of the Flood' By MARGARET ATWOOD