Books, Movies and Artists to Experience in 2012

I wanted to beat everyone on their New Year Resolutions posts! Everyone makes New Year Resolutions and they are always the same; lose weight, eat better, save money, do better at work, travel more. I have stopped setting resolutions as I don’t think you should wait until the beginning of the year to make a positive change. I have a rolling list of things I want to do and accomplish and I remind myself of that often throughout the year.

However, I decided to set a challenge for myself instead of a resolution in 2012. I want to grow my mind. I want to read the classics, watch Oscar winning (or nominated) movies I would never have thought of watching, listen to music I would not normally have listened to. I’ll keep on with the getting healthy and the ‘experiencing life’ goals that I strive to live every day. But I thought this would be a fun experience and I would like to share it with all of you.

Here is the plan:

• Read one classic book a month (12 total)
• Watch one classic movie each week (48 total)
• Listen to one classic album each week (48 total)

Thanks to the local library this should be an easy task to finish and to make it brainless I am listing what I have to read, watch and listen to over the course of this next year. Follow me on this journey as I not only push myself physically through adventures, but mentally as well.

READ

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens,
2. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller,
3. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
4. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
5. Tender Is the Night  by F. Scott Fitzgerald,
6. Streetcar Named Desire, A   by Tennessee Williams
7. Age of Innocence  by Edith Wharton,
8. A Farewell To Armsby: Ernest Hemingway,
9. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
10. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo,
11. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe,
12. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Watch

1. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
2. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
3. The English Patient (1996)
4. Out of Africa (1985)
5. Gandhi (1982)
6. Chariots of Fire (1981)
7. The Godfather (1972)
8. The Godfather Part II (1974)
9. Oliver! (1968)
10. West Side Story (1961)
11. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
12. Ben Hur (1959)
13. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
14. From Here to Eternity (1953)
15. An American in Paris (1958)
16. Gentlemans Agreement (1947)
17. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
18. The Way We Were (1973)
19. Marty (1955)
20. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
21. Cleopatra (1963)
22. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
23. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
24. Terms of Endearment (1983)
25. A Passage to India (1984)
26. Roman Holiday (1953)
27. I was a Male War Bride (1949)
28. Citizen Kane (1941)
29. Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
30. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
31. Duck Soup (1933)
32. No Business Like Show Business(1954)
33. Goodfellas (1990)
34. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
35. On the Waterfront (1954)
36. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
37. One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest (1975)
38. High Noon (1952)
39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
40. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
41. Vertigo (1958)
42. Platoon (1986)
43. The Jazz Singer (1927)
44. Cabaret (1972)
45. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
46. North by Northwest (1959)
47. Red River (1948)
48. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Listen

(Top 50 albums of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine)

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band- The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys
3. Revolver- The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul- The Beatles
6. What’s Going On- Marvin Gaye
7. Exile on Main Street- The Rolling Stones
8. London Calling- The Clash
9. Blonde on Blonde- Bob Dylan
10. The Beatles (The White Album)- The Beatles
11. The Sun Sessions- Elvis Presley
12. Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
13. The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground and Nico
14. Abbey Road- The Beatles
15. Are You Experienced?- The Jimi Hendrix Experience
16. Blood on the Tracks- Bob Dylan
17. Nevermind- Nirvana
18. Born to Run- Bruce Springsteen
19. Astral Weeks- Van Morrison
20. Thriller- Michael Jackson
21. The Great Twenty-Eight- Chuck Berry
22. Plastic Ono Band- John Lennon
23. Innervisions- Stevie Wonder
24. Live at the Apollo- James Brown
25. Rumors- Fleetwood Mac
26. The Joshua Tree- U2
27. King of the Delta Blue Singers- Robert Johnson
28. Who’s Next- The Who
29. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin
30. Blue- Joni Mitchell
31. Bringing it All Back Home- Bob Dylan
32. Let it Bleed- The Rolling Stones
33. Ramones- The Ramones
34. Music From Big Pink- The Band
35. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars- David Bowie
36. Tapestry- Carole King
37. Hotel California- The Eagles
38. The Anthology- Muddy Waters
39. Please Please Me- The Beatles
40. Forever Changes- Love
41. Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols- The Sex Pistols
42. The Doors- The Doors
43. The Dark Side of the Moon- Pink Floyd
44. Horses- Patti Smith
45. The Band- The Band
46. Legend- Bob Marley and the Wailers
47. A love Supreme- John Coltrane
48. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back