What am I doing?

Hey everyone! This is my first post chronicling the ridiculous journey I've decided to take.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Powell's Bookstore with lists from their staffers of their favorite books of 2009. I glimpsed through the list, but that was it. Then, a few days later, I was at the Tigard library and noticed one of the Powell's top picks on their bestseller shelf, and I grabbed it. It was delightful! (But more on that for the next post...) I felt so blessed to have "happened" upon a book that I would love as much as I did this one, so I was planning on taking this staffer's four other recommendations. Then I thought, "Why not all of them?" By assuming that I will or won't like certain books, or not even giving them a chance, I'm following the cliche of judging a book by its cover. These books are obviously near and dear to someone, so I'm going to take the time to see why!
The point of this whole thing, for me at least, is to go on an adventure. I love seeing what kind of journey an author's going to take me on- and usually I'm content to let them take me there, even if it's not somewhere I'd like to visit again. In addition, I'd like to stretch my own mind and allow others to help me with this. If there's a book I absolutely can't stand (which I'm sure there will be) I want to try and figure out why someone else loved it enough to put it in their top 5 picks of the year. I'd love input from other people to help me with this! Plus, my friends live all over the place- what better way to keep in touch and share in something special?
This may be a waste of time, and I'm okay with that. The list ( http://www.powells.com/staffpicks/stafftop5_2009.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=facebook_fans&utm_content=Top%20Fives%202009 ) has the picks of 35 staffers, making a delightful- and whopping- 185 books. Some are duplicates (though not many) and one unruly staffer only chose one book, so my closest guesstimation is that I'll need to read 15 books/ month (also understanding that I'm a month and a half behind). So... here I go! Join me, won't you?
If this all goes well, or even if I doesn't, I'd like to make this a tradition. Hopefully, I do this every year- so now it's time to get started!