Mount TBR 2013 Reading Challenge discussion
Level 4: Mt. Ararat (48 Books)
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SUMMITED! Miranda's 2013 TBR Challenge
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1. Magic for Beginners (Kelly Link): finished January 4Fantasy/magic realism short stories. I liked this but did not love it. It's beautiful and weird and unexpected and creepy, but it's also hard to stay grounded in it because you're never quite sure what's going on or what's coming next. Sometimes it's just really nice and refreshing to read something like that.
2. The Italian Lover (Robert Hellenga): finished January 8This one was loads of fun for me. I took Bob Hellenga's creative fiction writing workshop back in college, and he's good, both at teaching and writing. This book takes characters from his previous books The Sixteen Pleasures and The Fall of a Sparrow: A Novel and has them meeting in Florence. It made me really want to go to Italy, learn Italian, and eat Italian food. Also, re-read Anna Karenina. I would have liked this more if he hadn't tackled so many new characters--it suffered from ensemble syndrome. I wanted more Margot and Woody.
3. The Last Policeman (Ben H. Winters): finished January 15I don't read many murder mysteries, so I don't feel like I'm much of a judge, but I enjoyed this one. Some of the dialogue was painfully cliched. But mostly, it was a surprisingly thought-provoking look at what a pre-apocalyptic world might look like.
4. Lord of the Flies (William Golding): finished January 24Somehow I managed to miss reading this one for school. I picked up a copy at a thrift store somewhere along the line and it's sat on the shelf ever since. The whole thing seemed familiar, like I absorbed the story in bits and pieces throughout my life. For that reason I didn't find it surprising or chilling, although it would have been otherwise. I probably wouldn't have liked it much in high school, but I'm glad I finally gave it a go at 31.
5. A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (Laura Amy Schlitz): finished January 28Quick, enjoyable YA read with a great plucky heroine.
6. The Sunne in Splendour (Sharon Kay Penman): finished January 30Engrossing but lengthy (took me all month to work my way through) historical fiction about the Wars of the Roses and Richard III. Actually if you're a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones addict, this is a great thing to keep you busy--GRR Martin drew a lot of inspiration from this period of British history and it's easy to see a lot of parallels. Also great if you're interested in a sympathetic view of Richard III.
Quite timely, Miranda, given the bones discovery this week. I have a Penman book on my Mt. TBR. Do you think her titles should be read in order?
I know, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that news story only days after finishing that book!I don't think all of Penman's work needs to be read in order necessarily, but some of her books are grouped together (like the Welsh trilogy), and I think those probably benefit from being read in order.
I think next I might go back to her books on Eleanor of Aquitaine. Which one is on your TBR?
I have Dragon's Lair and Here Be Dragons. Although I can't currently find Here Be Dragons. I hope I didn't lend it to a non-returning friend! Dragon's Lair is part of a trilogy, I think... I will have to track down the other titles. Thank heavens for public libraries!
I hope you can find Here Be Dragons. It's probably my favorite, but of course it kicks off yet another trilogy.
7. Bloomsbury: A House of Lions (Leon Edel): finished February 16On the origins of and relationships among the famous Bloomsbury Group of artists, writers, and thinkers, including Virginia and Leonard Woolf and Clive and Vanessa Bell.
8. The Arthurian Legends (Richard Barber): finished February 21A survey with analysis of and excerpts from the numerous stories, books, and poems that shaped and defined King Arthur for each age of history, from medieval times to modern times. Some I'd already read (Le Morte d'Arthur, Once and Future King) and others I'd never even heard of.
9. Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod (Gary Paulsen): finished February 24Funny and gripping. I started this mindful of the fact that Iditarod 2013 starts in just over a week's time, but ended up finishing almost in one sitting. I just couldn't put it down.
10. Prisoners in the Palace (Michaela MacColl): finished February 26This was a fun read, giving a glimpse into the early life of Queen Victoria and also that of an orphaned gentleman's daughter in 1800s London.
Your update reminds me that House of Lions is sitting on my tbr shelf, too. I've always been interested in Bloomsbury, but this was a DNF. Should I try again? How did you like it?
Susan, it was a little hard to get through. I found it interesting but it was definitely a bit dry. Which is funny, because they led exciting lives and were very progressive. You'd think it'd come off as more exciting! :) I think the author also assumed the reader had more background knowledge than I had. I'm on the lookout for more books about Bloomsbury.
Miranda published at end of last year was Bloomsbury by professor Rosemary Ashton.Havent read myself yet as not in paperback but she is a brilliant writer.The book is about the whole history of the area.Daphne
11. The Grail of Hearts (Susan Schwartz): finished March 20Had a tough time keeping focused on this one. I read it because of its Arthurian connection, but that connection is loose indeed. It's definitely a good book to read around Easter time--it focuses much more on the origins of the Grail than on the Grail quest by Percival.
12. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde): finished March 24The good news: This was delightful! The bad news: This was so delightful that I have to read the rest of the series, which comprises at this time another six books and which will not count toward this challenge. Drat!!!
Miranda wrote: "12. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde): finished March 24The good news: This was delightful! The bad news: This was so delightful that I have to read the rest of the series, which comprises at this ..."
It is such a WONDERFUL series!! Enjoy! :)
13. Mistress Masham's Repose (T.H. White): finished March 31This one's been on my list literally since I was around the same age as Maria, the main character (nine, I think?). Finally got around to it at age 31. It's hard to say if I would have liked it then, but I found it charming now. There were a lot of references to British history, and to Gulliver's Travels, that would have gone over my head as a kid.
14. New Spring (Robert Jordan): finished April 29I'm working my way through a reread of the first seven books of The Wheel of Time, before moving on to the latter half which I never bothered to read until the final book finally came out, and took a quick detour to get in this prequel novel. This one was only 400 pages but most are more like 1,000. Aargh. At least after a couple more I'll be able to start adding them to this challenge!
15. Lord of Chaos (Robert Jordan): finished June 26So I think I was remembering incorrectly. Fairly certain I haven't read this one after all. Everything was ringing a bell up until this book. Yay, it counts!
17. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Timothy Egan): finished July 13Really incredible and moving account of the people who stayed put and survived the Dust Bowl. The conditions described are hard to imagine at any time, much less a relatively short time ago in the United States.
Going to save all the remaining Wheel of Time books for one post. They are getting repetitive and boring. The last few that Robert Jordan himself wrote are by most accounts pretty terrible, but it picks up again when Brandon Sanderson took over. I'm in the middle of the bad ones, but hoping it will be worth it.
20. The Firebrand (Marion Zimmer Bradley): finished August 9This has been on my shelf for years and years. Why didn't I read it sooner? This is a retelling of the Iliad/Trojan War from the perspective of the prophetess Kassandra. As you would expect from Bradley, everything is through a feminist lens with interesting results.
21. Blues Lessons (Robert Hellenga): finished August 28This is another written by one of my college creative writing professors. It's beautifully written and tells a simple, beautiful story in an understated way while also dealing with some pretty weighty issues (race, sex, responsibility).
The Wheel of Time books (except for the final book, which wasn't released until this year) get me to #25 on my list.FINALLY! The last few books that Robert Jordan wrote before he died were achingly slow-paced. I skimmed lots of it. When Brandon Sanderson took up the pen, stuff actually started to happen. It was like he made a list of plots tp be resolved and methodically checked them off, but I honestly don't even mind at this point. I'm still working on the last book, and I'm relieved that this series is actually enjoyable again. I'm not sure if it was entirely worth it, but I'm enjoying it now nonetheless.
26. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished September 25This trilogy has been on my shelf for quite some time. I read Tigana some years ago and thought it was a wonderful sort of fantasy--mythic and poetic. I turned to this because it's Kay's earliest work. This first book was slow buy enjoyable. It's beautifully written but definitely not one to devour. The plot is pretty basic and even derivative (escape of ultimate evil baddie who had been imprisoned), but the language really elevates it.
Guy is from my home city. I recently collected the trilogy and look forward to reading it, too! You don't find any other fantasies where the magical portal is in a Canadian location - Toronto university! Carolyn.
27. Odd and the Frost Giants (Neil Gaiman): finished September 25After A Memory of Light, I really needed a few shorties to balance me out. This is a charming little Neil Gaiman story, borrowing from Norse mythology.
28. Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo): finished September 26
Simple and completely beautiful. Would love to read this aloud. What is it about children's stories with dogs that just choke me up? Really want to give my own dogs a hug right now!
C. wrote: "Guy is from my home city. I recently collected the trilogy and look forward to reading it, too! You don't find any other fantasies where the magical portal is in a Canadian location - Toronto uni..."C, that's awesome. I bet you'll recognize all the places and street names he mentions. :)
Our home city isn't Toronto. I said it's great a fantasy story is set in Canada *somewhere*. I'm sure one could look up his origins. ;) I've been to 'TO' though, as we all refer to it and might recognize really obvious, main spots. :) For once something isn't in England or the US! hehe
29. 'Tis (Frank McCourt): finished October 1Not as engrossing as Angela's Ashes but still enjoyable. My favorite parts were when he talked about being in the classroom, so I'm looking forward to Teacher Man quite a bit.
30. Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (Bill Bryson): finished October 6I read this a chapter at a time over the course of a few months. It contains lots of interesting tidbits about history and language in the U.S. I think Bryson is at his best when he's writing about language.
31. The Stress of Her Regard (Tim Powers): finished October 7Just barely okay for me. It sounded awesome--vampires with Keats, both Shelleys, and Byron as characters? Yeeeah! But it just didn't work for me. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, and despite this everything felt rather muddled. And the dialogue was jarring--no attempt was made, apparently, to make it sound like early 19th century speech. I'm being hard on it because I was so disappointed. :(
32. Wonder Boys (Michael Chabon): finished October 12One weekend in the life of a dysfunctional writer/professor: ridiculous in a good way. It's wacky and poignant at the same time as Grady's life crumbles around him. He's an interesting character because although not terribly likable, he is relatable, if not in his actions then in his inability to deal with life (who hasn't felt like that from time to time?).
33. The Wandering Fire (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished October 12Second book in the Fionavar Tapestry, Kay's excellent fantasy trilogy. If Summer Tree dealt with character set up and the escape of the bad guy, this middle volume shows how the repercussions affect our heroes and how they're evolving. Also, King Arthur.
34. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Michael Pollan): finished October 21This book has been out for several years, and the information about where our food comes from wasn't really news to me, but it's still eye-opening because of the clear explanations and details of the processes that produce food. Interestingly, despite hearing in detail about composting chicken crap and guts, chickens eating grubs out of cowpats, I could totally go for some grass fed steak and eggs right now.
35. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury): finished October 26After it sat on my shelf for many years, I finally timed the reading of this book right--I read it during the time of year that it takes place (October 24). It's a really nice mix of creepy and beautiful. Really, just some incredibly beautifully written passages. It was definitely heightened by reading it with an October chill in the air and the sound of dry leaves rustling.
36. Mary Poppins (P.L. Travers): finished October 28I picked this ebook up a while back on a daily deal, and was interested to read it now after seeing the trailer for the new movie they made about P.L. Travers and Walt Disney. It was a fun story (more sort of a collection of stories), but honestly I think I prefer the movie (probably because I grew up with the movie).
37. Close Range (Annie Proulx): finished November 5I read the short story "Brokeback Mountain" in college, a few years before the movie was announced. It was great to reread it now, along with the other stories in this collection. Annie Proulx's writing is vivid and gritty and unforgettable.
38. The Darkest Road (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished November 8Really moving, triumphant, and heartrending conclusion, definitely the best of the trilogy. If you loved Tolkien, especially Tolkien's style, this is absolutely the next thing to read.
Alexandria Quartet (Lawrence Durrell):39. Justine: finished November 10
41. Balthazar: finished November 18
43. Mountolive: finished December 2
45. Clea: finished December 5
I loved these--it was one story told from different perspectives, of Alexandria, Egypt, before and during WWII. The writing is very lush and beautiful. It jumps around quite a bit in the timeline of the story, so sometimes it's hard to keep track of the narrative.
The Lyra Novels (Patricia C. Wrede)40. Shadow Magic: finished November 15
42. Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel: finished November 25
44. The Harp of Imach Thyssel: A Lyra Novel: finished December 4
46. Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel: finished December 10
48. The Raven Ring: finished December 15
Patricia Wrede's early work. I grew up a huge fan of her Enchanted Forest books (Cimorene remains one of my very favorite characters ever), so I was interested to check these out.
These are actually standalone books--their only connection is their setting, and that is fairly loose. The plots are all pretty simple and the characters started out as your basic fantasy tropes with little development. The characters improved throughout the series. I enjoyed the main characters in the last two books (a former warrior who is now a single mother and a younger warrior who is dealing with the death of her mother).
47. I Am the Central Park Jogger (Trisha Meili): finished December 15I read this because the author and I have something in common: we were both attacked and raped while out running. The similarities pretty much end there: she sustained awful, nearly life-ending injuries and has no memory of the attack. I had no physical injuries, but I remember everything.
I found it a bit disappointing. Her case was complicated and very interesting (not to mention heartbreaking for the wrongly accused and their families). At first six boys were accused of the attack. Some of them confessed but it was later argued that these confessions were coerced. And there was no physical evidence linking them to it. Many years later, as she was writing the book, the case appears to be solved when a single person confessed to the attack and the evidence appears to corroborate. But this is barely touched upon.
The book deals mainly with her recovery from her brain injury, in which she shows incredible strength and perseverance. I would recommend it more for brain injury survivors than rape survivors.
Mount TBR 2013 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility (other topics)Shadow Magic (other topics)
Caught in Crystal (other topics)
Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel (other topics)
The Raven Ring (other topics)
More...
I'll keep a tally in this first post, and add a new post each time I finish a book with some of my thoughts. For more thoughts, see my blog at Read Much, Run Far.
1. Magic for Beginners (Kelly Link): finished January 4
2. The Italian Lover (Robert Hellenga): finished January 8
3. The Last Policeman (Ben H. Winters): finished January 15
4. Lord of the Flies (William Golding): finished January 24
5. A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (Laura Amy Schlitz): finished January 28
6. The Sunne in Splendour (Sharon Kay Penman): finished January 30
7. Bloomsbury: A House of Lions (Leon Edel): finished February 16
8. The Arthurian Legends (Richard Barber): finished February 21
9. Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod (Gary Paulsen): finished February 24
10. Prisoners in the Palace (Michaela MacColl): finished February 26
11. The Grail of Hearts (Susan Schwartz): finished March 20
12. The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde): finished March 24
13. Mistress Masham's Repose (T.H. White): finished March 31
14. New Spring (Robert Jordan): finished April 29
15. Lord of Chaos (Robert Jordan): finished June 26
16. A Crown of Swords (Robert Jordan): finished July 9
17. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Timothy Egan): finished July 13
18. The Path of Daggers (Robert Jordan): finished July 27
19. Winter's Heart (Robert Jordan): finished August 4
20. The Firebrand (Marion Zimmer Bradley): finished August 9
21. Blues Lessons (Robert Hellenga): finished August 28
22. Crossroads of Twilight (Robert Jordan): finished September 2
23. Knife of Dreams (Robert Jordan): finished September 10
24. The Gathering Storm (Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson): finished September 15
25. Towers of Midnight (Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson): finished September 19
26. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished September 25
27. Odd and the Frost Giants (Neil Gaiman): finished September 25
28. Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo): finished September 26
29. 'Tis (Frank McCourt): finished October 1
30. Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (Bill Bryson): finished October 6
31. The Stress of Her Regard (Tim Powers): finished October 7
32. Wonder Boys (Michael Chabon): finished October 12
33. The Wandering Fire (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished October 12
34. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Michael Pollan): finished October 21
35. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury): finished October 26
36. Mary Poppins (P.L. Travers): finished October 28
37. Close Range (Annie Proulx): finished November 5
38. The Darkest Road (Guy Gavriel Kay): finished November 8
39. Justine (Lawrence Durrell): finished November 10
40. Shadow Magic (Patricia C. Wrede): finished November 15
41. Balthazar (Lawrence Durrell): finished November 18
42. Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel (Patricia C. Wrede): finished November 25
43. Mountolive (Lawrence Durrell): finished December 2
44. The Harp of Imach Thyssel: A Lyra Novel (Patricia C. Wrede): finished December 4
45. Clea (Lawrence Durrell): finished December 5
46. Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (Patricia C. Wrede): finished December 10
47. I Am the Central Park Jogger (Trisha Meili): finished December 15
48. The Raven Ring (Patricia C. Wrede): finished December 15