Mount TBR 2013 Reading Challenge discussion

Well, fellow climbers, it's hard to believe but 2013 is almost half-way over. And it's time for your mountaineering guide to call for the second quarterly check-in post. [Imagine me in Alpine mountain gear with one of those long horns tootling away...and probably scaring the mountain goats.] Let's see how our challengers are doing after 6 months are under the ol' mountain-climbing belt. For those who would like to participate in this checkpoint post, I'd like you to do two things:

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read). If you're really ambitious, you can do some intricate math and figure out how the number of books you've read correlates to actual miles up Pike's Peak, Mt. Ararat, etc.

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
B. What has been your most difficult read so far. And why? (Length? Subject matter? Difficult style? Out of your comfort zone reading?)
C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?
D. Using no more than two words from a single title, compose a sentence (musical lyric, bit of poetry, what-have-you) from title from your conquered TBR stack. If you are short of inspirational words...you may use some from your intended reads if needed. Filler words (the, and, with, etc.) or alternate tenses of verbs used in titles are acceptable for clarity. Example (from my stack):

The Silver Negligent Nymph Sensed that the Indian Stones on the Other Side were a Perfect Red.


The Puzzle of the Silver Persian by Stuart Palmer
The Case of the Negligent Nymph by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Corpses at Indian Stones by Philip Wylie
The Other Side of Tomorrow by Roger Elwood, ed
A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield


And what do you get for all that hard work (and distraction from the actual climb)? The link will close at 11:59 pm on Thursday, July 4. On Friday I will crank up the Custom Random Number Generator and pick a winning climber. He or she will have the chance to add to their TBR stack via my gently-used book vault (prize list will be sent). Just think, if you win a book you can start up a pile for next year's Mount TBR Challenge. Enter here OR on my blog, My Reader's Block, (but not both places, please).

Even if you're not in the mood for a prize or if you've only got one leg of the journey under your belt, I'd love to have you check in and tell us how your climb is going!

***Please note--comments should be for Checkpoint posts only. To cheer on your fellow climbers, please visit their climb post folders and congratulate them on progress and rally them for the second half.

In March, I leveled up to Mont Blanc; and had fully expected to have read a total of 24 TBR titles by now; but I've only managed to read 19 books so far!

Pike's Peak
01) The House of Mirth (by Edith Wharton)
02) Gone Baby Gone (by Dennis Lehane)
03) Cannery Row (by John Steinbeck)
04) Fables, Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) (by Bill Willingham et al)
05) Fables, Vol. 8: Wolves (by Bill Willingham et al)
06) Deadeye Dick (by Kurt Vonnegut)
07) Swim Back to Me (by Ann Packer)
08) The Age of Innocence (by Edith Wharton)
09) She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana (by Haven Kimmel)
10) The Great Gatsby (by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
11) The Religion (by Tim Willocks)
12) Lipstick Jungle (by Candace Bushnell)

Mont Blanc
13) Bangkok Tattoo (by John Burdett; narrated by Paul Boehmer)
14) Royal Road to Fotheringhay (Stuart Saga, #1) (by Jean Plaidy)
15) Green River Killer: A True Detective Story (by Jeff Jensen and illustrated by Jonathan Case)
16) Ethan Frome and Selected Stories (by Edith Wharton)
17) Chariots of Fire (by W.J. Weatherby; based on the screenplay by Colin Welland)
18) K.I.A. (by Thomas Holland)
19) The Little Book (by Selden Edwards)


The book that had been on Mount Blanc the longest was Royal Road to Fotheringhay (Stuart Saga, #1) (by Jean Plaidy), which had been in my 07/24/2009 stack! It had been hanging out with The Religion (by Tim Willocks) and The Age of Innocence (by Edith Wharton) - from Pike's Peak. I have two more from that stack (Dracula (by Brahm Stoker) and Emma (by Jane Austen)) and I hope to have cleared them by year's end :-)

Ethan, the Killer was himself K.I.A. on the Road to Bangkok and identified by the Tattoo of Green Fire on his Little you-know-what!

I'm currently at 53 books. I'm climbing Mt Olympus so this would be 35% or 7.7 km of 22. I'd be a lot further up (almost 2/3) if I didn't read library books all the time.

My favourite character in this second quarter has been Pollyanna (from the book of the same name). She's actually a poor little thing but she never gives up hope, all sees the bright sides of live and tries to make everyone happy.

The most difficult book for me was The Scarlet Letter. I enjoyed it immensely in the end but the language just was very hard for me to get into.

The book that has been on my TBR pile the longest was 1984. I was born that year and have wanted to read that book ever since (well, probably not quite but you know what I mean). Somehow something else always got in between when I wanted to read it. But I'm so happy I finally read it, it's one of the best books I ever read.

Here's my sentence (probably doesn't make much sense):

Pollyanna had a visit from a caged bird one summer night in 1984.

Here are the titles I used:

Pollyanna by Eleanor H Porter
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
1984 by George Orwell

I'm at 12 out of the 24 books that I need to complete to get to the top of Mt Blanc.

Here's the list so far:

1.Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
2.Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
3.The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba
4.The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
5.Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay
6.Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
7.As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
8.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
9.Carry the One by Carol Anshaw
10.Mr. Penumbra's 24Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
11.Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
12.Villette by Charlotte Bronte


My longest TBR was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I had had on my shelves since 2009.

Here's my attempt at the sentence:

The Curious Dog Lay Dying in the Park yet Harnessed Hope

I am up to 8 books on my rise up Mt Blanc. I am somewhere hiding at my base camp debating why I didn't stick to that nice Pike's Peak that seemed so easy to climb last year.

1. Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti
2. Showtime by Narrelle Harris
3. Lost in Time by Melissa De La Cruz
4. The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots by Margaret Swain
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. The Katerina Trilogy: Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges
7. Thus was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell
8. Birth of the Chess Queen by Marilyn Yalom

2. (b) Most difficult to read surprisingly was Persuasion. For all its short length, the last Austen novel is sparse on her witty dialogue, so there is long long sections of exposition. Once I was past that one section though I fairly flew through the end.

(c) Longest on my TBR pile of this bunch was probably Sarah Caudwell's Thus Was Adonis Murdered. I bought all four of her books shortly after she died in 2000. I anticipate reading and enjoying the others.

I admit to being a little worried at this checkpoint. When I have 24 books to finish and I'm only a third of the way up my chosen mountains... well, I am *concerned*, to choose Tim Gunn's favorite choice of words. Maybe it'll get better this next quarter.

I am 121 up Mt. Olympus.

(A) My favorite character so far is still Blacksad. The film noir cat detective because he is so awesome, reminds me of my cat Mischief, and has a heart of good.

(b) Hardest read was Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives because of the subject matter. It was still worth the read.

(c) Longest on my TBR pile is Star Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National Anthem

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).
37 read -- finished Charade last night. Hope to finish one more before the month is out.

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:


B. What has been your most difficult read so far. And why? (Length? Subject matter? Difficult style? Out of your comfort zone reading?)
Another Country: Journeying toward the Cherokee Mountains -- Difficult style, length. Fascinating book, but so filled with detail & nuance that it was a slow read, but worth it.

C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?
Changing Planes; since Feb. 1, 2010. Not worth the wait, which was surprising & disappointing, since Ursula LeGuin is one of my favorite authors.

I read 13/24 and am going on number 14 now

C. The book that sat longest on my TBR pile is Captain Nemo's Library and it was really good. It is cryptic though, and hard to get into, but just a few hours of undivided attention and I am glad to have read it.

I'm on 16, unfortunately not quite half of the 36 I've committed to. 44%, that puts me at around 2117 metres up Mt Vancouver.

The ones that have been skulking on the shelves for the longest are also the ones that have been the toughest to read: Proust. And the third one is, apparently, the one where most people bail out, so I'm glad to get that under the belt. Things should improve from now on, the other four are not quite as long, and I've been promised a bit more action and less dissection of noble family trees. The difficulty is the style - I'm reading it in French, now the language is not the problem, as I have a translation at my elbow when I get really stuck, and usually find that the translation is just as impenetrable. His sentences are legendary, and not easy to follow. They require a quite singular form of concentration, which I compare to meditation. But rewarding.

If you don't mind, I shall pass on the sentence from my titles as there are three different languages and a remarkable lack of verbs in there.

Onward.

I do not have a good number to report and I'm well under where I should be along my climb up Mount Everest. I'm only at 37 -since the last checkpoint I've only added books 25-37 to my completed list.

I really need to stop reading so many library books and newer acquired books and start back on the older ones. If I do a minimum of 9 each month from now until the end of the year, I'll still make it to the top!

None of my reads stand out as my best reads of the year but of the latest ones, Firefly Runby Trish Milburn was my favorite one. I loved the suspensefulness and the romance in it and loved the ending.

My sentence:

Anna's Never Wanted a Red Cadillac but the Girl Cut and Buried Your Husband.

Books:
Anna's Strength
Never Buried
Wanted: Husband
A Dead Red Cadillac
Nobody Girl
Cut, Crop & Die
Not Your Everyday Housewife

I'm at 24 out of 36, so 2/3 of the way up Mt Vancouver and hoping to continue at a slower pace for the rest of the year. However I notice new mountain ranges seem to be forming even as I climb this one ;).

Longest on the TBR mountain: Crime and Punishment which has been on the shelf since high school. This was also the hardest, because of several violent scenes that were hard to get through. But an amazing book -- I'm still thinking about it.

Favorite character: Avdotya, Raskolnikov's sister from Crime and
Punishment--a strong balanced woman character. Second favorites: the scientists from Letters from Yellwstone, especially Andrew Rutherford, the agriculture professor sent to scuttle the expedition.

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).
I read 28 out of the 48 book required for the Mt. Arafat. Of course it was way easier in the early months... But I am positive, that I will make it!

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.

I really like Jasper from I Hunt Killers, he has a good sense of humor, is clever and torn between his (horrible) upbringing and what he thinks/ knows is right. (His father was a serial killer and „taught“ Jasper all things of creepy things.

B. What has been your most difficult read so far. And why? (Length? Subject matter? Difficult style? Out of your comfort zone reading?)
„Ulysses“ was really something, some chapters were close to „unreadable“, same with „Cloud Atlas“, but in the end I loved the books for their range of styles. Theme wise I had my trouble with „The fault in our stars“, terribly sad, and „Me before you“, very sad as well, but again I loved both books as they were also fun and true.

C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?

Jacob has been on my TBR the longest. (About 3 years) and no, it was not worth the wait at all. It was badly written and often just stupid, but I read it as a group read which was actually good fun. (Sometimes it is great to mock bad books together.)

D. Using no more than two words from a single title, compose a sentence (musical lyric, bit of poetry, what-have-you) from title from your conquered TBR stack. If you are short of inspirational words...you may use some from your intended reads if needed. Filler words (the, and, with, etc.) or alternate tenses of verbs used in titles are acceptable for clarity.

I comfort reborn and epic elephants, unleashed from a soulless slaughterhouse.

I I Hunt Killers
comfort Comfort Food
reborn Lover Reborn
and Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
epic Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
elephants Water for Elephants,
unleashed Lover Unleashed
from From Notting Hill to New York... Actually
a A Clockwork Orange
soulless Soulless
slaughterhouse. Slaughterhouse-Five

Lynn's Mount Blanc so far
I am 12 of 24 books into my climb.
The book that was the most difficult to read so far has been "Devil in the White City" not because it was not interesting but because of the amount of detail in the book.

Happy Canada Day! My reviews are here. :) http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2013/01... My report is very good: I'm done the mountain I claimed! Mount Ararat ends at 48 and I'm done 53. Hurray! That makes Mount Kilimanjaro my next stop at 60 books.

Oldest? I've had some since childhood I didn't recall as if I hadn't read them: "The Ghost Of Windy Hill", Clyde Robert Bulla. Now I can continue keeping, or pass some on to my baby niece. I finished a 2004 gift from Mom & Dad, history in honour of this occasion about Louis Riel's Grandma: "Marie-Anne Lagimodière", Irene Turnier Gordon.

Hardest? "For The Birds", Dr. Paul Hiebert was very well done but mind-stretching; my first time with humorist essays. About contrived comedy, prairie poetry and how 'modern' education misses the boat.

I was bogged down by "A Killer Read", Erika Chase because it is poorly advertised. A Siamese features on the cover but the story doesn't relate to her. It's a mystery but I bet many agree, it was handled as general fiction!!!! It had the makings of great content but the author put all of the focus on having us watch the protagonist go to work!

Favourite new characters? I love Sandy & David in the Robert Sutherland mystery series! One is set in Ontario when Sandy visits David, the rest are in Scotland on Sandy's turf. They work HARD to solve those situations, none of the by accident nonense.

By Christel Kleitsch I love 'Tafia Shebagabow' & sweet family of an Ontario Ojibway reserve. The writing is like she's sitting down talking to you, telling about where she lives. The books are a joyous look at Aboriginal community: "Dancing Feathers" & "A Time To Be Brave".

I am trudging up Mt Kilimanjaro. At the moment, I feel as if I’ll have no trouble reaching my goal, which is good. Unless I count after-acquired books, I won’t be able to climb any other mountain once I get to the top. But, I’m ok with that. I have to keep acquiring so I can participate next year. : )

Right now, I’ve read 40 out of 60 books so I am 66.6666666666…% or 3,930 metres up. Numerically, it’s an ominous location; I’ll tread carefully.

My completed and somewhat creatively counted booklist is:

1. Easy (2/1/13)
2. Happy Ever After (5/1/13)
3. Crossed (7/1/13)
4. What I Did for Love (15/1/13)
5. Just Kids (19/1/13)
6. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (24/1/13)
7. Odd Thomas (29/1/13)
8. Defending Jacob (3/2/13)
9. Me Before You (7/2/13)
10. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (12/2/13)
11. The Future of Us (13/2/13)
12. Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster (15/2/13)
13. Virgin River (17/2/13)
14. What Is the What (25.2.13)
15. Escape from Hat (in print) (19.4.13)
16. Shantaram (9.3.13)
17. In the Woods (15.3.13)
18. Dead I Well May Be (19.3.13)
19. Days of Blood & Starlight (23.3.13)
20. The Name of the Wind (2.4.13)
21. The Things They Carried (10.4.13)
21.5. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (15.4.13) (short, so counted as 1/2)
22.5. Seriously...I'm Kidding (6.4.13)
23.5. Tell the Wolves I'm Home (5.4.13)
24.5. And One Last Thing ... (8.4.13)
25. Mistletoe & Margaritas (15.4.13) (short, so counted as 1/2)
26. Slammed (18.4.13)
27. Sh*t My Dad Says (19.4.13)
28. Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death (23.4.13)
29. House Rules (4.5.13)
30. The Book Thief (13.5.13)
31. I, Alex Cross (25.5.13)
32. Transfer of Power (20.5.13)
33. A Dog's Purpose (9.5.13)
34. Yours to Keep (22.5.13)
35. Drums of Autumn (10.6.13)
36. On Target (14.6.13)
37. Eragon (18.6.13)
38. The Art of Fielding (30.6.13)
39. Northern Lights (22.6.13)
40. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain (27.6.13)

As for second quarter reads, I LOVED The Name of the Wind and The Book Thief.

Slaughterhouse-Five was on my TBR the longest. I read it in print ages ago but bought the audiobook, read by Ethan Hawke and just kept put off listening to it. I loved this rendition. Ethan Hawke’s silky voice was perfect for this story.

Eragon was another I put off for a long time and now, having read it, I wish I had not wasted the time. The story as an idea has so much potential but the lack of character development was off-putting and disappointing. I didn’t care about anyone because I didn’t ever get to know them. A bummer, really – I was looking forward to this beautifully bound series.

Snow In Autumn, Wild Wind, Northern Lights And Powerful Pacific Starlight, all Triumphs Of Heaven

Since the last checkpoint, I have completed my initial goal of conquering Pike's Peak. My current status is 14 books finished. I recently completed A Wrinkle in Time, which had been on my TBR list for the longest time of any book I completed this quarter. I wish I had read it sooner and look forward to continuing the series.

Comments are closed for prize-winning purposes....but feel free to go ahead and check in and let us know how you're doing. Thanks to everyone for joining in--I love seeing all the interesting sentences & snippets you've come up with using your titles. I'll be back soon to announce a winner!

Just got back from a tiny book-buying trip (really--only two books came home with me today) to add to my TBR pile for next year....when I realized that, Hey! I need to find a winner for the June Checkpoint prize. So....without further ado, I will just plug in the random number generator and enter in the parameters....and the lights flash and webpage whirs and we get (drum roll, please).....Comment #14! That means that Nadine is our winner! Congratulations, Nadine! I'll be contacting you soon about the prize list. {And that sentence from titles is awesome, by the way!}

Thanks again to everyone for participating in the check-in. I really enjoyed reading your comments on your progress so far. Thanks as well to all climbers for joining me in scaling those Mount TBR heights. Good luck in the second half!

COngrats Nadine!

Thank you! I am so happy! I never win anything :-) YAAY.

As of today (12th of July 2013), I have not only completed my first goal of Mount Blanc, but my second goal of 12 more books - Mount Vancouver. Hence my next goal is to make it at least to Mount Ararat - maybe even higher!

My books so far are as follows:
1. Firelight- Kristen Callihan
2. The Crown of Embers- Rae Carson
3. Warbreaker- Brandon Sanderson
4. The Snow Queen - Mercedes Lackey
5. The Dust of 100 Dogs- A.S. King
6. The Assassin prequels - Sarah J. Maas
7. Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
8. Ut og stjæle hester - Per Petterson
9. The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
10. Luck in the Shadows - Lynn Flewelling
11. The Mislaid Magician: or Ten Years After - Patricia C. Wrede
12. Få meg på, for faen - Olaug Nilssen
13. The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls - Claire Legrand
14. Ett öga rött - Jonas Hassen Khemiri
15. Seduce Me at Sunrise - Lisa Kleypas
16. Tempt Me at Twilight - Lisa Kleypas
17. Married By Morning - Lisa Kleypas
18. Love in the Afternoon - Lisa Kleypas
19. Maskeblomstfamilien - Lars Saabye Christensen
20. The Shadow in the North - Philip Pullman
21. Briar Rose - Jane Yolen
22. Snow White and Rose Red - Patricia C. Wrede
23. Across The Nightingale Floor - Lian Hearn
24. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman
26. Fly by Night - Frances Hardinge
27. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
28. First Grave on the Right - Darynda Jones
29. Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
30. Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
31. The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite - Gerard Way
32. The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 2: Dallas - Gerard Way
33. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Laura Ingalls Wilder
34. By the Shores of Silver Lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder
35. The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder
36. Little Town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

My favourite character in all of these books is either Ella from Ella Enchanted or Laura from the Little House books. As Laura Ingalls Wilder technically is a real person (while the books are fictionalized representations of her life)- I'll have to go with Ella.

The book that proved the biggest challenge for me, is also the book that without a doubt, has been on my TBR mountain for longest. Anna Karenina is a book I've been trying to complete since I was 15 (so it's been on there for more than half my life). I've started it three times before, and never managed to get more than about a third of the way in. Now I was determined to complete it, as it fit into FIVE of my various blog challenges. So I did. Now I can say that I've read it - I can't say I'm tempted to tackle more Tolstoy any time soon.

Malin wrote: "As of today (12th of July 2013), I have not only completed my first goal of Mount Blanc, but my second goal of 12 more books - Mount Vancouver. Hence my next goal is to make it at least to Mount Ar..."

Yay, Malin! Climbing mountains like nobody's business!

I challenged myself to climb Mt. Ararat and so far, have read only 15 books toward that goal. But I retired in mid-June and plan to catch up! I further challenged myself to count only actual books for the Mount TBR challenge although I also have a lot of e-books and audiobooks waiting to be read.

I finally finished Glittering Images by Susan Howatch. That was the first book on a list I started many years ago when I began reading reviews in papers and magazines. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had read it when it was first released as I think I had more patience with drama between characters at that point (Having lived through the teen years and slightly beyond with my daughter has decreased my tolerance of drama!)

Susan wrote: "I challenged myself to climb Mt. Ararat and so far, have read only 15 books toward that goal. But I retired in mid-June and plan to catch up! I further challenged myself to count only actual book..."

Congrats on the retirement and Yay for more reading time! Hope you can cover the ground quickly and catch up!

I was happy to have conquered the 12 miles on Pike's Peak in May and decided to keep on going to the top of Mount Blanc. I've made it up 2 miles as of the checkpoint of June 30, for a total of 14 books from my TBR pile. I took a month off to work on genealogy and now I'm back to reading. A little concerned about my progress now but hope to catch up!

What has been your most difficult read so far. And why? (Length? Subject matter? Difficult style? Out of your comfort zone reading?)
My most difficult read so far was Little, Big because it really wrenched my emotions.

Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait?
Still the winner, The Metamorphosis, on my TBR pile since February 2003. I kept putting it off because I thought it would be hard to read but it wasn't. It turned out to be a pretty good story too.

1) I'm climbing Mt. Ararat and have read 18 books out of the 48 book goal thus far. That puts me at slightly over a third of the way through when I should be half way through. However, I am confident that I can complete my goal, as I am currently reading two more books from my TBR pile, and still have 42 more books to read for my challenge to read 100 books this year.

2) B. Guilty Pleasures has been by far the hardest book for me to get through so far. It is a short book, but for me the plot was really boring and the writing was awful. I can't believe that this is a 15+ book series!

I am excited to continue on my journey!

Yay! My copy of The Body in the Library arrived today. Thank you so much! It already met my other Agatha Christie books and fits in nicely :-). Hope I can read it soon.

Nadine wrote: "Yay! My copy of The Body in the Library arrived today. Thank you so much! It already met my other Agatha Christie books and fits in nicely :-). Hope I can read it soon."

Glad it got there! Enjoy!

I'm late to the check-point, but better late than never! (And I hope checking with everybody will motivate me finish my numerous "currently reading" books.)

I've finished 7 books in my TBR pile so far, which brings me a little further than half way up Pike's Peak. Here is my list :
1. The Limits of Enchantment
2. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
3. The Third Man
4. Slaughterhouse-Five
5. Claudine at School
6. Quartett
7. L'illusion comique
I'm also half-way through Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and I'm determined to make it #8.

My favourite characters were the three witches in the first tale of The Ladies of Grace Adieu, maybe because I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so much. Anyway, I truly enjoyed all the backstories about magic in Susanna Clarke's universe.

The most difficult read was Quartett : I liked it but contemporary theater is often disconcerting, and I had no frame of reference for this author.

I'm off to read a bit more of Jane Austen!

Aaaand...all the way up Mt. Everest, and boy, am I ever shagged out.

I would have been done sooner, but for a variety of things, including eye troubles, and an extended stint away from home that was occupied with more than reading.

I should do the rest of the questions, but I'm about to keel over. *thud*

Steven wrote: "Aaaand...all the way up Mt. Everest, and boy, am I ever shagged out.

I would have been done sooner, but for a variety of things, including eye troubles, and an extended stint away from home that w..."

Congratulations! You definitely deserve a rest. Save up your answers for the next checkpoint! [who knows, maybe you'll make it up Mt. Olympus by then ;-) ]

That wpuld be nice, but I'm aiming to crest that one by the end of the year. It depends, of course.