Mount TBR 2013 Reading Challenge discussion

Oh my goodness! Where does the time go? Last I checked, September was just starting....and now it's gone and I neglected to get the third quarterly checkpoint up and running. Time to fix that....

Let's see how our challengers are doing after 9 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. Choose 3-5 titles from your stacks and using a word from the title, do an image search. Post the first picture associated with that word.


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 Tuesday, October 8. Next Tuesday 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.

Even if you're not in the mood for a prize or you've already finished your climb, I'd love to have you check in with us and tell us all your news.

Enter here OR on my blog, My Reader's Block, (but not both places, please)

***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 last quarter.

1. I have read 14 books so far. Ten left and three months to go. Ooof. *looks up the mountain*

2B. Hardest to read overall strangely was Jane Austen's Persuasion, surprising for such a short book. Once I got past a certain slow section, though, I barreled through.

2C. The Sarah Caudwell Hilary Tamar books have been there the longest; I think I bought them all after the author's death. They've been delightful. I wish I'd picked them up sooner. My only regret is there are only four of them.

2D. I did a search on Adonis from Thus was Adonis Murdered and opted for this:



I wonder if my namesake Julia the tax lawyer would have approved of his profile.

01. I have scaled Pike's Peak and Mount Blanc and am currently climbing Mount Vancouver. I have read 28/36 books for the challenge which would put me at about 12,278.78' up the 15,787' peak located in the US-Canadian border!

2A. My favorite character from the challenge has been quiet, unassuming, toad-like but brilliant-minded George Smiley from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy (both by John LeCarré.)

2B. My most challenging read so far has been The Honourable Schoolboy (by John LeCarré.) The story is set in Asia after The Fall of Saigon and deals with a bit of history that I am largely unfamiliar with. Also, the main thread of the plot was really an international audit of monies. Not particularly sexy, but then again, it can't all be martinis and women :-P

2C. The oldest books that I have read for the challenge overall were read while I was scaling Pike's Peak and Mount Blanc: The Age of Innocence (by Edith Wharton,) The Religion (Tannhauser Trilogy #1 by Tim Willocks) and, The Road to Fotheringhay (by Jean Plaidy) were from a stack cataloged 07/24/2009!

2D. I chose the word "Mystic" from the book Mystic River, one of four books that I have read so far since leveling up to Mount Vancouver (Mystic River (by Dennis Lehane,) The Honourable Schoolboy (by John LeCarré,) Unwrittten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity (Unwritten #1 by Mike Carey) and Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8 by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters.))

1. I've read 24 out of 36, which at my current pace puts me about three behind. However my logic says that if I had signed up for Mont Blanc, I would now be leaning back in my deckchair, on the summit, yes, but finished. This is meant to be a challenge, so I shall push on, force another few steps, make another few metres. Even if I don't reach the top, I'll still be higher than if I had stopped here. That's the point of a challenge.

2.
A.Favourite character is the most unassuming hero ever, the journalist Pereira in Pereira Declares: A Testimony, wonderful book, wonderful character.
B.I continue to struggle with Proust (who wouldn't?). I'm now on vol 5, The Captive, at which point, at long, long last, things are beginning to come together. That means he took four volumes for the exposition.
C.I think The Bridge of San Luis Rey is maybe the one I've had longest, although I'm not sure (it smells the mustiest). I'm not sure where it came from. Then there is also the Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician, which I found behind other books on the second row: that is one I've had since I was a student, so it may well qualify for the longevity accolade. Both were excellent reads, anyway.
D. Here's an image from the film of San Luis Rey:

1. I'm making progress up Mt. Ararat, 29/48. If my math is any good, that's just a little over 10,000 ft of the 16,854-ft peak! I got seriously bogged down in the Wheel of Time series, but that's finally over and I think now I can make some headway on my backlog.

2a. Favorite character: Thursday Next. Complex, realistic, kickass female character. Would like to be her when I grow up.
2b. Difficult read: I will say Bloomsbury: A House of Lions. It wasn't long but it was dry and hard to keep my mind on.
2c. Longest on TBR mountain: Mistress Masham's Repose. I would have enjoyed it on a different level as a kid. I certainly enjoyed it as an adult!
2d. On that theme I searched "repose" and came up with this Sargent painting:



Exactly what I wish I could be doing right now...

1 - I've read 24/36 towars Mt. Vancouver. Through most of the year, I tought I wouldn't make it, but now I "only" have to read 4 books from my TBR per month to get there. I think I will get there.

2A - My favorite character so far is Lou, from Me Before You (Jojo Moyes). It's a very relatable character, complicated in her apparent simplicity.

2B - The most difficult read was "The Pillars of the World", by Anne Bishop. Because Anne Bishop was once a favorite writer and I loved the Black Jewels series. I didn't enjoy the first of this trilogy, though. So, it was difficult to go through the book because of the disappointment and it took me forever to end it.

2C - I'm not sure, because back then I didn't take note of the day I bought books, but it was probably "The Magician's Nephew", by C.S. Lewis, bought in 2005. I liked it, although it was not mindblowing.

2D - I chose "Queen", from The Queen's Mistake. Here's what I got:

1. So far I've read 102 books of the 150+ of Mount Olympus level. Less than 50 to go! This means I've reached Mt Everest level and am 17.680 m up the 26 km of Mount Olympus.

2. Once again I'll only take a look at the books from the past 3 months for this category:

A. My favourite character was Marco, the protagonist in Marco Effekten. He grew up in a gipsy family who made him steal and is now trying to get an education and lead a better life against all odds.

B. The most difficult read was Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family. It actually wasn't that difficult, it was just in comparison with the other books I read. Most of them were light summer reading.

C. Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family is also the book which had been on my TBR pile the longest. It definitely was worth the wait.

It's a good feeling to look back and see how far I've climbed--12,717 feet of Mt Vancouver or 29/36. My favorite character this quarter is Dr Paul Farmer from Mountains Beyond Mountains for the amazing work he and others at Partners in Health are doing in Haiti and around the world. Journey to the Outermost House had been on the shelf the longest...since the early 1990s...and this summer was the perfect time to read it following a visit to Cape Cod where the book is set. I couldn't resist this mountain picture because of the dragon.

I have read 15 books of my 24 goal. My main problem hasn't been the books but this summer I finished grad school so that really slowed my reading down. I think that Hidden empire by Kevin J Anderson was the book that was on my TBR pile the longest but I am glad that I waited because now I have all of the books in the series.

I have read 19/24 books for my Mt. Blanc challenge. I am happy to say that I am on track to meet my goal this year.

My favorite character was William Kamkwamba The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope who is a real person. I found his attitude toward life and his determination inspiring. Some people say that there are no happy books out there. This book turns that perception on its head.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was on my TBR the longest. I don't think that it was worth the wait. I didn't really enjoy but I am happy to have read it.

2 B. What has been your most difficult read so far?
Mary Stanton and worse, her 'Claudia Bishop' novels, are extremely hard to wade through. There are sounds, movements, or words representing them that irk all of us: a personalized equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. There is even a neurological glitch called 'misophonia': torture from a few sounds/gestures/words affected people can't bear. Mary Stanton rolls up all the terms I detest! She always has grown sisters bicker or grab each other, extra grating because they're apart from the plot. Why tolerate the novels? Her series about angels and a human lawyer representing souls in purgatory is the most original I've seen. I'd love a ghost writer to take over - a mangnificient idea written without aggravating habits.

2 C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest?
"Charlotte's Web" is a title I've long thought I ought to eyeball for myself. I was too little to recall it from school and reluctant. I am vegetarian, deem animal life equally valuable, and do not even believe in euthanasia (if one wouldn't choose likewise with a person). Page 1, wanting to kill an infant with an axe because "he would be too much trouble to raise", made me sputter! Charlotte's death was fine. She wasn't 'disposed of'. She was a senior passing away naturally. It is the end pages I loved.

A 10-year copy in my library is "The Secret", Carol Beach York. The cover of a teen with 70s feathered hair reminded me of the 'Sweet Valley High' some girls used to read at my junior high, which I gagged over then. I'm uncomfortable if 25+ year-olds stick to young adult material, rather than the odd synopsis that looks good. This was a fantastic story that was very well done! I've found Carol Beach York to be a writer whose way with words, I enjoy tremendously. It just goes to show, the old book cover adage.

Phyllis A. Whitney's "Blue Fire", although I've loved the grand lady all of my life, surpassed the enjoyment expected. It got a turn because it concluded 3 'word'/'colour' challenges in one fell swoop! You would dismiss its cover as 60s romantic suspense. What educational, political enrichment I received from it! If you knew as little about South Africa or diamonds as I, feast your eyes. The landscape descriptors alone infuse a sense of being there as only she did.

2 A. A new author and character I immediately love are Kate Kingsbury's Cecelia. I'm not keen on historical fiction but her ladies are fiesty enough that they speak to everyone today and opposite to writers with irritating style, I'm delighted by every sentence Kate utters. She also manages to make the non-mystery portions of her stories very funny. Intrigue and a hearty laugh? It's what we all need! I've been to the regions south of London, England and can picture 'The Pennyfoot Hotel'. Don't we all love being surprised by literature that wasn't our cup of tea? :) Branch out, I say.

1. I'm very pleased to share, I conquered my challenge way back upon Mount Ararat!
I like to accomplish what I set out to try and knew I could easily finish 48 titles. I reached the succeeding Mount Kilimanjaro and recently surpassed it by summiting Mount El Toro as well! I am excited to be two mountains past the goal and can't believe I'm on the phenomenal Mount Everest the rest of the year. Except when winter hits and we aren't preoccupied with our gardens and large yards, I only read a few hours at night. This is a fun triumph for me indeed. I'm into book 78.

See all of my reading themes. http://www.CMRiedel.WordPress.com *Carolyn*.

The checkpoint is now closed. Will be back later to announce a winner!

So, I got all wrapped up looking forward to the Red Cross Book Sale this year I only managed to add 48 new-to-me books to my TBR pile for next year (that's not too bad, is it? We won't talk about the stacks of books I already had.)....and realized that, Hey! I need to post about the September Checkpoint. And now it's time to find a winner for the 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).....Link #8! That means that Ellinor is our winner! Congratulations, Ellinor! I'll be contacting you soon about the prize list.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the check-in. I enjoy seeing your progress so far. I especially enjoyed the pictures you found and were able to post--I love that a picture of Queen, the group, came up for Célia.

Thanks as well to all climbers for joining me in scaling those Mount TBR heights. Good luck in the last leg!

The Children's Hospital in our nearest city had a small version of their tri-annual sale. Take-home was low for me too (heehee) but now I only need 5 Agatha Christie. I'm most eager to have Margery Allingham's series opener, "Black Dudley".

I really should e-mail, or blog about trading together. There *are* books I don't keep that others like. Interested parties with titles they need may certainly message or e-mail me now. I'll let y'all know if I blog. :) Congratulations Ellinor!

P.S: I avoid pictures due to dial-up internet where I live. Example, threads with book covers instead of text lists, are slow to load. Hope the other sharing and work that went into each of our entries is enjoyed by all too. :)

Carolyn: Yes, indeed! I enjoy hearing about all the hikers--pictures or no pictures. Glad we're all doing so well on getting those TBR stacks whittled down (or at least no higher if we go out and replenish at book sales :-) )

Thank you Bev. When I do even a small public write-up like that, my head goes into university exam essay mode. I try to make them thorough and nice!

I think you live in north-eastern USA? I'm above North Dakota, to help people visualize western / central Canada. It would be a blast to shop with physical book fans like you, Margaret, and Pixie. A small part of me hopes our eyes aren't on the same wares when we score great bin-diving. Q;-)=

Susan, if your picture-displaying question was unanswered: sign-up at Photobucket.com. Each picture you upload creates HTML code you can click on, for use in websites like this. Organize your folders and move photos around before you paste code anywhere. Coding is determined by your pictures' locations.

C. wrote: "Susan, if your picture-displaying question was unanswered: sign-up at Photobucket.com. Each picture you upload creates HTML code you can click on, for use in websites like this. Organize your fo..."
Thanks, Carolyn. I will give it a try. Got to be ready for the next update ;)

It's nice for inserting photographs into your thread and elsewhere (which I'll do when I pitch the 100 'Mount Everest' tent, to share my book storage and cats. :)

I hope Amy Yingling is breaking just from blogging and won't abandon the conclusion (and prizes) of the "Mystery / Crime Challenge". For her picture-based link pages, I use Photobucket.com to upload mystery covers and get HTML codes. They just won't load on dial-up, it isn't about being slow.

It's been very handy. I caught onto Photobucket when I used MySpace. I couldn't stand 'facebook' and didn't get into Twitter. It's WordPress, Goodreads, and straight e-mail for me. :) Who wants to check messages all over the place even on highspeed?

Okay! I figured out how to write a post on my front page Goodreads profile. Anyone seeking or wanting to clean out physical novels is welcome to glimpse my short list. :) It would be swell to win one of Bev's outright but that is Ellinor's honour. Pick wisely. heeheehee

At Amazon Canada, we can obtain many titles for a penny + $6.49 but it would be lovely to trade out some of our wares on hand. Yours in reading frienship, Carolyn. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...

C. wrote: "Thank you Bev. When I do even a small public write-up like that, my head goes into university exam essay mode. I try to make them thorough and nice!

I think you live in north-eastern USA? I'm a..."

Carloyn: I'm in Indiana (south of mid-point of Ontario). I would love to shop with fellow book-lovers--but it would be tricky if we all reached for the same book at the same time. ;-)

I'm so excited to be the winner! The only bad thing about it is that it's actually counterproductive to this group's aim, reducing the TBR pile. I'll now be adding to it instead (not that I'd mind that ;)

I think we have wonderful variances between us - in the midst of being passionate about the same spectrum overall. Even if we enjoy both, you might lean more vintage than I, I put the paranormal ahead of traditional mystery or fiction.... So I might have what I need in that facility but need to fill up where your collection is complete. :)

Manitoba, which for interested scholars, commences the "western Canada" region; borders Ontario at the east. I'm only an hour away actually but it's a wide province, reaching to Québec and you helpfully mentioned the midpoint.

Anyway the thought of meeting all of these wonderful people in person brings a smile. I've done it in the past with others and it's a wonderful experience. Especially if it would mean returning to Scotland, England, or finally seeing Wales, Ireland, France, Germany.... New Zealand, Australia!

I've somehow completely missed checkpoint 3, but I still wanted to do it anyways...

1. I've read twelve books so far, which means I've already made it to the top of Pike's Peak. Now I'll be strolling around the top for a bit, cause I still have plenty of books on my TBR pile to keep me busy till the end of the year...

These are the books I read so far:
Hidden Fires, by Sandra Brown
Not Even for Love, by Sandra Brown
The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks
The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton
The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman
Evil Under the Sun, by Agatha Christie
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
One Night for Love, by Mary Balogh
It Happened One Autumn, by Lisa Kleypas
The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A Summer to Remember, by Mary Balogh

2A. Last checkpoint I picked Cassandra from The Forgotten Garden. Although she still makes the list of favorite characters of 2013, this time around I'm going to pick Juliet Ashton from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. She's an independent and passionate woman with whom I strongly identified. She's also responsible for one of my all time favorite quotes:

“I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with.”

2B. The answer is still The World Without Us simply because it's non fiction which means I don't get so engaged on the reading as I do with fiction and because it takes me longer to read cause I try to assimilate as much information as I can.

2C. Again, still The World Without Us, a resident since 2008. It was worth the wait.

2D.
Garden - The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton:


Autumn - It Happened One Autumn, by Lisa Kleypas:


Sea - The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan:


Pie - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows:

Late again, and short, sharp and brutal (I am a veritable Harlan Ellison)...graduated to Mount Olympus back in September, just as my house caught fire, and am slowly trudging up as best I can...although I'm likely about to get thrown off the climb once more, this time because I just found out I have to have open heart surgery.

I have such luxk...!

I'm finding that I rather enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum as a character (not to mention all the quirky characters around her.) I just finished the first Nexus Omnibus, which was great fun.

Late for the check-point again!

I haven't red much lately : I'm on book #11, meaning I need to finish my current book (Cyrano de Bergerac) and read one more, and I'll be on the top of Pike's Peak.

So, here is my list of book read (books #8 and the one after are the ones I read since the last check-point) :
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
8. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
9. Personne ne m'aurait cru, alors je me suis tu by Sam Braun : the title translates to "Nobody would have believed me so I kept quiet". It's a long interview with a death camp survivor. It's also an incredibly uplifting book.
10. Cinna by Pierre Corneille

I joined the group this month at Mt Vancouver level for 2013. Here are my responses for books read to date.

Checkpoint - 3rd quarter
4010 miles of 4,812 miles
30 of 36

A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
Marquitta Bannion in Every Last Secret: A Mystery by Linda Rodriguez
I liked her courage in changing her life and seeking the truth even when the administration tried to intimidate her.


B. What has been your most difficult read so far. And why? (Length? Subject matter? Difficult style? Out of your comfort zone reading?)
The most difficult read was Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death by Julie Wray Herman. MC was unlikable; the book only focuses on 2 of the 3 women and it was not a good read.

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?
Bloody Kin by Margaret Maron
Yes, it was very good. I wish that I had read it sooner. This book is loosely connected to her two series, i.e., a prequel to her Deborah Knott mysteries with the MC Sigrid Harald's cousin who has appeared in those novels.


D. Choose 3-5 titles from your stacks and using a word from the title, do an image search. Post the first picture associated with that word.

The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews


A Week in Winter by Marcia Willett


The Walled Flower by Lorraine Bartlett


The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall

Steven wrote: "Late again, and short, sharp and brutal (I am a veritable Harlan Ellison)...graduated to Mount Olympus back in September, just as my house caught fire, and am slowly trudging up as best I can...alt..."

Oh, Steven! What an Autumn you've had...I hope all goes well with your surgery!