Mount TBR 2014 Challenge discussion

Here I am attempting to lower the numbers in my TBR pile again. I plan to do a review with each book posted so if you're interested in reading my review thoughts feel free to follow or friend me.

Welcome to the 2014 Climbing Crew! good luck with El Toro.

Can't believe its the end of January and time for my update, but here we are. ;)

Total: 35

Wow - 35 books is awesome! Congrats!

Leslie wrote: "Wow - 35 books is awesome! Congrats!"

Thank you, Leslie! Some are rather short and not novel length, but they have been sitting and getting dusty on the pile. ;)

Holá Sophía. Something tells me your novels aren't afraid to add sex. ;) I read adult fiction, ya know, because I'm an adult. Maybe it's the cozy style that seems, as a Madelyn Alt fan put it: as if they fear their Grandmothers reading their work. I have no interst in erotica or vampires but can't find more than a kiss out of my mysteries and paranormal. LOL

C. wrote: "Holá Sophía. Something tells me your novels aren't afraid to add sex. ;) I read adult fiction, ya know, because I'm an adult. Maybe it's the cozy style that seems, as a Madelyn Alt fan put it: ..."

Hi C! No, I'm not afraid of the author leaving the bedroom door open so to speak. My own grandmother led a colorful life so she definitely wouldn't be offended. Haha! Thanks for commenting.

Call me Carolyn. :) I meant it is the authors who are afraid to open the bedroom door a tad! Other those annoying series where obvious matches take book upon book to get involved, constantly interrupted "just when they're close to"... I'm not into porn but I swear, I've often found myself shouting at the book "do it already"!

Two Grandparents were a bit too colourful before my time. ;) It sounds like there are great stories in your Grandma. Here's to much more adult fiction that isn't as benign as 'YA'!!!!

C. wrote: "Call me Carolyn. :) I meant it is the authors who are afraid to open the bedroom door a tad! Other those annoying series where obvious matches take book upon book to get involved, constantly int..."

Gotcha! Yes, you're right,Carolyn. There is a lot of 'fade to black' books out there. I like those too if the writing supports the tension of the romance. And wowsers! Two grans larger than life? I consider that lucky b/c yes, my Grandmother made truth stranger than fiction many times.

Unfortunately Grandma's poor choice of second husband led to an early death. Thankfully I'm old enough to remember her and the other three lived into my 20s.

Only 3 authors *I've* read, showed beyond a kiss! It isn't about build-up but dropping the ball, I'd say. Madelyn Alt, Susan Wittig Albert took "dragging it out" beyond far, Mary Stanton too. Does it need to be 'erotica' to have a decent sex scene? I'm reminded of the TV show "Remington Steele". By the time the detectives hook up, the final scene of the series closes. Bah.

I think we'd get on with our reading Sophia! haha. my books this year are going to be random as hell as I read all my romance/adult books first and leave the others I somehow think I need to read behind (no idea why i buy some books really..)- but normally my bookshelf would look like yours in a way.

C. wrote: "Unfortunately Grandma's poor choice of second husband led to an early death. Thankfully I'm old enough to remember her and the other three lived into my 20s.

Only 3 authors *I've* read, showed be..."

Agreed. I think writing a decent tension build-up to sex scene must be hard b/c its tough to find books/series that get it right. I'll have to peek at these you mention b/c I haven't heard of them before.

Elle wrote: "I think we'd get on with our reading Sophia! haha. my books this year are going to be random as hell as I read all my romance/adult books first and leave the others I somehow think I need to read b..."

You caught me, Elle! I am such a mood reader and I have a terrible habit of buying books on a whim. This is why I need this challenge. Haha! I put myself on a book budget, but that doesn't always help when sellers do freebies with the ebooks. I am mostly a romance reader, but history, mystery, and fiction are there too. I'll have to check out your posts to see what you've got too, Elle!

I buy books I think I need to read to be some sort of better reader - it's awful! Can't imagine how much money I have wasted since I got my Kindle from books I've bought with good intentions and haven't looked at since. This is the reason I want to do this challenge this year!

If I just read books I am buying straight away it would mostly be romance or crime. I can't stand a book without romance. It's like my heart breaks without it!


My post is very empty as you saw, but hopefully after tomorrow it will wake up ;)

Wow,Sophia !
I am impressed with your total for January . Wonderful !

Elle wrote: "I buy books I think I need to read to be some sort of better reader - it's awful! Can't imagine how much money I have wasted since I got my Kindle from books I've bought with good intentions and ha..."

Cool! Glad to find a fellow romance fan! I will definitely have to check out your reads when you get the chance to post. I'm only going to post monthly b/c of the time factor.

Julie wrote: "Wow,Sophia !
I am impressed with your total for January . Wonderful !"

Thanks Julie! January tends to be my big month when I'm motivated to read through my pile and I have more time since I'm inside more.

Hope you do well on your challenge too.

35 in January! Wow! Terrific start! Good luck with the rest of the year.

Bev wrote: "35 in January! Wow! Terrific start! Good luck with the rest of the year."

Thank you!

It's the end of February and the chocolate from Valentine's Day is almost gone. Here are the additions toward my goal. It was a good month of reading.

Goal: 47/75

Jeepers! Are you going to stop when you get to 75 sometime around St Patrick's day? Or keep going on and on and on and....

:)

Christopher wrote: "Jeepers! Are you going to stop when you get to 75 sometime around St Patrick's day? Or keep going on and on and on and....

:)"

Oh, I'll be going on and on, Christopher. I have a huge pile of books that are awaiting my pleasure. Haha! Best wishes on your climb!

You word it only so well, my dear. "A huge pile of books awaiting my pleasure"? I love it! You've seen my storage facility, right? I'm rehabbing myself, against angst of giving away books I'm sure I won't like. There's nothing wrong with passing a few off, even if they're already paid for. There's so much more to enjoy! http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2014/02...

C. wrote: "You word it only so well, my dear. "A huge pile of books awaiting my pleasure"? I love it! You've seen my storage facility, right? I'm rehabbing myself, against angst of giving away books I'm s..."

Thanks Carolyn! I have seen your wonderful book treasure storage. I'm envious- in a good way.

Sophia - what a great start!

Rebecca NJ wrote: "Sophia - what a great start!"

Thank you, Rebecca! I really need to make a dent in my pile and this is such a fun incentive.

Yay! It's Spring and...there is still snow on the ground so I'll stay in my reading cave a little longer.

Goal: 51/75

Here's what I got read this month:

Isn't it funny, that's how I feel too. I have reason to look forward to spring and summer better than ever (badly-placed dog / people gone from next door and a two-year battle). We garden, sow flowers everywhere the eye can see. We love to be out in the grass, lawnchairs, and sandals and we WILL. But I wouldn't mind a little longer to give 2014 reading a nice push.

I revisited your write-up to see where you are that you have snow too. Darn Americans, always figuring outsiders can guess state abbreviations (and saying 'cocoa' & 'frosting', instead of hot chocolate and icing)! ;-) I can't tell if that's Michigan or Missouri. Thankfully you mentioned 'the Great Lakes'. I can guess Michigan. You got it right about reading with cats, or doing anything of course. I wonder, why someone else's blog for reviews? You are good enough on the internet to start your own but one doesn't even need that. How about Book Depository and Amazon?

I reviewed horror of a new author recently and it wasn't as bad as I thought. It's very much like a ghostly (or some creature) mystery except the adventure, the suspense gets going a lot quicker. Murder occurs 'on-screen' instead of the usual cliché of happening to walk upon a body. The latter should bother us in 'cozy mysteries' far more than it does and we ought to ask ourselves why not. I was pleasantly surprised to find that because the suspenseful flurry doesn't let up, if there is anything a bit gross; you aren't impacted very much by it. The other difference between horror and the average paranormal mystery is the ending. Like sci-fi (even less my bag than horror), there's a tendency for a note of pessimism or to be unsettled with an ending that is hanging.

Like we've learned so often as we try new things in literature, I urge that this is another case of not declaring 'never'. Try authors very MILDLY considered horror. Winifred Elze, Natasha Mostert.

C. wrote: "Isn't it funny, that's how I feel too. I have reason to look forward to spring and summer better than ever (badly-placed dog / people gone from next door and a two-year battle). We garden, sow fl..."

I had a rowdy neighbor for several years who was a bachelor and hosted parties every weekend late into the night. I was relieved when his job moved him away. Glad you can enjoy your own yard now. I know how that feels.

C. wrote: "I revisited your write-up to see where you are that you have snow too. Darn Americans, always figuring outsiders can guess state abbreviations (and saying 'cocoa' & 'frosting', instead of hot choc..."

Yep, sorry about the confusing abbreviations and American terms for things. We actually do use 'hot chocolate' and 'icing' too depending on where we're from. Lots of Americans confuse the state abbreviations too and I struggle with Canadian provinces, Mexican states and British counties too. I always love hearing people talk who are from a different region or country for both accent and word usuage. We get lots of folk from Ontario here b/c we live right across the river from Windsor, but many of them don't sound different b/c we live so close to the border.

I actually have tried horror and when I think of horror that I don't like, I'm referring to the slasher stuff that describes a blood bath. I don't mind the thriller, paranormal or suspense type. I get really squeamish b/c I can 'see' what I'm reading. I struggle when the murders or fight scenes are too graphic. I'll have to check out those authors you recommended. Thanks!

Appreciate you stopping by and checking out my page Carolyn. I am not tech savvie so I do better just sending in my posts to Shari. One of these days I'll learn how to do one for myself. In the mean time, I'm having fun just as I am. Oh, and I do post at Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Book Likes too. I try to help the authors out by making sure my reviews appear in several places.

It is my pleasure to check out the pages of friends and make an effort to acquaint them. :) Sophia, when it comes to understanding software, very few among the average computer-users do. Most people until the early 2000s learned how to use a computer at a workplace, which doesn't allow the same experimentation as a campus or home. The norm knows how to run a few familiar programs, going to a certain file location or clicking a certain way. If anything changes or fails; many are at a loss about getting things to work a different way. I've begun teaching my parents the basics. A new, 82 year-old friend has also just started her very own blog. The way you add book covers and URLs links is a step ahead that shows you find it easy to learn. :)

I've never been to Windsor or Ottawa but have family in Toronto. I have toured the Niagara Falls and Georgian Bay regions. Province abbreviations are a lot more obvious: "Manitoba" MB, "Alberta" AB, "British Columbia" BC, "Saskatchewan" SK and we only have ten of them. The observation I made is that we expect to say whole names, while Americans abbreviate even for people outside their walls. "LA" is one of your cities but also refers to one of your states. Also some of your states are additionally city names. There are many starting with M but you helped me guess right.

Thank you for the compliment, Carolyn. I used a computer for work and a younger co-worker taught me things. I've used the help feature on my computer to work out stuff on my own. It doesn't come easy so I take the learning process slowly. And good for your 82 year old friend. That's great!

As to the abbreviations, you're right. We have confusing cities that look like states when abbreviated. People say New York and unless they tack on 'state' to that I think they mean the city. The same for Washington. I suppose it is a matter of context, but I'll probably always have to ask under certain circumstances.

Bill Gates is famous for creating the 'windows' operating system - the main software from which we control a computer. The big deal is that visible menus and icons are easy for anyone to click on with a mouse. It's hard to find a person under 60 who doesn't use a computer and that is largely why. The downside is we click with no sense of HOW a computer, or software works. I do because things once had to run via basic command words. The way we moved from folder directory to folder directory, gave us a look at how they were organized.

Computers used to be set up via an operating system called "DOS" (other options were "LINUX" and "UNIX"). You now know a good deal more than most folks! To get programs to run, we typed words like "run", "save", "exit", "cd" ("change directory": to move between 'the C: drive' (aka the 'harddrive') and other folders and drives. You can still view a DOS prompt under 'accessories' in the 'start menu' and experiment with it.

Know this - all we are ever doing is telling a computer: (1) which file to open, create new, edit, save, move, or exit. (2) We must know in which folder they reside and in which drive to find that folder & file. (3) we must know which program/software will open, create, edit, or save our files.

(4) we should know where the software itself is really stored (despite an icon or menu shortcut). There is more than one way to load a program and more than one program to choose for using or creating our file. Also, software/programs themselves are made up of files; commanding it to perform its function.

C. wrote: "Bill Gates is famous for creating the 'windows' operating system - the main software from which we control a computer. The big deal is that visible menus and icons are easy for anyone to click on ..."

Yes, that makes sense! Thank you for putting it so well. But...I'll still struggle. Haha!

Take care, Carolyn and thanks!

No you won't. Not with this information. By the way, I edited it even more after you replied so give it one more read through. Glance into 'windows explorer' and see where all of your folders are, see at a glance which files are where. Trust me that you will look at things a different way.

C. wrote: "Bill Gates is famous for creating the 'windows' operating system - the main software from which we control a computer. The big deal is that visible menus and icons are easy for anyone to click on ..."

A blast from the past - I am old enough that not only do I recall when Windows was a new program that you ran in DOS, but even remember learning to program using cards before personal computers existed! Mainframes and 'dumb' terminals were the big thing when I was in school.

Perhaps as a result of that background, I have a hatred of all the "background" programs that run automatically without any sayso from me.

C. wrote: "No you won't. Not with this information. By the way, I edited it even more after you replied so give it one more read through. Glance into 'windows explorer' and see where all of your folders ar..."

@Carolyn- Thank you for the clarification. It does make sense and I played around a little to see where all the programs were. I'll have to explore more later.

Here's April's Contributions- not many, but still progress:

57/75

Happy Memorial Day to Everyone in the US! Here is my May update:

58/75

It was our long-weekend last week, for Queen Victoria's birthday. Canada continues to somewhat recognize the English origins. I didn't know about your occasion. Happy memorial day to my American friends! Carolyn.

C. wrote: "It was our long-weekend last week, for Queen Victoria's birthday. Canada continues to somewhat recognize the English origins. I didn't know about your occasion. Happy memorial day to my American..."

Thank you, Carolyn! Sadly, I only remember about the separate Canada Day and Thanksgiving so I'm bad at holidays for my neighbor up north too. ;)

I'm glad YOU do. The weird thing is: '4th Of July' **follows** 'July 1st' merely by three days: Canada Day! Yes, Thanksgiving better suits October. I reserve November for the birthday of yours truly! (Heeheehee).

C. wrote: "I'm glad YOU do. The weird thing is: '4th Of July' **follows** 'July 1st' merely by three days: Canada Day! Yes, Thanksgiving better suits October. I reserve November for the birthday of yours..."

Well that is definitely a plus for you. ;)

July has been sizzling with celebrations, BBQs, camping, and oh yes, reading. I was able to do a bit of that this month.

Goal Total: 65/75

August was a hooky month and I got no TBR reading done. Hopefully I'll do better in Sept. Just ten more to go to reach my goal!

Yay! 10 more in 4 months should be a breeze!

Jessika wrote: "Yay! 10 more in 4 months should be a breeze!"

Thanks for the encouragement, Jessika!

Here's what I've got for September. Getting closer...

Total: 66/75

Happy Fall Y'all!

Total: 67/75

Just the one for October: