Mount TBR 2016 discussion

Wow. We're almost done with 2016 and it's time to get ready for the Final Mountaineering Checkpoint. Where does the time go? I'm ready to hear how all our mountain-climbing team members have done out there on Pike's Peak, Mt. Ararat, Mt. Everest....whichever peak you've chosen. Checkpoint participation is absolutely voluntary and is not considered necessary for challenge completion.

For those who would like to participate in this checkpoint post, I'd like you to at least complete the first of these two things. And if you feel particularly inspired (or generous about humoring me during the holiday season), then please do both.

1. Tell us how many miles you made it up your mountain (# of books read). If you've planted your flag on the peak, then tell us, take a selfie, and celebrate (and wave!). Even if you were especially athletic and have been sitting atop your mountain for months, please check back in and remind us how quickly you sprinted up that trail. And feel free to tell us about any particularly exciting book adventures you've had along the way.


I have met my declared goal--planting a flag atop Mount Everest back in September. I had high hopes of also sitting atop Mount Olympus up on Mars, but I got severely distracted by holiday preparations and other life happenings and I'm going to come up a bit short on that one. It's not deterring me from making Olympus my declared goal for 2017, though. Here's hoping I can stay focused in November and December next year....

2. The Words to the Wise According to Mount TBR: Using the titles of the books you read this year, see how many of the familiar proverbs and sayings below you can complete with a book read on your journey up the Mountain. Feel free to add/subtract a word or two to help them make sense. I have given my titles as examples:

A stitch in time...[is] Dead Against My Principles .
Don't count your chickens...[when] Running Blind.
A penny saved is...Too Good to Be True.
All good things must come...Gently with the Painters.
When in Rome...Hunt with the Hounds.
All that glitters is not...The Eye of Osiris.
A picture is worth a...Poacher's Bag
When the going gets tough, the tough get...The Devil in the Dark.
Two wrongs don't make...A Lesson in Secrets.
The pen is mightier than....The Platypus of Doom & Other Nihilists.
The squeaky wheel gets...A Pinch of Poison.
Hope for the best, but prepare for...Cold Day for Murder.
Birds of a feather flock...While the Wind Howled.

And what do you get for all that hard work? The Checkpoint will close at 11:59 pm on Sunday, January 8. On Monday 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). This prize is the only book given to you in 2017 that may count towards a 2017 TBR climb.

Even if you're not in the mood for a prize or if you got distracted by pretty scenery or side trails (library books, ARCs, what-have-you), I'd love to have you check in and tell us how your 2016 mountain climb went!

***Please note--comments are for Checkpoint posts only. If you'd like to cheer on your fellow challengers, please visit their climb folders.

Reached my goal of Mt. Vancouver in July and even passed Mt Arat
Had a great time eliminating my tbr, but added as many (if not more) to the pile so I will have to make a stronger run for this next year.

I met my goal in September - Mt. Vancouver - and moved up to Mt Ararat. I expect to finish the year just short of the peak with 45 books. I did much better with my TBR this year than last but...I acquired so many new books that I don't see a dent in the pile. Next year I hope to scale back on new books and enjoy reading the ones already in Mt TBR.

Words to the Wise:
A stitch in time... [is] Threaded for Trouble
Don't count your chickens...Duck the Halls
A penny saved is... [spent at] The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe
All good things must come... [with] Orange Mint and Honey
When in Rome.... Be Careful What You Witch For
All that glitters is not...Guaranteed to Bleed
A picture is worth ... Pearls and Poison
When the going gets tough, the tough get...A Root Awakening
Two wrongs don't make...Mayhem at the Orient Express
The pen is mightier than....[a] Fellowship of Fear
The squeaky wheel gets...Caught Read Handed
Hope for the best, but prepare for....A Demon Summer
Birds of a feather flock...[to] The Nightingale

I just finished my challenge today, 60/60 books! I have one more book to finish to hit my yearly goal of 80 on the GR main challenge. Although I added WAAAAY more books than I read this year, I'm glad that 75% of my reading came from older books on my shelves. I will join in again next year, my 4th year, and keep my goal at 60.

I managed 14, so Pike's Peak plus a few more. Here's my list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Stupid link.

And I think "All good things must come gently with the painters" will be my words to live by in 2017!!

I originally set myself a goal of 24, which seemed like a feat for someone with whole bookcases of tbr's that she never gets to. You guys have been so good for me - I did 37! Definitely coming back next year

I read 50 books, so I surpassed my goal Mt. Ararat by 2 books. And I'm a bit proud of it :)

The Words to the Wise According to Mount TBR

A stitch in time...[on] Oracle Night
Don't count your chickens...East of Eden
A penny saved is...Gone with the Wind
All good things must come...[to] A Fine and Private Place
When in Rome...I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
All that glitters is not...A Wrinkle in Time
A picture is worth...The Red and the Black
When the going gets tough, the tough get...A Room of One's Own
Two wrongs don't make...A Moveable Feast
The pen is mightier than...The Monkey Wrench Gang
The squeaky wheel gets...Infinite Possibilities
Hope for the best, but prepare for...The Mists of Avalon
Birds of a feather flock...Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I've read 150 books and made planted my flag of victory on Mt. Olympus. I am planning to get one or two more books in by the end of the year.

Here is the link to my trek up Mt. Olympus: RachelvlehcaR's Trek Up Mt. Olympus

In it I have put in stats of the books I've read. In there you'll find things like:

✹ Book Edition ✹
      Audio - 11
      Kindle - 104
      Hardcover - 3
      Paperback - 32

Authors, Genres, Publication Year, Pages, Rating, BOTM, Buddy Reads, Series, and How many books read per month. Once the year is over I will have pie charts to show all of them.

A stitch in time... Before They Find Us
Don't count your chickens... On the Edge
A penny saved is... Up Till Now
All good things must come... Wicked as She Wants
When in Rome... Mary Poppins Comes Back
All that glitters is not... Unseemly
A picture is worth... The Bone Doll's Twin
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Life, the Universe and Everything
Two wrongs don't make... The Light Fantastic
The pen is mightier than... The Master of the World
The squeaky wheel gets... Pure Sunshine
Hope for the best, but prepare for... The Final Empire
Birds of a feather flock... The Darkest Part of the Forest

I finished my climb up Mount Blanc in the middle of November and managed to add another half-dozen to my total. I tend to pick up audiobooks when it seems as though I'm never going to get around to actually reading books, so my count each year normally consists of a mixture of the two. Sometimes the audiobook is new, but I count it if I've had the book on my TBR for a while :) Because I review for various outlets, the majority of the books (according to GR I'm around the 250 mark) tend to be new ones, but I'll be back here next year aiming to knock a few more off the TBR pile :)

A stitch in time... (is) Simply Perfect
Don't count your chickens... Where Shadows Dance
A penny saved is... Incriminating Evidence
All good things must come... (to) An Heir of Uncertainty
When in Rome... (be) Simply Unforgettable
All that glitters is not... Splendid
A picture is worth... (a) Silent Melody
When the going gets tough, the tough get... A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
Two wrongs don't make... Her Best Worst Mistake
The pen is mightier than... (an) Imprudent Lady
The squeaky wheel gets... Tangled
Hope for the best, but prepare for... What Angels Fear
Birds of a feather flock... Where Serpents Sleep

I'm aaaalmost there! The peak of Mt. Ararat is just 331 steps/pages of The Time Traveler's Wife away... (Christmas guests for the last 8 days, lots of work etc has indeed made the last bit of mountain a challenge!)

I'm somewhat confident that I'll plant my flag before midnight on New Years Eve!

The Words to the Wise According to Mount TBR


A penny saved is... (for) Emerald City
All good things must come...Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
All that glitters is not...(a) Distant Star
A picture is worth... The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Carol
Two wrongs don't make... The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The pen is mightier than...Lips Too Chilled
The squeaky wheel gets... (a) Crocodile on the Sandbank
Hope for the best, but prepare for...Steelheart
Birds of a feather flock...Fates and Furies

Because I normally read about 100 books each year, I set my sights on Mount Ararat (48). I figured I would at least be running in place if I could pull 50% of my reads from what was already sitting in my bookshelves – I wouldn’t be making the pile smaller, but at least it wouldn’t get any bigger! I began the year feeling overly confident that I would hit my goal pretty early on. But I discovered that it was actually more difficult than I had anticipated. I never realized (until I started keeping track) just how distracted I get by new books – even though I have literally piles and piles (and piles … ) of them already in my home. Doing this challenge forced me to be more mindful of my reading choices and it actually motivated me to start patronizing the library again. I had fallen out of the habit of going to the library because I changed jobs and my new commute takes me in the complete opposite direction of our local library (which is also only open at oddly inconvenient times). After seeing how often I ignored the piles of books waiting for me in my house in favor of the “hot new book thing,” I walked into the library of the town that I drive through on my way home and requested a library card from there instead. 

I reached the summit of Mount Ararat in November, planted my flag, and kept going. I got halfway up the rest of the way to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, finishing with 55 books that counted for this challenge. (And a year-end total of 103 books read. Which means I pulled 53.4% of my books from my shelves. Yay for increments of progress, however small! ) That calculates to …. 18,097.5 feet climbed!

A stitch in time...[is] Freedomland
Don't count your chickens… After Birth
A penny saved is.... The Long Way Home
All good things must come.... On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery
When in Rome....World Gone By
All that glitters is not.... How the Light Gets In
A picture is worth a… Bird in Hand
When the going gets tough, the tough get....Drunk Mom
Two wrongs don't make.... A God in Ruins
The pen is mightier than..... The Demon in the Freezer
The squeaky wheel gets... The Plot Against America
Hope for the best, but prepare for... Beautiful Ruins
Birds of a feather flock....[to] Unfamiliar Fishes

1.

I met the Mt Ararat Goal of 48 books, but just missed my personal goal of 52 books. I managed to read 51 from my growing TBR pile from last year. My goal this time out was limiting because I was only counting physical books and not e-books or audio books. Next time out, I will count those, too! My TBR list has just grown this year as I have downloaded a ton of kindle books and audible books.

2.

A stitch in time... [is] Almost Perfect
Don't count your chickens... [until] Proven Guilty
A penny saved is... The Lesser Evil
All good things must come... Into The Silence
When in Rome... Turn Coat
All that glitters is not... Stardust
A picture is worth a... The Rapture of Canaan
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Building Stories
Two wrongs don't make... [a] Shadow from the Past
The pen is mightier than... A Clockwork Orange
The squeaky wheel gets... The House That Jack Built
Hope for the best, but prepare for... The Tomb
Birds of a feather flock... [like] Pack Animals

I managed to slow myself down on the trek up Olympus this year (I spent so much time working on the recording of ARTLAB1 that I forgot to leave space for reading.) However, though I'm still short of the summit, I'm STILL going. It could be close, or it could be a squeaker.

12/30/2016: 147 down.
12/31/2016: 148
12/31/2016, 11:14pm - 150!

OLYMPUS MONS IS MINE AGAIN, HA HA HA!

CHISWICK! FRESH HORSES!

This is where I ended up. I thought I would do better, but I got distracted by various challenges I was doing. Next year I'm refocusing. I have so many books in my library that I want to read! So I'm definitely going to try again in 2017 and I really think I'm going to scale a much higher level!

Mount Vancouver

1. Echo: Desert Run by Terry Moore (1/19/16)
2. The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon (1/24/16)
3. Echo: Collider by Terry Moore (1/27/16)
4. Echo: Black Hole by Terry Moore (1/28/16)
5. Echo: The Last Day by Terry Moore(1/28/16)
6. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch (1/29/16)
7. Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto (2/4/16)
8. Under the Skin by Michel Faber (2/8/16)
9. In the Midst of Life by Ambrose Bierce (2/20/16)
10. Deadly Class, Vol. 2: Kids of the Black Hole by Rick Remender (2/20/16)
11. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (2/27/16)
12. The Expendables: Stories by Antonya Nelson (2/28/16)
Finished Pike's Peak 2/28/2016

13. The Iron Flute: 100 Zen Koans by Nyogen Senzaki (3/26/16)
14. Cages by Dave McKean (3/28/16)
15. Liberator, Vol. 1: Rage Ignition (3/29/16)
16. MIND MGMT, Vol. 4: The Magician (4/6/16)
17. A Single Man 4/16/16
18. Livewires: Clockwork Thugs, Yo 4/24/16
19. Not My Father's Son 4/27/16
20. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang 5/1/16
21. Method Man by Method Man 6/21/16
22. Artifice by Alex Woolfson 6/25/16
23. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay 6/30/16
24. Everyman by Philip Roth 7/13/16
Finished Mt Vancouver 7/13/16

25. The Assault on Reason by Al Gore 7/30/16
26. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels 8/25/16
27. Jellaby: Monster in the City by Kean Soo 9/18/16
28. Nether by Jason Beymer 9/27/16
29. Preacher, Vol. 1: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis 8/1/16
30. Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories by Jason 8/2/16
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.

I attempted Mount Vancouver this year (36) and almost made it (31). Now if I included reading my kids their books and catching up on my backlog of a weekly magazine from 2 years ago (each issue being the equaliviant amount of words as a novel I would have soared over it long ago.

I just finished 19/24...although I did add a couple that I 'm reading at the same time so did a wee bit of a cheat and added them to my Mount Blanc list so I sort of had 21/24....must try harder and find shorter books to read in 2017. I do have fun being part of this group and look forward to another climb.

Out of all the books read in my list these are my favourites I think.

'I Let You Go' by Clare Mackintosh
'We are all made of Stars' by Rowan Coleman
'The Trysting Tree' by Linda Gillard
'The Sweetness of Forgetting' by Kristin Harmel

Happy reading in 2017 everyone.

Hello, just checking in for the final count! Last year I was defeated by Mt. Vancouver by six books, so not bad, but this year has gone much better. I've managed 35- some of those I managed to sneak into my study hours, but they still count! If I start my 36th today I'm counting it as a win :)

I've got lots of books I bought in 2015 & 16 that I'd love to read in 17, so I might be brave and go for the 48 next year.

Well done everyone else who has taken part in this reading challenge, and good luck for next year! :)

I posted my wrap-up post today. http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.co...

I made the summit of Mt. Ararat with hours to spare! But--I read 167 books this year and only 48 from my shelves. I'm hoping to make a bigger dent in the pile in 2017.

One book short! Will finish it today :-)

I got stalled 52 books up Mount Kilimanjaro. But more than I third of the books I read this year were from my TBR pile, which is likely an improvement!

It didn't appear to make much of a physical dent in my piles (especially as some were ebooks) but I think the challenge will have a long-term effect — it made me more conscious of how many damn books I have, and how long it takes me to read them. I used to buy books without much thought except for price, loading up on "hey this looks interesting" titles at used bookstores and during ebook sales. But I've felt a definite wariness in myself this year since I started the challenge.

So, while my pile may not be shrinking hugely, it's at least not *growing* the way it used to!

This has been such a fun year!

1. I had originally set my peak on Mount Blanc, but I quickly climbed that one and have progressively upped my peak until this last quarter. I did get a bit distracted by other challenges and shiny, new books toward the end. I finished 55 books and deleted 50 freebies off my Kindle and Amazon account. I think that's a major win! The problem is that I bought more than I read this year and my TBR is larger than its ever been. So I'm off to a serious climb in 2017.

2. This is too silly.

A stitch in time... Play Nice (this one is stretching it a bit)
Don't count your chickens... Chasing Shadows
A penny saved is... Waiting On You
All good things must come... In Your Dreams
When in Rome... See How They Run
All that glitters is not... The Ring On Her Finger
A picture is worth an... Adventure(s) in Funeral Crashing
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Out of Sight, Out of Time
Two wrongs don't make... Seven Steps to Closure
The pen is mightier than.... The Wind in the Willows
The squeaky wheel gets... Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Book Store
Hope for the best, but prepare for... The Woman in White
Birds of a feather flock... Dangerous

1) I made it up Mt Vancouver. I was going at a good clip and would have made it to the next peak (48) -- but I hit a slump with RL taking precedence (I only finished one book in Oct!!).

2)
A stitch in time... The Year of Magical Thinking
Don't count your chickens... Before the Fall
A penny saved is... Mrs Queen Takes the Train
All good things must come... Dear Mr. Knightley
When in Rome... Guns, Germs and Steel
All that glitters is not... First Frost
A picture is worth an... (The) Invisible Bridge
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Pope Joan
Two wrongs don't make... Ink and Bone
The pen is mightier than.... A Gathering of Shadows
The squeaky wheel gets... The Fifth Season
Hope for the best, but prepare for...The One and Only Ivan
Birds of a feather flock... A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1)

I made it to my goal of Mt. Ararat (48) & a bit over with 49 print books. Thanks for the motivation this group provides!

I did a horrible job keeping my thread updated but I read around 90 books which is well over my goal of 60 books. So I did make my goal for the year.

I made it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro with a few days to spare and even managed to surpass it by 5 books right before the end. I’m so pround of myself, I didn’t think I would reach the peak early on! That’s 65 books of my TBR and 79 books overall on my 2016 GR challenge (my goal was 60, I’m beyond happy with that)! I picked up pace at the last quarter and it really made a difference, so I’m hoping to keep a steady pace going into 2017.

The Words to the Wise According to Mount TBR

A stitch in time... [is] Soundless
Don't count your chickens... Among the Nameless Stars
A penny saved is... An Ember in the Ashes
All good things must come... Throught the Zombie Glass
When in Rome... We Were Liars
All that glitters is not... The Throne of Fire
A picture is worth a... The Assassin’s Blade
When the going gets tough, the tough get... Crimson Bound
Two wrongs don't make... Uncommon Criminals
The pen is mightier than.... This Shattered World
The squeaky wheel gets... Me Before You
Hope for the best, but prepare for... The Shadow Queen
Birds of a feather flock... [to] Their Fractured Light

Today was an absolutely crazy day at work (it's graduate student admission season at the university), and I almost forgot that it was time to find a winner for the Final 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 the machine whirs and we get (drum roll, please).....Comment #17! That means that Sarah U is our winner! Congratulations, Sarah! I'll be contacting you soon with the prize list.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the final check-in. I enjoy seeing your progress and the way you fit the titles to the proverbs (for those who did). Thanks as well to all climbers for joining me in scaling those Mount TBR heights in 2016. Hope to see you on more mountains this year!

Ooh that's made my morning! Thanks Bev, I'll look out for your message :)

Congrats!

Sarah u wrote: "Ooh that's made my morning! Thanks Bev, I'll look out for your message :)"

Sarah, I just sent you a message through Goodreads.

Congrats Sarah u!

Thank you Sarah, Leslie, and Bev. :)

Will you do a Mount TBR in 2017?