Mount TBR 2017 discussion

I started my challenge on Mount Blanc and now at the half-way stage, having read 18½ books, I feel that I can push on further and try Mt. Vancouver. I have copied over the details into this message of the books I've read so far. I will edit this message to keep track of what I'm reading and what's been read.

Here's a picture of (nearly) all my eligible books for this challenge.


Currently Reading

Finished Reading
1. The Immoralist by André Gide. Started on 01Jan17. Finished 03Jan17.
2. Betrayal by Marquis de Sade. Started on 04Jan17. Finished 06Jan17.
3. The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. Started 07Jan17. Finished 11Jan17.
4. 88 More Stories by Guy de Maupassant. Started on 14Jan17. Finished 26Jan17.
5. Something to Declare by Julian Barnes. Started on 28Jan17. Finished 02Feb17.
6. Three Plays by August Strindberg. Started 05Feb17. Finished 06Feb17.
7. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Started on 08Feb17. Finished 16Feb17.
8. Late Fame by Arthur Schnitzler. Started on 17Feb17. Finished 18Feb17.
9. Vienna 1900: Games With Love And Death by Arthur Schnitzler. Started on 04Mar17. Finished 12Mar17.
10. Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill. Started on 03Mar17. Finished 14Mar17.
11. Don't Know Much about History: Everything You Need to Know about American History But Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis. Started on 23Mar17. Finished 29Mar17.
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12. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. Started on 31Mar17. Finished 04Apr17.
13. The Feast Of Lupercal by Brian Moore. Started on 18Apr17. Finished 22Apr17.
14. The Spire by William Golding. Started on 02May17. Finished 07May17.
15. Pierre and Jean by Guy de Maupassant. Started 18May17. Finished 20May17.
16. Paris by Émile Zola. Started 21May17. Finished on 04Jun17. Read on Kindle.
17. Identity by Milan Kundera. Started on 09Jun17. Finished 10Jun17.
18. Clochemerle-Babylon by Gabriel Chevallier. Started on 25Jun17. Finished 30Jun17.
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19. Selected Short Fiction by Arthur Schnitzler. Started on 01Jul17. Finished on 04Jul17.
20. The Faber Pocket Guide to Shakespeare's Plays by K McLeish & S Unwin. Started in Oct '16 but I had only read a few pages. DNF/abandoned
21. My Phantom Husband by Marie Darrieussecq. Started on 04Aug17. Finished 05Aug17.
22. Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell. Started on 06Aug17. Finished 09Aug17.
23. Seven by Five by H.E. Bates. Started on 10Aug17. Finished 20Aug17.
24. The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor. Started on 27Aug17. Finished 28Aug17.
25. The History of Mr. Polly by H.G. Wells. Read on kindle. Started on 29Aug17. Finished 03Sep17.
26. Headlong by Michael Frayn. Started on 09Sep17. Finished 16Sep17.
27. The Devil Tree by Jerzy Kosinski. Started on 26Sep17. Finished 30Sep17.
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28. The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov. Started on 02Oct17. Abandoned 05Oct17.
29. Breathing Underwater by Marie Darrieussecq. Started on 24Oct17. Finished 26Oct17.
30. Demian by Hermann Hesse. Started on 07Nov17. Finished 10Nov17.
31. Night Games: And Other Stories and Novellas by Arthur Schnitzler. Kindle edition. Started on 26Nov17. Finished 02Dec17.
32. The Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater. Started on 02Jan17. Finished 03Dec17.
33. The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin. Started on 07Dec17. Finished 09Dec17.
34. Cold Hand In Mine by Robert Aickman. Started on 10Dec17. Finished 15Dec17.
35. Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert. Started on 16Dec17. Finished 23Dec17.
36. Hancock by Freddie Hancock & David Nathan. Started on 24Dec17. Finished 28Dec17.
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I finished another Schnitzler s/s collection today—another one off my TBR pile, yay!

I'm in a bit of a pickle now though as I'm off work for a bit and have some time (hopefully) to dig into something a bit substantial; Proust's Jean Santeuil is screaming out to me but as I only bought a copy this year it won't be one from the TBR pile. It's a long book so it will tie me up for a while.

Well, I've dived in with Jean Santeuil; hopefully I can get back on the TBR wagon ASAP. I'm enjoying JS so far anyway so I think it's the right decision.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Shakespeare's Plays by K McLeish & S Unwin - abandoned. I have a real block with Shakespeare. I thought by reading short summaries I may find his plays a bit more appealing...not so!...instead I like them less. It doesn't help that the authors cover the plot in about a page and then spend four pages talking about the characters, play etc. Not for me.

I've finished Jean Santeuil which took three weeks!!! to read. Unfortunately JS wasn't one from my TBR pile so I should now read one from the pile.....only I feel like reading a library book instead. My TBR quest is starting to falter.

Seven by Five finished...35 brilliant stories by H.E. Bates...I could keep on reading his stories...

Thanks Dagny. I was a bit worried when I initially upgraded to Mt Vancouver.

That photo is daunting.

I've just got to keep chipping away.

I'd like to do this again next year. I'm almost done with my goal.

Guy wrote: "I'd like to do this again next year. I'm almost done with my goal."

Yes, I think I'll do it again next year as it coincides with my aim to read as many of the books I already own—a lot of these books I will probably sell or pass on as I have a severe lack of space. I wish I could just keep them all though.

Here's a picture of the same pile with those I've read so far highlighted in yellow. I think it shows that I'm making some sort of progress.

Love the photo - a great way to see your progress!

I have a whole room devoted to books and there still isn't enough space.

Leslie wrote: "Love the photo - a great way to see your progress!"
Thanks Leslie. Yes, it's nice to have some sort of visual representation of what I've read.

Guy wrote: "I have a whole room devoted to books and there still isn't enough space."

There never is!

Trying to decide what to read next...why is this so hard? I think I've narrowed it down. I'll decide tomorrow.

Ok, I made a choice: William Trevor's The Children of Dynmouth, my first Trevor.

That's a good one, Jonathan

I'm really enjoying it. Timothy Gedge is a brilliant character.

It's been a long, long time since I read it. I went though a Trevor phase and read quite a few of his titles. Many I'd like to reread.

Guy wrote: "It's been a long, long time since I read it. I went though a Trevor phase and read quite a few of his titles. Many I'd like to reread."

I may be about to embark on a Trevor phase myself as there are a few of his books at the library and I've picked up another couple from secondhand bookshops recently. This one I've had for quite a while.

I think he's one of those authors that you can read several novels in a row and not get them mixed up. Can't do that with many authors. At least I can't.

Well, I'm on track for completing Mt. Vancouver with 27 books read by the end of Q3. I've actually read 27¾ including the Nigel Slater book which I've been reading throughout the year.

Here's a photo of the books read. I've included my kindle as one (Mr Polly) was an ebook and the Shakespeare guide which I abandoned—I'd been reading it for nearly a year and couldn't bear picking it up anymore.

There's a time when you just have to let some books go....

Guy wrote: "There's a time when you just have to let some books go...."

That's true, and one usually knows when to give up. It doesn't happen often with me; I even grow to like some books that I persevere with.

Sometimes I give up on a book and then later come back to it. Finish it the second time around and am glad I did.

Jonathan--I just made a boo-boo. My apologies, but someone posted a non-checkpoint post on the Check-in Thread and when I tried to delete it the first time, I accidentally deleted yours. Your comment was message #3, so if you'll post again and are interested in a prize, I promise to give you a prize as well if #3 comes up the winner instead of whatever number you wind up with.

Oops! Thanks for letting me know Bev.

I don't like doing it but I've abandoned The White Guard by Bulgakov; after reading 100 pages where little has happened and we find out little about any of the characters I decided to give up as the thought of reading any further was just too tedious. In short, it was incredibly boring.

n.b. I still don't know why there's a picture of Clint Eastwood on the cover of this edition as I don't believe he's ever been in an adaption of this book.

I was over a month behind with my Kitchen Diaries reading so decided to try to catch up today and ended up finishing it. 32 down 4 to go.

I finished The Viceroy of Ouidah today, #33. I'm consciously choosing shorter books just so I can reach my goal of 36, something I didn't want to do, oh well. I think I'll keep my goal at 24 next year.

I finished my 35th book, Robin Hood, which seemed to take forever to read, basically because of work, illnesses and more work. My God, I've felt tired during December. Anyway one more to go to reach the top of Mt Vancouver....hmmm, what shall I choose?...I may choose a non-fiction book...but then again....

Be good to yourself. Do you have something funny?

Guy wrote: "Be good to yourself. Do you have something funny?"

I just started it today - a bio of Tony Hancock originally published in 1969. I realised as I pulled this from my TBR that I also have pdfs of all the TV series scripts which I got along with the box-set of the DVD of the TV series. I may read these over the Xmas period.

Do you still read over Xmas Guy? Or do you take a break?

I decided this year to follow an Icelandic tradition I read about in Ragnar Jonasson's Snowblind. He mentions that it's a tradition to start a new book on Xmas Eve and read into the small hours. Don't know that I'll read THAT long, but in spite of the fact I have several books going at once, I'm going to crack open a new (to me) one tonight.

Haven't decided which book yet, but I'm going out on a bike ride to decide.

Wasn't he depressed a lot? I know he committed suicide. One of those comics whose personal lives are not what they appear on the surface.

Guy wrote: "I decided this year to follow an Icelandic tradition I read about in Ragnar Jonasson's Snowblind. He mentions that it's a tradition to start a new book on Xmas Eve and read into the small hours. Do..."
Sounds good Guy.

Yes Hancock killed himself, basically after screwing everything up for himself. But his work was great. I really like his (and Galton & Simpson's) sense of humour. A quote from Spike Milligan sums Hancock's life up pretty well:

One by one he shut the door on all the people he knew; then he shut the door on himself.

But, as the co-author (and wife) says:

It is important to remember that though Hancock went through many agonies, he also laughed a lot...

I've read that Milligan quote before. It seems perceptive. I have vague memories of listening to him on the radio

BTW I'm a Steptoe and Son fan.

#36 finished. I did it!...only just though.

Where's the champagne?

Just opened it.

That's the spirit

Congrats!

Thanks Jessika.

Thanks Dagny.

Well, I finished my climb of Mt Vancouver just in time, but only just. Below is a photo of all the books that I read (inc. two I abandoned) in 2017. Three books were read on my kindle so I've included it to represent them.

It looks quite substantial to me seeing them physically piled up like that. BTW I read 64 books in total in 2017 so these represent just over half of what I read throughout the year. Unfortunately (I don't really mean it) I bought 40 physical books (see below) and many more on my kindle. I wasn't particularly trying to restrain myself though as my main aim is just to read some of the books that have been sitting around for a while. I quite like having a pile of books that I can dip into at any point but it seems a bit pointless if I never read any of them. I'm pleased with my progress this year. n.b. I have already read the top 5 books on the LH pile in the photo below.

And the final photo shows the original stack of books I used at the top of this thread with all (well, not quite as it doesn't include the massive Kitchen Diaries book) those I've read coloured in yellow. There's still a lot of reading to be had from the original pile.

You did great, anyway! There's more time next year :)

Jessika wrote: "You did great, anyway! There's more time next year :)"

Thanks Jessika. Yes, I'm looking forward to reading more from my TBR pile. I'm going to start on Mt Blanc again and I'll probably restrict it to physical books.

Thanks Dagny. Hope you have a great new year and read many fine books.