Mount TBR 2020 discussion

Another year, and here I am, still reading. In this year’s climb, I want to work on the backlog of audiobooks and on some of the mysteries stockpiled on my Kindle as well as some of the long books I’ve been meaning to read for years.

Good luck with your climb, Susan!

Thanks, Leslie! The same to you!

Books Read Towards Goal

1) The Night the Gods Smiled, Eric Wright (Kindle)
2) The Shelf: LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading, Phyllis Rose
3) The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany, Donald Westlake, ed. Levi Stahl (Kindle)
4) So Many Miles to Paradise: From Clare to There, Christine Breen (Kindle)
5) Penny Plain, O. Douglas (Kindle)
6) A Harp in Lowndes Square, Rachel Ferguson (Kindle)
7) Amours de Voyage, Arthur Hugh Clough (Kindle)
8) Confessions of an Innocent Man, David R. Dow ( Kindle)
9) Hillsboro People, Dorothy Canfield Fisher (Kindle)
10) The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin (Kindle)
11) Fragments, Heraclitus, translated by Brooks Haxton
12) Sovereign, C. J. Sansom*
13) Raylan, Elmore Leonard (Kindle)
14) The Heckler, Ed McBain (Kindle)
15) Touch and Go, Patricia Wentworth (Kindle)
16) A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver (purchased 1994)
17) Castle Gay, John Buchan (Kindle)
18) Kingdom of the Blind, Louise Penny
19) The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Laurence Sterne (BOOK/audiobook)*
20) Rose Cottage, Mary Stewart (Kindle)
21) North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (Kindle)*
22) Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust (book/AUDIOBOOK)*
23) Love, Nina, Nina Stibbe (Kindle)
24) Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart (Kindle)
25) Blood Child and Other Stories, Octavia Butler (Kindle)
26) The Highly Trained Dogs of Professor Petit, Carol Ryrie Brink (Kindle)
27) The Captain of the Pole Star and Other Tales, Arthur Conan Doyle (Kindle)
28) Death in Captivity, Michael Gilbert (reread)
29) The Baked Bean Supper Murders, Virginia Rich (reread)
30) The Cooking School Murders, Virginia Rich (reread)
31) Ripley’s Game, Patricia Highsmith (Kindle)
32) Last Seen Alive, Dorothy Simpson (Kindle)(reread)
33) Suddenly While Gardening, Elizabeth Lemarchand (reread)
34) Buried in the Past, Elizabeth Lemarchand (reread)
35) A Dangerous Talent, Charlotte and Aaron Elkins (Kindle)
36) What, Me, Mr Mosley?, John Greenwood (reread)
37) Bride of the Rat God, Barbara Hambly (Kindle)
38) The Thirteen-Gun Salute, Patrick O’Brian (audiobook)
39) Change for the Worse, Elizabeth Lemarchand (reread)
40) The Xibalba Murders, Lyn Hamilton (Kindle)
41) The Greatcoat, Helen Dunmore (Kindle)
42) A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, Ben Garrod (audiobook)
43) Murder is Academic, Christine Poulson (Kindle)
44) A Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter (Kindle)
45) Vita Nova, Louise Gluck
46) Dr Thorne, Anthony Trollope (Kindle)(reread)*
47) Sycamore Row, John Grisham (Kindle)
48) The Blue Sapphire, D. E. Stevenson (Kindle)
49) Still Glides the Stream, D. E. Stevenson (Kindle)
50) False Scent, Ngaio Marsh
51) Who is Simon Warwick?, Patricia Moyes
52) The Charles Lamb Day Book, compiled by E. V. Lucas

Wow! you are doing great! right now im sitting on the floor in my room amongst boxes (shelves) of books lol. moving them around looking thru them and reordering them from one shelf to another etc. thibking how much reading I could get done and then not accomplishing anything! was supposed to go to my old house today and get more books but was too lazy. just started vac today and need to get myself bk on day mode first. tomorrow's another day . . . and if it's cold I get some reading done!

Carla wrote: "Wow! you are doing great! right now im sitting on the floor in my room amongst boxes (shelves) of books lol. moving them around looking thru them and reordering them from one shelf to another etc. ..."

Sitting on the floor, reorganizing books sounds like great fun to me, and a good way to start a vacation ;) I always find old favorites, books I’ve forgotten all about but really want to read, etc. Hope you enjoy your vacation and do get some reading done. Thanks for the boost. I’m ok on the climb, but behind on reviews. And definitely way ahead on buying books....

I will always love and buy books . . . and yarn! And I LOVE looking thru them a d just handling them thinking about when I'll read them haha I'm a nut! plan to take a long bath tomorrow and read read read.

Carla wrote: "I will always love and buy books . . . and yarn! And I LOVE looking thru them a d just handling them thinking about when I'll read them haha I'm a nut! plan to take a long bath tomorrow and read re..."

Good luck with your reading! Enjoy the climb

Moving on up!

Ashley wrote: "Moving on up!"

Yup. Just hope I can keep it up. It helps to have a page-turner like Confessions of an Innocent Man and an enjoyable collection of stories like Hillsboro People to keep the pages turning ;).

Good luck with your climb, Ashley!

Congrats on reaching (and passing) the summit of Pike's Peak!

Leslie wrote: "Congrats on reaching (and passing) the summit of Pike's Peak!"

Thanks, Leslie! I’m getting there. One more to meet my goal for Jan-Feb (14)

Goals Jan- March

Although my concentration for reading has been off this last month, I’m still on target for El Toro with 20 books read so far.

My other goals were:
— listen to backlog of audiobooks — I finished listening to one and am about halfway through another. Hope to do better next quarter.
—read some of mysteries backlogged on Kindle — I’m aiming at reading two per month and have actually read 7 so far plus 7 non-mysteries from the Kindle TBR (14 total).
—read some long books I’ve been meaning to read for years — I finished Tristram Shandy which has been on my shelves since college and read Sovereign by C. J. Sansom, both over 500 pages.
—And I also made progress reducing backlog of some authors’ work: Eric Wright, Christine Breen, Rachel Ferguson, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, C. J. Sansom, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, Patricia Wentworth, John Buchan, Louise Penney, and Mary Stewart.
—As for buying books.....let’s just say I’ve almost accumulated another El Toro and need to cut back despite tempting freebies, sales and must-have books!

24) Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart (Kindle)

I just recently reread one of my many Mary Stewart books (Thunder on the Right) - I realized all over again how much I enjoy her books! Airs Above the Ground is the one about the Lipizzaner horses, right? I hope you enjoyed it.

Yes, Airs Above the Ground is the one about Lipizzaner horses. I got a bunch of her books on sale for Kindle and am doling them out. I enjoyed it, but there was one suspenseful chase after another and I was exhausted by the end ;). I like the way she manages a light touch among all the drama. I’ll have to look for Thunder on the Right the next time her books are on sale...

Goals April-June

Although my concentration for reading has been off this quarter, I’m almost half way up El Toro with 36 books read so far, and 39 to go.

My other goals were:
— listen to backlog of audiobooks — I finished listening to one so have a way to go on this goal.
—read some of mysteries backlogged on Kindle — I’m aiming at reading two per month and read five this quarter along with four other Kindle books (total 9)
—read some long books I’ve been meaning to read for years — I read North and South and reread Swann’s Way after many years —both over 500 pages.
—made progress reducing backlog of some authors’ work: Mary Stewart and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
—As for buying books.....let’s just say again I’ve almost accumulated another El Toro and need to cut back despite tempting freebies, sales and must-have books!

This has been a strange year for my reading. For the past months, I’ve generally opted for library and new books when picking something to read, so I’m quite a way behind from my annual TBR goal with only one month to go. But maybe a few more books can be added to the pile before the end of the year....

Final add-up — On the one hand, I fell short of my 2020 TBR goal by 23 books, reading 52 of my 75 book goal. OTOH, it was a strange year, I read some great books I wouldn’t have read otherwise, and I moved 50+ volumes off the TBR mountain, so some good reading was accomplished anyhow.

Susan wrote: "Final add-up — On the one hand, I fell short of my 2020 TBR goal by 23 books, reading 52 of my 75 book goal. OTOH, it was a strange year, I read some great books I wouldn’t have read otherwise, and..."

Not a bad roundup for such a strange year - good luck in 2021!

Thanks, Leslie! Same to you!