Mount TBR 2021 discussion

i tried to scale mount everest a couple of years ago & fell off before i'd even reached halfway -- i want to avoid being toppled by my own hubris next year, so going a little smaller!

my tbr, as of recent counting, is at around seven hundred and my long-term goal is to get it down into the double digits, which i definitely won't be able to do in twelve months. i do want to make as much of a dent in it as possible, though, so am going to set some loose(ish) goals for 2021:

1. to start DNFing, and culling books i've entirely lost interest in! i've been too much of a completionist in the past to admit defeat, but i think putting things down & taking them off my pile is a healthy brain habit i need to cultivate -- i won't count DNFs/culled books as completed in this challenge, but i'll run a separate count & take them off my total tbr count.

2. to read new books as soon as i acquire them! i don't want to ban myself from borrowing or buying books entirely, but i do want to be more purposeful about the process. if i buy a book, it'll be because i'm ready to read it immediately -- these books obviously won't count towards this challenge either, but it'll stop my tbr from growing.

3. to try & maintain a balance of around three quarters tbr reading, one quarter new! my 2021 reading goal is going to be a hundred books, seventy five from my tbr, hence el toro.

feeling v energised & excited to get this challenge underway in the coming year !

books finished:



running total: 81

books acquired & unread:



other books read or re-read:



number of books DNFd or culled: 3

tbr count at start of year: 499, as of dec 31st 2020 (cleared out over 200 in the last few weeks of the year, as a pre-spring spring clean!)
running tbr count: 477

Good climbing in 2021 Ygraine!

And of course it is up to you but I believe that according to Bev's rules, you can count those DNFs if you have truly decided that you won't ever read them (rather than just putting them back on the TBR, which is a bad habit I have).

Leslie wrote: "Good climbing in 2021 Ygraine!

And of course it is up to you but I believe that according to Bev's rules, you can count those DNFs if you have truly decided that you won't ever read them (rather t..."

thank you! i appreciate you letting me know -- i think generally i'm not planning on counting dnfs as 'read' books so running it as a separate count will help me keep all my categories neat ! but it's good to have options :)

& massively relate to putting books back on the to read pile for later, that's what i've always done in the past & want to shake off this year! there are always a couple of exceptions, books that you pick up at the wrong time & don't want to write off entirely, but fr the most part, books that i'm struggling to get through & put back on the shelf never get picked up again!

Good Luck! I have the same goal of reading new books immediately. As of right now, only 4 books set to release in 2021. 🤞🤞

Welcome back!!
And--Yes, DNFs can count if you'd like them to--it's up to you.

january wrap-up:

1. On Connection
2. Wintersmith
3. A Winter Book
4. Have His Carcase
5. I Shall Wear Midnight
6. Memento Mori
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7. Gaudy Night
8. The Comforters
9. Busman's Honeymoon
10. The Shepherd's Crown
11. Conjure Women
12. Priestdaddy
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13. Silver in the Wood
14. Drowned Country
15. Upright Women Wanted

TBR TOTAL: 482

general update: read & re-read Way More non-tbr books and arcs than i'd planned, but am also just reading a lot more than anticipated so am still more than on track & my books are balanced in the negatives for the month !

february wrap-up:

16. Elmet
17. The Left Hand of Darkness
18. Native Tongue
19. This Is How You Lose the Time War

TBR TOTAL: 477

general update: got distracted by planting & spring cleaning in the second half of feb & first half of march, but ready to pick up again now !

Hope you've got some further updates for us!

march to mid-november wrap-up:

20. Little Weirds
21. The Crying Book
22. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
23. The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma
24. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
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25. Murder in the Cathedral
26. The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial
27. Antigonick
28. Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides
29. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
30. Autobiography of Red
31. The Invention of Love
32. Arcadia
33. A Lover's Discourse: Fragments
34. Antigone
35. Home Fire
36. Sorcerer to the Crown
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37. The True Queen
38. Complete Plays
39. The Garden Party and Other Stories
40. Eros the Bittersweet
41. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
42. The Bakkhai
43. Salt Slow
44. Under the Pendulum Sun
45. The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror
46. Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space
47. Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall
48. Ways of Seeing
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49. Flèche
50. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
51. The Uninvited
52. Boy Parts
53. Luster
54. Public Library and Other Stories
55. My Sister, the Serial Killer
56. The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington
57. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
58. Women
59. Patience & Sarah
60. My Year of Rest and Relaxation
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61. Hangsaman

i have been Very Disorganised, and have shamefully accumulated more books without keeping track, so my tbr total is a Mystery to me -- i also had a multiple month Slump where i read nothing at all, so ! altogether a mess ! but i have still been picking up pre-2021 tbr books, and am, hopefully at least, still in with a chance to reach the peak by the end of the year. thank you for the nudge to update!

Well--at least you kept track of your books read so you know where you're at on the mountain. You're getting very close! So, hopefully, we'll see another flag flying atop El Toro by year's end.

end of november wrap up:

62. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals
63. Rubyfruit Jungle
64. Zami: A New Spelling of my Name
65. The Bird's Nest
66. Life Among the Savages
67. Loop of Jade
68. Viper Wine
69. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women
70. Raising Demons
71. Jamaica Inn

Almost there!!

mid-december wrap up:

i made it, with a few to spare (& will hopefully read a few more before december ends)!

72. Orlando
73. The Road Through the Wall
74. Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
75. The Sundial
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76. The House in Norham Gardens
77. The Lottery and Other Stories
78. Lighthousekeeping