Mount TBR 2022 discussion

Hello, fellow climbers! Half the year gone! Where does the time go? Well, you know what that means...Your mountaineering guide is calling for the second quarterly check-in post. Let's see how our challengers are doing. Made it a couple of miles? Camping out in a cave 1/3 of the way up the mountain face? Taking refuge in a mountain hut along the way? Let us know how you're doing. For those who would like to participate in this checkpoint post, I'd like you to do at least the first of two things and the second if you would like:

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read). If you're really ambitious, you can do some intricate math and figure out how the number of books you've read correlates to actual miles up Pike's Peak, Mt. Ararat, etc. And feel free to tell us about any particularly exciting adventures you've had along the way.

I have just planted my flag on Mount Everest. I'm a little ahead of my pace from last year--so hopefully that means I'll manage to plant a flag on Olympus again. Hope you all are doing well with your climbing journey!

2. A brand-new Mount TBR mini-challenge. You may either use books already read (if appropriate) or try to complete the mini-challenge before the end of the year. These three topics may be interpreted broadly--the topic may feature in the title, on the cover, or be important in some way to the plot of the book, Get creative!

Topic one: Mountain/s
Titles can have the word "mountain" in them or the name of a specific mountain.



Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.



Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.



Uhura has the challenge of deciphering what the songs of the alien species means.

When you have fulfilled the mini-challenge, check back in here and let us know what you read!

I've read 42 of 60 books up Mount Kilimanjao, this means 70% up the mountain. So far, this is looking to be my best yet in the years of doing the trek up mount tbr. Although, the mountain climb is getting steeper, maybe slowing down, and I'm trying not to lose the focus.

I'm still surprised by one of my early reads: The Contemporary American Essay edited by Phillip Lopate. This book is over 600 pages and I expected it would take me a few months to read, instead I was very captivated by the essays and finished in just two weeks.


For the mini-challenges Topic Two: Book or book-related, I have a couple already read that fit:


The Paris Bookseller


The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections


Will have to report back for the other mini-challenges.

I'm at 15/24, or 9800 ft up Mont Blanc.

So far I've only completed the Book portion of the challenge:

One of the two main characters is in publishing, and a novel submission plays a part in the plot.

Definitely no Mountain yet. And I could pick something for Challenge but I think I'll wait and see what else the year holds.

I'm at 44/75 books, or 58.7% of the way up El Toro. That's apparently a shade over 210m up the 358m mountain! Not bad I'd say.

For the challenge I have so far. Will have to see if I can find the others or not...

I have slowed down a bit but that’s understandable - the air’s thinner up here after all!

I climbed Mt Wycheproof and Pikes Peak quite quickly and am part way up Mont Blanc. apparently nearly 2 miles up (9857 feet - apparently the top is shrinking fast though).

I just checked and I spent three months on Mt Wycheproof (though I didn’t know I was on a mountain till early March😅). Pikes Peak I virtually rolled up: just took me a month from the spot half way up I zip-wired to from Mt Wycheproof! But now I’m down to about one a month. I am making really good progress on my Master’s though, which is pretty much the best reason I’ve had in years for not reading much 😇*

And… Oooh, I’ve completed part 1 of the challenge! On her Majesty’s Secret Service, by Ian Fleming. Not only is there a mountain on the cover, about three quarters of the book’s action takes place at the top of one :)

And part 3! The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion, which I reread in about April :)

And if we go for content/theme then I have completed the whole mini challenge, seeing as Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is all about one of the oldest and most important Books there is. It’s a speculation on the reality behind the versions of events that made it into th Bible, decades later.

*as in, not reading as many whole books. I am reading a lot for my master’s, just that it’s mostly articles and parts of books!

I've scaled Mt Vancouver already this year and am at 43/48 on my way to the top of Mt Ararat. I don't know why starting with the smaller goal somehow helps me read more books that I own.

I've probably already read a book that fits topic 2 but I will check back in when I read another.

Linda wrote: "I've scaled Mt Vancouver already this year and am at 43/48 on my way to the top of Mt Ararat. I don't know why starting with the smaller goal somehow helps me read more books that I own.

I've prob..."

The small goal thing works for me too :)

I am on my third mountain already and I don’t think I would be this far up if I had not done it this way.

Hey guys! Just checking in to let y'all know that I have almost scaled Pike's Peak! I am one book away from the top of the mountain!!

This last book I read fulfilled the mini-challenge of challenge. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings was most challenging book I've read this year. I never really got into the Lord of the Rings movies, so I was really skeptical about reading the books. They never made any sense to me. However, I absolutely loved The Hobbit book and movies. I'm hoping to re-watch the movies after I read the books and understand the movies a little better.

I'm 31 books up my mountain - one over half way to Kilimanjaro! I'll have to have a think about the mini challenge though.

2nd qtr check in

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain.
At the end of June read 17 out of 36. One book short of halfway.

2. Mount TBR mini-challenge.

Topic two: Book or Book-related

MC is a librarian & mysteries set in library & books on cover:
Sew Deadly by Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Death Threads by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

I have just reached the peak of Mt. Vancouver and am carrying on to Mt. Ararat with Mt. Kilimanjaro as my ultimate goal. 37/60 complete

Mini Challenge
You may either use books already read (if appropriate) or try to complete the mini-challenge before the end of the year. These three topics may be interpreted broadly--the topic may feature in the title, on the cover, or be important in some way to the plot of the book.
✔️ Mountain(s): Walking On Sunshine (the main characters go on a trek in the Andes mountains, Peru)
✔️ Book or Book related: The Bookbinder's Daughter
✔️ Challenge: Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project (flash fiction inspired by US Senator Elizabeth Warren being challenged on social media when she read out a certain speech)

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).

30/48 (10,500 feet up Mt. Ararat)

Topic one: Mountain/s
Titles can have the word "mountain" in them or the name of a specific mountain.
Rocky Mountain Justice

Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.


Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.



This is a topic challenge for me. It is hard for me to read about humans being so terrible to each other.

Hi, all! It's so hard to believe half the year is already over!

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).

I've read 35 of my 48 books for Mt. Ararat, but have read 62 books total for the year.

2. A brand-new Mount TBR mini-challenge.

✔️ Topic one: Mountain/s



The characters in this book climb a mountain towards the end.

✔️ Topic two: Book or Book-related



Topic three: Challenge



The Final Gambit is a new release that comes out in August, so won't count towards my Mt. TBR goal, BUT it will check off a series for my 22 Series to Finish in 2022 list. The whole series revolves around a challenge as well, so it works doubly well!

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).
35/100 as of June 30.

Mini-challenges to come. I haven't fit any of the criteria yet!

I haven't progressed much since checkpoint #1, sadly. I'm at 14/24 for Mount Blanc. I moved myself up from Pike's Peak but in March I caught covid and that really knocked me for six. The brain fog lasted for ages; then I had a family bereavement so I wasn't reading much Mar-June. I missed a lot of planned buddy reads and only just started back with reading in the last 10 days.

At the moment, I'm reading a lot for SPFBO8, as I'm a judge, and none of those count for MountTBR.

I'm sure I'll get back into gear soon enough but for now I seem to have made camp for a little rest.

1. I have read 9/24 of the books I promised to read on Mt. Blanc. That would depress me if I weren't at 36/50 for my Goodreads yearly challenge.


2. As far as the mini-challenge goes, I can't limit it to just my TBR books, or I wouldn't have hope of meeting the challenge.

Topic one: Mountain/s

None of the books in my TBR list qualifies, so I'll go to my Goodreads yearly challenge:

Some Things I Still Can't Tell You.

This book of poetry has mountains on the cover. It's written by actor Misha Collins, so if you're a fan geek of the show Supernatural and love his character, Castiel, then you should certainly read it. If not, then there are better poetry books out there. I would recommend the one I'm currently reading by one of my favorite spoken word poets, Sarah Kay.

Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.

I can speak to this one through my TBR book "Fan Fiction" by Brent Spiner. (Ok now, this is making me look like all I do is read books written by sci-fi actors. It's not true, I promise. You're the one who picked the categories. Sheesh!) It doesn't have the word book in it, but I figure the concept of fanfiction is close enough.



This book is clever in its concept. Brent Spiner writes the story in a noir fiction style that is just skuzzy enough to make me wonder if he's truly like that in real life (boy, do I hope he's not). The actor uses himself and his fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation co-stars as the characters in a fun who-done-it plotline behind the scenes of filming the show. Like I said, I loved the idea. I didn't love the noir part, though. It made me feel ick. Again, I REALLY hope he's not like that in the flesh.



Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.

This one is easy, also from my TBR read list.

"Weekend Warriors" by Fern Michaels was so very challenging to finish because it so royally sucked. Seriously. This book was recommended to me by a friend probably 12 years ago, and it has been sitting on my TBR since then. She gushed all over it, and the idea sounded fun. THEN I started reading. The writing was bad. The characters were horrid. The plot that had potential turned out to be-- I don't even know how to describe it. Ridiculous? Yeah. That's probably it. It's the first book in a series of many, and I just don't understand why. Who reads this stuff??? I guess the same people who read this stuff... and this stuff... Oh, but that would be ME. I guess if I can have my own guilty pleasures, so can everyone else. But "Weekend Warriors" readers can find much better mindless trash books to latch on to. For sure.

I am at 18 books out of 24 on Mount Blanc. Hopefully I'll make more progress soon. I got distracted by cookbook ARCs on NetGalley. So far I don't have any books for the mini challenge.

I'm doing well. I'm at 42 of 48 books for Mount Arat. Really I have about three more of those 48 read just not reviewed or recorded yet. I have no fears of not making it to the top.

Topic one: Mountain/s
Titles can have the word "mountain" in them or the name of a specific mountain.

Murder on the Mountain by L.R. Starr It's a mystery novella/romance, not really that hot but not awful either


Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey, librarians in some dystopic future. I was hoping for a fun lesbian romp but this was heavy and I didn't like it nearly as much as I had hoped.

Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.
TBA I have one that is sort of this but I'll see what the second half of the year brings

Counting books read between January and June, here's my halfway point check-in :)

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read). If you're really ambitious, you can do some intricate math and figure out how the number of books you've read correlates to actual miles up Pike's Peak, Mt. Ararat, etc. And feel free to tell us about any particularly exciting adventures you've had along the way.

47 of 75 books read, that's 62 % or 3,824 m up El Toro!

2. A brand-new Mount TBR mini-challenge. You may either use books already read (if appropriate) or try to complete the mini-challenge before the end of the year. These three topics may be interpreted broadly--the topic may feature in the title, on the cover, or be important in some way to the plot of the book, Get creative!

Topic one: Mountain/s
Titles can have the word "mountain" in them or the name of a specific mountain.

Mountain of the Dead

A fictitious take on the Dyatlov Pass incident.

Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.

Spoiler Alert

This is centered on fanfiction writing and the everlasting battle between bookverse and movieverse.

Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry

Here, the main character's journal is stolen, and she is *challenged* to complete some of her elusive to-do lists in order to get it back.

1. I am at 45/60, but I've been there since April. However, my actually unread mountain still sits at 3 books, and I am doing a pretty good job at keeping up with my (minimal) purchases.

Honestly, yay for libraries keeping me from making next year's mountain bigger.

This year I'm climbing faster and surer, I'm really focused on finishing series and books on my shelf. Maybe I can reach Kilimanjaro's peak again?

1. I'm 7 books short of Mt. Ararat's peak! That makes it 4.387m!

2. A brand-new Mount TBR mini-challenge. You may either use books already read (if appropriate) or try to complete the mini-challenge before the end of the year. These three topics may be interpreted broadly--the topic may feature in the title, on the cover, or be important in some way to the plot of the book, Get creative!

Topic one: Mountain/s
Titles can have the word "mountain" in them or the name of a specific mountain.

There isn't a mountain in the title, but there's a mountain in the story.

Topic two: Book or Book-related
Titles/covers can have anything book-related on them. Or the story can take place in a library or bookstore.



Topic three: Challenge
Challenge-related word in title. Or read a book you consider a challenge because of topic, length, etc.

That one I already completed - "Lord of Chaos", the 6th book in the Wheel of Time series, was my biggest challenge this year (so far). Not only the biggest of the series but the slowest in pace as well.

After completing Mount Blanc (24 books) for the past two years, I decided to try Mount Vancouver (36 books) this year. I'm at 25/36 books and that's 10,962.5/15,787ft. or 3,341/4,785m.

For the mini-challenge, it looks like I've done #1-Mountain earlier this year with The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. It is a beautiful piece of literature; a love story that has a lot of depth in life with loss, suffering, poverty, and war. The Italian Alps was where Enzo and Ciro met.

I'll have to come back with #2-Book.

For #3-Challenge, a book I just finished reading Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins fit the criteria as it tells us about how Goggins consistently challenges himself and master his mind. He invites us to do the same to reap all the success our mind and body is made for.

As of the end of June, I had finished only 16 books of the 48 I need to scale Mt. Ararat, so I've been trying to make up ground this quarter.

Looking over my list, i don't believe I've fulfilled any of the mini-challenges, so I will have to come back for that.

Maslela wrote: "After completing Mount Blanc (24 books) for the past two years, I decided to try Mount Vancouver (36 books) this year. I'm at 25/36 books and that's 10,962.5/15,787ft. or 3,341/4,785m.

For the min..."

I LOVED

Are we having Checkpoint #3?