The Challenge Factory

message 1: by Peg (last edited Jun 01, 2023 08:05AM) (new)

May 31, 2023 04:37PM

I will always love listening to Tom Petty and always enjoy seeing how his lyrics can shift to different parts of my life as I've grown. This is a light hearted use of one of his songs to describe my tackling a growing tbr list.

"I'm working on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads, running down a dream' of lowering my tbr count.

Hopefully this will help me mindfully add new books, so I end up with a net deficit at the end of the month! ;)

Pledging at least one book a day.
Starting with 3487 - hoping for a lower number at the end! ;)

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message 2: by Peg (last edited Jun 01, 2023 08:19AM) (new)

Jun 01, 2023 08:16AM

June 1

Book: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: Cult Classic
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: The Mountain in the Sea
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: Upgrade
Reason Removed: Duplicate

Book: Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live
Reason Removed: Started Reading

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message 3: by Peg (last edited Jun 02, 2023 03:05PM) (new)

Jun 02, 2023 07:19AM

June 2

Book: Trap Kitchen: The Art of Street Cocktails
Reason: No longer interested

Book: The Tiffany Girls
Reason: No longer interested

Book: Theatre of Cruelty
Reason: Read

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message 4: by Peg (last edited Jun 03, 2023 09:11PM) (new)

Jun 03, 2023 09:09PM

June 3

Book: Stone Blind
Reason: Currently Reading

Book: Chapter Six
Reason: Read

Book: The First Ladies
Reason: Lost Interest

Running Total: 14

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message 5: by Peg (last edited Jun 04, 2023 05:14PM) (new)

Jun 04, 2023 07:39AM

June 4

Book: A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Book: The Art of Extract Making: A Kitchen Guide to Making Vanilla and Other Extracts at Home
Book: Destination Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia: Swimming Holes, Mountain Peaks, Waterfalls, and More
Book: Tales of American Idiocy
Book: What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal
Book: Two and Twenty: How the Masters of Private Equity Always Win
Book: No Gods, No Monsters
Book: Better Luck Next Time
Book: The Collector’s Apprentice
Book: Lone Stars Rising: The Fifty People Who Turned Texas Into the Fastest-Growing, Most Exciting, and, Sometimes, Most Exasperating State in the Country
Book: Drawing Class: Animals: Learn to Draw with Simple Shapes and Online Tutorials
Book: Too Famous
Book: The Con Queen of Hollywood: The Hunt for an Evil Genius
Book: First Person: A novel
Book: Tell It Like It Is: A Guide to Clear and Honest Writing
Book: Hundred Waters, The
Book: Producing Politics: Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us
Reasons: Moved on, hard to find, glimpsing reality. ;)

Book: The Lottery
Reason: Read

Running total: 32

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message 6: by Peg (last edited Jun 07, 2023 08:24AM) (new)

Jun 06, 2023 09:55AM

June 6

Book: To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration
Reason: Unable to locate a copy - would not buy

Book: The Museum of Broken Promises
Reason: Unable to locate a copy - would not buy

Book: Reunion of the Good Weather Suicide Cult
Reason: Unable to locate a copy - would not buy

Book: Sweat: A History of Exercise
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Little French Bistro
Reason: No longer interested

Book: I Am Not Who You Think I Am
Reason: Being realistic, I'll never get to this one.

Book: Seven Down
Reason: Unable to locate copy, would not buy

Book: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of our Vanishing Vocabulary
Reason: Could not find a copy at the library

Book: A Beginner’s Guide to Murder
Reason: Not available at the library

Book: The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders
Reason: Not at my library

Book: The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: The Cask of Amontillado
Reason: Read

Running total: 45

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message 7: by Peg (new)

Jun 08, 2023 02:09PM

June 8

Book: Alice I Have Been
Reason: Library does not have

Book: American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper
Reason: No longer interested

Book: Strange but True
Reason: Library does not have

Book: The Bartender's Cure
Reason: Library does not have

Book: Chosen Ones
Reason: No longer interested

Book: Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting and Living with Books
Reason: No longer interested

Book: Blood & Ink: An Heiress, a Tabloid War, and the Unsolved Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime
Reason: Library does not have

Running total: 52

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message 8: by Peg (new)

Jun 09, 2023 06:57PM

June 9

Book: Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: Circus of Wonders
Reason: Not at Library

Book: Spies, Lies, and Exile: The Extraordinary Story of Russian Double Agent George Blake
Reason: Not at library

Rook: Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age
Reason: Lost interest

Book: This Eternity of Masks and Shadows
Reason: Not at library

Book: Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Midnight Circus
Reason: Not at library

Book: Lute
Reason: Lost interest

Book: In Defense of German Colonialism: And How Its Critics Empowered Nazis, Communists, and the Enemies of the West
Reason: Not at library - was for a class

Book: Winter of the Wolf
Reason: Not at library

Book: Chrysalis
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Old Man and the Gun: And Other Tales of True Crime
Reason: Not at library

Book: Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Hierarchies
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Reason: Currently reading

Running total 67

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message 9: by Peg (new)

Jun 11, 2023 04:36PM

June 11

Book: The House of Silk
Reason: Started Reading

Book: Imagine a City: A Pilot's Journey Across the Urban World
Reason: Not at my library

Book: The Mammoth Book of Zombies
Reason: No longer interested

Book: The Kingdom of Back
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
Reason: Not at library

Book: What the Ear Hears (and Doesn't): Inside the Extraordinary Everyday World of Frequency
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Gilded Wolves
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Neon Gods
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: How Can I Help You
Reason: Not at library

Book: Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison: And Other Urgent Inquiries into the Odd Nature of Nature
Reason: Not at library

Running total 77

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message 10: by Peg (new)

Jun 12, 2023 08:05AM

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message 11: by Peg (new)

Jun 13, 2023 09:57AM

June 12

Book: The Man Who Came Uptown
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Night Shift
Reason: Not at library

Book: Everything the Light Touches
Reason: Not at library

Book: Mr. Breakfast
Reason: Not at library

Book: All the Way to the Tigers
Reason: Not at library

Book: DaVinci's Cat
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Earthspinner
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Beast You Are: Stories
Reason: Not at library

Book: Grieving for Guava
Reason: Not at library

Book: When We Were All Still Alive
Reason: Not at library

Book: Master Class
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Dark Matter
Reason: Lost interest

Book: 56 Days
Reason: Not at library

Running total 105

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message 12: by Peg (new)

Jun 14, 2023 06:27PM

June 14

Book: Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers
Reason: Not at library

Book: Three Dark Crowns
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Dog Flowers: A Memoir
Reason: Not at library

Book: Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong
Reason: Not at library

Book: Gentrifier: A Memoir
Reason: Not at library

Running total: 110

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message 13: by Peg (new)

Jun 15, 2023 12:39PM

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message 14: by Peg (new)

Jun 16, 2023 12:58PM

June 16

Book: Mr. Summer's Story
Reason: Currently reading

Book: Widows
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: The Leisure Seeker
Reason: Lost interest

Book: A Wild Sheep Chase
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Brain Under Siege
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Aviator's Wife
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Soul of an Octopus
Reason: Lost interest

Book: We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Great Passion
Reason: Not at library

Book: Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History's Least Likely Self-Help Guru
Reason: Lost interest

Today's total: 11
Running total: 144

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message 15: by Peg (last edited Jun 17, 2023 03:45PM) (new)

Jun 17, 2023 03:43PM

June 17

Book: The Man in the Brown Suit
Reason: Currently reading

Book: The Forty Elephants
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Out Cold: A Chilling Descent into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia
Reason: Not at library

Book: A Tiny Upward Shove
Reason: Not at library

Book: Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World
Reason: Lost interest

Book: When the Rivers Run Dry: Water - The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century
Reason: Not at library

Book: Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales
Reason: Not at library

Book: Shadows on the Gulf: A Journey through Our Last Great Wetland
Reason: Not at library

Today's total: 9
Running total: 153

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message 16: by Peg (new)

Jun 18, 2023 04:32PM

June 18

Book: River of Redemption: Almanac of Life on the Anacostia
Reason: Not at library

Book: A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown
Reason: I know I'll never get to it

Book: Social Stratification in the United States: The American Profile Poster
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting
Reason: Lost Interest

Book: Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America’s Community Newspapers
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives
Reason: Not at library

Book: Seeing Science: The Art of Making the Invisible Visible
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man
Reason: Lost interest

Book: The Siege of Loyalty House: A Civil War Story
Reason: Reality

Book: Skunk and Badger
Reason: Lost interest

Book: Cuttle
Reason: Not at library

Book: The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire
Reason: Will never get to

Book: Write for Life: Creative Tools for Every Writer
Reason: Moved on to better options

Book: The Goblin Emperor
Reason: Too low on the list to get around to

Today's total: 14
Running total: 167

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message 17: by Peg (last edited Jun 19, 2023 10:33AM) (new)

Jun 19, 2023 10:29AM

June 19

Book: 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife
Reason: Started reading

Book: The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You: Stories
Reason: Just didn't make the cut

Book: The Night School: Lessons in Moonlight, Magic, and the Mysteries of Being Human
Reason: Being reasonable

Book: Wayfaring Stranger
Reason: Need to finish other series up before even looking at new ones

Book: Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University
Reason: Time for less true crime

Book: Such a Pretty Smile
Reason: Have other Horror novels I want to read more

Book: Studious Delinquents & Psychiatric Malfeasance
Reason: Need a bigger library system

Book: The Project
Reason: They're all starting to sound alike

Book: Sleepless Summer
Reason: If I find it, it'll go back on the list

Book: The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World
Reason: Um, yeah

Book: The Other Side of Night
Reason: turned the page

Book: The Lost Village
Reason: It was found

Book: The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare
Reason: Somethings should remain lost

Book: Nocturna
Reason: Woke up to delaying new series

Book: True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us
Reason: Isn't the whole truth

Book: Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age
Reason: Today I'm preferring sapphires

Book: The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer
Reason: Sooo many killers

Today's total: 17
Running total: 184

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message 18: by Peg (new)

Jun 20, 2023 10:21AM

June 20

Book: Sparkling Cyanide
Reason: Currently reading

Book: The 'Peyton Place' Murder: The True Crime Story Behind The Novel That Shocked The Nation
Reason: Really should read the novel first

Book: Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed
Reason: My interest has turned to ash

Book: The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship
Reason: Decided to figure it out on my own

Book: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
Reason: I no longer desire to read this

Book: House of Sparrows
Reason: Unlike the bird, this book is not commonly found

Book: Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice
Reason: It's no longer speaking to me

Book: The Oracle Year
Reason: Should have known I'd lose interest

Book: The Quintland Sisters
Reason: Would rather read about in non-fiction format

Book: The Mayfair Bookshop
Reason: Decided to shop local

Book: The Last Mona Lisa
Reason: Need to learn more truth first

Book: A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea
Reason: Right now my cup runneth over

Today's total: 12
Running total: 196

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message 19: by Peg (last edited Jun 26, 2023 07:35AM) (new)

Jun 21, 2023 06:12AM

June 21

Book: Ask Again, Yes
Reason: It's a no

Book: The Locksmith's Daughter
Reason: Putting a chair against the door

Book: Next Year in Havana
Reason: Gotta get through this year first

Book: Happily: A Personal History-with Fairy Tales
Reason: Sadly....

Book: The Vacation
Reason: No cat fights

Book: The Sol Majestic
Reason: Need to diet

Book: The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal
Reason: Yet, didn't know it all

Book: Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West
Reason: 8 seconds are up

Book: Echo North
Reason: The Echo faded out

Book: The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba
Reason: Oh vanity!

Book: Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories
Reason: Put sandals on

Book: Just Another Day in Paradise
Reason: Just enjoy it, don't make a mystery of it

Book: The Book of Sand
Reason: Got an hourglass

Book: The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice
Reason: Pinocchio would be offended

Book: Antoinette's Sister
Reason: Rather read the whole truth

Book: Graveyard Fields
Reason: Improper use of the word Graveyard - should be cemetery

Today's total: 16
Running total: 212

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message 20: by Peg (last edited Jun 26, 2023 07:36AM) (new)

Jun 22, 2023 07:25AM

June 22

Book: Chefs' Fridges: More Than 35 World-Renowned Cooks Reveal What They Eat at Home
Reason: Read

Book: Hike the Parks: Acadia National Park: Best Day Hikes, Walks, and Sights
Reason: Currently Reading

Book: Moon Coastal Maine: Including Acadia National Park
Reason: Currently reading

Book: The Sound of Wings
Reason: Time to fly to other books

Book: The Puller
Reason: Pulled my interest in other direction

Book: A Window to Heaven: The Daring First Ascent of Denali: America's Wildest Peak
Reason: Climbing another mountain

Book: The Doll Factory
Reason: Moved on

Book: A Solitude of Wolverines
Reason: Need to leave series alone for awhile

Book: After the Gazebo
Reason: Was a short story gamble that didn't pay off

Book: Sibley's Birding Basics: How to Identify Birds, Using the Clues in Feathers, Habitats, Behaviors, and Sounds
Reason: I've just been winging it

Book: Zorro's Shadow: How a Mexican Legend Became America's First Superhero
Reason: The mystery remains elusive in my library

Book: Mystical Places (Volume 4)
Reason: Is also mythical to my library's purchasers

Book: Not Tonight, Josephine: A Road Trip Through Small-Town America
Reason: Or any other night apparently

Book: The Sandman
Reason: Must've been sleepy to add a book from a middle of an unread series

Book: The Mission
Reason: Lost my ticket

Book: Trains to Treblinka
Reason: Just need to pass for now

Book: Darwins Most Wonderful Plants
Reason: I stopped to smell the roses instead

Today's total: 17
Running total: 229

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message 21: by Peg (last edited Jun 26, 2023 07:36AM) (new)

Jun 23, 2023 04:55PM

June 23

Book: Ultimate Acadia: 50 Reasons to Visit Maine's National Park
Reason: Started reading

Book: Your Story, My Story
Reason: Not my story

Book: Count to a Thousand
Reason: I lost count

Book: The Book of Lost Friends
Reason: Need to stop marking historical fiction...

Book: The Book of Lost Names
Reason: See above

Book: Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World
Reason: I'm doing my weeding

Today's total: 6
Running total: 235

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message 22: by Peg (last edited Jun 26, 2023 07:37AM) (new)

Jun 24, 2023 06:30PM

June 24

Book: America's Strangest Museums: A Traveler's Guide To The Most Unusual And Eccentric Collections
Reason: Read

Book: These Ghosts Are Family
Reason: Family tree grew too large

Book: The Iron Raven
Reason: Became too heavy to fly

Book: Under the Light of the Italian Moon
Reason: Sounds too romanticized

Book: Rebel Daughter
Reason: Rebelled so much, not at the library

Book: The Children of D'Hara
Reason: Moved on from this series

Book: Last Seen Alive
Reason: Jump right into the middle of the series? I think not!

Book: The Edna Lewis cookbook
Reason: I keep track of my cookbook addiction on another site ;)

Book: Time After Time
Reason: Leaving the romances alone for awhile

Today's total: 9
Running total: 244

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message 23: by Peg (last edited Jun 26, 2023 07:37AM) (new)

Jun 26, 2023 07:32AM

June 26

Making up for a missed day so leaving out the Reasons.

Books: The Girl with the Golden Scissors
The Spanish Daughter
The Second Mrs. Astor
Fear Nothing
Seize the Night
A Town Like Alice
Guernsey Evacuees: The Forgotten Evacuees of the Second World War
Happiness is Possible
The Historians
Kingdom of Souls
The Incredible Winston Browne
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
Inheriting Our Names: An Imagined True Memoir of Spain's Pact of Forgetting
Stories to Tell: A Memoir
Too Young To Be This Old
Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye
Tinte & Siegel
Carry Me Home
Earthly Delights
Raphael, Painter in Rome
The Wrong End of the Telescope
An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

Today's total: 24
Running total: 268

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message 24: by Lanelle, Production Chief (new)

Jun 26, 2023 08:49AM

Mod

There are just 5 days left for this challenge. I hope you are cleaning up your TBR list the way you'd like :)

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message 25: by Peg (new)

Jun 27, 2023 07:29AM

I know I could do so much better! It has made me realize to be more careful in what I add in the future, plus reminded me of so many books I want to get to that I've lost in the pile!

Thanks for the work you're putting in! This has been great and I hope you've helped me start a few new habits! (weeding and being more selective)

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message 26: by Peg (last edited Jun 27, 2023 10:59AM) (new)

Jun 27, 2023 07:35AM