Mount TBR 2015 discussion

Wow! Three months into the year already. Well, you know what that means...Your mountaineering guide is calling for the first 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 two things:

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.

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far. OR If you have difficulty posting a cover for any reason, share your favorite title--this does not have to be your favorite read. It can just be a title you thought was funny or clever or interesting or....
B. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way (not as good as anticipated? unexpected ending? Best thing you've read ever? Etc.)
D. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?

And what do you get for all that hard work (and distraction from the actual climb)? Comments will be accepted until 11:59 pm on Sunday, April 5. On Monday, April 6, I will crank up the Custom Random Number Generator and pick a winning climber (based on comment #). He or she will have the chance to add to their TBR stack via my gently-used book vault (prize list will be sent). Just think, if you win a book you can start up a pile for next year's Mount TBR Challenge.

Even if you're not in the mood for a prize or if you've only got one leg of the journey under your belt, I'd love to have you check in and tell us how your climb is going!

***Please note--This thread is for Checkpoint comments only. Comments that are not Checkpoint-specific will be removed--to make it easier for me to track a winner. If you would like to cheer a fellow-climber, please stop in at their climb thread. Thanks!

1. So far, I've read 19 out of 36 books for my challenge. Well ahead of pace, but I've been in a slump for most of March. Hopefully I can start the 2nd quarter off right!

2D. The Almost Moon has been on my TBR the longest. I had it when I joined GR in 2011. It was published in 2007 and I have the hardback, so I probably got it 2007 or 2008.

I have two threads going. One for my physical books I own, the second is for the kindle books I own. I read more of the kindle books so I felt it was good to have the two different threads.

My physical book thread I'm currently in Level 2: Mount Blanc (24 Books) with 13 books read. I have some stats that I have been keeping track of. I have been keeping track of the genres.

The top three genres are: Classics with 7 of the books that are labeled as classics (all 7 of the books are a sub genre for classics--meaning their main label for genre is another genre). Fantasy with 6 books (all are the main genre of the book). Young Adult with 4 book (all 4 books are a sub genre for YA).

I have also sorted them by the year of publication. The top publication year is 1954. The rest of the years publications are all just one book.

The largest book for my physical books is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with 870 pages then Wizard's First Rule with 820 pages. Harry Potter is a reread and will worth the read. Wizard's First Rule is the first time I've read it and I loved it!

My Kindle book thread I'm current in Level 3: Mt. Vancouver (36) with 51 books read, but I have more I need to add in there. Yes, I know that this goes to 36 books but I have been starting over for each level because I know I will reach way over 100 by the end of the year. Here are the stats for my kindle reads.

The top three genres are: Fantasy with 19 books (2 of them are sub genres). Nonfiction with 13 books. There are two third place genres, Horror and Classic with 8 books read each (1 is a sub genre in the horror, 7 are a sub genre in the classics).

For the year of publication. The top publication year is 2013 with 23 books read. Second is 2014 with 20 books read. Third is 2012 with 8 books read.

The largest books for kindle reads I own are: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss with 736 pages. Second, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr with 531 pages. Third, DarkShip Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt with 512 pages.

I found this interesting. What is even more interesting is the differences from genres and publish date of physical books read and kindle books. The oldest book I've read for this challenge is 1500. I wonder if I'll read anything older than that. Also, I check a lot of physical and kindle books out at the library and my largest book is 1000+ pages. I've read a total of 132 only 64 of them count for this challenge.

1. I just started Level 5: Mt. Kilamanjaro with 49 books. I’m hoping to make a good “milage” by the end of the year.

2A.

Not sure exactly why I love the cover, but the movie itself proved to me Bradley Cooper can do serious. I haven't seen many of his movies but the previews I've seen of several always suggest he's there for comedy relief in it. (Absolutely no offense intended. This is simply the impression I get from the trailers and what they choose to show in them.)

1. Hanging out in a mountain cabin 1/3 of the way up Mt. Vancouver. I've read 12 out of 36 books or traveled 5,262.3 feet up the mountain.

I've gotten too comfy in this cabin; it's time to set-out and resume my climb. More than half of these books I read in January. My pace has been considerably slower since then. Plan to pick up the pace next month by finishing series I started several years ago.

2.A. Prettiest covers - It's a tie:


2B. My favorite character is Max Tudor in Pagan Spring by G.M. Malliet. He's the vicar in a small village in the English countryside and a former MI5 agent. He's a charming combination of astute observer clueless to village gossip and besotted with a goddess worshipping pagan.

2C. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion surprised me. It was by turns humorous, poignant and romantic.

2D. The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson was on my TBR mountain the longest. It was a classic English mystery with a number of red herrings and twists.

1. I am a bit higher than 9100 ft (2770 m) with 54% of Mount Ararat completed (26 books out of 48). February I was zooming up but have slowed the pace in March.

2A. Prettiest cover is easy since so many of my books are public domain kindle books (boring blank covers) or cheesy 1960s mystery paperbacks! My prettiest cover was:
Rain and Other South Sea Stories,

2C. I do like this Kindle cover, . But I was pleasantly surprised that the book was centered around an older woman, recently widowed, who owned the hotel and not the young maid on the cover!

I've read 14 books on my way to Mt. Blanc so far. I expected to be a bit faster, but since it's the final two months for finishing my thesis, I don't have much time to read (looking forward to May!).

2A

I love the artwork.
My favourtie title would be Rebecca, it's so clever to choose this as the title. At least it would be if the identity of the protagonist wasn't so well known among readers nowadays. i keep imagining how it must have been for the first generation of readers to come to Manderley.

2B
The most interesting character I encountered was the butler Stevens from The Remains of the Day. Only in retrospective you begin to understand what lies beneath his overly well-mannered attitude. One of the most realistic characters ever, and a "show don't tell" at its best.

2C
Again, Rebecca. It totally caught me by surprise. It had been on my TBR for ages, but me and Rebecca was almost instalove. Now I'm looking for a more recent edition to replace my ancient and ugly one.

2D
The oldest book I've read this year was also the oldest unread book I owned: The Remains of the Day. We read excerpts of it in school, but I wasn't intrigued to read the rest of it. And I'm glad I kept it. I feel I got so much more out of this novel now that I'm a bit older, have been to England several times and have the actual English skills to understand Stevens long and winding sentences :)

1. I am two books in to Pikes Peak. I am about halfway through my third book.

2C. The second book I read (Fateful by Claudia Gray) surprised me a lot. My mom read it and gave it to me awhile ago (probably bordering on three or four years now) and all I remember her telling me was that it was about the Titanic. I was never one for historical fiction, but I pulled it from my TBR jar last month so I finally picked it up. Apparently I missed the part of my mom's description (and the back of the book) where it mentioned that the book was about WEREWOLVES on the Titanic. It ended up being VERY different than I had expected.

1) I've read 12 books out of the 48 books required for Level 4: Mt. Ararat. This puts me exactly 25% of the way towards completing my goal! However, I've read 21 books in all so far this year. Required reading for school is not helping, for the most part.

2)A. My favorite cover so far is the cover for Splintered
B. I don't have any new favorite characters from the books I've read towards my challenge. Unfortunately, all the books I've read from my tbr pile have been mediocre so far. =/
C. Several books I have read surprised me, because I have been anticipating reading them for a long time, and thought I would love them. However, I was disappointed. They include: Splintered Night Film Among Others Jamaica Inn and the biggest surprise/disappointment: Breakfast at Tiffany's. I love the film, so I thought I would love the novella; however, they are very different. The film added so much to the story that the novella lacks.
D. Like Water for Chocolate has been on my TBR mountain the longest--since September 2010! It was only a three star read for me, but I liked it more than I thought I would, considering that I tried to start it a few times before putting it back down again.

Sam wrote: "I've read 14 books on my way to Mt. Blanc so far. I expected to be a bit faster, but since it's the final two months for finishing my thesis, I don't have much time to read (looking forward to May!..."

I love Rebecca too! I read it for the first time last year and decided it was possibly my favorite book out of all the books I had read up to that point. I just read We Have Always Lived in the Castle late last month, and that is head to head with Rebecca in my mind. I suggest reading it if you haven't already. It is a lot different from Rebecca, but the house is a big part of the novel, as in Rebecca, and it is Gothic literature as well. It's also really short, (roughly 200 pages) so I highly recommend giving it a chance.

1. I'm 10/24 of the way up Mount Blanc.

2A. I like the cover of Tease by Amanda Maciel (and the upcoming paperback is prettier).

2B. Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. Because she is a little girl but that doesn't stop her from being observant, intelligent, pointing things out and being sensitive.

2C. I was surprised by Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers, in that I didn't like it as much as I was hoping I would. :(

2D. Cracked Up to Be, it has been on my TBR since November 2013. I think maybe this wasn't the "right" time for me to read it, and that I should re-read in the future and see if my opinion changes.

So far I'm pretty happy with how my climb is going. Hopefully I can make it to the top before the year it's over! :)

1. I've read 31 of 48 book for Mount Ararat.

2A. My favourite cover was .

2B. My favourite character was Janna Berta in . She's very strong even though she has a absolutely terrible fate.

2C. pleasantly surprised me. I had previously read by the same author which I couldn't stand and so my expetations were very low. But Julie was great.

2D. definitely has been onmy TBR the longest. It was a lot better and a lot easier to read than expected.

I hit the trail going up Mt. Vancouver and reached camp spot number 11 out of 36, almost a third the way up. I'm pleased with my progress so far as I had a strong first two months. The trail is getting a little steeper and my climb has been slowing down a little. Hoping to pick up the pace next month.

A. While there's many different covers for this book, I like this one best as it shows breaking of chains. Striving for freedom.

B. Favorite Character is definitely Mark Watney from The Martian. Great sense of humor and ability to fix anything, and hey he's trying to survive living on a planet alone.

C. I was pleasantly surprised by In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. It was a more readable and enjoyable biography than I expected. I keep telling myself I should write a review.

D. The longest on my Mt TBR shelf that I read so far this year is I Married a Communist by Philip Roth. It's coming up on 15 years sitting, waiting for me to read. I probably should have read it while I was still taking English Lit classes, might have gleaned more out of the book. Glad I finally got to it though.


While it's fun to win, I don't want a prize, just wanted to participate in the update. Thanks! Happy reading to everyone!

1) I'm 18/75 of the way to the top of El Toro

A) My favorite cover would have to be

C+D) I was disappointed in Delirium. It's been on my shelves for ages and I've tried to read it once, but stopped because I didn't have time for it. I remembered it as interesting, but I really didn't like the book this time around, unfortunately.

Hello everyone!

I am 11 books into my climb of Mount Vancouver, including a couple of ebooks and one reread (following the reread rules, of course!).

My favourite cover so far is . I actually bought this book because I loved the cover! :)

I read A Dance with Dragons in January to begin my climb, so my favourite character so far is Jon Snow, although a newcomer might compete for his place as my favourite ASOIAF character!

The book that had been on my pile the longest is And Another Thing..., and to be honest, I don't think it was worth the wait. Oh well!

Good luck, everyone, with the next quarter!

I'm 46 books into the 150 of Mt. Olympus, so nearly a third of the way up.

My favourite cover...hard call as I'm not overly entralled by most covers to the books I've read this year. Which means this will have to be the one.

The book that's been piled up longest was probably , which I picked up back around 2003, and which was joined by the rest of the series somewhat later.

My favourite character so far this year is perhaps Professor Gordon Litefoot, of Jago & Litefoot. Closely followed by the perennial favourite of Nameless, a good man who goes through rough times.

Such is the craziness at the university in the spring semester...I almost forgot to haul out the random number generator and select a checkpoint winner. Since I'm late to my own party, I'm going to feed all the checkpoint comments in to select the winner. Let me just grab the Custom Random Number Generator and feed all the numbers in....Can you hear it clanking and whirring?

We have a winner! Our lucky climber is #5 Nell! Congratulations, Nell! I'll be contacting you about the prize list very soon.

Thanks again to all of you who checked in...and to all who are busy climbing with us! See you at the next checkpoint!

Congrats, Nell!

Congrats Nell!

Thanks. I answer for the fun of it and don't expect to win. It's a nice surprise.

I'm 18 miles up Mt. Tamalpais, my favorite character so far is Holly Sykes of The Bone Clocks She is my kind of heroine, a person life just can't keep down, you look over and dammit she's up again!