Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012 discussion

The rumors are true...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.

There are no formal rules about what must be in your checkpoint post. You can simply give us run-down of the books read. Or you can send us a few "snapshots" from your climb--tell us your favorite "scene" (book) along the way or which book of those conquered so far had been hanging out on the mountain the longest (I've got a few that had been there for around 20 years...) or anything else interesting about your journey so far. It's up to you. All I ask is that you post a little something and link it up here.

And what do you get for all that hard work (and distraction from the actual climb)? Official entries will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, March 31. At that time (or actually first chance I get on Sunday) I will crank up the Custom Random Number Generator and pick a winning climber. He or she will have their choice--either add to their TBR stack via my gently-used book vault (prize list will be sent) or a surprise book/reading-related item. Just think, if you win a book you can get a pile ready 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!

[And, please, keep posts in this folder limited to updates (to help me track entries better). If you'd like to give a fellow-climber a high-five for a job well-done (or comment on a book, etc), then please hop on over to their challenge post or Goodreads homepage and wish them well. Thanks!]

Bev's Checkpoint Post:


So far, it looks like I'm right on track. I conquered 26 books off the teetering stacks around my back room--that puts me about 1/4 of a way up good ol' Mt. Everest. I've actually read a bit more than that--but there have been a few rereads and some library books in there. I do feel really good about clearing out what I've managed so far. I'm definitely glad I put this little challenge together--lots of motivation to read what I've got rather than constantly getting distracted by new books (either at the library or the bookstores). And just in case you're curious...the book that's been on the TBR stack the longest....A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I'm not precisely sure when I picked it up, but I was in high school. So that's well over 20 years ago (um....more like almost 30...yikes!)

Here are the stops along my way up Everest:

1. My Name Is Legion by Roger Zelazny (1/4/12)
2. The Problem of the Green Capsule by John Dickson Carr (1/7/12)
3. Prayers to Broken Stones by Dan Simmons (1/14/12)
4. The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg (1/16/12)
5. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett (1/19/12)
6. Future Crime: Anthology of the Shape of Crime to Come by Cynthia Manson & Charles Ardai (eds) (1/23/12)
7.. Murder & Magic by Randall Garrett (1/28/12)
8. The Black Seven by Carol Kendall (1/29/12)
9. The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells (2/3/12)
10. The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/7/12)
11. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (2/14/12)
12. Future on Ice by Orson Scott Card, ed (2/15/12)
13. Nothing Can Rescue Me by Elizabeth Daly (2/18/12)
14. The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/27/12)
15. The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom (2/29/12)
16. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (2/29/12)
17. The Greenwell Mystery by E. C. R. Lorac (3/3/12)
18. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (3/6/12)
19. Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes (3/9/12)
20. Five Passengers from Lisbon/Wake for a Lady/The Murder in the Stork Club by Mignon G. Eberhart/H. W. Roden/Vera Casapary (3.11.12 /3.12.12/3.10.12)
21. From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Dr. McCoy by Terry Lee Rioux (3/14/12)
22. Strange Murders at Greystones by Elsie N. Wright (3/16/12)
23. The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux (3/19/12)
24. The Rose Window & Other Verse from New Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke (3/22/12)
25. Full Moon by P. G. Wodehouse (3/23/12)
26. The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes (3/24/12)

I have read 35 books for this challenge. You can find the full list under my challenge thread, but highlights include the following.

I have read 13 out of 40 for Mt. Ararat. I'm thinking about bumping up to 50 books, but I will wait a while to see if that's going to be possible. My reading always slows down at the end of spring, beginning of summer because of end of school activities (music recitals, basketball championships, etc.).

There haven't been many highlights, unfortunately; most of the books have been pretty "meh", but at least they have been read, which permits me to BookCross / BookMooch them out of the house, which makes room for new ones. These were the most memorable:

So far I've read 11 of 25 (44%) for Mt Vancouver and the best part is that my total books read for this year is 18 so I'm also on target for my goal of at least half my books coming off MT TBR :-).

My highlights for this quarter include:

So far, I have read seven of my Mount Vancouver Challenge (I have actually read more than that, but I won't count the books as completed until I have actually posted my review on Goodreads). If I get my twenty-five books completed and there is still time, I might bump up my challenge to the next level because I really have a huge load of to-read books (just did not want to bite off too much).

The Silmarillion
That Scatterbrain Booky
With Love From Booky
As Ever, Booky
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
dtv-Atlas Bibel
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central
North America

I am 1/3 of the way up Pike's Peak.

Count of Monte Cristo

The Building of Jalna

The War of the Worlds

Death in Venice

I have had the Jalna book on my shelf for nearly 18 years, and I am glad I finally read it. Death in Venice was a step outside my "norma;" reading, and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

Well, we're a quarter into the year - yes, Karen that's what a quarterly checkpoint means, duh! - and I've managed 32% of the 25, so that puts me ahead doesn't it? (Maths never was my strong point). 8 out of 25.

My proudest achievement is to have finished Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 a really serious book (I hope it makes me look good and interlechul) as it had been languishing on the 'will come back to sometime honest no I really mean it' shelf for a year and a half.

The other highlight - and when I say high, I mean it - was reading straight through The Complete Stories. Usually, with short stories I would read here and there, now and again, but I wanted to get it on the scoreboard, so read two or three every day. The effect of reading Flannery O'Connor in such a concentrated form is slightly disorienting. She writes from a strange place, and to live in her weird and wonderful world was an experience a bit like eating disco biscuits.

I'm keeping up on my reading counts overall, but my climb is still in the foothills as I've been working on some ARCs and newer purchases.

The Sea of Love by Sorcha MacMurrough
And One Wore Gray by Heather Graham
Silver Storm by Cynthia Wright
Angelique, Angelique and the King, Angelique in Barbaray, Angelique in Revolt and Angelique in Love, all by Anne Golon
The Salamanca Drum by Dorothy Eden

I have a couple more ARCs to polish off and hope to get back on track with owned books afterwards.

I've done okay 7 out of 25, but my problem is the mountain is very dangerous and windy at times as I keep getting blown off course by the relatively unknown but powerful Library Catalogue Hurricanes.

These nasty and powerful storms pull me off my path and force me to stop all climbing on the mountain as I read books blown in by the Library Catalogue Hurricane (normally Saturday mornings).

That said I am now back on the path...but another gust is forecast, and worse still (gulp) the far stronger and much more dangerous Library Sale winds are approaching :)

1. The Exploration of Mars: Seaching for the Cosmic Origins of Life by Piers Bizony,
2. Streets Paved with Gold - the Story of the London City Mission by Irene Howat,
3. Joseph Goebbels Life and Death by Toby Thacker,
4. The Twilight Years (aka The Morbid Age) by Richard Overy,
5. The Black Death by Philip Ziegler,
6. The Popes: A History by John Julius Norwich,
7. Harold Larwood by Duncan Hamilton,

Currently reading
8. Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder by Kate Colquhoun

I have now finished twelve out of twelve novels to scale Pike's Peak:

1. The Floating Admiral

2. The Mill on the Floss

3. The Count of Monte Cristo

4. One Good Turn

5. O Jerusalem

6. Justice Hall

7. Caleb's Crossing

8. Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit

9. Detection Unlimited

10. A Civil Contract

11. Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller

12. The Great Gatsby

Of the list, the only real disappointment was The Floating Admiral. The others I either liked to the expected extent, or else my expectations were exceeded. Tackling a number of them as buddy reads has definitely enhanced the experience.

I guess I’ll move onto the next level, although I don’t know how far I’ll get!

Way to go Kim!

Karen wrote: "Well, we're a quarter into the year - yes, Karen that's what a quarterly checkpoint means, duh! - and I've managed 32% of the 25, so that puts me ahead doesn't it? (Maths never was my strong point)..."

How did you find Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947? I like history and this does sound intriguing.

I am doing pretty well, with 24 completed books and will hit number 25 today, Cloud Atlas: A Novel which is super btw.

I am most proud that I finally finished Vanity Fair which also was great, but I just kept putting it aside....

Here they are:
World Without End
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Villette a long and blah one....
Brideshead Revisited disappointed
1Q84 whew!
Bunner Sisters
The Remains
Homer & Langley All the above read in January 2012
In Cold Blood
Matterhorn
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur
The Children's Book whew that was long 2/24/12
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Vanity Fair March 27, Yippee!!!
Einstein: His Life and Universe March 23, I only got about half of the science though!
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie March 25, first graphic book, gorgeous!!!
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao February 16, loved this one too!
The Graveyard Book March 6
Tess of the d'Urbervilles March 19
Wives and Daughters March 11
Cloud Atlas March 28 loved this book....
The Virgin Suicides March 9
The God of Small Things March 20
The Solitude of Prime Numbers

I am doing pretty well, with 24 completed books and will hit number 25 today, Cloud Atlas: A Novel which is super btw.

I am most proud that I finally finished Vanity Fair which also was great, but I just kept putting it aside....

Here they are:
World Without End
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Villette a long and blah one....
Brideshead Revisited disappointed
1Q84 whew!
Bunner Sisters
The Remains
Homer & Langley All the above read in January 2012
In Cold Blood
Matterhorn
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur
The Children's Book whew that was long 2/24/12
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Vanity Fair March 27, Yippee!!!
Einstein: His Life and Universe March 23, I only got about half of the science though!
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie March 25, first graphic book, gorgeous!!!
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao February 16, loved this one too!
The Graveyard Book March 6
Tess of the d'Urbervilles March 19
Wives and Daughters March 11
Cloud Atlas March 28 loved this book....
The Virgin Suicides March 9
The God of Small Things March 20
The Solitude of Prime Numbers

Next up A Confederacy of Dunces, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, and a prep for Ulysses (not a Joyce fan, but who knows?)

I'm almost on track for Pike's Peak.

In the bag:
Tea with the Black Dragon
The Plymouth Cloak
Both read back in January.

Currently reading The Price of Bacon, which is a gem of a book (but probably pretty difficult to get hold of outside of New Zealand). However I once again have library books nagging for attention, so I suspect I'm destined to remain behind the schedule at least slightly for the foreseeable future. Sigh!

For the first quarter of the year I have read exactly 25% putting me at even par. My overall book total is 9, even though I haven't marked the last two as completed yet, putting my total well ahead of last year.

My new Kindle is what has been pulling me away from the TBR challenge. How could I not explore and play with my new toy and reading toy? Plus all those freebies, library loans and Kindle lending library are awfully hard for this e-book newbie to resist, but I'm trying.

The books are:

Jane and the Wandering Eye January

The Familiars March, A read for my niece's book club

The Second Duchess just squeaked this one in for the quarter, finished today

Reviews will be forthcoming, another one of my goals for this year. I can be slow on getting some of them done, some due to time constraints and others just seem much harder to come up with the right way to describe my reading experience.

I haven't had a 5 star hole-in-one read yet but the closet is the one I just finished The Second Duchess. I also haven't needed to take a mulligan, in this case a DNF, for any books either, all 3 stars and up. You can blame the golf lingo on Ron's recent golf tournament and I don't care for golf, so that shows how much it invaded our daily life.

Good luck with the next quarter everyone!

I'm on track for Pikes Peak. 4 done so far.

1.)The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America - finished 1/29
2.) Kristin Lavransdatter - finished 2/18
3.) A Game of Thrones - finished 3/18
4.) Storm Front - finished 3/24

So we are supposed to be on about quarterway through, right? Then I guess I'm on track - 14 out of 40 :)
This challenge definitely helps, I'm more conscious about reading books that are collecting dust. But I'll need this challenge next year if I don't stop acquiring new books now.

I have just started the challenge signing up for Pike's Peak, so only one down out of my 12. Finished Cold Mountain. Need to get busy!

MichelleCH wrote: "I have just started the challenge signing up for Pike's Peak, so only one down out of my 12. Finished Cold Mountain. Need to get busy!"

All the best for the climb, Michelle!

My present situation is the following (so far so good):


1. The Earth Is the Lord's by Taylor Caldwell
2. The Conquering Family by Thomas B. Costain
3. The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears
4. Cracked by Alice Shapiro
5. The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood
6. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
7. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
8. The Town House by Norah Lofts
9. The Glass of Time by Michael Cox
10. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
11. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
12. The House by the Dvina by Eugenie Fraser
13. The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
14. The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters
15. Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
16. Romola by George Eliot
17. Tales of Angria by Charlotte Brontë
18. La Comtesse De Salisbury by Alexandre Dumas
19. Masques of Gold by Roberta Gellis
20. And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
21. No Ordinary Woman: The Story of Mary Schäffer Warren by Janice Sanford Beck
22. The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir
23. The Final Hour, by Taylor Caldwell
24. O Nosso Agente em Havana, by Graham Greene
25. The Circular Staircase, by Mary Roberts Rinehart
26. The Book of Eleanor: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Pamela Kaufman
27. L'Abyssin, by Jean-Christophe Rufin
28. A Judgement in Stone, by Ruth Rendell
29. Katie Mulholland, by Catherine Cookson
30. Soldier of Great War, by Mark Helprin
31. Prince Ivan, by Peter Morwood
32. Fruits of the Earth, by Andre Gide
33. Rise to Rebellion, by Jeff Sahaara
34. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
35. The Year of the French, by Thomas Flanagan
36. Alguien que anda por ahí, by Julio Cortazar
37. Misterios, by Lygia Fagundes Telles
38. Seminarios dos Ratos, by Lygia Fagundes Telles
39. Duas Damas bem Comportadas, by Jane Bowles
40. Tout Ce Que J'aimais, by Siri Hustvedt
41. The Case of the Missing Servant, by Turquin Hall
42. Eva Luna, by Isabel Allende
43. Uma conspiracao amorosa, by Heinz Konsalik

I just saw this thread so thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Bev. I've read 22 books this year but only 3 off of my TBR - ouch. I have a long way to go to hit my 25, but 9 months left, which makes me optimistic.

Marialyce wrote: "I am doing pretty well, with 24 completed books and will hit number 25 today, Cloud Atlas: A Novel which is super btw.

I am most proud that I finally finished Vanity Fair ..."

That's great, Marilyce!

Hmmm, I'm not doing so well! I signed up for the Pike's Peak level (12 books) and so far... I've read one and have yet to actually write a review! But I will say that the one I did read was great: The Blind Assassin (by Margaret Atwood.) Right now, I'm reading something like and fluffy before I head back to Pike's Peak: Alias Grace (by Margaret Atwood.) Now that my Home Office Excavation is nearly complete, I should have more time (and space) to actually read :-)


The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

All entries now closed. I'm off to consult the Custom Random Number Generator to see who our winner is....Back soon.

Our winner is Comment #9--Misfit!!! Congratulations! Look for a message soon so we can discuss which prize you'd like.

Okay...off to contact Misfit and then I'll be donning my climbing gear for another run at Everest. Be watching for another Checkpoint in the last week of June.

Yay, Misfit!

Well done Misfit - perhaps the prize will be a copy of everyone's TBRs added to yours :)

Congrats, Misfit!

That's pretty evil, GeeVee. *I like it*

Yay Misfit!

Thanks Bev. Just what I need, more books on the pile. I'll drop you an email shortly.

congratulations Misfit!!

Laura wrote: "My present situation is the following (so far so good):"

Impressive!

Nice work Misfit!

Misfit, Congrats to adding more to your TBR pile! It did bring me a smile when I saw it was you.
Geevee you made me laugh, too funny!

Good for you Misfit!

Thanks ladies.

Congrats, Misfit!

Sorry to be late reporting - I've been a bit distracted in the last few days by the birth of my lovely granddaughter.
I've finished nine of my current target of 25 with another two close to completion. Was quite pleased with myself till I looked at some of the other lists . Wow! where do you find the time?
Some of the books have been on the shelf a good twenty years but I couldn't be sure which was the longest. The best surprise was Dinah Dean's Flight from the Eagle, biggest disappointment Laurie King's Beekeeper's Apprentice. The Amanda Quick was a worse book but my expectations had not been so high.

Congratulations Grandma!

Sorry you didn't like Laurie King.

Yes it's a shame. My expectations were high but since I don't particularly care for Sherlock Holmes or continuations by other hands, perhaps the writing was on the wall. I will try the next book some time but no great hurry.

It wasn't as good... but contains a lot of their story... I think you can skip it and move to #3, forget #4.

Congratulations Grandma Catie! How many grandkids do you have?

You shouldn't feel too bad about reading 9 books -- I read just 4.

Catie wrote: "Sorry to be late reporting - I've been a bit distracted in the last few days by the birth of my lovely granddaughter..."

Congratulations and good health to all :)

Jeannette wrote: " How many grandkids do you have?
Just the one! Very exciting... though because my daughter lives at the other end of the country, I won't actually get to meet her face to face until the weekend.
Thanks all for the good wishes!

Hayes wrote: "I think you can skip it and move to #3, forget #4."
Thanks for the advice - I will certainly bear that in mind

Major congrats on the first grandbaby! That's a real good reason for being distracted.

BTW, I didn't care for Beekeeper's Apprentice as you can see here, so don't feel bad.

Thanks Dawn, it does feel good to have company against the flow...