HelenNZ New Year Resolution!

Happy New Year fellow bookaholics!
I have just counted my TBR shelves - 182.
Last year I failed dismally only shifting 9 books,but acquired about 10 times that. My focus this year is those shelves. I will use the Alphabet Challenge to help guide my decisions as to what do I read next. I have removed all books off my local library reserve list and will only occasionally visit this establishment. I hope to be back soon with my first book completed. Watch this space. I am empowered with new resolve...




1. Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones
2. Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
3. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
4. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
5. The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster
6. The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
7. As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong
8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
9. The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea byRandolph Stow
10. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
11. Solar by Ian McEwan
12. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
13. Valley of Grace by Marion Halligan
14. 26a by Diana Evans
15. Mother's Day by Laurence Fearnley
16. Snake by Kate Jennings
17. The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale
18. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
19. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
20. The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
21. Fantastic Street by David Kelly
22. Solo by Rana Dasgupta
23. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
24. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
25. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
26. Crossing the Lines by Melvyn Bragg
27. The Book of Lost Threads by Tess Evans
28. Let Me Sing Gentle Songs by Linda Olsson
29. The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
30. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
31. Zoli by Colum McCann
32. Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute
33. Kangaroo by D H Lawrence
34. Pounamu Pounamu by Witi Ihimaera
35. Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy
36. Safety by Tegan Bennett Daylight
37. Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre
38. Across the Dreaming Night by Judith White
39. The Tax Inspector by Peter Carey
40. The Quarry by Damon Galgut
41. Inge and Mira by Marianne Fredrikson
42. All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky
43. An Innocent Gentleman by Elizabeth Jolley
44. The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
45. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
46. Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee

Happy new year and good luck!

Hi Helen, just dropping by to wish you luck.

Oops! I have been bargain book buying again and came home with 5 new books. That makes 11 this year. I just can't resist a book bargain especially when it is on my wishlist. I thought I was making good progress too, having read 6, but at this rate my unread books will more than double this year! Oh dear...
Need to get back to reading.
CR Music and Silence by Rose Tremain and Anna Karenina.

This would be satifying progress if I hadn't purchased double this amount this year already. Oh well. This girl can't resist a bargain and it seems to be a reflection of the book industry that there are so many bargains out there.

Well at least I can say I have read The Finkler Question. I think I prefer the Orange Prize winners to the ManBooker. Is the ManBooker a more masculine taste? I look forward to reading The Twin Impac winner, with my online group later this year.
Yay back to the shelves, I love the anticipation of starting something new.

Satisfying to reach 20. A nice round number and well on track for meeting this challenge. Mind you having added 4 books to the TBR shelves on Saturday, it's one step forward and 4 back.
The Welsh Girl provided an everyman's balanced view of what a small Welsh community experienced during World War II.
Next up is Aminatta Forna's Ancestor Stones which I espied on a friend's bookshelves last week and in view of the success of her latest novel, The Memory of Love, it having been shortlisted for both The Commonwealth Writers Award and the Orange Prize, I thought I needed to sample her writing.
Alas it is not going to help with this challenge. Oh well...

Well I had a blow out today and came home with another 14 books from 2 shops. There are so many bargains at the moment.
It doesn't bode well for the future of bookshops though. I guess I will have plenty to keep me going for a while, if they shut their doors.

I thought it was time I checked how many books I had on my TBR shelves. So despite having read 21 of my 182, I now have 204 books to read. Oh dear...
I have looked at my Alphabet Challenge and tried to match as many as I can off my shelves to the letters still to be ticked off. That will eliminate another 19 if I stick to my plan, which is only 3 months worth of reading. So I must just get reading!

Hi Helen, I think we all battle with the buying of books, but, as long as I keep reading some off the shelves, I feel as if I am fighting the good fight! The more I read off the shelves - the more room I have for new ones.

Well last weekend proved dangerous as I attended one day of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival and I came home with 11 more books. I really must concentrate on reading for awhile and stop buying books.

After getting off to a good start with my reading goals, I am starting to slip behind. Life has got in the way, as it does. I wonder if I need to read some quick ones to get moving again?

I must refocus on this challenge but got side tracked by the Man Booker longlist. Managed to find one at the local library and of course came away with another book I wanted to read as well.
I am also guilty of having a spendup online so have added to the stacks... I know my TBR shelves are greater now than at the beginning of the year. Fighting a losing battle here.

#32. Not only was this book a very good read, but it also ticks boxes in off all 3 of my challenges.
Another incentive to read it was that I realised that 12 months ago I purchased this along with a large number of other books at a second-hand sale. The event is about to re-occur and I don't think I have read any of those books. Now I feel a little better that I have read one of them. I might feel a little less guilty if I head off to look for more bargains. But hey I'm providing these treasures with a loving appreciative home and I will get to them eventually. :-)

Having read 3 books in a row with an Australian setting, prompted by a recent trip to Aussie, it is time for a change. Next book off the shelf is The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. This looks to be very different!

#35 This book has waited a long time to be read. I inherited it from my late sister-in-law 10 years ago. This is an earlier Andrea Levy and I can see that the ideas for some of her future books stemmed from this one. Once again set in England and Jamaica and very well written.

#36 Goodness, it is far too long since I shifted a book off my shelf. I have just finished Safety by Tegan Bennett Daylight and found it very enjoyable. I will try to make one last-ditched attempt to get somewhere near my goal in this challenge and only read my old books.

The good news? In 3-1/2 weeks, all the books on our shelves right now will become eligible for next years challenge!

Gotta keep looking on that bright side...

And you're not too far off! Keep plugging!

Oh a relief to reach 40 books. I have focused totally on this challenge for the last couple of weeks, choosing the books with the least number of pages in an attempt to get somewhere near my goal. I have found that the alphabet challenge hasn't always been helpful as I have had to go to libraries and second hand shops to find some letters which defeats the purpose of using it to clear books off my shelves.
Books #39 and #40 have both been excellent page turning reads, but now back to the shelves to find another treasure... and on with the challenge!

#41. Inge and Mira by Marianne Fredrikson, another book that has waited far too long to be read. A beautiful piece of women's writing which manages to transport you to both Sweden and Chile in 200 pages and I feel better informed as a result. I remembered loving Hanna's Daughters,
another of her titles, years ago and this too, I recommend.

We've started a new Group for 2012.
here

#43 I haven't given up on my goal yet, but there is Christmas...

Well that's it for me in 2011 - 46. I am reasonably happy with this despite being short of my goal, as it is a vast improvement on last years 9. However going by the stacks of books on my floor, I suspect I have bought more than I have read. Off to count and organise the shelves in readiness for tomorrow's new challenge. Happy New Year to all. May you discover new joy in reading in 2012!

I would definitely be proud of 46, Helen! It's 46 more than you had on the shelf at the beginning of the year! I look forward to reading with you again in 2012!