Tallulah's fight against the time 2012

This year again I go ahead and try to reduce my amount on TBRs sitting on my shelves. Last year I reached my goal of 20 and I think I can do it again this year!

Rules: I will only count books that entered the shelves before 1st January 2012. I must own the books. It is not necessary to actually put them off the shelves, for me it is important that they are getting read and stop crying.
Addition: I have to read so many BOMBS that I (at the end of the year) have read 20 more off the shelf than added to it. So, I will not only count the books I have read off the shelf, but also the ones I've added to it and hope in the end I will have read 20 more than added!

Here's my Ticker. It shall also represent the changes that are lying before me this year:

Books I want to read this year:
Myst. Ti'ana
Myst D'ni
Dracula
Bhagavad-Gita as it is
Das Vampirbuch
Eine dunkle Tat
Maikäfer flieg... Erinnerungen an meine Kindheit in Pommern
Tagträume vom Botterbargshof
Das siebte Kreuz
Die Rückkehr des Schwertes
Der Untertan
Verblendung
Los Milagros
Das Mädchen ohne Namen
Ganz Ägypten
Sofies Welt
Harte Zeiten




January
1. The Dark Side of the Sun - 24.01.2012
2. Adrian Mole - The Wilderness Years - 29.01.2012

February
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 14.02.2012

March:
4. Dracula - 01.03.2012
5. Sophie's World - 03.03.2012
6. The Colour of Magic - 29.03.2012
7. Biting the Moon - 31.03.2012

April:
8. 5 Weeks in a Balloon - 11.04.2012

May:
9. Die Rückkehr des Schwertes - 14.05.2012
10. Münchhausen - 22.05.2012
11. Myst. Das Buch Ti'ana. - 27.05.2012

Juni:
12. Myst. Das Buch D'ni - 05.06.2012
13. Animal Farm - 15.06.2012
14. Tagträume vom Botterbargshof - 16.06.2012
15. Maikäfer flieg... Erinnerungen an meine Kindheit in Pommern - 19.06.2012

Juli
-

August
-

September
16. Die Kunst des Bücherliebens - 20.09.2012
17. Änderungschneiderei Los Milagros - 28.09.2012

October
18. Station 5. Romanze einer Genesung - 03.10.2012
19. The Scarlet Letter - 31.10.2012

November
20. The Complete Book of Ghosts - 13.11.2012
21. A Dictionary of Ghosts - 28.11.2012

December
22. Träume und was sie bedeuten - 23.12.2012

Discarded:
Cross Channel - April
Märchen der Völker der Sowjetunion - May
Ukrainische Volksmärchen - May
Kinder haben? Eine
Entscheidung für die Zukunft - September

Books added to TBR: *|*|*|**|*******|*|**|||*********|*|****

Year totals
Books read this year: 62
Books read from TBR (incl. discarded): 22 (26)
Books added to TBR: 29
Librarybooks/borrowed Books read: 23
New books read: 12
Re-Read: 6
Balance: negative (-3)

Oh no, the unread cry??!! No wonder I have trouble sleeping! LOL

clue, didn't you know that? you must not have too many because when there is a large crowd, the cry can get deafing!

Gee, I didn't know that, either, and I have lots of TBRs. Perhaps they know that I love them and will get to them eventually, and they are waiting patiently. On the other hand, maybe those little whimpering sounds are coming from the books, rather than from the dog....

It's very interesting to see how different people set up their rules, their goals, and their record-keeping and how they define their guilty obligations to their extant libraries. Just goes to prove that if you don't want to feel like a nut case, you just have to be in the right company.

Well, they don't actually cry that much (that did for my partner though), but my consciuosness is getting worse everytime I have to decide which book to read next... *sigh*

Oh thank goodness - it's the books. I thought the house was haunted!

Love that, maybe ghosthunters aren't needed at all! It's just a matter of reading time.

I've just found out that the ticker can count negative values: So my new goal is not only to read 20 BOMBS this year but to have 20 books less on the shelf than when I started.

I finally finished my first BOMB this year! The Dark Side of the Sun by Terry Pratchett was interesting enough, but it kept me confused almost the whole time. Pratchett designed a complete universe (atcually our universe just some thousand years later) but failed to introduce it properly. Maybe I just picked up a book in a series of books and it would have been better to start with the first one, but as it was I could not dive into it as I would have liked to. He also added quite a philosophical touch to, which was not bad, but I didn't expect it in this book and he picked it up so randomly and partly unconnected, that I couldn't follow it at point. However, the book was not as bad as it may sound, I liked quite a few of the chracters.

Congratulations, Tallulah_Rose.

The last three books I read were the Millenium-Trilogy. (Two of those form the library, so no BOMB) I enjoyed them, especially the last book with the trial. But to be honest, I expected more of those book. They were quite good, but I've read more catchy books. But I really loved the trial in the end and also Lisbeth, although she was a bit difficult and strange, but she is somewhat of a lovely little thing. That can easily be seen by the many people that helped her.

Currently I'm reading a german crime novel, set in some provincial area and written quite dialectal. It is funny and entertaining but so far I am not sure what the crime is. but I like it! Unfortunately it's also a new book, I had to buy in the train station today because I'v finished The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest late last night.

SO far, I've been exceptionally bad with my challenge because of the harder rules I set upon myself. SO far I've read three books off the shelf, but also added three to it, so that's no BOMB for me so far. One reason is definitely that I have been more into the library lately and that was no good for my owned books. *sigh* But there is a lot 'year' left, so let's see how it goes.

Shame on me. I acquire more books than I read currently. This has to stop! I am not going to have mor books sitting on my shelves at the end of the year!

I just saw that I had posted nothing to Adrian Mole - From Minor to Major I had already read the first two books last year in another omnibus, but acquired this one late last year and read it in January. it was okay, the third diary was not as good the first ones, but The Small Amphibians was a bit better again.

Today I finished Dracula. It was quite good, I didn't expect this. It was not scary or horryfying or disgusting it was just a very readable, catching, well written story and I liked it. I should have listened to my boyfriend and read it years ago, but well... Better late than never right?

Dracula is one of my favorites. I also recommend Frankenstein.

Yes, I loved Dracula as well. I was fascinated that it turned out a lot scarier than I had expected in a subtle, psychological kind of way.

Dracula is on my night table, an upcoming off-my-bookshelves read.

#15 I want to read Frankenstein for quite a while now but unfortunately it's not on my bookshelves, so it may take another while *sigh*

With great regret I saw, that I haven't posted in my progress in quite a while! Since Dracula I've finished Sophie's World, which was quite good. It was a nice first introduction into the topic of philosophy. I learned a bit and refreshed some of my knowledge from school, but Iit definitely needs the whole attention of the reader to follow the strangely wrought story line.
I also read The Colour of Magic. I enjoyed it good enough, but I read the sequel in English and it turned out to be way better in its humour then the german translation. I really like the idea offen Discworld and enjoy Pratchett's sarcasm Hand way of humour. Definitely recommended to humourous fantasy fans!

As number 7 this year I read Biting the Moon . IT was a very good YA crime novel with some views on animal fights, poaching, animal abuse and so on. I really really liked it, although the female protagonist was sometimes a bit difficult in her decisions. Nevertheless a very solid and enjoyable read.
Five Weeks in a Balloon was not as good as The Journey to the Middle of the Earth, but nevertheless a quite enjoyable read.
My most recent read was The Return of the Sword. I had this one sitting in my shelf for several years because its the last one of a series and I hadn't read the prequels. Nevertheless it was easy enough to follow the story and was a good ans solid fantasy, although most of the time it reminded me of a mixture of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

I also discarded ohne book: Cross Channel. I bought this ohne because of a course AT university a year ago and read one of its short stories. But I decided they were not my cup of tea, though not bad AT all, and that I would probably never read it and have to many other books waiting for my attention.

In the negative side I must confess that so far I added as many books to the shelves as I read off them.

I see I have again neglected updating my process for a while, so here it goes:
3 years or so, I had Münchhausen sitting on my bookshelves and since it is a very small book it always kind of disturbed me, that I hadn't read it yet. It was a very fantastic read. One yould tell that it definitely was a bit older but the stories in it were amusing nervetheless, although obviously not the kind of thing that would be told amaong friends sitting in a bar together nowadays. It was a solid read and it made me smile, so not a waste of time. Even less so, since I studied german and therefore I somehow owe to rea this book one day.

Myst. The Book Ti'ana and Myst. The Book D'ni were also sitting in my shelves for quite a time, but brought in from my boyfriend. Since he liked the pc games of Myst so much I figured it was time to read these two books after I had already read Myst. The Bool Atrus. Ti'ana was a good read. I really liked to learn about D'ni lifestyle, views and society and he really kind of diturbed me when it finally was getting destroyed. The more I hoped for the Book D'ni but it was a great disappointment. It was boring although it tried to bring up some supension and hold the readers attention. I didn't learn more background info of ATrus and his family as I had hoped for but the authors somehow turned to an completely different scene. it was supposed to give background to the roots of the D'ni, but it somehow failed to do so, because I didn't see the sense in doing it this way. It was not a complete through away, but I'd say the feeblest of the three Myst-Books.

Since my last post I have read Animal Farm, which was a enjoyable, quick, partly funny and thoughtfull little tale. I liked it very much.
I also read two memoirs from an unknown german author Ursula Honnens. I had read her first book some years ago and got all three that I've got of her from my grandfather. She once was a neighbour of my great-grandmother and really, my great-grandmother was named in one of her books! :D In the two books I've read this time she describe her life as a farmer from around the 60s up to 2000. It is very honest and thorugh that very moving at times. One really can feel how she liked and loved her work and the land.
The other book was about her childhood in Pommerania. Before the second world war this land belonged to germany, now it is Poland and towrads the end of WWII the russian soldiers drove most of the inhabitants out of their villages. That's how the author came to the place where I was born. However, she desribed her childhood with much love and it really was a great pleasure to learn all those things, especially since my grandfather or at least his family also cam from Pommerania and I now learned also a bit more about him.

I also discarded two more books: They were fairy tale collection but in a very bad state and not of my highest interest. I think I'll watch out for something similar but not in the near future.

Since my last update nothing much happened on my BOMBS, so I have to get back on track. The year actually started so great, but somehow I didn't read as much since July as I did in the first half of the year.. But some good news are there anyway: I did manage to acquire a relativeky few amount of new books this year! Yeah! But still, I have to read the new books soon or will have to read more BOMBS, so that at the end of the year I will have 20 books less marked as TBR.

I've met my goal of my 50 book challenge today. But my BOMBS are creeping along, so I'll have to concentrate more othis again.
However, I've finished a BOMB today, which was also my 50th book! Die Kunst des Bücherliebens by Umberto Eco was not a great book. It started nicely enough with some half-definitions of bibliophily, bibliomania and lov of books in general. Than it dragged along heavily. The esaays were only for people that really colect books and are deeply into antiquarian and old and rare books. All in all, not a book I would recommend to anyone, but I'll keep it since I really like the cover and title.

Oh good to know that Die Kunst des Bücherliebens is more for collector, as I was considering to buy it for some time. I loved his The Name of the Rose, but have not read anything else by him yet.

Yes, The Name of the Rose was pretty good, but I really cannot comment Die Kunst des Bücherliebens. As already mentioned we bought it originally because of the beautifull cover and the nice title. I recommend to read the reviews here on LT, they give quite a good view of the book.

Finished Änderungsschneiderei Los Milagros I had just one page left for a week now, but couldn't bring myself to finish it. I don't mean the bok was bad. It started of pretty good and I can see why it won several prices here in Germany, but it somehow lacked some kind of plot or even story. Someone tagged it as magical realism, I suppose it can be, but than it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I will give it away just the same way I got it :-)
However, this book was good in three ways: Firstly it was a BOMB, secondly it was ne my list of to-read-this-year books and thirdly it is my 20th BOMB this year! So, my minor goal is reached. Nevertheless, ther is still my list and my read-20-more-books-than-you-add challenge. That means, I still need to read 15 books (new or old) this year!

I've been very bad today: My boyfriend and I went into the city just for fun and thought we'wd go to the library... Oh, look, they have a book sale! Yes, indeed!
We brougth home 6 new books... That's really bad for my read-more-than-add-challenge. I have addes one more book to the shelves than read of them this year...

A good news however: So far in October I've cleared two more books of the shelves. Station 5. Romanze einer Genesung was an autobiographical little book by a german authordescribing her recovery after an op at her hip joint. I've never heard of this book and it didn't give me much. It was quite nice and a bit touchy to read about the acquaintances and their fate, how young lives can be destroyed by accidents and how brave people have to and can be when they suffer from some kind of illness. However, it was nothigng that I couldn't think about myself and it was not presented in a great style, so it was just an average book for me.

Kinder haben? Eine Entscheidung für die Zukunft I discarded. I got this a year ago when I was thinking about getting children and what that means. However, I did not read it but am certain to have children and know what they will bring with them, so I won't need that book anymore.

Hope I'll be reading a bit more this year, to overrule my big book shopping today!

October has not been a good month for Books of the shelves... Although I read or discarded 3 books in October, I added quite a few, bringing me to having acquired 3 more books than I read this year. I think that's still quite good, compared with some other challengers here (no offense!), but it's working completely against my goal. My goal was to read 20 more books off the shelves than I add to them. Well, I don't have high hopes to establish this goal. However, I'll try my best to read a few more books off the shelves and those newly acquired and am looking forward to next year's challenge!

The Scarlet Letter was just not my type of book. It took me way too long to finish it. I think, the book as such is not bad at all, but I was just not in the right mood when I read it. When thinking about it, I can see is strength and why it is a classic, but I had no fun while reading it. It got a bit better towards the end, but partly my thougts just drifted away, especially during the rather lengthy description of thoughts...

Yeah, I've again managed to read as many books from the bookshelves as I added to them. Great. Unfortunately I don't I'll be able to reach my goal of reading 20 more books off than adding to the shelves. Maybe I can make 5 until the end of the year?

BookMooh broke my neck... I've added a bunch of books to my TBR, destroyiung what little balance I had. I am trying to read a few more books this las week, but who know if I'll really manage to make a dent in the pile?