LibraryLover23's 2024 TBR Challenge

2024 TBR Challenge List
1. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
2. In This House Of Brede by Rumer Godden (finished 4/10/24)
3. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez (finished 7/9/24)
4. Baghdad Without A Map And Other Misadventures In Arabia by Tony Horwitz (finished 2/13/24)
5. Dead Simple by Peter James (finished 5/27/24)
6. Elevation by Stephen King (finished 4/17/24)
7. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (finished 8/2/24)
8. Mystery Walk by Robert R. McCammon
9. Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs: The Left Bank World Of Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer (finished 1/10/24)
10. A Bintel Brief: Sixty Years Of Letters From The Lower East Side To The Jewish Daily Forward edited by Isaac Metzker (finished 9/8/24)
11. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History Of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
12. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx (finished 10/27/24)

Carrying over the six from 2023, plus adding six new ones, I went with twelve total this year. I used a combination of random number generator and ones that called to me. We'll see what happens!

nice list! a handful of titles caught my eye...but i'm really looking forward to your thoughts on The Omnivore's Dilemma ^_^

I hope you have a good reading year!!

Nice variety in your list. Quite a few that I'll be interested to see what you think. I swear I just heard someone talking about Olga Dies Dreaming but for the life of me I can't remember who or why. Probably a podcast.

>3 riida:, >4 LittleTaiko: Thank you both!

>4 LittleTaiko: I did Book of the Month for awhile and that was one of the selections, which is how I first came across it.

I keep trying to read The Goblin Emperor and Station Eleven but for some reason I keep avoiding them. Maybe you'll spur me to finally get to them.

>6 majkia: Sometimes when I formally add books to a list like this, I immediately lose interest in reading them. A psychological trick, I think! But as of right now, I’m motivated. :)

>7 LibraryLover23: I know what you mean, I've had that too lol Not sure if randomly picking would help me at all or not. Happy reading in 2024!

Goblin Emperor was better than I expected. I don't know a lot of horror authors, but McCammon is the next one that springs to my mind after Stephen King.

>8 Narilka: Thank you, happy reading to you too!

>9 Cecrow: Glad to hear that about The Goblin Emperor! I have a soft spot for McCammon. His Swan Song is one of my favorites and still stands out vividly in my mind.

1. Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs: The Left Bank World Of Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer (260 p.)
The storied bookstore "Shakespeare and Company" in Paris is the setting for this memoir. The author, a Canadian journalist, left home after a troubling incident and ended up staying with the ragtag group of writers who are allowed to live for free at the store, in exchange for helping out, reading a book a day, and providing an autobiography. This one zipped right along for me; I loved reading about Paris and especially the store's proprietor, George Whitman. He's really the highlight here, as he's a colorful character in his own right.

>11 LibraryLover23:, so let me get this straight. I could have free rent, and pretty much all I gotta do is read a book every day and talk about myself? Where do I sign up!!

>12 Cecrow: - I was wondering the same thing! How have I missed out on knowing that this was a life choice I could have made?

>11 LibraryLover23: uhm...this is a real place!!! life goals, updated ^_^

Lol, well as you learn in the book, it’s not without some faults. But yes, according to Wikipedia, they still let writers stay there. George has since passed away, but his daughter Sylvia still runs it in a similar manner. :)

2. Baghdad Without A Map And Other Misadventures In Arabia by Tony Horwitz (285 p.)
I'm a fan of Horwitz's writing; he has a funny, irreverent sense of humor that I appreciate. During the 80's and 90's he worked as a reporter alongside his wife, Geraldine Brooks. These are essays about their time in the Middle East during that period. I was particularly interested in the chapters on places like Libya and Iraq because I don't think I've read anything, fiction or non-fiction, on those places before. This one is by turns funny, sobering, and always interesting.

I'm growing to like travel writing, sounds interesting.

>17 Cecrow: I love travel writing. If I can't get there myself, might as well enjoy someone else's travels! :)

3. In This House Of Brede by Rumer Godden (376 p.)
Follows the lives of a group of cloistered nuns in a Benedictine abbey. Not much happens in terms of plot, it's more a series of vignettes that touches on their struggles and triumphs, but it's a beautifully done, quiet kind of novel that I very much enjoyed.

>19 LibraryLover23: this sounds like a lovely read ^_^

>20 riida: It was!

4. Elevation by Stephen King (146 p.)
Unusual little tale about a man who loses weight, but doesn't get any thinner, and how that affects him and his friends in his small town. I liked the quirkiness of it and the message of people putting aside their differences and coming together when needed.

I read Thinner years and years ago, that's an interesting variation from the same author.

>22 LibraryLover23: interesting...is it one of his new(ish) works? need to note it down...

i read Desperation by King when I was in high school, and I loved it so much I did not want to read another King book for fear it will ruin him for me...of course I did read more of him, and it did eventually ruin him for me :P

but i read Outsider recently, and now I'm back on the King bandwagon ^_^

>22 LibraryLover23: - I generally don't read his books since I assume they are all scary. The only one I have read is 11/22/63. This sounds rather interesting though so I may have to give it a try.

>23 Cecrow: Same! I don't even really remember the plot of Thinner anymore, but I thought it was interesting that he would revisit that same topic.

>24 riida: Yes, it's one of his newer ones. Glad to hear you're back on the bandwagon! Desperation was a great one. :)

>25 LittleTaiko: Yeah, this one wasn't scary, more thought-provoking.

5. Dead Simple by Peter James (404 p.)
Started with a great premise - a group of men who leave a friend buried alive as a stag night prank are killed in a car accident, leaving their friend with no one knowing where he is. I'm afraid it didn't work for me, however. Too many villains kept coming out of the woodwork and I wasn't that interested. The buried-alive scenes were super tense and claustrophobic, though, and well done.

>27 LibraryLover23: sounds a but like Gerald's Game?

>28 riida: Hmmm, possibly. It's been so long since I read Gerald's Game it's hard to remember! In this one, the detective trying to solve everything becomes the primary focus. But the guy trapped in a coffin bit was really tense, which gives it a Stephen King "flavor."

6. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez (373 p.)
A very good novel that switches back and forth in perspective between Olga and Prieto, a sister and brother living in Brooklyn. Prieto is in politics, trying to do right by his constituents but also trying to hide a secret, while Olga works to maintain her successful wedding-planning business. Meanwhile, their long-gone mother's shadow looms large over their lives. The well-drawn characters and setting made for an interesting read.

>30 LibraryLover23: oooh...sounds like the makings of a prime time soap ^_^

>31 riida: Ha! Yes, you could say that! The main character even goes on a reality show at one point, so it had that flair a little bit. :)

7. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (333 p.)
Very good novel about a world-ending pandemic with lots of character intersections and some jumping around in various timelines. Some parts reminded me of The Walking Dead, with the tenseness that comes from walking along a lonely, wooded road and not knowing if anyone is going to jump out at you. I really liked it, and will definitely have to check out more by this author.

>33 LibraryLover23:, saw that one on a recent list of "Best Books of the 21st Century So Far".

>33 LibraryLover23: I'm so glad you liked it! I just read this recently myself (last year???) and it has also left very strong impressions on me. I also picked up a couple more books by the author cause of station 11, and I need to get around to reading them ^_^

>34 Cecrow: that's brilliant! I think this is one of the best apocalyptic dystopians I've read, and I typically don't like those...

>33 LibraryLover23: - I loved that book by her but have not had similar luck with others. Hopefully you have better luck.

oops sorry

>34 Cecrow:, >35 riida:, >37 LittleTaiko: I thought it was worth the hype, for sure. I'll be curious now to see how her others stack up for me, but it'll be awhile until I can get to any of them!

>38 majkia: No worries, haha.

8. A Bintel Brief: Sixty Years Of Letters From The Lower East Side To The Jewish Daily Forward edited by Isaac Metzker (214 p.)
A collection of letters from Eastern European Jewish immigrants to a newspaper's advice column. Topics vary, but of course the themes remain universal, with relationships, money, jobs, and life in general all getting their turn in the spotlight. Interesting slice-of-life details and a worthwhile read.

>40 LibraryLover23: ooh, interesting. i feel like i want to get into these...i mean slice-of-life collections of essays, letters, etc. i think i only have a handful of those in my TBR... might add this if i can find a copy.

>41 riida: Yes, it was definitely an interesting read!

9. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx (285 p.)
Loved this collection of short stories, all set in Wyoming. The most well-known and arguably best entry is "Brokeback Mountain," which was made into an award-winning film. It's a quietly devastating story, but well worth the time. My second-favorite in the collection was "The Mud Below," about a rodeo rider and his troubled family life. All the stories, though, were really thought-provoking and well done.

Got behind here, there, and everywhere. Love that everybody has new lists coming out! I might try to knock off another title or two from my list before the end of the year. And I'm starting to think about what next year's list will contain...