Cal8769's futile effort to control Mount TBR

This is a great idea for a challenge. I'm in the 75 book challenge and I always intend to conquer Mount TBR but it never seems to happen.

January's only TBR that I read was Ending an Ending by Danny Birt.
February's only one was The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross.
March's was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
None in April, I guess I have to read two in May!

Hi, cal8769!
Glad to see you joining in! I like this challenge because it is doable and always a goal of mine anyway. Have a great day!
--BJ

Hi cal8769, like you I have been trying to conquer the tbr tower, without much luck. At least by doing this challenge I'm guaranteed to read 12 of them! Now I just have to stop adding more than I read this year!

Thanks for the welcome! :)

My problem is that even though I don't buy a lot of books, I always read my mom's, borrowed and the library's books before I read what I have. My wishlist is LLLOOOONNGGG and I live down the street from one library and pass another library on my to work. That library is large and has wonderful services. There is also a great inter-county library loan network, so I can get on line and request books from 8 different libraries and pick them up and drop them off locally. It's just too easy.

I know what you mean . . . . I am a librarian :) So not only do I order books in from far and wide, I find books I absolutely have to have when shelving - and between all those returns and the new books, I don't have a chance!

This year I have tried to limit myself to reading from my shelves and reading from the libray shelves alternately. It worked for a little while.

I'm in a slump. I haven't been reading much and I think that I am pressuring myself to get too many books read. *sigh* Soon I hope to tackle this challenge and overcome the TBR pile.

I read two books off my shelf. They were very short but hey, that counts right?
I've had this book on my shelf for several (ten?) years. It was part of required reading for a Translated French Literature class my husband attended in college.
Ourika by Claire De Duras a story wrote in the 1800's about a black girl taken in by a wealthy family and raised as white. She finds out about her race by overhearing a conversation and her life is altered.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I appreciate how Ourika resolves her life. (trying not to give spoilers)

The second, I have had for about a year.
Just Give Me a Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie by Maya Angelou I enjoy Angelou but I'm not a poetry fan. I thought maybe I would like her poetry. I didn't. She wrote these in the 60's and are very dark and bleak. Maybe it was the times, I as a 39 year old white woman raised in a small northern town can't relate.

I have read another from my shelves! Goody for me! It's actually my mam's book but I hae had it for about a year.

The Long Night of Winchell Dear by Robert James Waller Dear is an old man living out in the middle of no-where with a woman who is a drug runner. ( He doesn't know) He feels that something is going to happen but he doesn't know what.
I enjoy Waller's writing. His characters are very real.

Ditto from #8.

Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark A fictional account of Washington's life. It wasn't the best but it was OK.

1001 Horrible Facts by Anne Rooney A fun kid's book about... you guessed it...horrible facts. Not a very interesting presentation, just lists of trivia but what interesting trivia it is. I bought this book about a year ago and it has been sitting there patiently waiting.

Well, that's 8 TBR's in 8 months. I need to go to the shelf and pick September's book.

OK, I grabbed Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. I bought this book last year and gave it to my mom to read. I'll be back when I finish it.

Well, I laid Body Surfing down and read Cold Cases by Charlotte Greig for my Septembers TBR. It is a true crime book about various cold case files that were solved after many years by new technology, luck or good old police perseverance. It was OK nothing to write home about.

I'm starting to find a theme to my TBR's. They are books that I picked up because the names or the covers made me but my subconcious knew that they were only fair reading material.

Add two more for me! Smitten by Janet Evanovich and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Smitten has been in a bag of books that a friend loaned me over a year ago. TSCoDJaMH is a book of my son's that he has had on my book shelves for years and I just never read.

Come to think of it I read Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan from the same bag of books so I'm going to add it to my TBR total.

I just finished Dark Melody by Christine Feehan.

It's from the same bag of books as #13. My friend is going to be shocked when I finally finish them all! It has only been a year and a half!

I'm excited. I am going on a road trip and will be able to read for hours while poor hubby drives. I have packed many TBR's! I will conquer them! (HAHAHA Yeah, I know, pipe dream)

That is so great! I hope you have a wonderful time. Nowadays I can't read in the car anymore. I get carsick. I wasn't even very successful at reading on a plane either. The trip will definitely go fast for you with lots of good books to read. :)
--BJ

Hi all!

It Happened in Pennsylvania is book about historical and significant events that took place in PA. The state's only witch trial, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the cracking of the Liberty Bell...just to name a few.

I have had this book on my shelf for about a year.

I also read Psycho for Halloween. I have had that book for years!

OOO 14 TBR's so far this year! That's great. Too bad because I have borrowed or bought at least that many to replace them.

Congrats on reaching 14! The PA book sounds interesting, I'll have to look for that sometime.

My congrats also on reaching 14 -- and the year is not over yet!!!
--BJ

Thanks! I'm pleased with myself. Next year I think that I will do this challenge the way it was set up. A list of 12 books and an alternate 12 to conquer!

I was just thinking that I liked the way you set your 2009 tbr challenge up - very flexible, whatever book grabbed your attention - and was thinking of doing the same thing for 2010.

I am curious, your husband doesn't mind you reading in the car on trips? I always feel I should talk to my husband when we're in the car though the truth is I really want to get a book out or put my audio book on.

Anyway, congrats on reading so many books from mount tbr.

No, he doesn't seem to mind. I think he would rather I read than try and make a lot of small talk to fill the hours. I stop reading four or five times an hour to talk and if he talks about something I always put the book down until the end of the conversation. he's very good about my reading.

Thanks and good luck on your challenge!