Category: Attacking the TBR Tome Challenge

Attacking the TBR Tome Challenge – result

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

Emily’s challenge Attacking the TBR Tome is coming to an end. The challenge was to read or attempt to read 20 books from your TBR pile and to post on each one. And it was also not to buy any new books, or borrow any books from the library until you had read the 20 TBR books. I knew at the outset that I couldn’t do that and I didn’t.

I did, however, read  25 books during the year, all of which I owned before December 1st 2009. I only read two of the books on my original list (the first two listed below), but I did give myself the option of reading other books from my TBR piles and I read the following books. I’ve written about all of them except the last one, which I only finished reading yesterday.

  1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  2. Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan
  3. Drood by Dan Simmons
  4. Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin
  5. Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
  6. The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
  7. Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey €“ see also here
  8. The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin
  9. The Warrior’s Princess by Barbara Erskine
  10. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
  11. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
  12. Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig
  13. Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham
  14. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
  15. The Falls by Ian Rankin
  16. Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin
  17. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
  18. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
  19. Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett
  20. Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin
  21. The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
  22. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
  23. Exit Music by Ian Rankin
  24. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
  25. Reflex by Dick Francis

I’ve signed up for a few challenges for next year that should help me reduce my TBR piles even further – except, of course, that I have added more books to the piles this last year.

TBR Challenge Update

Published on by Margaret2 Comments

I see that Emily and others have written progress updates on her Attacking the TBR Tome challenge.

This was my original list – I’ve only read two so far.

  1. The Day Gone By, by Richard Adams (autobiography)
  2. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
  3. The Children’s Book by A S Byatt
  4. The Country Life by Rachel Cusk
  5. Helen of Troy: a novel by Margaret George
  6. The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
  7. Ghost by Robert Harris
  8. Slipstream: a memoir by Elizabeth Jane Howard
  9. Rivers by Griff Rhys Jones
  10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
  11. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
  12. Mollie Fox’s Birthday by Deirdrie Madden
  13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel €“ read
  14. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  15. Eden’s Outcasts: the story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by J Matteson
  16. Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan €“ read
  17. Map Addict by Mike Parker
  18. Resistance by Owens Sheers
  19. Corvus: a Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson
  20. Being Shelley: The Poet’s Search for Himself by Anne Wroe

I still want to read these books and the reasons I haven’t yet is that I keep coming across other books that I want to read too, my mood has changed since I made the list, books in the library have caught my eye or others have written about books that sound so good I’ve read those instead. The other reason is that as soon as I add a book to a list it becomes an ‘ought to read book’ and no longer so appealing. It seems that putting a book on a list often means that is where it stays – on the list.

But I did give myself the option of reading other books from my TBR piles and have done quite well with that, reading another 12 books, all of which I owned before December 1st 2009:

  1. Drood by Dan Simmons
  2. Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin
  3. Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
  4. The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
  5. Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey €“ see also here
  6. The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin
  7. The Warrior’s Princess by Barbara Erskine
  8. Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
  9. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
  10. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
  11. Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig
  12. Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham

So a total of 14 books in all, so I think I’m not doing too badly really and I do intend to read more off the original list before the end of the year.

Emily’s challenge was not to buy any books until you’ve read 20 TBR books and I knew I couldn’t do that.  I have bought some books, and I have been totally unable to not borrow books from the library – more than half the books I’ve read this year have been library books.

Sunday Salon – This Year’s Books

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

It seems  a good day to look back over my reading in  the first two months of the year. I’ve read 15 books – 8 in January and 7 this month.

Titles marked * are crime fiction, underlined are non-fiction and in italics are library books. The rest are my own books acquired from various booksellers.

  1. Drood by Dan Simmons
  2. Invisible by Paul Auster
  3. Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan
  4. Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin *
  5. Black and Blue by Ian Rankin *
  6. Losing You by Nicci French *
  7. The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie *
  8. The Music Room by William Fiennes
  9. Can any Mother Help Me? By Jenna Bailey
  10. Fallen Gods by Quintin Jardine *
  11. The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin *
  12. The Hollow by Agatha Christie *
  13. Not Safe After Dark & other works by Peter Robinson * (short stories)
  14. The Warrior’s Princess by Barbara Erskine
  15. Dead Souls by Ian Rankin *

Of these 15 books 9 are crime fiction, which is partly because I’m taking part in Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and also Kerrie’s Crime Fiction Alphabet series. This means writing about a book  related to the letter of the week. It can either be the first letter of a book’s title, the first letter of an author’s first name, or the first letter of the author’s surname. Tomorrow it’s the letter T and I’m currently reading The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. I’ve read about half the book and may finish it later today and write about it Monday or Tuesday.

I think the best of these 15 books is Black and Blue by Ian Rankin.

The only challenge I’m doing this year is Emily’s To-Be-Read challenge which is to read at least 20 books from your to-be-read piles before buying any more books. I’m doing this with the proviso that I’m actually allowing myself to buy a few books as it would be too hard otherwise.

 I’ve bought four books this year – one of them being Dead Souls by Ian Rankin. I “had” to buy this because I’m reading his Rebus books in chronological order and didn’t have this one and it was the next one to read. So far then, I’ve read 10 books off my to-be-read piles in two months – not bad!

As well as reading The Franchise Affair I’m also reading Poetic Lives: Shelley by Daniel Hahn and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Books I’ll be reading next are:

  • Being Shelley: The Poet’s Search for Himself by Anne Wroe
  • The next Rebus book – Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin

    • Reading Challenges

    Published on by Margaret1 Comment

     I’ve been thinking about reading challenges and seen that many bloggers are signing up to lots of interesting-looking challenges. I’m always attracted to them and enjoy thinking about the books I could read to complete the challenges … and then I find they become a chore. I find myself thinking “what have I got to read next for a challenge?”, not looking forward with pleasure at the thought of reading the next book. So this year I’m easing off them.

    The challenges I am taking part in this year are:

    • Attacking the TBR Tome Challenge. Last year I listed 14 books as my own To-Be-Read Challenge and only read 1 of them, so for 2010 I’ll be taking part in this challenge – the books are shown on my sidebar, in the hope that this will encourage me to read them soon. The idea is to read at least 20 of your tbr books before buying any new books.
    • The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge – this fits in well with my reading as I love AC’s books.
    • Alphabet in Crime Fiction – this is now up to the letter L (which I haven’t done). The letter M next week.