Thursday 8 October 2015

Mount TBR check point #3

Doesn't seem five minutes since I began the year intending to climb Mount Blanc by reading 24 books for Bev's Mount TBR 2015. Now here we are three quarters of the way through the year and it's time for check point number 3 already!


Bev would like us to do two things. Firstly:

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read). If you're really ambitious, you can do some intricate math and figure out how the number of books you've read correlates to actual miles up Pike's Peak, Mt. Ararat, etc.

Of the 24 books required for the Mont Blanc category I've read almost 21, (just coming to the end of book 21.) I should have read 18 so I'm 3 books ahead, which I'm very pleased about. Instead of being three quarters of the way up the mountain, I'm seven eighths of the way there. Just 3 more books to go so hopefully I shall complete this challenge (unlike one or two others I could mention...)

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:

A. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.

B. Pair up two of your reads using whatever connection you want to make. Written by the same author? Same genre? Same color cover? Both have a main character named Clarissa? Tell us the books and what makes them a pair.

C. Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on the pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?

D. Choose 1-4 titles from your stacks and using a word from the title, do an image search. Post the first all-eyes-friendly picture associated with that word.


So, I'm going to do 'B'.

I shall pair up Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane:


And the book I'm just finishing, Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin.


The reason I'm pairing these two up came as a surprise to me. A pleasant surprise. One of my reading interests is 'mountains' and in Clear waters Rising the author, Nicholas Crane, walks across Europe via a continuous line of different mountain ranges. Excellent. Loved it. When I started Wildwood I never imagined there would a connection as it seemed to be all about woods in The British Isles. Well not quite. Halfway through the book he's suddenly in the Pyrenees and I'm transported right back to March and Crane's trek through that beautiful mountain range. Both men loved the people and the scenery. A few chapters on and Deakin is in The Carpathians, a range in Eastern Europe - The Ukraine, Poland etc - just like Nicholas Crane later in his book. This range seems a very different kettle of fish somehow. More challenging, the area politically sensitive, its people not necessarily friendly. The reader can feel that the two authors are a lot less comfortable here, uneasy, life is harder and thus walking for tourists is too. It was fascinating to be honest. I really love coming across these coincidences in books so this fits my answer to this question perfectly.

I've thoroughly enjoyed doing the Mount TBR challenge again this year. Attempting less books has definitely worked for me as it's less stressful and easily acheiveable. I'll certainly be doing it again next year and have even started to sort my books for it. I know...

~~~oOo~~~

7 comments:

DesLily said...

wow! great post Sis! I guess that's just one more thing that makes us "sisters".. mountains and trees! And if you are my true sister (and I know you are!) although you are reading many books that have been in your tbr pile a long long time..my guess is that the number of books is not seriously receding! lol.."how do I love thee, let me count the ways.." lol *hugs

Nan said...

Very, very interesting. I recently reread a Mrs. Pollifax book which featured the mountains of Albania, and I got much the same feeling of uncomfortable-ness - and it was written in the 60s. I love the tbr challenge. You are having a terrific reading year!

BooksPlease said...

I think the TBR challenge is my favourite - I just wish I didn't keep getting sidetracked from it. The good thing though is that the 'new' books I'm reading aren't adding to the tbrs - the bad thing is that I'm constantly adding to the tbrs - the numbers just aren't going down.

I like your pairing. I haven't read Clear Waters Rising but have read Wildwood, a most interesting book - and it looks as though Crane's book is too.So, it looks like I have another one to add to the tbrs - :)

Jeane said...

I am unfamiliar with both of these books, but I do know that thrill when two books unexpectedly share something in common! I especially like it when one confirms the veracity of the other, by describing the same place or incident.

Cath said...

Pat: Oh yes, we definitely share a love of mountains and trees. I'm loving all the mountain themed books I've been reading... something so fascinating about all the various ways they've been written about.

LOL... noooo... I'm pretty certain the pile hasn't decreased very much. I've read 21 but probably bought 20. Too funny.

Nan: I'll have to look into that book... if you see this perhaps you can let me know what the title is?

Yes, I'm really enjoying a much more relaxed reading year this year. Happy doing jigsaw puzzles and reading when I feel like it. I shall do the same next year too.

Margaret: Yes, I like the TBR challenge too. It might be the only one I do next year. Like I just said to Pat, I honestly don't think my pile has gone down very much at all. LOL! But never mind.

Wildwood is interesting in parts, other bits not so much. I think I'll struggle to decide on a Goodreads rating to be honest. Yes, the Crane book *is* very good. I was flipping through it again for this post and actually felt like reading it all over again.

Jeane: I agree, it's such a good experience when that happens, especially when it's a subject you're very interested in. The second book took me right back to the first and as it was so unexpected it was almost thrilling. Perhaps I'm easily pleased. LOL!

Bev Hankins said...

Thanks for checking in, Cath! You're doing a great and I really enjoyed your link-up between the books. What a pleasant surprise for you.

Cath said...

Bev: My pleasure... always enjoy doing your check point posts. Thanks for your nice comment.