Monday 2 December 2019

Mount TBR challenge complete





This year I decided to climb Mont Blanc for Mount TBR 2019. That involved reading 24 books that I've owned since before the 1st. January 2019. These are the books I read.


1. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late - Harry Kemelman
2. Around the World in 80 Days - Michael Palin
3. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
4. Fire in the Thatch - E.C.R. Lorac
5. To Oldly Go - a Bradt travel guide - short travel tales
6. Aoife's Chariot - Katherine Pathak
7. The Mitford Girls - Mary S. Lovell
8. Weekend at Thrackley - Alan Melville
9. The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin - Georges Simenon
10. City of the Lost - Kelley Armstrong
11. The Riviera Set - Mary S. Lovell
12. A Small House in Italy - Eric Newby
13. Hot Sun, Cool Shadow - Angela Murrills
14. The Body on the Doorstep - A.J. MacKenzie
15. Antidote to Venom - Freeman Wills Crofts
16. Unnatural Death - Dorothy L. Sayers
17. Superfluous Women - Carola Dunn
18. Blue River, Black Sea - Andrew Eames
19. Melmoth - Sarah Perry
20. Backpacks, Boots and Baguettes - Simon Calder & Mick Webb
21. Narrow Dog to Carcassonne - Terry Darlington
22. A Thousand Miles from Anywhere - Sandra Clayton
23. The Cornish Coast Murder - John Bude
24. A Little Light Weeding - Richard Briers

I'm quite pleased that 11 of them were non-fiction. In fact I'm almost tempted to keep to non-fiction for it next year but we'll see... I haven't quite made up my mind which mountain I will go for yet. Anyway, another enjoyable Mount TBR and many thanks to Bev for hosting.

~~~oOo~~~

8 comments:

Simon T - StuckinaBook said...

Well done! I haven't read that Melville yet, but he's my favourite of the BL Crime Classics authors I've read.

DesLily said...

Wow! I don't know how you do it ..and do puzzles too! I only read 2 that are on your list lol! (Uprooted and The Mitford Girls.) Often I wish I could read as fast as you do! Great list!

Nan said...

I love it that you do this!! On your list, I have read the Kemelman and the Lorac. I tried the Oldly one, but if I remember right, it is kind of about "adventure", which I am not wildly interested in. I might look at it again. And the Richard Briers- is that the sadly missed actor?

Judith said...

Hi Cath!!! CONGRATULATIONS on your Mount TBR Challenge! I've enjoyed following you on this journey this year. Do you think you'll continue the challenge next year, but with all nonfiction? I will cheer you on. Have a champagne on me to celebrate--I think you should, really. You've had a wonderful year, to my mind.
Oh, and alas, how I wish I could share a glass with you in person!
Best wishes on your end-of-the-year reads!

Sam said...

Well done, Cath. I would be thrilled to have knocked off even a dozen from my TBR stack.

Now the key question: How many did you add to your TBR mountain this year? No matter how many I remove from mine, it's never a net gain for me. The stack just grows and grows. Just can't resist all those shiny new books.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Congratulations, Cath!

I haven't read one single 'actual' book from my TBR pile this year, as all of my reviews have been of Kindle books I have read as part of publisher / author requests.

On the other hand, I haven't added any physical books to the stack, and in fact, the only way I have been 'persuaded' by hubbie to reduce my TBR mountain, is to cull the shelves of some of the books I haven't read, which is complete sacrilege and Oh! so painful a decision to make. How can I possibly choose one book over another? and how do I manage to turn down every opportunity to add more books into the miniscule space I have made?

A great challenge, well executed :)

Yvonne
xx

Margaret @ BooksPlease said...

Well done! I'm like Sam, no matter how many I read I'm always adding more. I don't keep a proper record of how many I've added though and the Kindle doesn't help, it just absorbs books.:)

I have completed Mount TBR this year - I'm still undecided about doing it again next year, and I've almost decided not to do What's in a Name? next year - we'll see ...

Cath said...

Simon: That's the only Melville I've read so far but I plan to read more. I've also enjoyed Freeman Wills Crofts, E.C.R. Lorac, John Bude and Michael Gilbert from the BLCC.

Pat: Yeah, I was quite pleased with the list, nice and varied. My favourite of them all is probably The Mitford Sisters, brilliant book.

Nan: I now have the next Rabbi book, Saturday etc., to read so that will be one of my first books for 2020. Yes, that's Richard Briers the actor who died a couple of years ago. He was a keen gardener and his book of quotes about gardening made for a lovely bedtime read.

Judith: Thank you! It's been fun. Yes, I'll probably do it again next year but keep it to twelve books. I sorted out a bunch of chunky books to get off the tbr pile, a mix of non-fiction, classics, and short story collections.

Oh my goodness, wouldn't it be wonderful to share a glass of champagne in real life? One day perhaps.

Sam: Thank you. Well now, that's the $64,000 question. Sadly, I don't know the answer as I don't keep count of the books I buy but I'm certain you're correct in that there is no net gain at all. The only thing I would say is that a few books that have been on my tbr pile for years have been knocked off and that, I think, is a plus.

Yvonne: Thank you. My husband looks askance at all my books too. I have had a few culls but it's so hard as you have discovered. Putting new ones on the Kindle is a good answer but that turns into a black hole if you're not careful and I'm not. Another truth is that I could do with reading less library books, if I did that I'd get more off the mountain!

Margaret: Thank you. No, I don't keep a proper record of new books brought into the house either. It might be a good idea to create a shelf on Goodreads: '2020 - new books', something like that. Then I could gauge what's actually happening.

Well done on completing Mount TBR yourself. I'm going to do it again next year but less books and target certain titles. I'm definitely not doing What's in a Name? next year, nor the War one, which I enjoyed but don't want to do two years in a row. To be honest I want a slightly freer reading year next year, one where I don't feel obliged to read for challenges all the time.