E’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2018)

E’s comments from the Mount TBR 2018 group.

Not going to make it up Mt. Vancouver, but I'm excited to start next year's Mount TBR, going for both owned books and books from the library that have been on my Goodreads TBR forever.
On the plus side, I've managed to get my Goodreads TBR trimmed down to 200, and that's with a lot of added books. I've been ruthless pruning my list, and getting rid of physical books I'm not going to read.

29. (Don't) Call Me Crazy which I kind of want to shove into the hands of every teenager and teacher ever.

27. Eight Flavors, by Sarah Lohman. Great, well researched book

27. The Defiant Heir Side-note if you like well-plotted fantasy, pick up Melissa Caruso's first in this series, The Tethered Mage and read both

Thanks, all! Off to scale the next mountain and see what happens before the end of the year!

I just surprised myself by realizing that I read 24 books from Mt. TBR, 26 in fact... so, I'm jumping into the action here on Mt. Vancouver.

I have two goals in mind: Reading 10 more books I physically own, and trying to prune my Goodreads TBR down to 200 total. So I'm going to track library books as well, as a separate count. My current Goodreads TBR is 210.
Think I can do it by December?

24. The Light Between Worlds (from Kindle)
25.Tight by Torrey Maldonado
26. The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

Oh hey, I've scaled Mount Blanc!
Neato!

Current TBR status: 210 books
Virtual TBR books read
Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
First Bite: How We Learn to Eat

1. I made it to 23 books read! So I'm almost done with Mont Blanc!

2A. Not sure I could pick just one favorite character, but I think it would be fun to get Twinkle from From Twinkle, with Love together with Alice from Let's Talk About Love and Lois and friends from Triple Threat in one massive, goofy high school adventure with snark and possible romance.

2B. Opposites:
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States and Record of a Spaceborn Few
The contrast between the origins of the United States and the possible far-flung interstellar future of humans and aliens finding ways to build a new society together.

2C. The longest owned book was Baby's in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles and unowned book that's been on my Goodreads TBR the longest is Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball I think both of them benefitted from waiting til now to read them... I just started to get more into graphic novels, and also I'm learning about baseball more, so I appreciate both books more than when they were first on my TBR.

21. Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens
22. Triple Threat
23. Record of a Spaceborn Few

And from the not owned but On TBR For Ages List
Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball
Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins on Your Favorite Songs

But the best part is that I've pruned my TBR down to 215!

20. Baby's in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles has been sitting on my shelf for ages.
I need more graphic novel nonfiction/memoir in my life.
Possibly after I whittle my pile down some

19. A Curious Beginning

Goodreads TBR pruned down to 224, even with some additions.

17, Echo After Echo
18.Young Miles

And from the Not Owned but On My Goodreads TBR Forever list
finished Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
Cheesemonger

Pruned Goodreads TBR down to 235 even with the Book Expo

I've done a couple of things to conquer my TBR:
For books I've read that I have owned more than a year, I'm at 17, so working my way up Mt. Blanc.

But wait, there's more:
I approached this challenge as an incentive to prune my Goodreads shelves more than anything else. I wanted to get more realistic about my Want-To-Read list, where I keep any book I want to read, whether I own it or not.
To that end:
1.I have managed to prune that list down from 300 to 235, and that's including going to a librarian conference where I took home new books by the bagful.

I tried to be really honest with myself about some of the books on the list: I put them there on a whim years ago, that I'm not still feeling. So, I deleted them from Goodreads, and where I could, I gave the physical copies away.

2. I've also made an effort to use the library to get and read lingering books from my Goodreads TBR:
Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucía
Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg (disappointingly dull, alas!)
Immaculate
Cheesemonger (REALLY good!)

In two weeks, a good friend is hosting a book swap. I've put together a nice big couple of boxes to drop off... and I'm hoping I won't add too many to my TBR then!

Psst! I've been a little rebellious in my mountain climbing too. :-)
I've been making an effort to clear my Goodreads TBR, period, which includes books I'm making a mental note to read, even if I don't own them. I'm trying to get my Goodreads TBR down to something manageable I could do in a year, conceivably. Right now, it's at 250. Eeesh!

I'm doing my best to prioritize actual owned books when I can, and to remember to count only books I own- but a couple library books that have lingered on my Goodreads TBR a while may have snuck in there!

So, no matter how high you climb in this challenge, you will always have a fellow rules-bender over here. :-)

16. Saturdays with Hitchcock another one from last year's Book Expo!

As predicted, the librarian conference ballooned my Goodreads TBR up to something like 270! Eek!
On the plus side, still chugging away at previously owned books and/or books that have been on the Goodreads TBR for ages:
14.Sourdough
15. Gunslinger Girl
And currently reading Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend which is a library book, but has been on my TBR for eons.

14. Sourdough by Robin Sloan. Got weirder and weirder but it was charming

E wrote: "Hi all!
I finished the Pike's Peak Challenge of 12 books, so I'm setting my sights higher.
I'll be reading both paper and Kindle books to try to scale my TBR.
My TBR is currently at 223, down from ..."

The good news is that I got my TBR down to 215 by being ruthless about books I don't think I'll really read.

The bad news is that my TBR's about to double in size- three days at a librarians' conference full of galleys that sound all enticing.
Somebody save me from myself....

13. Calling My Name by Liara Tamani

Hi all!
I finished the Pike's Peak Challenge of 12 books, so I'm setting my sights higher.
I'll be reading both paper and Kindle books to try to scale my TBR.
My TBR is currently at 223, down from 260.

(In addition to reading books from my TBR, both library books and owned books, I've been working to trim and delete books from my GR list that I don't think I'll read anytime soon.)

My goal is to read 12 more books from my TBR, and to get my TBR down to an even 200.
Although a big book conference is scheduled for the end of the month, and that's likely to boost my TBR exponentially. Whee!