Mount TBR 2014 Challenge discussion

Hi, I'm Crystal, and I'm finally going to start wading through my massive TBR shelf. Here are some ideas for books I want to finish this year:

1) Eye of the Storm (ARC from 4+ years ago) - Status: DNF whoops doesn't count

1) The Lucky Ones

2) Glow (I owned the book, but got the audiobook from the library because I read faster that way) - Status: Complete

3) The Magicians

4) The Astronaut's Wives' Club

5) Eat to Live

6) A Million Sons

7) Shades of Earth

8) A Discovery of Witches

And I'll leave the rest blank. Heck, I may decide not to read any of them (Besides the Book Club selection, The Magicians) and choose a whole new set.

Well, it's up to you, but I would count a DNF if you have read enough to know that you won't ever read it -- the book has then been removed from your TBR after all! Just something that you might want to consider...

I've been pleasantly surprised pushing through. But don't let it be said I don't understand. I recently struggled, since I must own over 2000 actual books, with 3 'do not starts'. That was hard enough, since they're paid for. I'm a non-wasteful person. It's only because I own so many to look forward to, only reading about 100 a year (so far), that led me to think this is a wise choice.

I just wing it as far as the choice of reading is concerned. My TBR pile (including those Kindle freebies) is so huge I have plenty of choice.

You bet - tons of groups, tons of choices in our own stock. I've tried getting a few really specialized ones out of the way first. Mount TBR amounts to a counting list of whatever I read this year. :)

Update Time!

1) The Lucky Ones

2) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

3) The Magicians (Book Club)

4) The Astronaut's Wives' Club

5) Eat to Live - Complete!

6) A Million Sons

7) Shades of Earth

8) A Discovery of Witches

9) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - In Progress

I also finished LKH's Bullet, which I've had in audiobook form on my laptop for awhile. But since it's not sitting on my shelf, I won't add it.

Also found tons of audiobooks of books I've had for way too long: Incarceron, Fallen, Hush Hush and Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. Those will be debuting on this list as well.

Yay, progress! I'd better go post mine :D

Finished Ink Exchange! Soooo glad I didn't buy the rest of the series!

Next up: Incarceron, a book that somehow avoided getting added, though I've owned it forever.

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

To Read:
The Magicians (Book Club)
The Astronaut's Wives' Club
A Million Sons
Shades of Earth
A Discovery of Witches
The Lucky Ones
Hush, Hush (audiobook)
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook)
The Diviners (audiobook)

So, 4 done? Good for you!

Yes, 4 done with a 5th on the way! Almost halfway! Hell, any books off that list is progress at this point!

And now, 5 with a 6th close behind!

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: In Progress

To Read:
The Magicians (Book Club)
The Astronaut's Wives' Club
A Million Sons
Shades of Earth
A Discovery of Witches
The Lucky Ones
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook)
The Diviners (audiobook)
Strange Angels (audiobook)
Shiver (audiobook)

Woot!

Another DNF, but at least I determined I don't want to read it or the series now!

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: In Progress

To Read:
The Magicians (Book Club)
The Astronaut's Wives' Club
A Million Sons
Shades of Earth
A Discovery of Witches
The Lucky Ones
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook)
The Diviners (audiobook)
Shiver (audiobook)

Yay Crystal! Weeding out the poor prospects is a valuable exercise.

I'm taking a break from Pike's Peak to read through my Historical Novel Society review books, because I must. And I don't seem to be getting much reading time lately, with one thing and another. But with 8 done, I feel pretty confident I can summit this year.

Jane wrote: "Yay Crystal! Weeding out the poor prospects is a valuable exercise.

I'm taking a break from Pike's Peak to read through my Historical Novel Society review books, because I must. And I don't seem t..."

You are doing a FANTABULOUS job! it's an inspiration for me, really!

I don't seem to be reading as much lately myself. While flying, yes, but when I'm at home, I'm trying to get my friend and family time in, and when I'm out of state, I'm so busy working, I just collapse into bed.

And then, there's the balancing between all the books. The book club books, book buddy reads books, the ARC/Vine books (though I've been horrible about reading another Vine book)...too many books, so little time!!! Just the way it should be :)

I suppose I should be glad I'm not on Vine...I seriously need to take a vacation (AS IF) devoted to reading, and that reading would be purely history (no novels).

Oh well, back to the grind...

Update Time!! I'm really pleased at my work; it's obvious I'll make this goal, get rid of those books/series from my shelves that I am not interested in AND clear up some of that backlog.

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

To Read:
The Magicians (Book Club)
The Astronaut's Wives' Club
A Million Sons
Shades of Earth
A Discovery of Witches
The Lucky Ones
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook)
The Diviners (audiobook)

Time for another update! I spent an evening going through books and got through another one!

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

9) Eyes Like Stars - Status: Complete (DNF at page 48, skimmed the rest)

Notable Mention: Nightshade is off the TBR list, after I read to about page 25 and conferred with a Goodreads friend over whether I should bother to continue. I'm not including it, because I didn't bother to skimread further.

To Read:
The Magicians (Book Club)
The Astronaut's Wives' Club
A Million Sons
Shades of Earth
A Discovery of Witches
The Lucky Ones
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook)
The Diviners (audiobook)

I like the fact that you list the books you intend to read. I just look at my shelf and go, "what out of this extensive choice do I feel like reading?"

I think it was a bit motivating for me, as well as nice to pick books I've been meaning to read forever and finally tackle them. Lately, I'm trying to clear out my YA crap, so they've kinda bumped out some of my other picks.

Yeah, it must be awful to have a load of books left over from a previous phase and still not to have read them. Perhaps you should just donate them someplace and move on...

Jane wrote: "Yeah, it must be awful to have a load of books left over from a previous phase and still not to have read them. Perhaps you should just donate them someplace and move on..."

I'm slowly getting to the point where I can do that. There's a part of me that's like, "OH NO, I spent so much money on these, I should at least try!" (I don't know why, but when I went through a scifi kick and bought a lot of used scifi books, I didn't have that problem so much when weeding them down.) I've picked up audiobooks in some cases; other times, I nab the Kindle book. More recently, I've read the first few pages, checked out GR friends' reviews and decided whether to pursue.

I have probably a couple dozen more, but if I'm really good and follow through with my three-pronged plan, I think I can get rid of all the crap YA this year. I still have a couple of YA series I'm following that I actually like, but after those are done, I'm done with the YA genre for good.

Our little girl's all grown up :D

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

9) Eyes Like Stars - Status: Complete (DNF at page 48, skimmed the rest)

10) Beautiful Creatures (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 36%)

11) Burn (Amazon Vine ARC!! Double-whammy here!) - Status: Complete (DNF at page 193, skimmed the rest)

Notable Mention: Nightshade, DNF'ed at page 25

I feel somewhat bad, as so many of these are DNFs, but I am taking away the lesson that I am pretty terrible at determining my likes. Also, some of these are so old, I chose before Goodreads. Post-Goodreads, I have had a MUCH better track record. Plus, before I would power through a book I hated; now I am more comfortable with...*cue earworm* LETTING IT GO!!!

Almost there! Perhaps next year's won't have so many DNFs as you work your way through the old stuff.

Jane wrote: "Almost there! Perhaps next year's won't have so many DNFs as you work your way through the old stuff."

That's what I'm hoping; I'm also weeding through the books I have to get rid of ones that my Goodreads friends call stinkers (and ones I'm pretty sure I would find stinkers too).

Also, there are a lot of audiobooks I got from the library of books I owned, but I think that has helped me weed through the stash.

Most of the books on my TBR pile come from the 2009-2012 book acquisition madness. I have so much junk on my Kindle...

And I am DONE!!

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

9) Eyes Like Stars - Status: Complete (DNF at page 48, skimmed the rest)

10) Beautiful Creatures (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 36%)

11) Burn (Amazon Vine ARC!! Double-whammy here!) - Status: Complete (DNF at page 193, skimmed the rest)

12) Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

Notable Mention: Nightshade, DNF'ed at page 25

I nearly forgot about this challenge, but fortunately, my work early on made up for my forgetting (and listening to books I actually enjoyed).

I'm definitely not going to stop here, but add more to this list. I cleared out A LOT of books in the summer - urban fantasy and Young Adult books that GR friends warned me about.

I think I need to do some serious introspection into what books I like and what ones I don't.

Crystal Starr Light wrote: "And I am DONE!!"


Congratulations!

THANK YOU ALL! This has been so great, to weed through these books! I am DEFINITELY joining 2015 - oh, and I'm still going strong in 2014!! Added one more to the list!

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

9) Eyes Like Stars - Status: Complete (DNF at page 48, skimmed the rest)

10) Beautiful Creatures (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 36%)

11) Burn (Amazon Vine ARC!! Double-whammy here!) - Status: Complete (DNF at page 193, skimmed the rest)

12) Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

13) Mars (audiobook) - Status: Complete

Notable Mention: Nightshade, DNF'ed at page 25

1) Glow (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

2) Eat to Live - Status: Complete

3) Ink Exchange (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

4) Incarceron (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 19%)

5) Hush, Hush (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete

6) Fallen (audiobook from library) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

7) Strange Angels (audiobook) - Status: Complete

8) Shiver (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 11%)

9) Eyes Like Stars - Status: Complete (DNF at page 48, skimmed the rest)

10) Beautiful Creatures (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 36%)

11) Burn (Amazon Vine ARC!! Double-whammy here!) - Status: Complete (DNF at page 193, skimmed the rest)

12) Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (audiobook) - Status: Complete (DNF at 24%)

13) Mars (audiobook) - Status: Complete

14) The Bride Collector - Status: Complete (DNF at page 82)

15) Raised by Wolves (audiobook) - Statues: Complete (DNF at 22%)

Notable Mentions: Eye of the Storm, DNF'd at page 61; Nightshade, DNF'ed at page 25

Half tempted to try for the next level next year, but I'm afraid that I may fail, since most of these were on audiobook.