Mount TBR 2017 discussion
Level 4: Mt. Ararat (48 books)
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Sam conquers Mt. Ararat, take 2
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Bev wrote: "Welcome back, Sam! You're doing great!....But. If you don't "go crazy acquiring books in the meantime" you won't be able to join me in 2018 :-( Just kidding! Glad the challenge has helped you with ..."He! There will always be a TBR waiting for me, only of smaller scale :)
Good luck on reaching your goal, Sam! How I wish my TBR was only 193 books long *sigh*
Natália wrote: "Good luck on reaching your goal, Sam! How I wish my TBR was only 193 books long *sigh*"Thanks, Natália! I couldn't find your challenge thread, but good luck to climbing that mountain of yours anyway!
Impressive Sam - my TBR pile is more like 700-800 books :-/ so I'm mainly focusing on it at least not growing :-)
Louise wrote: "Impressive Sam - my TBR pile is more like 700-800 books :-/ so I'm mainly focusing on it at least not growing :-)"Wow Louise! Good luck with that :)
Louise wrote: "Impressive Sam - my TBR pile is more like 700-800 books :-/ so I'm mainly focusing on it at least not growing :-)"So is mine Louise, & even though I've forbidden myself to buy any new books, it still keeps growing! At this rate, they will have to bury 1,000+ books with me! LOL
Finally I managed to read a book I actually own :)1.
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
The second case file of Harry Dresden, magician, was stockfull of action. So much so that I was a bit verwhelmed. Dresden has to deal with a bunch of werewolves (and the like), and there is a lot of gore. And mysterious women *sigh* On the one hand I get the noir vibes and like this take on urban fantasy (a genre I usually don't quite seem to enjoy), but every now and then all the gender stereotypes are a bit too much for me to really get into the series. Maybe I should switch to a similar series, but with a female protagonist ... Recommendations welcome anytime :)
2.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
I loved this! I haven't had such a fundamental reading experience in a very long time. All of Burnt's characters feel so real - it was just beautiful.
3.
Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Wood
Overall an interesting account of mechanical toys and the promethean dream of (re)creating life in an android form. Some chapters were more satisfying than others, but as a whole, I still would recommend it.
4.
Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Massive book set in the fictional country of Aburiria, where a overachieving president plans to manifest his (and Africa's) power in building a second, but bigger and better, tower of Babel.
5.
Dubliners by James Joyce
After finishing (and not getting) the first story in this collection I realized I wasn't really interested - and started a re-read of Ulysses instead :)
6.
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Unexpectedly dark story centered around school kids and teachers of an old Dublin boarding school. I enjoyed some of it, but the whole thing didn't click with me, I couldn't connect with the characters at all.
7.
Der arme Swoboda by János Székely
Novelette about a small village in Czechia and the troubles it gets into when the Nazis invade and claim one of the villagers tried to kill Hitler. Székely's style is so readable, yet I'm not sure what he aimed at with this mostly amusing story.
8.
What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami
My old friend Murakami :) He was my entry to reading books in English, and my first magial realistic love. Later I began to really dislike his female
9.
Die Schule der Rätselmeister by Patricia A. McKillip (Riddle-Master#1)
I didn't expect to enjoy this much, but you know what? It was pretty good!
10.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
... this is the reason I didn't make many miles in April and May. But I conquered the chunker. Let's move on.
11.
The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
My, that was a long break. But much needed after Moby Dick. Well, The Valley of Fear is not my new favourite Holmes novel. Nough said. I'm done with it, on to the next :)
12.
Die Erbin von Wasser und Feuer by Patricia A. McKillip
The second book in the Riddle-Master series was only mediocre compared to the first installment. Which is a bit disappointing, considering how pleasant a surprise the first one has been. But then I wasn't able to read this second book in one go, maybe that was the trick. Still looking forward to book three.
13.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Possibly my new favourite Gaiman, ironically, since this one of his earliest novels and also has been catching dust for years on my tbr.
14.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Wow. This book made me incredibly angry and tense but I couldn't put it down. Walls is an incredible story-teller. One of the best books I have read this year for sure!
15.
Harpist in the Wind by Patricia A. McKillip
I'm glad I read this. Can't say that I followed every detail of the plot, though. It feels like McKillip was given only this amount of pages to tell her story, when she really needed a couple hundred pages more.
16.
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
This had the flaws of a debut novel, but it was bold and loveable and spoke to me in unexpected ways.
17.
Überredung by Jane Austen
Really enjoyable, as always with Austen. I just love her gift of close observation. And her snark, carefully hidden between the lines.
18.
Im Land der letzten Dinge by Paul Auster
I tried to read this several times. A post-apocalyptic vision by Paul Auster sounded really interesting. But reading bits of it and flipping through I realized I just couldn't be bothered. It is written in an anoyingly bleak tone. There is no dialogue to lighten things up. I didn't get far with this, but now I'm sure I don't actually want to go all the way.
19.
Nova by Samuel R. Delany
I wanted to like Nova. So I read the first 80 pages, with an increasing feeling of irritation. I just didn't get into it: The set-up of the ships crew was unlikely, the story was hard to follow, the dialogue didn't flow, and then the only women in the story were either computers and described as not being capable of various things men could do, or they were minor characters not fluent in the main language of the book. And by that I mean one single character. Not for me, I wish I could have enjoyed it more.
20.
Lieber Frühling, komm doch bald by Eric Malpass
As always a quick lighthearted read. A bit dusty but still quite enjoyable.
21.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
What a weird book. I can't say I comprehended what I read, but it was well written anyway.
22.
F by Daniel Kehlmann
Kehlmann's latest novel had been sitting on my shelf for a long time after the mostly lukewarm reviews had subsided. My favourite will always be Measuring the World; I feel very attached to it as I wrote my dissertation about this novel. So I wasn't surprised to find this, F, only mediocre. But a mediocre Kehlmann is still a pretty good book.
23.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
These days, I'm pretty comfortable with reading in English. On some days I'm too lazy to do it, but I usually don't shy away from anything. But I didn't warm up to Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. I know I still want to read it, since the premise fascinates me. I also didn't dislike the pace or the way in which Patchett interweaves the hostages' lifes and thoughts. I just have to presume my problem can be solved by switching to the German translation. So for now, this book is gone from my physical TBR (aka my Mount TBR). But I intend to get this book from the library soon and hopefully enjoy it a lot more.
24.
Platon in Bagdad: Wie das Wissen der Antike zurück nach Europa kam by John Freely
Quite disappointing.
25.
His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle
I like the shorter stories so much better than the Holmes novels, so this was pleasant for me ans contained some really good ones.
26.
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
And with this I have finally read all the original Sherlock Holmes stories!
27.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Very readable. I watched the series a couple of years ago, so there wasn't much in this book that I didn't know. Yet, I enjoyed Dexter's narrative voice. An experience enhanced by having the soundtrack for the series on while reading :)
28.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munro
Reading this, I realized I enjoy Munro's stories a hell of a lot more in audio format.
29.
The Fisher King: A Novel by Anthony Powell
Reading through your tbr can be so frustrating. All the books you were looking forward to may not be as good as you expected.
30.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Mostly fun, uncommon use of language. Sometimes a bit too much maybe. I liked the showdown best.
31.
Meistererzählungen by Jules Verne
This sat on my shelf for a couple of years. I bought it from a library book sale; I was intrigued enough to try Vernes short fiction. But while I got something out of novels like 20.000 Leagues, this was more a collection of wild ideas that were not explored properly. It was interesting, though, to see how much Verne was a man of his time. For example, colonialism is a recurring theme in his stories. So it was okay.
33.
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Quite interesting but also flawed. Fortunately, the book was a lot less esoteric than expected.
34.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
I read this in one sitting for Dewey's readathon, and I tremendously enjoyed it. A great pick to read in one go. I loved the ending.
35.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
A slow yet powerful read. I'm feeling devastated thanks to Ishiguro. He has a thing for sad stories ist seems. But then, I've only read two of his books. There'll be more to come, though.
36.
Great Victorian Discoveries: Astounding Revelations and Misguided Assumptions by Caroline Rochford
This was not half as good as it could have been or even needed to be. I caught some errors. The author almost never mentions if a particular discovery is one of the "revelations" or a "misguided assumption".
37.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sweet, at times too sweet account of the lives of a handful American girls. I had some issues with the dogmas in this, since the author gets a bit preachy sometimes. But overall, I liked it.
38.
Drachenklingen by Pierre Pevel
I expected more fantasy elements, but what really made this hard for me was the counterproductive narrative style. It was impossible to learn the names of all the characters since every scene was told from another perspective for a very long time. And in the end, not much had happened in this first installment in a series.
39.
Untenrum frei by Margarete Stokowski
I LOVED this! Absolutely essential reading. I started rereading straight away, this time I'm reading it to the boyfriend. Every page sparks new fascinating conversations about equality, our childhoods, and the future.
40.
Emma by Jane Austen
Entertaining, but not my new favourite Austen. Emma was quite exhausting sometimes, as were most of the other characters. Also, in comparison with her other novels, this one is heavier on the romance.
41.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
I'm a pacifist, so trying out a militaty scifi book might have been destined to cause some friction. But while I can see why this is a classic in many ways, it is filled with homophobic and chauvinistic commentary. The author chose to narrate this in first person and that just gives me no distance from the protagonist who is a man out of time. So: Problematic but otherwise interesting and mostly entertaining (apart from the war scenes).
Mount TBR 2017
Books mentioned in this topic
The Story of the Stone (other topics)Mansfield Park (other topics)
Lady Susan (other topics)
Lolita (other topics)
Subliminal (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Barry Hughart (other topics)Jane Austen (other topics)
Vladimir Nabokov (other topics)
Leonard Mlodinow (other topics)
Barry Hughart (other topics)
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Even back then I knew it would take me years to accomplish my goal: To be left with a handy TBR of maybe 30-ish books. Well, if this year goes as planned, I might just reach my goal by the end of 2017! I'm so excited, and hopeful to not go crazy acquiring books in the meantime.