Mount TBR 2017 discussion

Wow! Three months into the year already. Well, you know what that means...Your mountaineering guide is calling for the first quarterly check-in post. Let's see how our challengers are doing. Made it a couple of miles? Camping out in a cave 1/3 of the way up the mountain face? Taking refuge in a mountain hut along the way? Let us know how you're doing. For those who would like to participate in this checkpoint post, I'd like you to do two things:

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. And feel free to tell us about any particularly exciting adventures you've had along the way.

~I have read 33 of my pledged 150 books for Mt. Olympus...which means I'm slightly off-track to plant that flag on Mars. [And I was feeling so good about my pace....]

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far.

Here's mine (one of the few science fiction books I've read this year.)



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

Mine: Inspector Morgan & Sergeant Pitt in The Snake on 99. Two new-to-me police detectives who make a good team and were enjoyable to read about.

C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way (not as good as anticipated? unexpected ending? Best thing you've read ever? Etc.)

D. Title Scrabble: See if you can spell a word using the first letter of the first word in the titles of some/all of the books you have read so far. Feel free to consider "A," "An," or "The" as the first word or not as it helps you with your word hunt.

My word: Dazed

Death at Swaythling Court by J. J. Connington
All for the Love of a Lady by Leslie Ford
Zadok's Treasure by Margo Arnold
Episode of the Wandering Knife by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Death Takes a Bow by Frances & Richard Lockridge

AND

Nun Plussed
Unconscious Witness [The]
Metamorphosis
Battle on Venus
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street
Green Turtle Mystery [The]

And what do you get for all that hard work (and distraction from the actual climb)? The link will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, April 8. On Sunday, April 9, I will crank up the Custom Random Number Generator and pick a winning climber. He or she will have the chance to add to their TBR stack via my gently-used book vault (prize list will be sent). Just think, if you win a book you can start up a pile for next year's Mount TBR Challenge.

Even if you're not in the mood for a prize or if you've only got one leg of the journey under your belt, I'd love to have you check in and tell us how your climb is going!

***Please note--comments are for Checkpoint posts only. If you would like to cheer for or respond to another challenger, please check out their specific climb folder. This makes it easier for me to track a winner. Thanks!

I have completed 21/36 books. Pretty good so far! My favorite cover is probably:
Honestly, the entire series has beautiful covers.

I have completed 30/100 books so far - very exciting!

This is my favourite cover so far: - a beautiful book to go with such a beautiful cover!

Mount TBR Checkpoint #1

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).
16 of 36. I'm well on my way up Mt. Vancouver at 44%. That's 4,777 feet up the 10,856 ft. mountain. Hope to keep up the pace (and to slow down acquiring new books :~].

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far.

This cover pictures an outdoor scene in a small town during a book fair - trees, sunshine and lots of books - some of my favorite things.

B. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
Odette Henry in The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
and
Angie Curtis in Twisted Threads
Both characters faced difficult challenges with courage and grace.

C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way
A Dyeing Shame by Elizabeth Spann Craig was hilarious! It features an 80 year old sleuth who gets into ROFL predicaments.

D. Title Scrabble: TEAHOUSE

T - This Old Homicide by Kate Carlisle
E - The Escape by Mary Balogh
A - A Dyeing Shame by Elizabeth Spann Craig
H - A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle
O - Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh
U - An Unhappy Medium by Dawn Eastman
S - The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore
E - Every Trick in the Book by Lucy Arlington

I've read 13/48 books for Mt. Ararat so I'm a bit ahead of the climb.

2C. I was disappointed by Paris to the Moon. It seemed dated and was much too wordy.

1. I've read 3 of 24 books, so I need to pick up the pace here. However, I'm on track for my overall reading goals this year, so that's good at least.

2A. My favorite cover (it's what attracted me to the book in the first place):


2B. My favorite character so far was probably Whiskeyjack from Gardens of the Moon. He's gruff but he cares about his troops, and he's got a dark sense of humor.

1. 15/48
2. Surprising? I was surprised by how dated The 50 minute Hour was, but then I've had it unread for almost 30 years so it was my fault.

1. I've read 11 out of 24 of my books for my Mt. Blanc challenge, or 2,204m if you prefer. At this rate I may be able to jump over to Mt. Vancouver before the year is out.

2. A
My favourite cover is by Arthur Schnitzler. I really like the image from an artist, Maximilian Lenz, who was previously unknown to me. It's a detail from a much larger work which can be seen here. He also did an extraordinary painting in 1906 of centaurs (or fauns) giving naked women piggy-back rides across a meadow. It's called 'Summer Lust' and can be seen here.

C. I've enjoyed all of the books I've read from my TBR pile so far but Late Fame, also by Arthur Schnitzler, was a stand out book for me, especially as it was written in 1894, survived the Nazi's book-burning in the 1930s, smuggled out to Cambridge Uni and rediscovered in 2013. More info can be found here. It's fair to say that Schnitzler is a new favourite author of mine.

1. I have currently read 18 out of the 60 I have set myself. I am a little over target... but still want to pick up the pace.

2.
The cover is why I bought the book in the first place.

2B. Dr Ruth Galloway from The Chalk Pit

2C. I was pleasantly surprised by the two novels I read by Mia Knight and a little disappointed by Cakes and Ale although I absolutely hated it when I first started reading it. It did get better.

I'm participating in 2 Mount TBR quests!
• 12 / 36 for my physical book challenge
• 6 / 36 for my review book challenge
I'm on track for my physical book challenge, but am definitely behind for my review book challenge. I'm planning on hustling through review books for this second quarter.

A. There are a few covers that I really like from the first quarter.


D. My word(s) are pretty random. lol
T → Twinmaker
R → Rot & Ruin
A → American Gods
S → The Sun Is Also a Star
H → Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

B → Bad Blood
A → Anna and the French Kiss
G → The Green Glass Sea
S → The Sword of Shannara

18 book-miles up Mt. Ararat at this point! So now I'm relaxing with coffee while carving a...

Shades of Grey
The Never-Open Desert Diner
Anna Akhmatova
Family
Ferias

I'm working on Mt. Blanc for 24 books and finished 16 so far. I'm happy with my current progress. Feel confident I can get to an even higher peak.

Favorite cover so far is

Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc. I like this for all the colorful tubes.



p.s.: just checking in here. while it's fun to win, please skip me :-)

As of today I'm at 22/48, with three or four DNFed. If I keep moving through my Buffy tie-ins at a reasonable pace I might move up two peaks.

A. Favorite cover so far:


C. The People of Paper was so mediocre I wrote a 3/4-page review on it. On the other hand, A Stranger in Olondria was beautiful and weird. And while I knew I'd like it, The City & the City was my first Mieville and it was so amazing I've been recommending it to everyone in earshot ever since.

7 miles up Pike's Peak, that is at least 2 books a month. Been back and forth trying to read an "oldie" plus a "newbie". The "newbies" are winning out right now.

What surprised Me:
You Can't Make This Stuff Up: Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven by Theresa Caputo

I have watched her show plenty of times and I listened to this during a particular hard time (the lost of our pet). It reminded me that there are spirits of our loved ones and I believe including animals. That Tiger is fine in heaven and that makes the days go by better.

I'm 6/48 and struggling up the mountain. I think I need chocolate or Kendal mint cake to give me a boost.



Anne from Anne of Green Gables is my favourite character, she's very funny.

I've finished 30/150. A bit behind but much better than I have done in past years.

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).

I only managed to read 7 books on my way to Mt. Ararat, so I'm currently 5 books behind schedule. But I know that I never read many of my own books during winter; when spring kicks in I wake up from my winter blues and get motivated to do ALL THE THINGS, including tackling my tbr.

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far.

It's embellished <3 I also enjoyed the format, the rough-cut edges, and the schoolbook feel to it.

D. Title Scrabble

My letters: WAFTEDS
You can build many words with these, like: daft, safed, deaf, fate, west, ...
Since Discovery by Daft Punk is one of my favourite albums ever, my choice has to be DAFT :D

So far I have read 41/150 which is a bit ahead. I am pleasantly surprised!

My favorite character has been Flavia de Luce from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Braddley. I love her attitude and how annoyed she gets by people. She loves gross things and chemistry, and she's amazing.

For my word scrabble, my word is : BOOTLEGGERS

Books Can Be Deceiving- Jenn McKinlay
Orpheus Emerged- Jack Kerouac
OOn What Grounds- Cleo Coyle
Three Musketeers- Alexandre Dumas
Long Quiche Goodbye- Avery Aames
Evelina- Francis Burney
Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo- Amy Schumer
Gospel of Loki- Joanne Harris
Enchantress Returns- Chris Colfer
Romeo and/or Juliet- Ryan North
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda- Becky Albertalli

Have finished 11/75 so far. Have made a list of potential books from the TBR to add to the climb. I've found this to be a very good in-between activitity (I'm in all sorts of other challenges [love 'em all!] so am slipping in old TBR reads in between and after). Will have to step it up some to make the 75, tho, I'm thinking!

My favorite cover (and title) so far: Dim Sum Dead
Makes me hungry every time!

I've been enjoying finally reading the Terri Reid paranormal series; the punctuation and other errors sprinkled about sometimes are bothersome but not so awful that they draw me out of the stories. Three down, two to go!

1. I have read 14 of my pledged 48 books for Mt. Ararat, 30% of the way to the summit. I'm 2 books ahead of schedule! Whoohooo!

2.
A. favorite cover so far.



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

Amani from Rebel of the Sands -- she's tough, but vulnerable, and a bit sardonic.

C. The Underground Railroad surprised me in a great way -- the whole railroad and the individual way each state treated blacks was very creative.

Wow, first checkpoint already! This year is really flying! As for my mountains, I have planted a flag on top of Pike's Peak already and am almost on the top of Mount Blanc! I don't have a clear destination in mind this year, I'm scaling through the mountains and seeing where I end up, but I would like to reach at least the same peak I scaled last year, Mt. Kilimajaro, or surpass it to El Toro. So, I'm 19/60, which is a good pace for me! I'm ahead!

2. A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far.


B. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
I think either Nemesis from The Diabolic, because I loved how she was discovering her own humanity and all the while being badass and unafraid and loyal, or Laia from "A Torch Against The Night", because her character development in this book was amazing.

C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way (not as good as anticipated? unexpected ending? Best thing you've read ever? Etc.)

Both "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray and "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty were amazing surprises, because I didn't expect to love both these books as much as I did. Both stayed with me for a while. "Blood Promise" by Richelle Mead and "The Siren" by Kiera Cass were disappointments of sorts - the first one because it's a series I loved and the plot and my favorite character took a turn for the worse in this book and the second because, although I liked the book, it wasn't as fantastic as I was hoping.

D. Title Scrabble:

My word:MATTED
Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir
The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnely
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Drown by Esther Dalseno

At the beginning of April, I had read 12 print books out of my goal of 48. Overall (including Kindle and audiobooks), I have finished 36!

Best one so far was The Poisonwood Bible,

I'm slightly ahead of schedule on my journey up Mt. Vancouver - 10/36 books! My Kindle feels lighter already. :)

This is my favorite book cover so far. I love the bright colors, the font selection, and (above all) the baby elephant in the middle.

As of check-in time, I'd finished 19/60 books for Mt Kilimanjaro so definitely making progress upward and a few books ahead of schedule.

The biggest surprise was The Arrival by Shaun Tan, a beautiful and inventive story told entirely in pictures about an immigrant. I thought I'd *like* it, but I loved it -- 5+ stars.

just got the chance to haul out the random number generator and select our Mount TBR checkpoint winner. Let's feed in all the entries, listen to it clank and whir, and we have a winner! Our lucky climber is message #18.

A quick peek at the messages above tells me that our winner is Link #18 Chirstine! Congratulations, Christine! I'll be contacting you with the prize list very soon.

Thanks again to all of you who checked in. I enjoyed reading your answers and especially all the nifty words some of you were able to make with your title scrabble tiels...and to all who are busy climbing with us! See you at the next checkpoint!

I am just now checking in! Just finished TBR #24, which puts me at the top of Mount Blanc. My goal is Mount Kilimanjaro (60 books). I'm happy with my progress so far! Happy climbing everyone, and congrats to the winner of the drawing :)

I'm lagging way behind...both on seeing this post and on my reading goals...as of the end of March just 4 of my 48 goal, I really need to start picking up the pace a bit.

Even though I'm late, and what can I expect lagging behind, I'll share anyway.

A. favorite cover....
I bought the book late last year, and then with her passing just couldn't bring myself to read it for awhile anyway. It turned out to be very good and I love the way she pokes fun at the iconic image with the cover.

B. I've met quite a few great characters so far.

C. The Fifth Season ... way more than just your average sci-fi fantasy novel, lots of great racial, gender, gender identify, and many other complex storylines woven throughout. I can't wait to finish up this trilogy later this year.

D.
The Fifth Season
The Princess Diarist
Pride and Prejudice
Six of Crows

Not enough yet for this one (note to self, read backlogged books with more vowels). Actually I'm finishing up the Xenogenesis trilogy now, so at my the next leg I'll at least gain an A & I.

Super late realising this thread existed >.< Not that I need any more books any way!

We're now nearly a third of the way through the year, but I am happy to announce that I am two thirds of the way up my 75 book hike. That's almost 290 metres up, apparently. Apparently writing a list out is more efficient than pantsing it, although a lot of the books that are currently in the 'now read' category weren't on my initial list. And next year's list could be made up of books I already bought this year and easily top 75 >.<

Anyways.

A. Post a picture of your favourite cover so far.
I think it's a tie between the rather minimalist and the less minimalist

B. Who has been your favourite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
I actually quite liked Alice in Alice in Zombieland, although the story telling was a lil eh and I wasn't pushed to buy the rest of the series. My favourite character, I think, is Lisbeth Salander from the Millenium Trilogy, two of which I've read this year. The only one that counts for the TBR is The Girl Who Played with Fire, as my copy of the Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is a library copy. But she's just so amoral and kickass, even with a bullet hole in her head. Gotta admire that.

C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way?
I read a book called We Got Zombies On The Lawn Again, Ma. i thought the title was promising, a bit of humour and all that. But it was dire. Like... I actually might have preferred Twilight to this drivel. I could feel my brain cells revolting as I tried to read it. Just. No.

D. Title Scrabble: See if you can spell a word using the first letter of the first word in the titles of some/all of the books you have read so far. Feel free to consider "A," "An," or "The" as the first word or not as it helps you with your word hunt.

Games
The Girl Who Played With Fire
Alice in Zombieland
Mad Science Institute
An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Nails
Nexus
Altered Reality
In the Woods
Life After Life
Six of Crows

Pages
The Problem with Forever
The Accidental Apprentice
The Girl on the Train
The Edge Chronicles 1: The Curse of the Gloamglozer: First Book of Quint
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Goals
The Greeks Had a Word for It: Words You Never Knew You Can't Do Without
Openly Straight
All the Birds in the Sky
The Lie Tree
Seven Kinds of Hell

Guard
The Great Gatsby
Ulysses
All the Light We Cannot See
Redshirts
Death In Shanghai

ran out of vowels here. Oh well.

At the end of March I'd only read 20 books! YIKES! And I've pledged to read 100. Gulp! The books coming up in my TBR pile all seem to be long, or not easy reads. But I'll keep chipping away at it, & hopefully at least get close!

I have actually read some of my TBR books.
Okay! Here is my list (I think. I hope)
1. Fellowship of the Ring - still reading but it is KILLING me...I read about 4 or 5 pages a week. I just can't stand it.

2. The Summer Garden

3. Daughters of Fortune

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - currently a little over 1/2 done

5. The Valley of Amazement

6. Gone with the Wind

7. Mother of Pearl

8. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - this was a great book!

9. Lilac Girls

10. The Luminaires

11. South of Broad - typical Pat Conroy - I have read a couple of his and I just don't get what people see in him

12. Coffee with Hemingway

13. Jane Eyre

My apologies, I am late checking in.
1. I have read 30 books which is more than my pledge of 24 books to reach Mt. Blanc. I am six books/miles from Mt. Vancouver. Surpassing my challenge is satisfying since I have tackled major hurdles during this climb. For example, I slipped on the ice in January & broke a bone in my shoulder. Hence my extraordinary delay in providing my checkpoint status. From January to April, I never would have guessed I’d have reached 30 by mid-June.

2. Complete ONE (or more if you like) of the following:
A. Post a picture of your favorite cover so far.


B. Who has been your favorite character so far? And tell us why, if you like.
I have been moved by Call the Midwife. The cover, the characters & the time frame inspired me. Jennifer Worth worked with less technology than I benefited as a labor & delivery nurse. Despite the limited resources, she & her colleagues loved their work & their patients. I wish I could have met her.

C. Have any of the books you read surprised you--if so, in what way (not as good as anticipated? unexpected ending? Best thing you've read ever? Etc.)
One Hundred Years of Solitude has been referenced in podcasts and posts. I had high hopes and felt let down. I preferred

D. Title Scrabble:
CHAMP
Call the Midwife
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Affinity
My Cousin Rachel
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

I have finished 8 of 12!! I have a long list, but my peak is Pike's Peak. But if I can surpass it that is what I want to do, but we will see. Homework has really taken away what is left of my time for reading.

My favorite color so far is