Mount TBR 2020 discussion

I have big plans to read mostly from my TBR, including some major chunksters, so I’m aiming for Kilimanjaro instead of El Toro. If all goes well, maybe I’ll be able to level up, but trying to be realistic and set myself up for success, not failure. :)

Mt. Kilimanjaro:
1. The Blue Eye by Ausma Zehanat Khan (5 stars)
2. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins (5 stars)
3. The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (4 stars)
4. American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (4 stars)
5. The Windfall by Diksha Basu (1 star)
6. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (4 stars)
7. The History of Magic by Ben Davies/British Library (3 stars)
8. The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem (4 stars)
9. In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund (4 stars)
10. The Blackhouse by Peter May (4 stars)
11. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (1 1/2 stars)
12. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2 stars)
13. Pride of Eden by Taylor Brown (4 1/2 stars)
14. The Red Sphinx by Alexandre Dumas (4 stars)
15. A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole (4 1/2 stars)
16. The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer (4 stars)
17. Persuasion by Jane Austen (5 stars)
18. The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carre (5 stars)
19. The English Spy by Daniel Silva (4 stars)
20. A Woman of No Importance (2 1/2 stars)
21. Our Man in Havana (4 1/2 stars)
22. Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag (4 stars)
23. The Lewis Man by Peter May (4 1/2 stars)
24. The Black Widow by Daniel Silva (4 1/2 stars)
25. A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh (2 1/2 stars)
26. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (4 stars)
27. More Beer by Jakob Arjouni (2 1/2 stars)
28. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (4 stars)
29. Mythos by Stephen Fry (4 stars)
30. Sanctuary by Luca D'Andrea (4 1/2 stars)
31. Burning Down the Haus by Tim Mohr (3 1/2 stars)
32. Berlin Noir edited by Thomas Wortche (3 stars)
33. Dune by Frank Herbert (5 stars)
34. Little Grey Cells by Agatha Christie (3 1/2 stars)
35. A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab (4 1/2 stars)
36. The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean (4 stars)
37. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (1 star)
38. Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie (3 stars)
39. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman (5 stars)
40. Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean (4 1/2 stars)
41. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (4 stars)
42. Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas (3 1/2 stars)
43. The Bladebone by Ausma Zehanat Khan (5 stars)
44. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (3 stars)
45. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons (1.5 stars)
46. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (4.5 stars)
47. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (4 stars)
48. Furious Hours by Casey Cep (4 stars)
49. The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (5 stars)
50. The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodward (2.5 stars)
51. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (5 stars)
52. Inspection by Josh Malerman (2 stars)
53. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (3 stars)
54. Montana Secret Santa by Debra Salonen (1 star)
55. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (2.5 stars)
56. Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (4 stars)
57. Call for the Dead by John le Carre (5 stars)
58. A Murder of Quality by John le Carre (5 stars)
59. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty (4 stars)
60. Red Notice by Bill Browder (5 stars)

I made good progress towards my MountTBR goal in January - 9 books. So far in February, I've managed 2, but they are the only 2 I've finished at all, so I'll take it. The best part is looking at my tracking spreadsheet at seeing a ratio of 92% MountTBR to 8% new books. :)

I’ll do a summary of February next week, but I just had to mention Taylor Brown’s Pride of Eden. I received an ARC late last year, and just finished it today. His writing is gorgeous, even if some of the subject matter is hard to read (it deals with poaching and the illegal exotic animal trade). It comes out on March and I know the point of MountTBR is to decrease the amount of books on our shelves, but this is worth the investment.

February started off painfully slow, but finished strong. A total of 8 books that counted for MountTBR, so I have a total of 17 for the year so far. :)

You go girl 👧

I was doing really well earlier this year, reading more TBR books than new books, but while I'm still at a 60/40 percentage, I'm currently reading several new books and have several library books that have to be read or they go back unread, so I'm about to lose that percentage. I've got to get back on track in July!

It's going to be tough to meet my goal this year, but I was able to finish two books in July that I pre-ordered last year. They were both fantastic, which makes me very happy: The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman was a solid 5 star read. She never lets me down and if you enjoy well-researched historical fiction, you can't go wrong with Penman. The second was the final book in Sarah MacLean's Bareknuckle Bastard's series, Daring and the Duke, which was the perfect ending. So, I'm at 40/60 for the year to date.

*sigh* 2020 has completely killed my plans for MountTBR. I'm only at 42 of the 60 that I expected to reach easily. But...I did finish my reread of Twenty Years After (20 years after I read it the first time and the 3rd book in my planned Year of Dumas), so that's something.

I think 2020 messed with a lot of our reading plans! I wish I were one of those people who managed to read lots during quaratine, but unfortunately I just lost all ability to focus and read hardly anything for months. Thankfully I'm starting to get back in a bit of a reading groove now! I hope the same happens for you in the last quarter of the year!

Looking back at my comments from the beginning of the year, I just have to laugh. I wish I still had the 90-10% MountTBR to new book ratio. I'm now at just about 50/50. But, I'm really proud of the fact that I finished two MountTBR books this week and am starting another now. I still may not reach my goal of 60 before the end of the year, but I'm a lot closer. :) Oh, and I'm so glad to get Song of Kali off my TBR. That was such a disappointment.

I made a fair bit of progress on MountTBR in November and I planned out my December TBR in such a way that if I stick to the plan, I will actually reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro by the end of the year! I won't have managed my personal goal of a 75%/25% MountTBR/New Books ratio, but I'll be thrilled just to reach 60 books that count for MountTBR. Fingers crossed!

good luck to you! im WAY behind my lofty goal this year. I blame it on new crafts! but idol plan to finish at least 4 more b4 the end of the year.

Carla wrote: "good luck to you! im WAY behind my lofty goal this year. I blame it on new crafts! but idol plan to finish at least 4 more b4 the end of the year."

Thanks! I blame 2020 for the struggle. New crafts are always good. :)

I haven't stuck to the original December reading plan, but I've still managed to read 4 books for MountTBR since my last post and only have 3 more to go to reach my goal. I'm in the middle of 2 that count, so there's a chance I could reach my goal by the end of the month! As of right now, I'm at exactly half of the books read this year counting for MountTBR. Not my 75%/25% goal, but still not bad compared to other years. :)

I can't believe it. I did it! I managed to reach 60 books with one day to spare and I'm in the middle of two more books that will put me over, if I can get them finished before the end of the day tomorrow. YAY!!!! And I'm so grateful to Bev for this, because there are books that would have continued to languish on my shelves if it weren't for the fact that I was running out of time to reach my goal. Thank you!