Mount TBR Challenge 2023 discussion

Changing it up for myself this year with starting small, as my main goal will be to read hefty books. These are either long with number of pages (over 500 pages), small print, or just plain dense writing (usually in non-fiction). Those books that take some time to read will be my main goal, as they seem to be piling up lately.

Mount TBR 2023 edition:

Running List:
📘 print
🎧 audio
💻 eBook
* listened to audio library copy (own print or eBook)

-----------Pike's Peak ----------------
January:
1. Letters From An Astrophysicist by Neil deGrasse Tyson 🎧
2. The Deluge by Stephen Markley 📘
3. Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan 📘
4. Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh 📘
5. The Dawn Country by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear 📘

February:
6. The Broken Land by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear 📘
7. Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald *🎧
8. Post Office by Charles Bukowski*🎧

March:
9. Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame 🎧
10. The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lídia Jorge 📘
11. Purity by Jonathan Franzen 📘
12. My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin 📘


-----------Currently Reading-----------
See the next peak!

Welcome back to the climbing crew!

Bev wrote: "Welcome back to the climbing crew!"

Thanks Bev!

Good luck on your 2023 climb!

Natália wrote: "Good luck on your 2023 climb!"

Thanks Natália, good luck on your climb too!

Happy climbing!

Emily wrote: "Happy climbing!"

Thanks Emily! Happy climbing to you too!

Just putting this here:

Numbers: as of January.01.2023

Own-to be read total: 1,053
📘 Print books: 688
🎧 Audio books: 142
💻 eBooks: 223

They are not exact..as I do have a few overlaps, and sometimes miss putting the book into Goodreads...but it's a good enough number for me to track. Hopefully I will get these numbers down this year.
Happy reading!

First book done for the year: Letters From An Astrophysicist by Neil deGrasse Tyson.


4 starts, audio book

A book of curated letters sent to Tyson throughout the years, with the answers. There is a bit more to this as well, and overall was a good look into the thoughts and opinions of this famous scientist. Although I want to focus on longer works, I can't help getting in shorter ones as well, like this book. I bought this audiobook in November 2022, so a very recent acquisition.

Book 2 is now done with The Deluge by Stephen Markley.


4.25 stars, print book

The first major pager done, clocking in at close to 900 pages. This book seemed to never end. Boy what a walloper of a story too! It's about climate change and politics, all in the near future. There's a lot of detail and intimacies of many characters lives. It's overwhelming, impressive and frightening. I was sick all last week and had lots of time to devote to this book, and being feverish while reading maybe wasn't the best idea. Anyway, I need a short breather after this one. Starting to rethink this idea of big books this year...maybe just read a few instead. I got the print book in early August last year from the publisher.

Book 3 is Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan.


3 stars, print book

This was a sad book. About a very overweight young girl, Malaya. Her mother is overweight too, and there is this focus on food and the weight. The girl hardly talks, is just a sad person, yet it isn't until later as a teenager she actually feels depression. And the grandmother, mom's mom, is so mean about weight, just an awful person! Yikes! I thought it might have more love and celebration instead of the sad book it was. I got this free from the publisher in April 2022.

--decided to read shorter books in-between the long ones. I can't just focus on big books. Failed so quickly at my main year goal.

Book 4 is Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh.

4 stars, print book

This is somewhat a sequal to Haigh's previous Bakertown book called Baker Towers. It's at least a generation later, and now the coal mining town is being drilled for natural gas, or fracking. The time line here jumps around and have many different characters, overall it comes together in the end but at moments seems a little disjointed. All in all I did enjoy the book. This was on my want to read list for many years, but couldn't pass up buying a copy at a library sale for ten cents! This was last December, only last month. The book is on the long side, at nearly 450 pages almost counts as a hefty/long book.

Book 5 is The Dawn Country by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

3 stars, print book

This is book 18 in the series: North America's Forgotten Past and book 2 in the sub-series: People of the Longhouse. While I've enjoyed the books in the main series, one of the few that I read (generally don't tend to read long series books), this sub-series I have not enjoyed as much. It's much darker than the other books have been, with harming children. A few of the children become more like adults, with acting and plotting, taking care of each other. I am continuing the series, as it ends up being a historical take on the Iroquois nations that created peace. This book and the previous are part of what led up to that. I bought this book in April 2016.

Book 6 is The Broken Land by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

4 stars, print book

This is book 19 in the series: North America's Forgotten Past and book 3 in the sub-series: People of the Longhouse. I enjoyed this book more than the previous two in this sub-series. The children are now adults, this book taking place 12 years later. War is upon the land, along with poor harvests due to unusually cold climate, and an illness is sweeping through the land and killing many. One of the children, now adult, has dreamed of the end of the world, and says they need peace, all clans need to unite as one people, as they used to be. Will his voice be heard? We don't fully know, as it continues in the last in the sub-series. I don't own that book, not sure when I can get to it. Hopefully soon! This book I bought in February of 2022.



EDIT: I did read the next right away. Posted in my virtual climb.

Book 7 is Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald.

4 stars, audio book (own print)

A book of 41 essays, not all with the subject of birds, many short and none too long. I expected them all to be about birds, but a few aren't such as her migraines, a refugee and a few essays were autobiographical. They are well written essays. I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by the author. She does a fantastic job, and I think this is the best way to read her book. I got the print book in August 2020.

Book 8 is Post Office by Charles Bukowski.

5 stars, audio book (own eBook)

Okay, opposite of reading long books, as this was short and I got through the entire book in one day. (Next book will be a long one.) Anyway, I see the humor in Bukowski's novels, well more autobiographical than fiction. This was his first novel, the focus being on the job that helped sustain him before writing was able to support him financially (writing was barely mentioned in the book). The job is physically demanding and mentally demoralizing, like many jobs. I listened to the audiobook through my local library, but bought the eBook in March 2017. Glad I finally got to the book.

Book 9 is Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame.

4 stars, audiobook

A fictional, semi-autobiographical book that takes place over a weekend. A New Zealand writer, Alice, living in England goes to visit a couple in their house. She hardly knows them, so it's a little awkward, oh there are kids! There is so much inner life, all the worries and anxieties, plus she seems to always be thinking about when she was growing up. There is a comparison often, of this couple to her parents. Great language! Got the audiobook in November 2017.

Book 10 is The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lídia Jorge.

4 stars, print book

The writing style of this book doesn't appeal to me, and I nearly set the book aside. Yet I continued on and found in the end I quite enjoyed the book. The main character is a simple-minded woman, and she becomes quite attached to a young widower. He lives in her family's old factory, along with the rest of his extended family, and they are immigrants. His being black means not only class, but race could be a problem. It's a translation from the Portuguese, taking place on the coast in Portugal. The second book over 500 pages! Got this print book in December 2021.

Book 11 is Purity by Jonathan Franzen.

4 stars, print book

I was surprised at how much this book has pulled me in, despite some of the content. The interconnected woven web was fascinating. Yet some of the main characters were plain awful. The book is titled after a young girl named Purity, with nickname as Pip. Yet more pages and depth is given to another, which I suspect the book is truly about, definitely not my favorite character either. Certainly the title has more than one meaning as well. Anyway, this is the third book over 500 pages, my current goal is now 12 for the year, one per month. Bought this book in November 2017.

I've reached the peak with book 12 My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin.

3 stars, print book

This was okay, but could have been great, as I can tell the writer has some ability, but didn't follow through enough for a powerful book. This was a quick read for me, takes place in the late 1990s, the senior year for our main character. Why then? Maybe because of the way sex was treated then, but the book fell short there. The book came out last month, but the publisher sent me an advance copy which I received in October 2022.

Moving onto the next peak!