Nickelini's Books OFF Mnt TBR 2012

Last year I set an arbitrary goal of 50 books from my TBR. But I had a higher-priority goal of reading a big book each month, and some of those big books took me many weeks to read. So in the end, I only knocked 39 off Mnt. TBR. This year I'm back with my 50 book goal, and think I can make it.

Thirty-nine is pretty good. Would it be impolite to ask how many are on your tbr pile?

Thirty-nine is pretty good, but I read 75 books last year, so it seems like it should easily be more. My TBR has grown by over 100 books for the last two years (or maybe three?) and is now sitting at over 600 books. I'm preparing for the apocalypse when there is no more electricity and I will be holed up in my bunker with my books.

I read 7 books in January, and 5 were off my TBR pile:

1. Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh
2. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
3. The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi
4. Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
5. We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver

Comments and reviews are at my ClubRead thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/128278

I'm doing the big book thing this year and am already shocked at how many fewer books I'm reading, but also at how much I'm enjoying spending longer with a book.

And with you reading Cutting for Stone, does that mean you're still on the big book reading jag?

No, Cutting for Stone was the January selection for my book club. I'm not not reading long books. If there is a book I'm dying to read, or my book club reads, and it happens to be long, I'll still read it. Right now I'm reading a 418 page book that is very, very long. It's not that easy to get away from them! And I'm working through a 500 page + anthology too. But I'm looking forward to some nice short books. I find that most long books should have been edited.

Here are my February books:

6. Sugar Bush & Other Stories, Jenn Farrell
7. Still Alice, Lisa Genova
8. The Undrowned Child, Michelle Lovric
9. Hey Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland

Four this month, for a total of nine this year. Forty-one to go!

Here are my March books:

10. The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
11. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
12. The Preservationist, David Maine

I also moved a book from my TBR to my reference library: No Place for a Lady. Haven't decided whether to count that one or not.

I think The Accidental Tourist was the first Anne Tyler I read. What did you think of it?

#9 - I review everything at ClubRead thread, the review for that one is post 176: http://www.librarything.com/topic/128278#3302891

I think I've grown out of Tyler. She's a great author, but my tastes have changed.

I think she may be a bit of a mixed bag. The second-to-last of hers that I read (listened to, actually) was Digging to America and I remember really enjoying that one. This is what I wrote elsewhere at the time: "A recent read I enjoyed was Anne Tyler's "Digging to America". You *could* say it deals with cultural identity, the immigrant experience, adoption, friendship, family and so on, but first and foremost, it's an entertaining novel. Definitely one of her best."

(This was in 2006.) I read "Noah's Compass" just a couple of years ago and that one did not work for me at all.

If you haven't read it, do give Digging to America a try -- it's the story of two families adopting little girls from China at the same time. One of the families is very keen on retaining their daughter's cultural identity, the other one wants to turn theirs into an All-American girl. As in real life, there is no black and white, however.

Digging to America was the first Tyler I read, and I thought it was really great.

Preaching to the choir then, sorry. :)

Oh, not at all! Nothing to be sorry about. I agree--it's a book worth reading.

I forgot to post last month, so here are my results for April & May:

15 books read, 9 of which came out of my TBR pile:

13. The Third Man
14. Points of View
15. Franca's Story
16. Cry, the Beloved Country
17. The Red Queen
18. Fatty Legs
19. 84, Charing Cross Road
20. Last Orders
21. The Stone Diaries

Total off the TBR pile in 2012: 21
Total added to TBR pile: many more that that. Sigh.

I just realized that back in post #8 I was pondering whether or not to count No Place for a Lady. It's off my TBR pile, so of course I'll count it.

22. No Place for a Lady

I only have to read 3 TBR books this month (June) to stay on my target of 50 books of my TBR this year.

I did okay in June. Here's what I moved off of Mnt TBR:

23. My Sister, My Love, Joyce Carol Oates
24. Death of a River Guide, Richard Flanagan
25. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka

My goal was 50 for the year, and at the half-way point I'm at 25, so exactly on schedule.

Here's what moved out of my TBR pile in July & August;

26. Nora Ephron Collected
27. A Month in the Country, JL Carr
28. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
29. The Aspern Papers, Henry James
30. Border Songs, Jim Lynch
31. The Summer Book, Tove Jansson
32. A Writer's Diary, Virginia Woolf

I read 14 books, and these seven were from my TBR pile. And I didn't bring many books into the house this summer, so my acquisitions have slowed way down.

Wow! You are doing great!

I read 6 books in September. Two were audiobooks that I downloaded from the library, one my daughter made me read, and three were from my TBR pile:

33. The Planet in a Pebble, Jan Zalasiewicz
34. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
35. Hotel du Lac, Anita Brookner

Reporting in on my October and November progress. Once again, I acquired more books than I read. Specifically, I read

Two audiobooks from the library, one ER book, one borrowed book for my book club, and seven books from my TBR pile:

36. Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie
37. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor
38. China: a novel, Alan Wall
39. Howards End is on the Landing, Susan Hill
40. To Serve God and Wal-Mart:the Making of Christian Free Enterprise, Bethany Moreton
41. Soucouyant, David Chariandy
42. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie

As always, you can see my comments and reviews on my ClubRead page: http://www.librarything.com/topic/141913

Back in a bit with exact book details to finish off this year, but here are my TBR/non-tbr stats for 2012:

Books from my TBR pile: 47 (goal: 50)
Rereads: 2
Library books: 9 (all audio books)
Books borrowed from friends: 5
New books: 12 (most of those were given to me to review)