klarusu's 2016 TBR Challenge

The Actual List

Jan: (COMPLETED: FEBRUARY) The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2008)
Feb: With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz (2007)
Mar: (IN PROGRESS) London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (2009)
Apr: The Path to the Spiders' Nests by Italo Calvino (2007)
May: The Castle in the Forest by Normam Mailer (2010)
Jun: (IN PROGRESS) The Book Thief by Mark Zuzak (2008)
Jul: Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (2007)
Aug: Suttree by Cormac McCarthy (2007)
Sep: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (2007)
Oct: A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett (2014)
Nov: The Remains of the Day by Kasuo Ishiguro (2008)
Dec: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (2008)

I've picked all physical books that I've had longer than 6 months. I really need to make a dent in those shelves!

The Alternative List

Jan: (COMPLETED: JANUARY) The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (2014) (Kindle)
Feb: (COMPLETED: FEBRUARY) Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai (2014) (Audiobook)
Mar: (IN PROGRESS) Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (2014) (Kindle)
Apr: (COMPLETED: APRIL) Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare (2014) (Kindle)
May: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2014) (Kindle)
Jun: Hunger by Knut Hamsun (2011) (Audiobook)
Jul: The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sen-Sandberg (2013) (Kindle)
Aug: Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou (2014) (Kindle)
Sep: The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber (2011) (Audiobook)
Oct: Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron (2014) (Kindle)
Nov: Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (2014) (Kindle)
Dec: Once Upon a Country by Sari Nusseibeh (2014) (Kindle)

My ebook/audiobook TBR is also out of control - these have been on my list for over 6 months so they're my alternative list, because some months paper doesn't happen.

The Motivational Incentive Work-in-Progress Post

What can I say? I like to track progress! As I'm a hopelessly lost cause when it comes to book purchasing, I've decided that I only get to buy myself the book I select here each month if I finish my TBR book (obviously, that doesn't mean I won't buy other books because ... well ... hoplelessly lost cause). I may also choose to reward myself with other random 'treats'!

Currently Reading

London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Reward for Finishing by the end of March

Two books are going to be tough in March because I have chunkster a in the go but if I manage it, I think I deserve a trip to Foyles.

Or you can just do all of that in your first post! Just edit and strike off the titles as you get to them.

Glad you're coming to join us, we've typically been a small group so the more the merrier.

>4 Cecrow: Thanks! You may have guessed that I'm even hedging my bets on which post I'm putting the selection in ... it's a serious commitment! I really like the idea of picking 12 and no changing. Hopefully, I'll manage to clear some long-languishing TBRs. Hmmm, but which ones!

Lots of interesting books on your list. I have been wanting to read Titus Groan for a while now, so I look forward to seeing what you think of it. The Remains of the Day was one of my favorites.

>6 billiejean: Every year I say I'm going to read Titus Groan and every year I get to the end of it and it remains untouched! This year I'm not letting myself off the hook ;-)

>1 klarusu:

Welcome! It's absurdly easy to accumulate books, isn't it? The electronic ones are especially pernicious ("What? I can get this without leaving my home? And a lot of them are free?!?"). I have Little Brother on my Kindle, too. I haven't read it yet, either. I'm hoping to get to it soon (alas, it will probably not be before 2017).

Good luck and happy reading! :)

Welcome to the mad world of Malazan. I'm trying this year to finally finish the Malazan series. Hope you enjoy Gardens of the Moon as much as I did!

I read the Titus Groan series many many years ago and was blown away by it.

>9 majkia: My friend recommended Erikson to me and this has been sitting on my Kindle for over a year so I'm very eager to bump it up the list! Glad I seem to have picked some 'goodies'for 2016.

Welcome! A lot of people seem to be reading Murakami this year; I have Kafka on the Shore on my list.

I love the title Memoirs of a Porcupine. Sounds like a fun one.

Success! My first TBR The Sound of Things Falling under my belt. It's a digital one but well worth shifting to the top of the pile. I'm also really enjoying The Line of Beauty, although not sure I'll manage to finish it before the end of January.

Congrats on finishing your first book!

Yea for finishing your first book!

I hope you're at least snacking in the meantime while you're still trying to earn your breakfast. :)

One more down! I've been meaning to read Witness the Night for years as it was recommended by a workmate ages ago. Thanks to TBR, it's done! I listened on audio - it's a really good narration. All in all, a cracking thriller which tries to make a serious point about selective foeticide in modern day India. Difficult to listen to in places because of the subject matter and somewhat let down by an ending that tied everything up a little too quickly, it was still a solid 4-star book.

And another! The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. This one's been years on-the-shelf. I wasn't sure I'd like it but it turned out to be rather good. Definitely a TBR Challenge win!

>17 klarusu: You're on a roll!

I love it when I read a book that's been on the shelf for years. Great job so far!

My chunksters are slowing me down a bit - they're well worth the effort but I think I was a bit optimistic about the speed I could finish them with work reading taking a chunk of my time. I may have to cherry pick the shorter books ...

Still, another satisfying TBR read ticked off, Chronicle in Stone.

That one sounds intense.

It took me a few years to get the knack for this challenge; over time I've found it has encouraged me to increase the amount I get read every year, so in that sense it's definitely worked for me. Keep it up!

>21 Cecrow: Thanks for the encouragement. It's certainly working for me because some of these long ones have been languishing for too long.

Chronicle in Stone sounds interesting. I don't believe I have read a novel set in Albania yet. Kadare seems like a very prolific author!