BoekenTrol's journey to lower MTBR

About me:
Back again, to challenge myself again in 2021 :-) I just couldn't resist.

Most of you will probably know me, I'm Grada, Boekentrol on BookCrossing. I'm seeing Sara in 2021. Living together with my husband and our young dog. I hope to get as much reading done as I did in 2020, and find as much GREAT books as came my way last year. Apart from the global goals you can read below, I'm giving myself some space this time. The way I organized my reading off MTBR didn't work very well, it got me confused. So I'm going to do that differently this year. Will see exactly how, but there's time for that, I haven't finished a book yet, LOL.

My goals:
Read 75 books, most of these preferably from MTBR

Including:
Read 5 doorstoppers
Read 12 books from the 1001-list
Read 5 books from countries not yet visited

My tickers:
Books read in 2021


Doorstoppers


Books from the 1001-list (continuing ticker)


Countries visited (continuing ticker)

Books received in 2010 or earlier
1. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 2009, Own copy, 1001
2. Gevaarlijk fortuin by Ken Follett 2002, Own copy
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 2009, 1001, Own copy
4. Code Rebecca by Ken Follett 2002, own copy
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 2005, 1001, Own copy

Books received in 2011
1. Schijndood by Simone van der Vlugt Own copy
2. De bastaard van Brussel by Simone van der Vlugt Own copy

Books received in 2012
1. Trouble at the Mill by Philip Wooderson
2. De naam van de roos by Umberto Eco own copy, doorstopper, 1001
3. O Jeruzalem by Larry Collins

Books that I received in 2013
1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 1001
2. Flowers for Mrs. Harris by Paul Gallico 1001
3. Radetzkymars by Joseph Roth 1001; own copy
4. The Poor Mouth by Flann O'Brien 1001
5. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 1001

Books received in 2014
1. The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout
2. Dominion by C.J. Sansom doorstoper
3. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
4. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas own copy, door stopper, 1001
5. Verrijzenis by Tucker Malarkey

Books received in 2015
1. Het Bacchus offer by David Hewson
2. The Cave of the Yellow Dog by Byambasuren Davaa
3. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris own copy, doorstopper

Books received in 2016
1. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
2. De laatste vluchtelinge by Tracy Chevalier own copy
3. The Stencil Man by Garry Disher

Books received in 2017
1. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett 1001
2. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 1001, doorstopper
3. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 1001
4. The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell
5. Bloed op sneeuw by Jo Nesbø own copy
6. Middernachtzon by Jo Nesbø own copy
7. Aangeschoten wild by John le Carré own copy

Books received in 2019
1. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson
2. The Disappeared by Kristina Ohlsson doorstopper
3. A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George doorstopper
4. Trije nêsten/Три гнезда by Lieuwe Hornstra own copy
5. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie1001, doorstopper

Books received in 2020
1. Hygge. De Deense kunst van het leven by Meik Wiking

Audiobooks
1. Vortex by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
2. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens 1001 doorstopper
3. R.I.P. by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
4. Lava by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
5. De Rodchenkovaffaire by Grigory Rodchenkov
6. Het geheim van bol.com by Michel Schaeffer
7. The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver
8. The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers 1001
9. Kleine brandjes overal by Celeste Ng
10. Natan Z. by Arjan Alberts
11. De koperen tuin by Simon Vestdijk 1001

Off to a good start, 4 books read already, and half are off physical (M)TBR. I hope that my more casual approach to 'reading oldies first' leads to more REAL old books off my shelves (read). And if I'm changing my mind on reading them, that I'll be able to release them unread, without feeling VERY guilty/bad etc.

>16 BoekenTrol71: That's a great start! I too have the goal of resisting all the guilt that comes when I release a book unread. :)

E-books
1. De mannen van Maria by Anneloes Timmerije
2. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee doorstopper
3. De stad van de tsaar by Martina Sahler
4. De kreeft by Tamara Haagmans
5. Ben Hur Een verhaal uit den tijd van Jezus' omwandeling op aarde by Lew Wallace 1001
6. Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist 1001

It's a bit strange to keep adding to the various categories of my challenges and never see an update.
The book I just added calls for one, though. I've just read Pachinko and I loved it very much. Ususally I'm not so very fond of family saga kind of books (they're often too sweet or too happy for my taste, which makes that for me they bear no relation to reality anymore). But this was a pleasant surprise. And it was with a big sigh that I let go of this book in the early hours of this morning.
Will certainly go looking for other books by this author!

>19 BoekenTrol71: I'd read Pachinko a few years ago. It caught my attention because it was on the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I follow that event closely every year. I really loved that book too!

Today I finished a lovely book. Not a big one, but a very interesting one. At least it was too me. Interesting because it described the Mongolian nomadic life through Nansaa's adventures and it gave facts on Mongolian culture. The absolute Highlight for me were the pictures! Which book? Well, this one: The Cave of the Yellow Dog by Byambasuren Davaa

I am doing okay, when you look at the number of books (registered by others) that I've read thus far.
The 3 or 4 oldest however seem to be masters at escaping being read by me. I really need to get to them, but somehow others keep calling louder/bein more attractive (for now), so I've still not gotten to then.
Oh well, the year has 7,5 more months. Plenty of time!

>22 BoekenTrol71: Yes, I too get distracted by newer books, mostly digital ones that I borrow from my library. One good (or bad?) thing about the pandemic is that it's curbed my tendency to wander into every used book store I come across. And definitely there is plenty of time left in the year to work on that stack of books!

>23 mathgirl40: You are right. The pandemic has made it a lot easier to NOT get new bookcrossing books in. Every once in a while one arrives by mail, but that's nothing compared to the amount of books I used to take home with me from a meeting.
I get so greedy when I see a book table. Want to read so many of them!

Here the shops are open again, since one week we can 'shop without appointment', but the amount of customers in a shop is still limited, depending on the size (m2) of the facility.
I thought I would be runing right back to my bookstore, but I find that the hesitation (no vaccine for me yet) keeps me cautious. I still have care tasks for my mother, hubby for his, so we're very careful still.

I've read a few books from my shelves again, I need to update my lists & numbers. But life & work got so hectic the past weeks, that I didn't even find time to cross stitch (life saver in stressfull times), let alone get out my laptop and do listy/numbery things on here.
Will see how far I get today :-)

I'm taking part in the booktube spin, organised by Rick MacDonnell. He start the whole thing on YouTube. I do watch the video there, but post my book stack and the book I have to read on Instagram.
I'll post a short description of in in the main thread, for all to see (or not ;-))

>24 BoekenTrol71: I've still been buying some new books from my local independent bookstore, which offers curbside pick-up, but not going into the store has kept me from making impulse purchases.

>25 BoekenTrol71: I used to do a lot of cross-stitch myself but these days, I mostly knit to relieve stress. I even knit sometimes during long, tedious Zoom meetings; it actually helps me focus. :)

>27 mathgirl40: I am also a knitter but mostly I do it when we're watching TV or a video. I did do a fair amount when we took a short camping trip last week and quite often I listened to an audiobook as I did so.

I'm running behind. Again...
Will update this thread in the course of today. Reading/working and doggo have taken up all of my time lately. Real life takes SOOOO much time! ;-)

I guess updating hasn't been successful.. again...

And I've decided to quite some more of the challenges I set myself. I experience stress from the fact that I 'need' to keep up with administration, I don't feel like it, I don't have much time for it and all that makes me feel unwell.

So out of the window go:
- doorstoppers (I will still read them, but won't be counting them any longer)
- read a book from every country (here on LT, and the BC-counterpart for this year).

Made the decision some time ago, but didn't get around to make it public :-)

And about the update.... I think you'll have to be patient for a bit longer. Sorry!

>31 BoekenTrol71: No problem! I understand how you feel about challenges. This year, I'm still doing a number of reading challenges, but I decided to make them less onerous. Instead of feeling like I must meet certain goals, I use the reading challenges to help guide what I choose next to read.