The Random TBR Challenge

[Kate]

Hi everyone,

I always find it a problem choosing something from my TBR so thought this challenge might be a fun way to get our TBRs down a bit.

Go to the following page http://www.random.org/integers/.
Step 1. Add in how many books you want to read off your TBR.
Step 2. Put in the values for your TBR e.g. 1 and 950.
Step 3. Get numbers
Step 4. Check the numbers against your TBR list on GR, the corresponding numbers from the list are the books you will read for the challenge.
Step 5. Post your books here and update as you get through your list.

Have fun :)

[Justin]

Thanks for setting it up Kate. i am going to cheat a bit here, i generated 30 numbers but my goal is 20. this is in case i get a novel that is deep in a series, or a rare and expensive print only book, or just something i no longer want to read. here is my list.

625 - Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
139 - Teddy Bears and Tea Parties
76 - The Freakshow
620 - The Sweetest Lesbian
357 - Bill The Vampire
6 - At the Mountains of Madness
542 - Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel
143 - The Alienist
436 - Snowblind
13 - Audrey's Door
413 - Progeny
384 - Dearly Devoted Dexter
265 - Creed
522 - Arbor Vitae
39 - Back From The Dead
230 - Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction
520 - Smooth Sailing
559 - The Choice
403 - Necroscope
461 - On the Bus
29 - Contemplations of Dinner
408 - Breeder
91 - The Devil's Labyrinth
210 - Gateways
315 - Scraps & Chum
201 - Jack: Secret Histories
622 - Picture Perfect
400 - Razor Wire Pubic Hair
612 - Hopeless

[Kate]

I am going to read 20 off my TBR for the challenge.

My random reads are:

13 A Storm of Swords
37 Little Dorrit
53 The Gatecrasher
118 Twins of Evil
138 Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
184 One for the Money
204 Pressure
310 Cades Cove: The Curse of Allie Mae
329 The Spirit Clearing
394 Jimmy
402 Lineage: A Supernatural Thriller
479 Unforgivable
682 The Wicked
699 The Adventures of Mr. Maximillian Bacchus & His Traveling Circus
844 Brood of Bones
854 False Magic Kingdom
870 Bad Karma
897 Timecaster
940 Starvelings
1014 Abra-Cadaver

[Char]

OMG, good luck with Moby Dick! I hated that book so much! :)

[Kate]

Yes, I wish I'd gone through my tbr a bit more now. LOL

[Char]

LOL At least you will be able to say that you read it. But I'm guessing by the third Types of Whales chapter, you will be pulling your hair out.
I know there's supposed to be all this meaning and allegory, but for me, ugh.
:)

[Addy]

I've got my list, but how do I link it? Do I "add book?"

[Justin]

Yes.

[Justin]

I will do mine tonight, I spent about an hour working on it on my phone then it froze and I lost it. I will do it on my computer tonight.

[Andy]

I will do this eventually. What I really need to do is add all my kindle titles to my tbr list. This will take time...

[Addy]

I just randomized the first 20 of a hundred:

81-Beautiful Creatures
33-Dream Lake
99-Hell House
73-Deep Night
82-Midnight Sun
12-Seduced in the Dark
62-Night Thunder
97-The Possession
7-A Monster Calls
13-Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
47-The Store
31-The Thirteenth Tale
11-Captive in the Dark
98-Brass
2-The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
48-Let's Go Play At The Adams'
15-Whispers
29-Heart-Shaped Box
53-Affinity
8-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

[Addy]

Ah Necroscope. Been wanting to read that.

[Justin]

A monster calls is one of my favorite books, enjoy. And if you want to sometime do a buddy read of necroscope let me know.

[Andy]

I've also always wanted to read Necroscope. Keep me posted about a buddy read if you please.

[Andy]

So, I did the quick version and only added the most interesting and pressing books from my kindle list.

I will pledge to read ten random picks...

...and here are the choices.

311-Try Not to Die: At Grandma's House, #1
208-Where the Chill Waits
8-The Lost
418-Sandman Slim
61-Suffer the Children
167-Skin
432-Last One Alive
392-Lick Your Neighbor
286-Black: The Birth of Evil
31-Triage
440-Dust
107-A Scanner Darkly
213-The Novellas
30-Endless Night
248-The Backwoods
155-Headhunter
371-Oliver Twist
53-About a Boy
4-The Bone Collector
330-Red Hill

[Justin]

Andy wrote: "I've also always wanted to read Necroscope. Keep me posted about a buddy read if you please."

Maybe we can get it nominated for a group read, three votes is a good start.

[Andy]

Sho'nuf

[Addy]

Yeah. That would be great. Been looking for it at thrift stores and the only one I've found is psychometh? I might of spelled that wrong. Looks interesting, but I didn't buy it.

[Justin]

Andy wrote: "So, I did the quick version and only added the most interesting and pressing books from my kindle list.

I will pledge to read ten random picks...

...and here are the choices.

311-[book:Try Not t..."

Nice list, some I have read and lots I want to read.

[Addy]

I've got Where The Chill Waits! When you get to that, I'd do a buddy read if you want. I've got several of his paperbacks and this one got great reviews.

[Andy]

Addy wrote: "Yeah. That would be great. Been looking for it at thrift stores and the only one I've found is psychometh? I might of spelled that wrong. Looks interesting, but I didn't buy it."

Isn't all meth psycho??

[Andy]

Addy wrote: "I've got Where The Chill Waits! When you get to that, I'd do a buddy read if you want. I've got several of his paperbacks and this one got great reviews."

Sounds great!

[Andy]

Justin wrote: "Thanks for setting it up Kate. i am going to cheat a bit here, i generated 30 numbers but my goal is 20. this is in case i get a novel that is deep in a series, or a rare and expensive print only b..."

Slowblind is the HA group read next month.

[Andy]

Addy wrote: "I just randomized the first 20 of a hundred:

81-Beautiful Creatures
33-Dream Lake
99-Hell House
73-Deep Night
82-[book:Midnight Sun|450287..."

Addy, Hell House and Perfume are high on my list.

[Addy]

I believe it is Andy:)

[Addy]

Well, there yah go! Hope your keeping track of this Andy:)

[Justin]

Sweet, I voted for it but didn't know it had won yet. I have a print copy and I'm really in the mood to read an actual book. Are you joining that one also?

[Andy]

I'm actually a bit confused with all these challenges going on.

A-z
Classics
Random
And Sleepers

Not to mention group, buddy and personal reads.

I will try to get in on Snowblind, too.

[Justin]

What are the chances that of the 640 books in my tbr list both of the incestuous sibling romance/eroticas (I swear there is only two) both came up on this list of 30 titles?

[Justin]

Andy wrote: "I'm actually a bit confused with all these challenges going on.

A-z
Classics
Random
And Sleepers

Not to mention group, buddy and personal reads.

I will try to get in on Snowblind, too."

Yea no doubt, I feel like I am taking on to much but most books I read will count towards more than one challenge though. Plus if I don't complete my challenge I figure oh well, it's just for fun anyway right?

[Addy]

Pretty damn sweet...lol. Actually, that happened to me too, but mine are more Dom books. I believe 3 of them made it to my list.

[Andy]

Maybe they are brother and sister...

[Addy]

Like from The Mountain...lol, funny didn't we just read that?

[Justin]

Addy wrote: "Pretty damn sweet...lol. Actually, that happened to me too, but mine are more Dom books. I believe 3 of them made it to my list."

I have heard good things about captive in the dark, it don't really sound like my kind of book but you will have to let me know what you think. If you catch me at a good time when you start it I may join you for a buddy read just because we have a few other taboo buddy reads lined up and I enjoyed the first one.

[Justin]

I do feel like I have a lot going on, and this vacation is getting me behind on it all, I managed a couple pages of the mountain but it is just too hard to put reading over family time while on vacation. I should be catching up now while they are sleeping. Time for me to go to bed though.

[Addy]

Yes, I'll let you know. I'm thinking about joining Snowblind too. Its alot but like you said, if we don't complete the challenge its not a big deal. I did the challenge over on HA and I totally missed the ball.

[Justin]

Another thing to is that these are year long challenges. So yea they seem like a lot but there it's really a lot of time to space them out as well. Plus the a - z can be anything you are reading anyway and this one is all books on your tbr that I have already marked as to read. The only one's that I wouldn't have planned on reading if not for the challenge is the classic horror which I am challenging myself to 11 books and the sleeper challenge that isn't going to happen now but I gave myself a unofficial goal of two books. That can't be too hard.

[Andy]

Yeah,I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[Kate]

Looking at my list I probably wouldn't have thought of reading even half of what's on there. That's a good thing I think, lots of authors I haven't tried before.

Great lists from everyone, looking forward to seeing some more.

[Justin]

A couple on my list I have no idea what they are and don't remember adding them at all. I also got freakshow on there which I started and have up on so I guess I am revisiting that one.

[Maxine Marsh]

Okay, I'm in too, hopefully will count for more than one challenge! 25 for me:

5/25...

6* - 1901: A Steam Odyssey by Lionel Bramble
18 - The Last Pure Human by Twisted Hilarity
80 - The Baby Jesus Butt Plug by Carlton Mellick III
107 - Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist
127* - Intensity by Dean Koontz
144* - The Evolutionist by Rena Mason
197 - Origin by J.A. Konrath 3/18/2014 ★★★★★
203* - Eyes on the Bayou by Daniel J. Moore
204 - Southern Gods by Jacob Hornor Jacobs
209 - Villain by Shūichi Yoshida 1/10/2014 ★★★☆☆
227 - Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
275* - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
324* - Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
341 - Razor Wire Pubic Hair by Carlton Mellick III 1/3/2014 ★★★☆☆
350* - Ubik by Philip K. Dick
379 - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 2/8/2014 ★★★★★
381* - Dune (Dune Chronicles #1) by Frank Herbert
400 - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
401 - The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier
440 - Blackout by Connie Willis
448 - Molokai by Alan Brennert
501* - A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R. R. Martin
502* - Hell Gate by Elizabeth Massie
524 - The Summoning by F.G. Cottam
525 - Long Black Coffin by Tim Curran 3/4/2014 ★★★★☆

[Justin]

There are a couple good ones and a couple I want to read on your list as well.

[Maxine Marsh]

Phew. I really like my picks, a good mix of horror, steampunk, classics and scifi. I may have to change out Dune #5 though, not sure if I'm up to reading the first four in one year to get that off the list, lol.

[Justin]

I did 30 with the intention of knocking ten off just for that reason. I haven't gone through them yet but I do have one that is seventh in a series I haven't started so that one is out. Or maybe I will just change it to the first in the series.

[Kate]

Changing it to the first in the series sounds like a good idea. I guess that's a negative for the randomness of the challenge.

We shouldn't get too caught up in the list, having fun with it is what's important. :)

[Robert Krone]

Won't be doing this one, don't own most of the books in the my TBR and won't be able to buy them all either, lol

[Kate]

Robert, you could put up a list of books that you'd like to read and see if you can borrow them from members. I'm very happy to ear mark any lendable books for you and you could just PM me when you want to read them. :)

[Robert Krone]

I'll think about it, thanks! I've got a pretty sizable number of books I am going to try and read, and don't know if I will have the time to add more, lol, I can't read 100 books through the year, especially when I going to try and write a lot more this year, maybe even finish something, lol!

[Vicki Willis]

Ok, here is my list of 10 for this last half of the year. I had a lot of series on there, but I only needed to exchange a part 4 for the part 3. It all worked out otherwise.
16 Fatal Twist
25 Soft Targets
48 Privileged Witness: A Josie Bates Thriller/The Witness Series
59 The Waiting
62 The Memory Child
73 Bay's End
83 Seeds of Vengeance
84 Desperate
91 Love Gone Mad
96 The Living And The Dead
Vicki

[Kate]

I've decided to knock a few off some of my challenges as at the rate I'm going I'll never finish off any of my challenges for this year. I'm knocking off some of the longer reads or ones that I wish I had taken off my tbr before doing the challenge. My new list is:

1/(13) A Storm of Swords
2/ (50) Sleeping Arrangements
3/ (184) One for the Money
4/ (204) Pressure
5/ (329) The Spirit Clearing
6/ (402) Lineage: A Supernatural Thriller
7/ (479) Unforgivable
8/ (682) The Wicked
9/ (870) Bad Karma
10/ (897) Timecaster

A very shaved down version. :( but I think I was too ambitious at the start of the year.