Mount TBR 2022 discussion
El Toro (75 Books)
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When not in Narnia Karen wants to climb El Toro! Completed August 2022.
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44. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
5 stars. One of the best opening lines of any book ever, and some of the best writing I have ever read. Few books feel as real, or as heart-wrenching, as this book. We know that Plath did not make it out of The Bell Jar, which only adds to the poignancy of the novel.
On TBR since approx. April 2017 although I used to own another copy which I read and unhauled. And in typical fashion, I then bought another copy which it has taken me about 5 years to actually read.
45. An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum 1941-43 by Etty Hillesum.
5 stars. Absolutely inspirational. I don't have the words to express what I feel.
On TBR since at least May 2016, possibly earlier (but not earlier than 2012-2013).
46-48. The Best of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.
4 stars. Contains 3 books, Pippi Longstocking, Pippi in the South Seas and Pippi goes aboard. (I have not counted the short story included as an entry for this list). Good fun. I loved the strength and goodness of Pippi even if she is also crazy and talkative and bossy. And I liked the story in which she wanted even more freckles!
On TBR since 15/07/2021.
I have now reached the top of Mount Ararat.
Is that the one where Pippi Longstocking walks into a chemist’s and says ‘No’? I love that bit, it’s my favourite Pippi Longstocking quote😂
Dani wrote: "Is that the one where Pippi Longstocking walks into a chemist’s and says ‘No’? I love that bit, it’s my favourite Pippi Longstocking quote😂"It is indeed. I loved that Lindgren made a ginger-haired, freckled character her heroine! That was one of my favourite scenes too.
49. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.
3 stars. I wanted to read this because I love "Like Water for Chocolate". It is very intriguing, but there was just something missing. Also, I was not sure if I should have read the family's special talents as a metaphor for something. (view spoiler). It feels a little like a first draft that could have been improved. I might try something else by the author though.
On TBR since 25/11/2021.
50. Splendid by Julia Quinn.
4 stars. A re-read for me of Quinn's debut novel. Uneven in pace but good fun.
On TBR since I believe late June/early July last year although I have owned (and unhauled) it before this.
51. Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien. Different cover.4 stars. A very bleak conclusion to The Country Girls Trilogy. A very bleak portrayal of marriage, and one of the most devastatingly negative endings I have ever read.
On TBR since approx. July 2017.
52. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth.
3 stars. Kind of disappointed with this one. For a start it was too long. You have to read about 300 pages before the story feels like it is going anywhere. And then the story just fizzles out. I prefer my novels (even my gothic novels, which are often more open-ended) to have more answers given.
But on the other hand the writing and plot were interesting enough that I never felt like stopping reading and I did enjoy it. It has some great illustrations too.
On TBR since 2021 but I forgot to add it to GR.
MAYTotal books read in April: 18 (20 if I count all 3 in my Pippi Longstocking book)
Total qualifying for this challenge: 9 (11 if counting the 3-in-1 Pippi)
MAY CHALLENGE
I am still reading The Second Sex from April (it's a big book!) I am still reading The Sunne in Splendour and La Reine Blanche. I did finish Plain Bad Heroines though. I had too many large books on the go at once and it fried my brain!
JUNE SPINS
1. Random Kindle - Beautiful Criminal by M.N. Forgy
2. Lowest Rated Book (with at least 25 ratings) - The Morning After by Katie Roiphe
3. Adult (any genre) - Everything You Have is Mine by Sandra Scoppettone
From previous challenges:
Victor Hugo - Les Misérables from March 2020.
James M. Powell (ed.) - The Deeds of Innocent III from October 2020.
Alan Savage - Ottoman from December 2020.
Charles Freeman - A New History of Early Christianity from March 2021.
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts from April 2021.
Kathleen Winsor - Forever Amber from July 2021.
J.R.Maddicott - Simon de Montfort from November 2021.
Sharon Penman - When Christ and His Saints Slept from December 2021.
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex from April 2022.
Sharon Penman - The Sunne in Splendour from May 2022.
Sarah Bryson - La Reine Blanche: Mary Tudor, a Life in Letters from May 2022.
Additions to Mount TBR in June 2022.(I will cross them out if I read them this year). Hoping if I have to keep updating this it might put me off buying books...Although they will all count for this challenge...in 2023.
Physical Books Acquired.
1. A Lovely Day Tomorrow by Lynn Kurland.
2. Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley.
Acquired May?3. Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham.
4. Traitor's Purse by Margery Allingham.
5. Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim.
6. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.
7. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.
8. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.
9. Zofloya, or The Moor by Charlotte Dacre.
10. Hva' Med Os To? I Accuse; Translated By Marianne Kold Madsen by Mette Ejlersen. No cover.
11. The Blood Of Others by Simone de Beauvoir.
12. Women at the Well: Feminist Perspectives on Spiritual Direction by Kathleen Fischer.
13. The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity by Cynthia Bourgeault.
14. The Creative Spirit by June Boyce-Tillman.
15. Women and Spirituality: Voices of Protest and Promise by Ursula King.
16. Leeds Castle by Nick McCann.
17. My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma.
18. Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee. Different cover.
19. When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo.
20. The Women of Troy by Pat Barker.
21. Introduction to Biblical Studies by Steven Moyise.
22. Sarah Laughed: Women's Voices in the Old Testament by Trevor Dennis. No cover.
23. Invincible Spirits: A Thousand Years of Women's Writings by Felicity Leng.
24. Melbury Square by Dorothy Eden.
Kindle Books Acquired.
1. The Last Summer by Karen Swan.
Amazon 1st read.
53. When God is Silent: Divine Language Beyond Words by Barbara Brown Taylor.
3 stars. Written for preachers but interesting to the lay reader. What does it mean that we do not hear from God anymore? How do preachers preach at a time that language itself has been devalued?
On TBR since approx February 2017.
54. Beautiful Criminal by M.N. Forgy.
3 stars. A somewhat limp beginning to a new Mafia series. It did not seem credible that a family can "pause" their activities and for other gangs not to have moved in. The plot was underpowered until we got a bit of action about three quarters of the way through. Some good ideas but not the best execution.
On Kindle TBR since 17/09/2021.
55. La Reine Blanche: Mary Tudor, a Life in Letters by Sarah Bryson.
3 stars. An enjoyable read.
On TBR since 08/09/2018.
56. The Morning After: Sex, Fear, And Feminism by Katie Roiphe.
3 stars. Not really sure what I feel about this one. She seems to be motivated by a one-dimensional view of 60s/70s feminism and was disappointed with the feminism of her own time in comparison. I think she makes some valid points about victim culture but there are few examples given in her evidence and the book felt more like a rant than a properly researched polemic.
On TBR since 26/01/2019.
57. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson.
4 stars. Cute and an engaging read. I had a few quibbles about the way the story was wrapped up, but overall this was better than I was hoping for.
On TBR since somewhere between July 2015 and May 2016.
58. Everything you have is mine by Sandra Scoppettone.
4 stars. I really loved this. New York in the 90s with its prejudice against lesbians and AIDs scares and good restaurants just came to life. Enjoyed the plot and definitely continuing on with the series.
On TBR since 17/08/2019.
59. Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce.
4 stars. Absorbing book which offers an analysis of modern Gender Ideology. She does not hate Trans people as some reviewers seem to be believe but points out that what a minority of highly vocal trans activists want is not what most people believe they want. Nobody wants Trans people to be attacked and vilified but an ideology needs at least to be discussed which allows rapists to be imprisoned with women and in which women are losing the right to privacy and to compete in their own sports, and in which young people are being given drugs with ill-defined side-effects and can be given irreparable surgery.
Where are all the Transmen on both sides of the argument? I would accept Trans people in categories of sports that match a persons gender identification not their biological sex if the same testosterone changes allow Transmen to take part alongside their birth-male equivalents. But I have never read any evidence of this being the case. This is one of the flaws of this book too.
Love Trans people, dislike a part of some Trans ideology.
On Kindle TBR since 26/09/2021.
60. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
4 stars. A beautifully written story of how two teenage boys' friendship turns into love. Absorbing characters and packs a punch emotionally.
On TBR since 26/11/2021.
I am enjoying my time at the top of Mt Kilimanjaro.
61. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.
4 stars. A challenging read as Woolf examines one day in the lives of a variety of characters, and amongst other points critiques the poor treatment of shellshock in this period. Also a look at upper-class London.
On TBR since 20/02/2021.
JUNETotal books read in June: 19
Total qualifying for this challenge: 9
JUNE CHALLENGE
I am still reading The Second Sex and The Sunne in Splendour but did finish La Reine Blanche. I also read all 3 of the books for this month.
JULY SPINS
1. Over 500 pages - Small Island by Andrea Levy
2. Adult - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
3. History - Daughters of the Earth by Carolyn Niethammer
From previous challenges:
Victor Hugo - Les Misérables from March 2020.
James M. Powell (ed.) - The Deeds of Innocent III from October 2020.
Alan Savage - Ottoman from December 2020.
Charles Freeman - A New History of Early Christianity from March 2021.
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts from April 2021.
Kathleen Winsor - Forever Amber from July 2021.
J.R.Maddicott - Simon de Montfort from November 2021.
Sharon Penman - When Christ and His Saints Slept from December 2021.
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex from April 2022.
Sharon Penman - The Sunne in Splendour from May 2022.
Additions to Mount TBR in July 2022.(I will cross them out if I read them this year). Hoping if I have to keep updating this it might put me off buying books...Although they will all count for this challenge...in 2023.
Physical Books Acquired.
1. The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership by Dorothy A. Lee.
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.
3. Brick Lane by Monica Ali.
4. What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullan.
5. The Unhurrying Chase by H.F.M. Prescott. No cover.
6. The Distant Summer by Sarah Patterson.
7. Lovers And Pretenders by Liz Grady.
8. Secresy: Or the Ruin of the Rock by Eliza Fenwick.
9. A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen. Different cover.
10.Night Owls by Jenn Bennett.
11. War Damage by Elizabeth Wilson.
12. three Edwards: war and state in England 1272-1377 by Michael Prestwich.
13. Age of Ambition by F.R.H. du Boulay.
14. Henry Plantagenet by Richard Barber. Too lazy to add actual edition.
15. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow by Richard Wormser.
16. Black Americans by Alphonso Pinkney.
17. Heritage, Museums and Galleries: An Introductory Reader edited by Gerard Corsane.
18. Gender and Christianity in Medieval Europe: New Perspectives edited by Lisa M. Bitel.
19. Worship in Medieval England by Matthew Cheung Salisbury.
20. Phaethon's Children: The Este Court And Its Culture In Early Modern Ferrara edited by Dennis Looney. No cover.
21. The Devil in the Hills by Cesare Pavese.
22. Atone With Evil by Jean Fiedler.
23. A History of Courting by E.S. Turner. No cover on GR.
24.
Read September.25. Women in Dark Age and Early Medieval Europe c.500 - 1200 by Helen M. Jewell.
26. Never Forget, Never Forgive by Clayton Fox.
which is a double edition with The Flying Eye by Bob McKnight.
27. Men of Dunwich: The Story of a Vanished Town by Rowland Parker. No cover.
28. The Trapp Family on Wheels by Maria Augusta von Trapp.
29. Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation by Julie Bindel.
Kindle Books Acquired.
1. The Second Time We Met by Frances Mensah Williams.
Amazon 1st read.2.
3. By Virtue I Fall : A Mafia Bodyguard Romance by Cora Reilly.
4. Society of Psychos by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti.
5. Farewells and Forever by Heather Long.
6. Mr Salary by Sally Rooney.
7. Bound to the Elvin King by Lisa Kumar.
Kindle Freebie8. Dark Velvet by Lisa Carlisle.
Kindle Freebie9.
Read November.
62. Rules and Roses by Heather Long.
3 stars. I like my novels set in a high school not to focus too much on schoolwork. Particularly American ones where I don't always get the references. I will continue though, and am hoping for a little bit more darkness to count for the NA rather than YA target audience.
On Kindle TBR since 01/11/2020.
63. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.
4 stars. I found this more consistently enjoyable than her other books. I don't love her writing style or her characters, but she always gets my attention.
On Kindle TBR since 03/08/2020.
64. Changes and Chocolates by Heather Long.
3 stars. What a week this character has! Some dark themes potentially arising but not yet a dark read. Still too much about schoolwork.
On Kindle TBR since 25/08/2021.
65. A Book Of British Ballads by R. Brimley Johnson. Different cover.4 stars. I was obsessed with ballads when I was a teenager. Lots of insta-love, drinking blood out of skulls or talking severed heads, deaths of various kinds, elopements, battles, outwitting King John etc. Fab.
I have no idea when I purchased this. I often dip into it. I just wanted to read it all through again.
66. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox.
4 stars. This book was so much better than I remembered. While Arabella completely misinterprets the world around her she also has a certain power over her male relatives because of it.
On TBR since 16/12/2005 but I have read it once before.
67. Daughters of the Earth by Carolyn Niethammer.
4 stars. An interesting, general, book about Native American women. Published in 1977 originally so it is a little dated. Also she introduces different sub-groups in her introduction but then just uses examples from different tribes and usually lacks depth in her analysis. But I did enjoy the read.
On TBR since 22/02/2006.
68. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.
5 stars. A beautiful book.
On TBR since 03/04/2021.
69. Love Falls by Esther Freud.
4 stars. I had read the beginning of this book several times and was not inspired which is why I took it as my sole read on a coach trip totalling about seven hours. I really enjoy coming-of-age stories and although this has the thread of Bohemianism Freud's books are known for, and lots of irritating rich people I came to find it rewarding.
On TBR since 12/06/2021.
70. Ballad of Dogs' Beach by José Cardoso Pires. No cover.3 stars. An intriguing look at Salazar-era Portugal, but a little hard to follow.
On TBR since 22/04/2020.
71. Small Island by Andrea Levy.
5 stars. I have wanted to read this for years but I was surprised I loved it so much.
On TBR since 12/06/2021.
JULYTotal books read in July: 17
Total qualifying for this challenge: 10
JULY CHALLENGE
I read all 3 of the books for this month.
AUGUST SPINS
1. Living Room 2 - Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell
2. YA - Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
3. Hall Small - The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
From previous challenges:
Victor Hugo - Les Misérables from March 2020.
James M. Powell (ed.) - The Deeds of Innocent III from October 2020.
Alan Savage - Ottoman from December 2020.
Charles Freeman - A New History of Early Christianity from March 2021.
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts from April 2021.
Kathleen Winsor - Forever Amber from July 2021.
J.R.Maddicott - Simon de Montfort from November 2021.
Sharon Penman - When Christ and His Saints Slept from December 2021.
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex from April 2022.
Sharon Penman - The Sunne in Splendour from May 2022.
Additions to Mount TBR in August 2022.(I will cross them out if I read them this year). Hoping if I have to keep updating this it might put me off buying books...Although they will all count for this challenge...in 2023.
Physical Books Acquired.
1. Sexing The Cherry by Jeanette Winterson.
2. 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo.
3. The End of a Mission by Heinrich Böll.
4. Tea in the Heather by Kate Roberts.
5. The Awakening by Kate Roberts.
6. Madelon by Valentina Luellen. Cover different.
7. Random Deaths and Custard by Catrin Dafydd.
8. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend.
9. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend.
10.
Read August.11. Within Living Memory - A Collection of Norfolk Reminiscences by Norfolk Federation of Women's Institutes.
12. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.
13.
Read August.14. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.
15. Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick. Different cover.
16. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson.
17. The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton.
18. The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons.
19. The House by the Churchyard by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.
Kindle Books Acquired.
1. Big Chicas Don't Cry by Annette Chavez Macias.
Amazon First Read.2. Feet in Chains by Kate Roberts.
3. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen.
4. Infinity by Sarah Dessen.
5. Requiem by Callie Hart.
6. Wicked Dreams by S. Massery.
72. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen.
4 stars. Really enjoyable YA novel by one of the best YA writers out there.
On Kindle TBR since 13/11/2020.
73. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
3 stars. Historical fiction based on seventeenth century witch hunts in Norway. Not as interesting as I thought it would be. There was not the amount of tension and emotion as I was expecting.
On TBR since 2021. I picked it up at the same time as Plain Bad Heroines. (Number 52 above).
74. Waking Up Wed by Christy Jeffries.
3 stars. Sweet and not too sappy.
On TBR since 18/09/2021
75. A Traveller In Time by Alison Uttley.
5 stars. I genuinely am not sure if I ever read this as a child, and that is one of the reasons I read it, and I was surprised by how much I loved this book. Recommended.
On TBR since 26/09/2021.
I have hit my target of 75 books from my TBR! On to the next Peak!
Mount TBR 2022
Books mentioned in this topic
Wicked Dreams (other topics)Requiem (other topics)
Waking Up Wed (other topics)
Traveller in Time (other topics)
The Mercies (other topics)
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5 stars. My favourite du Maurier novel and one of the best books I have ever read,
On TBR since I read it as a young teenager but bought it in about 2000-2001. I used to read it several times a year but have gotten swamped in books and cannot read it as often as I would like to.