2023 TBR Cleanup Challenge

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Very good! I think everyone who's succeeded deserves a new book haul XD

[Stephen]

Thanks Kaia and Allison.

[CBRetriever]

Allison wrote: "Very good! I think everyone who's succeeded deserves a new book haul XD"

no, no, no - my pile grew this year. I can't read that fast

[Alexandra]

14. Technical challenge. Excession

My third Culture novel, and what a great read this was :)

Aaaaand... 20/20! I am done :)))

[Kaia]

Congratulations, Alexandra!!

[Edwin]

Alexandra wrote: "14. Technical challenge. Excession

My third Culture novel, and what a great read this was :)

Aaaaand... 20/20! I am done :)))"

Congrats!

[Raucous]

Congratulations Alexandra and Stephen!

Thanks Kaia, Anna, Aga, and high expectations Allison.

[Alexandra]

Thanks a lot, Kaia, Edwin and Raucous! :)))

[DivaDiane]

So this is cheating, in a way, but I went through the books I’ve read thus far to see if any of them would fit the prompts and lo, and behold, quite a few did! Not bad! I think the first 3 books (last on the list below) are the only ones that I had actually planned to read for the challenge.

[x] 18. Around the Shelf - The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
[x] 15. My old friend - There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury
[x] 7. Showstopper - My Piano, Jen Fier Jasinski
[x] 6. At sixes and sevens - Mickey7, Edward Ashton
[x] 5. Five Finger Discount - The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
[x] 4. Four corners of the earth - The Four Profound Weaves, R.B. Lemberg
[x] 3. Three's company - We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
[x] 2. Binary - Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle
[x] 8. Book page total ends in an 8 - Arch-Conspirator, Veronica Roth 128p;
[x] 11. From the library - The Witch's Heart, Genevieve Gornichec - listened to audio through Libby
[x] 12. Let's try this again - The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow. (This had been on my currently reading shelf for many many months)
[x] 16. Scrumptious - Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree
[x] 20. Zero to hero - The Marvellers, Dhonielle Clayton

I'm happy with 13 entries.

[Dj]

A book that I am glad I finally finished but never want to pick up again. The book is listed as Science Fiction, but there isn't much of that, it is more along the lines of interaction between characters and while the interaction wasn't bad it wasn't reviting. Which in my case at least left me wanting something a little more.
Doomsday Book

[Meredith]

Last three, and I finished the challenge!

17. Cover with text only, no images - Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
14. Technical Challenge- Changed my picks Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, circumnavigating the globe is definitely a technical challenge. Then I considered The Great Influenza, I finally settled on Terminal Uprising, where the team faces many challenges on Earth.
18. Around the Shelf - Stranger in a Strange Land, SFFBC bookshelf that has been around my TBR shelf the longest. Changed to Codex, which I found on my shelf when I was trying to find matches for the prompts and it is about libraries.

The last one was a DNF and I considered swapping something else in but decided I read enough and it was good to clear it off my TBR one way or another.

All my picks: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I started the year with 167 books on my TBR and had 164 when I finished the last book for this challenge. So.... yay, success?

[Kaia]

Meredith wrote: "Last three, and I finished the challenge!

17. Cover with text only, no images - Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
14. Technical Challenge..."

Congratulations, Meredith!

[Edwin]

Meredith wrote: "Last three, and I finished the challenge!"

Bravo, Meredith!

[Monica]

Meredith wrote: "I started the year with 167 books on my TBR and had 164 when I finished the last book for this challenge. So.... yay, success?..."

Heck yeah!! The tbr mountain is diminishing!! Albeit only temporarily! I'm celebrating on a much more granular level. I consider it a success on the day that I finish a book and don't add another one that day to the tbr... 😎

[Beth]

@Meredith and Monica - I'm totally with you. I started the year with 112 books on my TBR and am ending with 119. I feel like I'm doing this backwards?

[Aga]

I’ve got two more.

9. Nine-to-five Broken Homes - (a little bit unusual) police force at work.

11. From the library The Stolen Heir - got it from the library.

2 left.

[Olga]

Meredith wrote: "Last three, and I finished the challenge!"

Yay! Congrats! You have a nice selection, some look really interesting and my TBR is in danger :)

[Raucous]

Meredith wrote: "... I started the year with 167 books on my TBR and had 164 when I finished the last book for this challenge. So.... yay, success? ..."

Congratulations Meredith! That looks like a win/win to me. I should do so well...

[Olga]

Aaand with

✔️14. Technical Challenge - Project Hail Mary
(which I have some very strong opinions about)

I've completed my first ever TBR challenge! This was quite an adventure and i'm happy to have had it in such a great company!

[Anna]

Well done!

[Stephen]

Congratulations

[CBRetriever]

excellent!

[Sarah]

YAY!

[Kaia]

Congratulations, Olga!!

[Alexandra]

Congratulations, Olga! :)

[Edwin]

Olga wrote: "Aaand with

✔️14. Technical Challenge - Project Hail Mary
(which I have some very strong opinions about)

I've completed my first ever TBR challenge! This was quite an adventure an..."

Congrats! You can now go buy more books to celebrate.

[Aga]

Congratulations!

[Cheryl L]

Olga wrote: "Aaand with

✔️14. Technical Challenge - Project Hail Mary
(which I have some very strong opinions about)."

Yay, Olga! It can be so hard to get through those books we don't like.

[Meredith]

Congrats Olga!

[Olga]

Thank you all so much!
Your support means more than you can imagine.

Edwin wrote: "You can now go buy more books to celebrate."
Theoretically yes, but I decided to focus on reading as many owned books as I can in 2024, so need to really reign myself in.

[Cheryl L]

Olga wrote: "... so need to really reign myself in"

Good luck on that one! The more I try to reign myself in, the wilder I tend to go. My brain is just a rebel.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Technically if you buy them now they will count towards your 2024 challenge...
But be strong and read the books you got :)

[Dj]

Olga wrote: "Aaand with

✔️14. Technical Challenge - Project Hail Mary
(which I have some very strong opinions about)

I've completed my first ever TBR challenge! This was quite an adventure an..."

Glad you enjoyed your first one, may you enjoy many more.

[Olga]

Cheryl L wrote: "Good luck on that one! The more I try to reign myself in, the wilder I tend to go. My brain is just a rebel."
Same here, but I do my best to stay positive and optimistic.

Melanie wrote: "Technically if you buy them now they will count towards your 2024 challenge...
But be strong and read the books you got :)"
Ooooh, that's a tricky and dangerous loophole. I might just be caught in it :)

Dj wrote: "Glad you enjoyed your first one, may you enjoy many more."
Thank you! I'm sure I will.

[Tamara]

Congrats everyone!

[Maggie]

3. Three's company Lords and Ladies the three witch coven is at it again! This time up against The Fair Folk. The Seelie Court is no match for Granny Weatherwax!

4. Four corners of the earth Jade War Because of the dynasty trying to expand in all areas

5. Five Finger Discount Touch simply due to his penchant when he is in dire straits of shifting through various people to collect cash

7. Showstopper Starmaker infinite scope of various planets, cultures and galaxies is astounding


8. Book page total ends in an 8 I knew this one, but now I dont remember. Will finish in a few.


9. Nine-to-five
10. Top 10
11. From the library
14. Technical Challenge
17. Cover with text only, no images
19. Bingeworthy
20. Zero to hero--

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

looking good Maggie!

[Dj]

So this year I did really well at the Library reads, but missed out on two of the TBR list. Oh well, I might just let that slide. At least for now.

[MauQ]

When are you planning to start the 2024 TBR thread? Getting excited to match some new prompts already 😂.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

It's been up!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[MauQ]

Allison wrote: "It's been up!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

*Facepalm*! I was looking out for it but missed it, that's great 😁. Now I know what I'll be up to tomorrow 👏. Thanks.

[Tesseract]

this year I did not do the best job of following my list haha. but I'm going through my entire tbr and deleting books I added three years ago when my interests were very different. hope that counts for something ;)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Tesseract, totally! You can also retrofit things. So as you remove stuff, you could count it for your TBR challenge prompts. They are off the TBR, it counts!

Yay, MauQ! I hope you have a lovely day of book delving ^^

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I am one of those who do this at the end of the year, after I've seen what I can read.

1. Only one - The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma: A great book on symptoms and treatment of PTSD. We only have one body!

2. Binary - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Are men okay? y/n?

3. Three's company - When the Angels Left the Old Country: A demon, an angel, and a determined girl take on New York!

4. Four corners of the earth - Cloud Atlas: spans the whole world, and possibly more!

5. Five Finger Discount (view spoiler) - The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina: A stolen family secret.

6. At sixes and sevens (view spoiler) - Green Grass, Running Water: Truly unsure what it is I read.

7. Showstopper - Wylding Hall: artists, and the one thing that stops the show.

8. Book page total ends in an 8 - The Essex Serpent : 448 pages!

9. Nine-to-five - The Housekeeper and the Professor: It's her day job, but so much more!

10. Top 10 - The Demon King - Easily one of the best books I read this year. No questions.

11. From the library - The Enchantress of Florence: So glad I borrowed this. A Nouvelle Histoire Mthologique, in the best sense

12. Let's try this again - Wyrd Sisters: The audio turned me off before, but I persisted!

13. Sweet Revenge - Comfort Me with Apples: What if Eve wasn't the first woman? And what if one of the firsts was fucking pissed?

14. Technical Challenge - Before Mars: A technical challenge or a psycholigical one?

15. My old friend - Unholy Ghosts: Oldest book on my TBR that I read this year! Glad I did

16. Scrumptious - Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard: I ate this one up!

17. Cover with text only, no images - Severance: pretty close!

18. Around the Shelf - Soulless: It's sure on the shelf, and I'm not pissed about it!

19. Bingeworthy - Zero Sum Game: I read multiple books in this series this year. I never do that. Urban science fiction at its most bingeable.

20. Zero to hero - In Other Lands: This is Harry Potter, if people thought about kids, and our intentions with them.

[Raucous]

N?

Congratulations! What a fascinating collection of formerly TBRs. Some of these are now on my ever growing TBR list. I'm especially intrigued by The Housekeeper and the Professor.

I had audio issues with Wyrd Sisters too. It was for an edition that looks like it's no longer available. I'm hoping that the newer one is an improvement, although that wasn't our experience with the updated audio of Small Gods.

[Kaia]

Very nice, Allison - congratulations!

[Alexandra]

Congratulations, Allison! It's a great list :)

[Aga]

Ok, done!

8. Book page total ends with 8 - Zawsze coś - 368 pages.

15. My old friend- Nagle trup - written by my old high school friend.

Both books are comedic cozy mysteries. First title can be translated as "Always something" and the second one as "Suddenly, corpse". Both are super funny, with beautiful references from classic Polish literature and crazy characters.

This is the first time I’ve actually finished a TBR challenge.

[Raucous]

Congratulations Aga!

[Aga]

Raucous wrote: "Congratulations Aga!"

Thank you!