2023 TBR Cleanup Challenge

[Jenni]

oh yeah. I saw that it was a YA novel. That doesn't really matter much to me. Sometimes it's nice to have something easy to read to breeze through.

[DivaDiane]

Jenni, I loved Spinning Silver too.

[DivaDiane]

@KelB - !!! Eeeuw! Ha - scrumptious.

[Alexandra]

Finished the latest book for this challenge, so now it's 7/20:

18. Around the Shelf Genevieve Cogman The Invisible Library

This one was an entertaining bubble gum read, with alternative worlds, super Librarians and steampunk.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

y'all are really gettin' after it so far!

[CBRetriever]

Alexandra wrote: "Finished the latest book for this challenge, so now it's 7/20:

18. Around the Shelf Genevieve Cogman The Invisible Library

This one was an entertaining bubble gum read, with alter..."


you're going good - I'm doing so many challenges that it's taking a while

[DivaDiane]

I’m right there with you @CBR except I also read much more slowly than you.

[Olga]

KelB wrote: "Olga wrote: "16. Scrumptious - have no idea, suggestions are welcome

I used The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean for this prompt. It's also a SFFBC group bookshelf read so bonus."

Yes! Thank you!

[MauQ]

Alexandra wrote: "Finished the latest book for this challenge, so now it's 7/20:

18. Around the Shelf Genevieve Cogman The Invisible Library

This one was an entertaining bubble gum read, with alter..."

I have this one on my TBR also :) Looking forwards to it, might have to be for the next year though.

[MauQ]

So far read 2 for this challenge, one for another challenge and one, which I got as my monthly audible credit. I started a few titles at once last month, one by one, as each one hit a bit of a lull and ended up slowing down with my February reading. The past week most titles got over the slower bits and I am now finishing them one by one, should have a good result for March. Some of the current reads are unfinished 2022 TBR challenge reads still.

Completed:



✔️11. From the library - The Midnight Library, Matt Haig (audiobook).

I enjoyed it. It was disappointing that the cat did not play as central of a role as I imagined 😮🙈. It is an engaging story, which prompts to think about life choices, presented from the perspective of the heroine. Without getting into spoiler territory, I really liked the whole concept of the library and the various stories in the book 4/5.

✔️18. Around the Shelf - The Search for Hidden, Sacred Knowledge, Dolores Cannon (audiobook/e-book).

Started reading this a couple of years ago as an e-book and I really loved the first few chapters back then. Coming back to it after a while, it had some more interesting stories and some, which I found a bit dull. Maybe I was just not in the right mind-space for another Dolores Cannon book at this moment though, they have a rather particular POV, which means extra work to imagine the stories behind the conversations with the author's clients. It's probably more of a 3.5/5 for me but rounded to 4/5. Ended up switching to an audio version around halfway through.

Books read outside the challenge: 3/5 4/5

[Petar]

Alexandra wrote: "Finished the latest book for this challenge, so now it's 7/20:

18. Around the Shelf Genevieve Cogman The Invisible Library

This one was an entertaining bubble gum read, with alter..."

This sounds like fun. Once again this challenge succeeds in its intent to extend my TBR list ;-)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

mine is an evil laugh! mwahaha!

[Alexandra]

Petar wrote: "This sounds like fun. Once again this challenge succeeds in its intent to extend my TBR list ;-)"

I try not to let it happen, but it is difficult.... :)))))))

[Stephen]

14. Technical challenge - The Winds of Time

Plot apparently involves 1950s American trying to help aliens repair their spaceship.



1957 science fiction novel. I had low expectations, but the book was better than I expected, an actual novel. Unhappily married Los Angeles physician Wes Chase, on a fishing vacation in Colorado, takes shelter from a storm in an isolated cave and encounters a man from another planet. Then a long section from the ET’s point of view describes how he and his buddies got there. In the last part of the book, from Wes’s perspective again, he joins forces with them to try to help them off the planet. The “technical challenge” is finessed in what I thought was an interesting way.

A couple of weaknesses to my mind: (1) Wes’s limited 1950s male point of view. His more or less estranged wife is I believe the only named female character, and we see her only through Wes’s eyes. She certainly has agency, and Wes is smart enough to figure out that the marriage was a mistake, but I think he is a somewhat irritating guy to the modern reader. The way he comes to see himself at the end of the book and what he does are interesting though. (2) Too much of the prose (though not all) is short dull repetitive sentences. Not fun to read and to me they occasionally seemed almost disrespectful of the reader. I.e., come on, you don’t have to tell me this in words of one syllable.

Author Chad Oliver was a respected sf writer and the book has been reprinted more than once. My copy however is an ancient hardcover book club edition, which I believe I must have bought some time in the last few years, probably from the one dollar shelf of some second hand bookshop.

Not a bad read. 3 stars from me.

This gets me to 5/20.

[CBRetriever]

I remember reading that one plus his Mists of Dawn which was more of a YA book. The author was an anthropologist (Chairman of the Anthropology Dept at University of Texas).

[Stephen]

CBRetriever wrote: "I remember reading that one plus his Mists of Dawn which was more of a YA book. The author was an anthropologist (Chairman of the Anthropology Dept at University of Texas)."

I think I had only read a couple of his short stories. My expectations seem to have been inappropriately low.

[CBRetriever]

finished:

15. My old friend
Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne
Al MacBharrais brings in his old friend the ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan, along with his dogs, Oberon and Starbuck

this one was a light entertaining read and puts me at 5 books out of 20

[Dj]

I finished: Atlas Obscura, 2nd Edition: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders This is the seventh book in the challenge I have finished so far so I am feeling pretty good about finishing it this year. This was the Four Corners of the Earth prompt

This is a worldwide tour guide of places to visit. Unlike most tour guides of this type, there are very few of the type that would be ones you would select to go to on a regularly planned vacation. There are some that are kind of odd, but fun sounding, like the two churches on a greek island that shoot fireworks at each other as part of a religious celebration others though are a bit... creepy. The Carousel at the Bronx Zoo which has insects instead of horses or mythical creatures. For the most part, I don't really see myself going to very many of these places, but at least it didn't list a whole bunch of places with golf courses to visit and it was a very interesting read.

[Banshee]

I have also finished my 7th book for the challenge: "Showstopper".

Originally, I planned to read Alecto the Ninth (because any Locked Tomb book can be nothing but a showstopper), but I switched it out because of uncertainty whether it comes out this year.

So I read Carrie Soto Is Back instead. It's a showstopper because of the subject (a legendary tennis player comes out of retirement which causes quite a stir) and because at this point any Taylor Jenkins Reid book is a personal showstopper for me. I only have one book of hers left to read and so far the lowest rating I gave was 4 stars. It's safe to safe she's currently my favourite non-SFF author.

Review

[Jenni]

I have finished Howl's Moving Castle. My name finally came up on the very long list of people who were holding the book at the library. Otherwise I would have read it when the book club read it. I enjoyed it and have borrowed the sequel.

I decided to call it "Four Corners of the Earth" because of the door thing in the book but I don't want to spoil it for people so that's really all I should say about it.

[Michelle]

Jenni wrote: "I have finished Howl's Moving Castle. My name finally came up on the very long list of people who were holding the book at the library. Otherwise I would have read it when the book club read it. I ..."

Quite a few of us are fans of Howl’s Moving Castle!

[Dj]

Jenni wrote: "I have finished Howl's Moving Castle. My name finally came up on the very long list of people who were holding the book at the library. Otherwise I would have read it when the book club read it. I ..."

Seems like a good choice for the prompt to me and an excellent book. Hope you enjoy the second book in the series.

[CBRetriever]

Finished:

3. Three's company
Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan
Three main characters unite to save humankind. I'll likely finish the other two books in the trilogy

this makes 6 out of 20 completed

[Kaia]

I finally finished another book for this challenge this month:

10. Top 10 - Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi (contains ten stories)

It was okay.

[Meredith]

Two more, 6/20

1. Only one - The Light Brigade, main character is the only one with different experiences and it's a standalone book.

4. Four corners of the earth - The World We Make, includes avatars of cities from around the world.

[Kaia]

I read one more, but I swapped in a new title. Originally, I was going to read:

3. Three's company - The Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse (third book in this series)

Because that won't be out until much later this year (and may get bumped into 2024 the way things are going with publishing at the moment), I've decided to substitute:

3. Three's company - Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed, which revolves around three wishes and the lives of the people who use them. I thought this graphic novel was a five-star read.

I'm now at 7/20.

[Stephen]

✔️8. Book page total ends in an 8 - Past Master

248 pages.

Unusual book by a unique writer. Great stuff. 5 stars.

6/20

[Tina Reads]

17. Cover with text only, no images – Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


This novel had everything that I wanted to break my reading slump! A locked room sci-fi mystery that revolves around a translator named Lydia as she tries to solve the murder of her alien Logi boss, Fitz. Oh, and translating has the effect of making the translators "drunk", which adds a level of 'I can't remember because I was blackout drunk after translating'.

[Dj]

Tina wrote: "17. Cover with text only, no images – Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


This novel had everything that I wanted to ..."

Sounds like an interesting read.

[Tina Reads]

Five Finger Discount –Loki: Where Mischief Lies - I suspect Loki is up to no good and has stolen something. ⭐⭐⭐

YA Marvel novel that covers Loki as he comes of age in the comic universe. I was correct that there was a theft, but will not say by whom.

[Dj]

Tina wrote: "Five Finger Discount –Loki: Where Mischief Lies - I suspect Loki is up to no good and has stolen something. ⭐⭐⭐

YA Marvel novel that covers Loki as he comes of age in the comic universe. I was cor..."

I know it was Fandrel he stole a goat. JK, I haven't read it.

[Dj]

So my book on the prompt five finger discount, Growing Up In Bay City Oregon: A Memoir 1936 - 1953

It fills the prompt for one of the most hilarious reasons I have ever read in a book that included any kind of theft. When first moving to Oregon they moved to Portland and one of their neighbors had a farm that took up a city block. He would sneak out at night and crawl into the cabbage patch and have some.
The Farmer came over and talked to his dad saying that he thought someone was stealing his cabbages. So to throw everyone off the scent, he went into the section with the cabbages and got down on his belly, and ate the tops off of them so his dad and the farmer decided that it was rabbits stealing the cabbages.

[Dj]

This is the review for the Binary prompt book.
Alan Turing: The Enigma Man

Alan Turning is considered one of the Fathers of Modern Computers, after reading the book he was at best a difficult individual to deal with but one that was brilliant at any task he set his mind to. This book doesn't do any deep dives into his life, but it does very well at giving a quick overview that lets the reader get a good idea of the man and his accomplishments. Many of those accomplishments couldn't be brought up during his lifetime due to the Official Secrets Act. It looks at the fact that he was Homosexual with an even and unjudgemental hand, including his trial for that since at the time just being Homosexual was against the law. The only real question it brings up is his death, which was ruled a deliberate suicide. The author seems to lean more toward the judgment of his family who believed it more likely to be accidental.

[CBRetriever]

finished book 7

13. Sweet Revenge
Lex Talionis by R.S.A. Garcia
Revenge against the people who killed her according to the blurb including the only man she ever loved

a not bad SF book from a StoryBundle

[Kaia]

Finished another one today (and did another trade) -

5. Five Finger Discount - Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (originally I had The Crown Conspiracy by Michael Sullivan fo this option and Luck in the Shadows for "from the library"). I didn't realize that Luck in the Shadows had so much thievery until I read it, and I can pretty much substitute almost any book from my TBR for "from the library" since most of the books I read come from there. Unfortunately, my library system doesn't have The Crown Conspiracy, though, so that one may need to wait a while.

I really enjoyed Luck in the Shadows, though - very exciting fantasy adventure.

[CBRetriever]

finished 8 out of 20

9. Nine-to-five
The Cabinet by Kim Un-su
About Mr Kong, the harried office worker whose job it is to look after the cabinet

[Stephen]

✔️10. Top 10 - The Planet on the Table

10th place in the 1987 Locus Awards "Collections" category

7/20

Kim Stanley Robinson’s first story collection. 8 stories and an introduction in which the author, out for a run, communes with James Joyce at his grave in Zurich. Suggests artistic ambition. I thought 3 of the stories were excellent and 3 very good. The other 2 were polished and inventive but I found them unengaging.

The stories I considered excellent were “Black Air”, “Venice Drowned” (which I had read previously in Drowned Worlds), and “The Lucky Strike” (which I had read in the PM Press Outspoken Authors Lucky Strike). I hadn’t read The Lucky Strike in some time and I was blown away on the reread. It’s an exemplary work of alternate history, in which the Enola Gay crashes before its A-bomb run on Hiroshima and a different plane and crew are assigned the task.

[MauQ]

Completed the 6th book today
Found some new favourites! 🥳

Progress: 6/20

✔️ 2. Binary - A Scheme of Heaven: The History and Science of Astrology, from Ptolemy to the Victorians and Beyond Alexander Boxer. Not what I was hoping for 3/5

✔️ 3. Three's company - Peaches for Monsieur le Curé (Chocolat #3), Joanne Harris. Totally different from the second book in the series, I loved this one, an instant favourite! Kept me at the edge of my seat, couldn't put it down. So many mysteries! And scents and spices and deliciousness in between the suspense. 5/5

✔️8. Book page total ends in an 8 - Conversations With Nostradamus: His Prophecies Explaned, Vol. 1, Dolores Cannon. Not as fun as I hoped 3/5

✔️11. From the library - The Midnight Library Matt Haig. Enjoyed it 4/5.

✔️18. Around the Shelf - The Search for Hidden, Sacred Knowledge Dolores Cannon. Not bad, I liked it 4/5

✔️ 20. Zero to hero - Sidewinders(The Fire Sacraments #2), Robert V.S. Redick. Another instant favourite, loved this audiobook. This was better than the 1st of the series for me and I am eagerly waiting for the 3rd! Might be a while still though... ugh. I felt like I was travelling through the desert with them, so well written, each stop, each part of the journey vibrant and with exciting turn of events. Each stop a chance for some character development 5/5!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

awesome!! That's a double win!

[MauQ]

Allison wrote: "awesome!! That's a double win!"

Very true! 🤗

[Stephen]

✔️19. Bingeworthy - The Earthsea Quartet


8/20 on the challenge.

[Kaia]

Two more down:

11. From the library - The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (borrowed from the library). This one has been on my TBR for a while, so I was glad to get an extra nudge to read it this month since it's one of the books of the month. I have to admit, I sat down to start reading it this morning and then ended up reading the entire book! It was very powerful.

13. Sweet Revenge - Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee (main character wants to kill the monsters who took her family). I thought this one was just okay. The world was really interesting, but the characters fell flat for me.

[Stephen]

✔️15. My old friend - We Can Build You

9/20

[CBRetriever]

finished 9 out of 20:

4. Four corners of the earth
Driftwood by Marie Brennan Driftwood is a strange place of slow apocalypses, where continents eventually crumble into mere neighborhoods, pulled inexorably towards the center in the Crush.

[Liane]

Finished 6 so far; some substitutions...

3. Three's company by Cixin Liu Obvious.

7. Showstopper Cloud Atlas Between the book and the movie, this is a showstopper M.L. Wang - this was just so so good. I want more of Kaigen and the Theonite world.

16. Scrumptious by Travis Baldree Lattes & this book are yummy!

17. Cover with text only, no images by Larry Niven as close to no graphics as I had in my SFF TBR

19. Bingeworthy by Martha Wells Murderbot is fun reading.

20. Zero to hero Gods of Jade and Shadow looks to be rags to riches. by Richard K. Morgan Came across this first & Takeshi Kovacs seemed to suit the prompt. Likely will revisit this series later.

[CBRetriever]

finished the 10th out of 20 books:

16. Scrumptious
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

this book had scrumptious stuff in it, but it was far too MG/YA for me and how many times can the main character say that she's only fourteen? She said "only fourteen" 20 times in the book and that averages out to about once every other chapter...
and started on

5. Five Finger Discount (Theft or pilferage, typically of a small item; shoplifting.)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

[Alexandra]

CBRetriever wrote: "and started on

5. Five Finger Discount (Theft or pilferage, typically of a small item; shoplifting.)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman"

I thought that The Blacktongue Thief was excellent; a dark fantasy with a lot of snark. I hope you enjoy it!

[Michelle]

Alexandra wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "and started on

5. Five Finger Discount (Theft or pilferage, typically of a small item; shoplifting.)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman"

I thought that The Blackton..."

I was in stitches reading that book!

[Meredith]

I'm up to 9/20 with three more.


16. Scrumptious - Fuzzy Nation, the little fuzzy dudes sound scrumptious.

10. Top 10 - Small Favor, #10 in the Harry Dresden series

8. Book page total ends in an 8 - The Winter Long, 358 pages also 8th book in the series

[Kaia]

I'm now at 9/20 also with this title:

9. Nine-to-five - Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf by L.G. Estrella. I chose this title for the prompt due to the first paragraph, which I encountered when DJ posted it on the "Out of Context Quotes" thread:

"There comes a time in every necromancer’s life when they begin to seriously consider a career change. The fact is that necromancers are not the most popular people. In fact, the average necromancer is forced to run from angry villagers at least seven times over the course of their life, which may explain why so few necromancers are overweight. Magic is all well and good, but there are times when a high level of cardiovascular fitness is better."

If you found that quote funny, then I would recommend this book - it was a short, fun read, and I enjoyed the audiobook narrator's performance. :-)