Trim Challenge 2023 – Community Announcement and Discussion Thread

[Amy]

The Tradition of Fun and Community Continues!
This is the planning thread for the Unofficial Trim Challenge 2023-2024

PBT is continuing to hold an unofficial challenge for the community, meant for old and new members both. This challenge emerged from one of the yearlong challenges in 2019, and we liked it so much, that we are still continuing it. It’s meant to be something that new or old members can join in, and join in at any time. My role in this, is to make sure it gets a good strong organized dynamic kickoff, and then just to keep up excitement and morale.

This is not an official PBT challenge, and is meant to be secondary to the yearlong challenges. You do not have to participate, you can drop or enter participation at any time. You can switch your books, you can read them earlier or later than you were “supposed” to, or not at all. You can substitute, change your list completely, throw it out and start over. There is complete flexibility. This is the ultimate easy extra. You will not receive any extra points for books that you read, but you should put them in the monthly or other folders to get points, as well as if they fit into particular challenges. It is for fun. And for some, the fun is creating Buddy Reads that we can read something together.

This is how it works. You create (or recreate) a list of 12 books that are on your TBR and that you would like to get to. Each month, a participating member will randomly pick (or we’d never know if you picked decisively) a remaining number from 1-12, and we all read the number on our list, thus ensuring that this book comes off your TBR. And for some, creating the opportunity to do a Buddy Read together. And no pressure with the Buddy Reads either. Just because you signed up to read something does not commit you in any way to do so. In the past, some people have put more than one book choice on their list – feel free. The reason some people choose to have more books added to their lists is because they either want to have choices, or participate in more than one buddy read. Or folks will talk together and switch a number, so they can do more than one without it being the same month. Again, totally flexible, and I will continue to add and help arrange the Buddy Reads as they evolve.

How this works – How to construct a list

In this thread, that is our organization and planning one, members will post their list of 12, and we can move them around as needed if you want to put the same book on the same number to read them together.

Some of us who participated last year, have twelve remaining books from a set of 24. I will move the buddy reads as necessary into new slots so that they may stay together on the same number. This does not mean you have to continue to participate in them, it’s merely offered as a guide as old and new participants are together constructing lists. But I will post the list of existing buddy reads so folks can see them as an example, and add to them as new ones arise.
As we post our lists, I will help us arrange them on the same numbers and repost the emerging buddy reads.

Moving Forward

When the challenge begins in 2023, there will be a 2023 Community and Announcement Thread. The Trim Picker for the month will announce the number to read after the monthly tag or challenge is announced, what the number of the month will be. Again, there is no pressure to read or finish your book, or to do so on time. I envision the ongoing 2023 thread as one where we can announce the number, chat and connect, but not really for reviews. We can always refer back to this thread if new members join the challenge midway or we want to go back to one another’s lists.

[Amy]

Here is our remaining list of Trim Pickers for 2023:

January 2023 Jen (Announce in December)
February 2023 Kate
March 2023 Sally
April 2023 Meli
May 2023 Theresa
June 2023 Library Cin
July 2023 Jenny Elyse
August 2023 JoyD
September 2023 Coffee Ann
October 2023 Sue
November 2023 Nancy

[Amy]

Here are the remaining Buddy Reads/New Emerging Buddy Read List. Again, No One is committed to these. Use these leftovers as a guide.

2- Euphoria (Theresa, Diana, Sally)
4 – Rules of Civility (BnB)
4 – A Distant Mirror (Care, HeatherRB)
9 - The Widows (Oliver and Joanne)
9 – Bridge of Sighs (Care, Amy?)
10 – The Traitors Wife (Care, LibraryCin, Amy?)
11- Peach Blossom Spring (HayJay/Amy)

[Amy]

Here is Amy’s List

1 – Aperigon*/Songs in Ursa Major*
2 – The Gown/When Stars Go Dark
3 – The Stranger in the LifeBoat*
4 – Dark Tides /Chateau of Secrets
5 – The Lager Queen of Minnesota
6 – Botanists Daughter*/West With Giraffes*
7 – A Most Clever Girl/Postmistress of Paris
8 – Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
9 – Forty Rules of Love/ Bridge of Sighs?
10 – Midnight Train to Paris/The Traitors Wife*
11 – Magnolia Palace/Peach Blossom Spring*
12 – Ghosts of Harvard/Clockmakers’ Wife

[Amy]

I will use this space to list who is participating again, as people post their sample lists.

Amy
Cindy
Theresa
Diana H.
Sally
Book Concierge
Kate
BooknBlues
HayJay
Olivermagnus
JenK
JoyD
Joanne
Ann
Shelly
Meli
Linda C.
Heather Reads Books
Sue
Jenni Elyse
Jen
Kelly
AnnD
Hannah

[LibraryCin]

Easy for me. I'm just using the 12 that didn't come up this year!

1. Don’t Throw it Out / Lori Baird. 3 stars
2. A Book in Every Hand / Don Kerr
3. 13 Ways to Kill Your Community / Doug Griffiths, Kelly Clemmer
4. Chief Piapot: I Will Stop the Train / Vincent McKay. 3.5 stars
5. The Second Life of Samuel Tyne / Esi Edugyan
6. The Son of a Certain Woman / Wayne Johnston
7. The Courts of Love / Jean Plaidy (Victoria Holt)
8. Memories of Anne Frank / Alison Gold
9. All My Patients Are under the Bed / Louis J. Camuti, Marilyn Frankel, Haskel Frankel
10. The Traitor's Wife / Susan Higginbotham
11. The Big Book of Irony / Jon Winokur
12. A Cat Named Darwin / William Jordan

[Theresa]

Here's my proposed list -- might be tweaked slightly before year end.
I too stuck to filling in the used numbers and leaving others where they were.

THERESA'S UNOFFICIAL TRIM 2023

1. Murder on Capitol Hill
2. Euphoria*
3. Dear Mrs. Bird*
4. Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
5. The Magic Circle
6. Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll
7. Kafka on the Shore
8. Gingerbread
9. The Santa Klaus Murder
10. La Petite Fadette
11. A Long Time Coming
12. The Summer Before the War*

*possible buddy reads - I am fine if others no longer want a buddy read on a particular book.

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "Here is our remaining list of Trim Pickers for 2023:

January 2023 Jen (Announce in December)
February 2023 BooknBlues
March 2023 Sally
April 2023 Meli
May 2023 Joanne
June 2023 Librar..."

😥Did I say or do something that offended and thus leaves me out? Am I chopped liver? I've only ever picked once.... in all the time we've done the Unofficial Trim. I will get all my trim picked for this year read by end of December. Just see if I don't! Two are already started, leaving only one after that and it is short!

@Amy - 😘 - I'm teasing you ... maybe. 😎

[Amy]

Theresa, We had 23 people sign up for Trim 2022-2004. so the first 12 went last year, and these are the remaining 11. If you look at the 2022 threads I promise you will see these are the 11 people left over. In 2024-2026, We will start all over again. I hope no one feels left out. If new members join us, they will get priority for 2024, as will you. Or if anyone drops from the challenge, they are first to get a chance to pick. Does that feel fair?

Theresa, I consider you "Goodreads Heart and Soul" for Me. A PBT Beacon, and a very good friend. I would hate to make you feel slighted in any way.

Plus - I happen to love a vegetarian mock chopped liver that I make!

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "Theresa, We had 23 people sign up for Trim 2022-2004. so the first 12 went last year, and these are the remaining 11. If you look at the 2022 threads I promise you will see these are the 11 people ..."

It's fine. I had to tweak you, you know. Plus who else is going to appreciate my chopped liver allusion? Plus I LOVE chopped liver - the real thing! On a toast point with a caper or two ... yum yum yum. Wish I had some on hand to snack on... tomorrow's project.

[Amy]

All good Theresa! What are you and I reading together this year? I am confident something will emerge.....

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "All good Theresa! What are you and I reading together this year? I am confident something will emerge....."

Are you in either the Euphoria or Dear Mrs. Bird buddy reads? I think those are the only definite Trim ones I have.

As for others, there are a couple of NF and biography ones, and there is the ongoing re-read-along of A Clash of Kings - Not Amy buddy reads😅

As you say, something will emerge. I also have at least one unread buddy read you all did this year in trim though I just joined it because I had the book -- and then never got to read it. I'm moving it over to next year as a personal buddy read -- the caboose read so to speak. I have a couple of those.

I see no reason not to revive a buddy read thread if I finally finish the book long after everyone else. Might stimulate someone else to read it.

[Amy]

You would not be the first….

[Booknblues]

Amy wrote: "Here are the remaining Buddy Reads/New Emerging Buddy Read List. Again, No One is committed to these. Use these leftovers as a guide.


1 – Aperigon (Jen, KateNZ, Nancy, JenK)
1 – Lee Child’s book..."

Amy we moved Autumn to 11 and read it in March so you can cross that off.

The Giver of Stars was moved to 21 and we read it.

[Amy]

Got it! Thank you for helping me clean it up!

[Theresa]

Booknblues wrote: "Amy wrote: "Here are the remaining Buddy Reads/New Emerging Buddy Read List. Again, No One is committed to these. Use these leftovers as a guide.


1 – Aperigon (Jen, KateNZ, Nancy, JenK)
1 – Lee ..."

I think both Wolf Hall and Rules of Civility had their buddy reads this year? You will need to check with the posted participants.

I don't have Women Talking on my list at any number but when it is picked I will just join the buddy read if I have not already read it. I keep thinking every month it will get read - for about 2 years now. 😅

[Diana]

Theresa wrote: "I think both Wolf Hall and Rules of Civility had their buddy reads this year? You will need to check with the posted participants..."

Wolf Hall was at number 6 which hasn't been called yet. I wasn't joining the buddy read because of that and because it was too long to fit it in at that time. So, I plan to read in 2023

[Theresa]

Diana H. wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I think both Wolf Hall and Rules of Civility had their buddy reads this year? You will need to check with the posted participants..."

Wolf Hall was at number 6 which..."

Which means you still have to pick your Camp!

[Amy]

You are going to love Have You Seen Luis Velez! Its a beautiful book. People, she has it at 10.......

[Joanne]

Amy give Theresa my pick for 2023. I picked every year a d I am good. Computer still drunk, does not look good:(

[Amy]

You are generous as always. Now I can sleep at night and return my love for Chopped Liver.

Your computer is drunk? That's awful on every level!!! We need to help her!

[Sallys]

My list:
1)When We Believed in Mermaids
2)Sea of Tranquility
3)Intimacies
4)The Bar Harbor Retirement Home foR Famous Writers
5Hello Beautiful: A Novel
6)The Candy House
7)If We Had Known
8)Island Beneath the Sea
9)Outline
10)Transit
11)Island of Missing Trees
12)Vigil Harbor

[Amy]

Sally - so glad you are doing this again! Want to tell you that i just read and loved When We Believed in Mermaids. Also I have The Candy House and Island of Missing Trees on my priority list as well, but I am saving them both as possible reads with my local book club. Perhaps we will get to those at the same time.

Are you missing a 12th? Or just giving yourself a month off?

[Book Concierge]

My list ... The books that were in # 1-12 that had not already been called in 2022 were left in their slots. I moved other books from # 13-24 that hadn't been called in 2022 to fill in.


1. The Violin of Auschwitz by Maria Angels Anglada - JANUARY ✔ – 10Jan23
2. Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
3. One of Ours by Willa Cather - AUGUST
4. Fallen Women by Sandra Dallas - FEBRUARY ✔ – 04Mar23
5. The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark - JUNE ✔ – 24July23
6. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris - APRIL ✔ – 28Apr23
7. The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi - MARCH ✔ – 19Apr23
8. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn - JULY ✔ – 22Aug23
9. Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson
10. The Bear's Embrace: A Story of Survival by Patricia Van Tighem
11. A Woman in Jerusalem by A B Yehoshua - SEPT DNF – 17Sep23
12. Rilla of Ingleside by L M Montgomery - MAY ✔ – 10May23

[Amy]

Kate! I was hoping you would join us!

[Sallys]

Amy, I put the two Rachel Kusk books together. So they would be # 9 and # 10.

[Hayjay315]

I made a few switches to my Trim list from last year and am really excited for the year ahead!

1. Songs in Ursa Major*
2. The Downstairs Girl
3. Dear Mrs. Bird* / The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters *
4. The Dress Shop on King Street
5. The Lager Queen of Minnesota*
6. The Botanist's Daughter*/ West with Giraffes*
7. Blush
8. The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post*
9. The Lost Love Song
10. The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh
11. Peach Blossom Spring*
12. The Clockmaker's Daughter*

* denotes Buddy Read

[Booknblues]

Here is my list for now:

1. The River of Kings
2. The Last Train to London -Meg Waite Clayton
3. Dear Mrs. Bird -AJ Pearce - *
4. Rules of Civility – Towles *
5. March
6. West with Giraffes– Linda Rutledge*
7. Gray– Pete Wentz
8. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. *
9. The Canterbury Tales
10. Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table – Ruth Reichel
11. If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
12. The Marlow Murder Club

Edited once

[Amy]

Welcome back BC and BNB and HayJay! HJ, we have five together, although I think they are two you don’t know about. I’m going to add myself to songs of Ursa Major at number one, and I think I’m gonna join you for a peach blossom spring at number 11 I just now have to take that off my list of 100 for subdue the shelf. No worries I will replace it with something. But I’m excited. Plus we have other ones we were hoping to get to. I’m going to try to get to other birds this month. And if I’m not mistaken, you and I have a few upcoming if we can but that’s exciting that we have five out of 12 together for Trim.

[Jen K]

So excited to participate in Trim again!!

I'm in Cali visiting the nieces and nephew (aged almost 3, 5 and 7) for a couple of weeks. I may not manage my list until I get back home but I'm definitely in and will maintain my current buddy reads.

[Hayjay315]

Amy wrote: "Welcome back BC and BNB and HayJay! HJ, we have five together, although I think they are two you don’t know about. I’m going to add myself to songs of Ursa Major at number one, and I think I’m gonn..."

It will be so great to share 5 out of my 12 Trim books with you Amy! Looking forward to getting to enjoy Other Birds this month!

[Olivermagnus]

I'm in again this year.

🔹1. January - No Plan B - Lee Child - 3 Stars - 1/23/23
2. An Impossible Imposter - Deanna Raybourn
🔹3. August - Book Lovers - Emily Henry - 4 Stars - 8/16/23
🔹4. February - Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter - 5 Stars - 2/10/23
🔹5. June - Adrift - Lisa Brideau - 4 Stars - 6/14/23
🔹6. April - West with Giraffes - Lynda Rutledge - 4 Stars - 4/16/23
🔹7. March - An Unwilling Accomplice - Charles Todd - 3 Stars - 3/20/23
🔹8. July - The Marlow Murder Club - Robert Thorogood - 4 Stars - 7/28/23
*9. The Widows - Jess Montgomery
10. The Body in the Garden - Katharine Schellman
11. September - Pieces of Her - Karin Slaughter
🔹12. May - The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman - 4 Stars ' 5/18/23

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "You are generous as always. Now I can sleep at night and return my love for Chopped Liver.

Your computer is drunk? That's awful on every level!!! We need to help her!"

💋 both of you!

[Theresa]

Olivermagnus wrote: "I'm in again this year.


1. Pieces of Her - Karin Slaughter
2. An Impossible Imposter - Deanna Raybourn
3. Calico Palace here OM! Know it came from a discussion after reviewing a new western!

[Joanne]

I am in Amy, but will not have a computer for a few days. As soon as I am back up I will make a list. impossible to do on a phone IMO

[Diana]

Theresa wrote: "Which means you still have to pick your Camp!.."
Yeah, and I am really excited to see how it will go with me!

[Diana]

Amy wrote: "You are going to love Have You Seen Luis Velez! Its a beautiful book. People, she has it at 10......."

Interesting, because I wasn't expecting much of it... But now that you say it...:)

[Joy D]

I am in. I'm listing 24 to give me 2 options for each number.
Challenge Completed 12/20/23

1 The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II Anne R. Keene
2. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever - 11/8/23 - 5* - My Review - selected for October
3. Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise by Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz - 8/11/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for August
4 The Light of the World Elizabeth Alexander
5 Keep the Apidistra Flying George Orwell
6. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami - 4/12/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for April
7. Journey Without Maps by Graham Greene - 3/27/23 - 3* - My Review - selected for March
8. The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War by Neal Bascomb - 7/22/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for July
9 Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience Meg Jay e-book
10 Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage Brian Castner
11 The Tango War: The Struggle for the Hearts, Minds and Riches of Latin America During World War II Mary Jo McConahey e-book
12. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein - 5/5/23 - 3* - My Review - selected for May

Alternates:
1. The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th-Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece by Laura Cumming - 1/20/23 - 3* - My Review - selected for January
2 Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles Simon Winchester
3 Kings of the Yukon Adam Weymouth
4. Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik - 2/5/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for February
5. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh - 6/14/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for June
6 The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice - Crossing Antarctica Alone Colin O'Brady
7 Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life Max Lugavere
8 The Last Emperor of Mexico Edward Shawcross
9. Good Enough to Dream by Roger Kahn - 11/12/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for November
10. Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger - 12/20/23 - 5* - My Review - selected for December
11. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell - 9/9/23 - 4* - My Review - selected for September
12 The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World Shelley Emling

[Shelly]

I am in but with the same approach as I took this past year. I will put 24 books on the list and hope that at the end of the year, I have read 10-12 of them. It will be more of a priority TBR list, from which to pick and choose for various challenges and moods. I started putting together a list for Subdue the Self but decided it's too much "assigned reading" for me after the monthly tag, HBD PBT, and my F2F bookclub. So I will cull that list down to 24. Many Books Less Pressure shall be my mantra for 2023!

[Amy]

Welcome Ann and Shelly.

I am trusting you guys to look at each other's list to notice if there are connections you want to make, because I am not going to catch them as there are so so many coming in.

That said, my Trim list is over-full, but Ann, I would be interested somewhere some time in a buddy read of the Last Rose of Shanghai, and I have the feeling HayJay would be in for that too. If the tag pulls for it, lets remember that at least the three of us are called that way. Also, I loved the Personal Librarian, and it is quite likely amongst immense competition, to make my top ten for the year!

[Amy]

Sally, (and Hayjay and anyone), I am reading Island of Missing Trees in January. My local book club just picked it for Jan 29th, so its happening for me.... Should we want to do it together....

[Amy]

LibraryCin, Some of us have Traitors Wife at #10.

Also, Theresa, Thrilled that you are reading the Magic Circle by our favorite gal Katherine Neville.

BC - I am curious about how you will find Violinist of Auschwitz....

[Theresa]

Ann☕ wrote: "I plan to participate. My list is subject to change before January 1st. Also, I'm adding two lists of twelve books, as some other participants have chosen to do. For me, I think it's especially hel..."

Love seeing The Cottingley Secret on your list, Ann☕️! I really liked it when I read it a few years ago. Half the book is based on real events and documents, half is fiction. Really unusual.

[Meli]

I am in!
I might like to make an alternate list as well, but I would have to think on that. Requires more strategizin.

1. Between The World And Me by Ta-nehisi Coates
2. King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes
3. Giovani's Room by James Baldwin
4. Goddess of Filth by V. Castro
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
6. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
7. Mapping The Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
8. Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
9. Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer
10. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
11. Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
12. In A Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes

[Joanne]

Starting and hopefully finishing my list today, a week without a computer had put me so far behind!!! I will be keeping the buddy reads left over from 2022,

@Amy, you missed #12 Buddy read for Theresa and I The Summer Before the War

1. Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris
2. As Bright as Heaven
3. Where the Drowned Girls Go
4. Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland
5. Magic Casement
6. The Black Company*
7. Castle in the Air *
8. The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World*
9 The Widows *
10 . Cold Mountain
11. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
12. The Summer Before the War

[Hayjay315]

Amy wrote: "Sally, (and Hayjay and anyone), I am reading Island of Missing Trees in January. My local book club just picked it for Jan 29th, so its happening for me.... Should we want to do it together...."

Wonderful! Yes, I'm in for a Buddy Read of this!

[Amy]

I was just thinking that it’s also probably on my sub to the shelf list. Which means I may have to wait to read it until it’s long past wherever it is on my board. I made a mental note to look where it was between one and 100.

[LibraryCin]

Amy wrote: "LibraryCin, Some of us have Traitors Wife at #10.
..."

Thank you for catching that! I've changed it.

I tend to assume my list is very different from everyone else's. It's stuff that has been on the tbr a very long time and much of it is not as well-known or common!

[Theresa]

Meli wrote: "I am in!
I might like to make an alternate list as well, but I would have to think on that. Requires more strategizin.

1. Between The World And Me by Ta-nehisi Coates
2. King Kong Theory by Virg..."

Meli - I have so many of these books on your list sitting by my couch or on the nightstand - keep pulling them out and not getting to them.... Horrorstor and Women Talking for example. I think half your list are either books I've read or ones I have in the TBR somewhere.

NO, Amy, no buddy reads with me to be scheduled on these. If I see Meli reading any of them, and I have the inclination, we'll decide to do one or not.

[Amy]

I believe I have currently updated to date.