Kim - aiming just a little higher ....

[Kim]

Thank you, J. *bows*

[[deleted user]]

I'm behind on reading the reviews... I will get to it later this afternoon.

[Dawn (& Ron)]

Did I see you've made it through #20 already? Wow, good for you! And to think you started on Pike's Peak.

[Kim]

Not quite twenty, Dawn. I've finished #19 and I'm about half way through #20. (The #19 I referred to in an earlier post has become #20 by virtue of the fact that I finished "A Time of Gifts" first!).

[Dawn (& Ron)]

19 or 20, still a good job, either way.

[Kim]

I've finished #20, The Dervish House and #21, The Sylph. Reviews to come.

[[deleted user]]

Brava. I am totally stalled. I can't get any reading done at all!

[Jemidar]

I think we've all been left choking on her dust!

[Kim]

My reviews of The Sylph and The Dervish House have now been posted.

Meanwhile, I have started #22, Laurie R King's The Game.

[Kim]

Jemidar wrote: "I think we've all been left choking on her dust!"

LOL! We've both seen the zillions of books some of the members of this group have managed to read since the beginning of the year. Until I joined up, I thought I read reasonably fast. Now I know better!

[[deleted user]]

Kim wrote: "Until I joined up, I thought I read reasonably fast. Now I know better! "

I always thought I was a speedy reader too!

[[deleted user]]

I've always been in the middle, sometimes speedy and sometimes not. Having this challenge, and so many buddy-reads has made me pick up the pace.

[Kim]

I've finished #22, The Game and reviewed it here.

I've started #23, The Hanover Square Affair, which I think will prove to be rather ordinary, particularly after the great books I've read / listened to recently.

[Jemidar]

Jeez, you've nearly made it to 25 and it's not even June yet!

[Kim]

Jemidar wrote: "Jeez, you've nearly made it to 25 and it's not even June yet!"

Yes, but I'm going to run out of pre-2012-owned-but-not-read books relatively soon. Unlike some of my dearest friends, I don't tend to stockpile books. ;) However, my book buying habits may be in the process of undergoing some subtle changes.

[Jemidar]

Just think, under my influence you could end up reaching Everest next year ;-D.

[Kim]

Hmmm. That's possible, I guess. :D However, I rather like the instant gratification of acquiring a book which I'm going to read RIGHT NOW (or at least in the next week of two) rather than at some unspecified time in the future. Which is one of the reasons why reading Bring Up the Bodies is going to be such fun!

[Jemidar]

My problem is that I tend to get distracted by newer books so if I don't read them immediately I get them they often sit around for a while. My other problem is I buy books faster than I can read!

[Kim]

Almost all of my post-university adult life - after I stopped using the library because I hated having to wait for newer books - I've bought books in twos. There would be the book that I was going to read after the one I was reading right now and the book I would be reading after that. Those books would be supplemented by the books I received as gifts and the books I re-read. That way, I always had piles of books: big piles of books I'd already read and a much smaller pile of books I still had to read.

However, buying books by hitting a few keys on the computer has certainly changed that. (And hanging around with you, of course!!)

[Jemidar]

Yes, I tend to buy books in twos too, but that does depend a lot on how often you buy them. LOL. I totally agree that shopping online is hazardous to Mt TBR especially when you're an insomniac and can click away in the dead of night without anybody noticing!

[Dawn (& Ron)]

Kim wrote: "I've finished #22, The Game and reviewed it here.

I've started #23, The Hanover Square Affair, which I think will prove to be rather ordinary, particularly after the great books I've read / liste..."

I was surprised by The Hanover Square Affair, it wasn't all the light fluff, cozy I anticipated. I find ones enjoyment of a read is affected by some degree by your most recent reads, so we will see how Hanover stacks up for you.

On the book buying thing, we buy too many at one time, out of fear we won't remember to pick up that book at a later time but we have made a conscious effort to do better with that. Used bookstores or library sales can certainly change that, especially when you come across those OOP books that you've been looking for for so long.

[Kim]

#23, The Hanover Square Affair, finished and reviewed.

[Jemidar]

You should have this whole challenge thing wrapped up by the end of June ;-).

[Kim]

I'm done with #24, Wings Of Fire, which I've reviewed here.

The current buddy read of A Tale of Two Cities counts for this challenge, as does Enigma, which I've just started. So I guess I'll have scaled Mt Vancouver within a week or so.

[Jemidar]

Congrats! How many books do you have left that qualify for the challenge?

[Kim]

I'm not sure. Probably no more than about half a dozen, although if I check my bookshelves carefully I might find some more lurking there. I know that I would still like to read Evelina and The Book Thief and probably The Name of the Rose. And I've got a handful of NF books I should tackle.

[Jemidar]

Know which three books we'll be reading soon then! Only Evelina will qualify for me but I still really want to read the other two :-).

[Dawn (& Ron)]

Kim, major congrats on almost tackling Mt. Vancouver!

[Sherry]

Wow, you are really knocking these out!! Good luck on finishing up in just a few books :D

[Kim]

Thanks, Dawn and Sherry.

[[deleted user]]

Are you going to bump up to the next level? I'm staying on the bunny hill! lol

[Kim]

Jeannette wrote: "Are you going to bump up to the next level?"

I don't think I have fifteen unread books aquired before this year which I actually want to read. Six or seven maybe. Possibly as many as ten. But certainly not fifteen. So I'll overreach the Mt Vancouver goal but not head for the dizzying heights of whatever comes after Mt Vancouver!!

[[deleted user]]

I don't own all that many unread books, either. Finding 12 I wanted to read was a stretch for me. If my friendly bookseller friend didn't send me boxes of ARCs, I wouldn't have so many books waiting to be read. She just likes to share the bounty. I like to get my books at the library.

[Sherry]

If I don't add the books on my kindle (downloadad many classics and other free books from Amazon!), I'm not sure I'd have enough for Mt. Vancouver either! But great work on skipping over the bunny hill! I'm pretty sure I can complete that, but probably not this level in time!

[Sherry]

For *above* Mt. Vancouver. Look at me, dropping my words!

[MichelleCH]

Jemidar wrote: "Know which three books we'll be reading soon then! Only Evelina will qualify for me but I still really want to read the other two :-)."
Happy to read with you two, I have
The Book Thief and The Name of the Rose on my list too...

[Jemidar]

Cool. Will let you know when we're ready to read them. If we forget and you see us reading them without you, feel free to barge in :-).

[Kim]

What Jemidar says, Michelle!

I have scaled Mt Vancouver. Here is my review of #25, A Tale of Two Cities.

[Jemidar]

Congrats! How's the view?

[Kim]

Very nice indeed! Now if I could just get to Canada to see the real view...

[[deleted user]]

Is this it for you then? Congratulations!

I'm sure to get To2C done for the June cut-off, and maybe one more.

[Kim]

Jeannette wrote: "Is this it for you then? Congratulations!"

Thank you! Now that I'm at the top of Mt Vancouver, I'm either heading down the other side, or jogging on the spot!

I've finished #26, Enigma, which is reviewed here.

[Sherry]

Wow! Congrats Kim!! Keep it up! Perhaps if we call it jogging back down the mountain it'll be a nice mix of both options?

[Kim]

Sherry wrote: "Wow! Congrats Kim!! Keep it up! Perhaps if we call it jogging back down the mountain it'll be a nice mix of both options?"

Thanks, Sherry. And what a good idea. Jogging down a hill always seems much easier - on the lungs if not the knees!

[MichelleCH]

Jemidar wrote: "Cool. Will let you know when we're ready to read them. If we forget and you see us reading them without you, feel free to barge in :-)."
Sounds good!

[Kim]

Number 27 on my way down Mt Vancouver was a bit unexpected. I thought I was re-reading Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons, only to realise that I hadn't read it before, even though I love Anne Tyler and the book's been sitting on my bookshelf for the best part of 20 years. I've reviewed it here.

[Kim]

After a long break taken up with shiny new books, I've finally managed to knock over another from Mt TBR. My review of The Book Thief is here.