Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Scaling Mount TBR

I was watching Finding Forrester the other day, and I suddenly realized that I'm not so strange.
The book-filled apartment that William Forrester (played by Sean Connery) inhabits looks like a writer's home. There are also typewriters laying around here and there, which would be cool. I've owned several typewriters in my lifetime, including a huge metal behemoth that I inherited from my grandmother. Sadly, I don't have any of those typewriters anymore.

I do have books, though, lots and lots of them. There are books in bookcases, books on my work table, books on my desk. There is even one stack of books tucked against the wall next to an overly-filled bookcase. And no, I haven't read all those books. But I'm working on it. In Finding Forrester the writer has tables filled with stacks and stacks of books. And it isn't crazy, it's just the way a writer's home should look....

Now about all those books that I own and admittedly haven't read.
Thank goodness Bev at My Reader's Block is going to help me with this! She has helpfully come up with the Mount TBR Reading Challenge, and I'm so glad she hosted this challenge.
I've already knocked two books off of my tbr list for this challenge. 
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

In order to count for this reading challenge, the books must be ones that you owned before January 1, 2012. They cannot be ARCs or library books. I'm going to try for forty books this year (that would be Mount Ararat), but even if I only knock off twenty-five or so, I'll feel accomplished.

I had heard so much about the Laurie R. King series, and I remembered reading one of her mysteries and really liking it. The Language of Bees was engaging, and had some nice period details, but I was surprised at how little Mary Russell seemed to interact with her husband--and I thought the ending seemed contrived. So the book started out well for me, but I felt a bit "meh" at the end.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest was exactly what I thought it would be, only with slightly less coffee and Billy's Pan Pizza. Still, it was a satisfying way to decompress after a terrible week at work.

Now to complete and refine my list for this challenge. There is nothing quite so satisfying and virtuous as crossing something off a list....

What's on your TBR list?

7 comments:

Bev Hankins said...

And I'm so glad you're joining me in scaling the TBR heights! Great start!

bermudaonion said...

There are so many books in my TBR, I don't even know where to begin. Good luck with the challenge.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

When I saw that photo of the Underwood Typewriter, I immediately thought of Jeff Bridges in the movie Jagged Edge! Have you seen it? Great movie.

ImageNations said...

This is a good challenge. I have acquired just a single book this year and my TBR books are not in the triple digits, not yet.

I watched Finding Forrester and I really loved that movie. The writer was virtually immersed in books. I'm not one-hundredth there yet. I have only one book shelf, tightly packed though and some are now sitting on other places.

Scriptor Senex said...

I too parted with a big old typewriter some time. I don't have many regrets in life bnut that is a BIG one.

bibliophiliac said...

@Bev-thanks for hosting this challenge!
@bermudaonion-there is even a book about this situation (Howard's End is on the Landing)...
@Diane-that movie was so scary! I let out a bloodcurdling scream at one point!
@Nana-I'm glad someone else loves that movie!
@ScriptorSenex-typewriter regret....

Kerry M said...

Mount TBR -- what an appropriate concept! Best of luck to you. I've been trying to read more that's already on my TBR list, especially books I already own, but a lot of those are ARCs for me.