TBR Pile Checkpoint #2: February Progress!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by

43 Comments

2013tbrpilechall

Congratulations to our February Winner: Alyssa from The Reader’s Refuge!   

Hello, TBR Pile Challengers!

It is February 15th and we are now at Checkpoint #2 for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge! I know many of you have been making fantastic progress through your challenge lists already – so congratulations to you!

I have currently read 5 of my required 12 books. I can’t believe that I’m off to such a good start this year.  I will likely finish a few more before the end of May, as some of these books actually fit in with my coursework reading assignments this semester, too (bonus!).  Here’s what I’ve read, so far:

Book #1: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Book #2: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Book #3: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Book #4: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Book #5: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

How are YOU doing? How many books have you completed? We’re only in the 2nd month of the challenge, so don’t feel discouraged if you haven’t started or are only a book or two in (actually – 2 books would be right on track, so go you!).

Are there any books you’ve read that you’ve been surprised by (in a good or bad way)?  Any books coming up soon that you’re really looking forward to (or dreading)?

Below, you’re going to find the infamous Mr. Linky widget. IF you have completed any reviews for books on your challenge list, please feel free to link them up here so that we can easily find your posts, encourage one another, see what progress is being made on all these piles, etc. Also, feel free to link-up to your own checkpoint post, should you decide to write one (not required – but feel free to do so, if you want!)

Also – this month’s check-point comes with a giveaway! YAY!  As I mentioned in January, any books that you have read and reviewed for this challenge, since January 20th, and which you link-up to the Mr. Linky below will count as entries toward the giveaway.

The Prize:  One book of your choice ($20 USD or Less) to be shipped from The Book Depository!

So, Good Luck and  Happy Reading!

LINK UP YOUR REVIEWS Jan 21 – Feb 20
(Please wait until March 15th to link-up posts written after Feb. 20)

Category: 2013 Challenges, 2013 TBR Pile Challenge, Giveaway, Giveaways

43 Comments on “TBR Pile Checkpoint #2: February Progress!”

  1. You really are doing so well! I’m jealous!

    Since Jan 20 I’ve read & reviewed “Trace” by Patricia Cornwell and “Satori in Paris” by Jack Kerouac – both were okay in their own ways. Trace was fast paced and kept my attention, so I enjoyed reading it (despite its flaws); Satori in Paris was short and very Kerouac-esque, so it kept my brain engaged and laughing at the Parisian influenced Kerouac.

    As for what’s coming up – I have a LOT of LONG books on my list. I just need to jump in and get going with them. Next I think will be “Blood of the Fold” by Terry Goodkind. Time to revisit some old book friends 🙂

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    • Good for you! You’re right on track! I really should read some more Kerouac. I didn’t like On the Road very much, so haven’t gone back. But I’ve had Desolation Angels on my shelf for quite a while, so maybe I’ll read that soon.

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      • I’m hoping to get to Dharma Bums sometime soon. It’s not on my TBR list (but should have been). My favorite professor told me that he loved it and thought it could become my favorite book (“I just really see this being YOUR book, Courtney, like it has been MY book for so long”), but somehow finishing it seems so final. Books do weird things to you! 🙂

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  2. I’ve completed a total of three for the year, the two new ones are linked. I had two very opposite reactions to the two titles.
    One I loved and adored and will re-read, and the other one I abhorred and will be kindling.
    I almost gave up, but I decided that I would have wasted half my week on it so I took a deep breath and plowed through.

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  3. I can’t believe you’ve already read 5 of your books! You’re doing awesome! I’ve got two down and just started a third. It’s Vanity Fair though, so it will take awhile.

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  6. People had talked about Blue Asylum and I had to read it. I’m so glad I did. It’s a really good story, it makes you think, makes you feel anger for society, and just gives you a soft-spot.

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  7. I’m at the 1.5 Books point. Read Jim Butcher’s The Darkest Hours in January, and I’m not quite half-way through George RR Martin’s Storm of Swords right now. That thing is over 1100 pages long, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be done with it by the 20th. I did post the link to my Butcher review since I missed the Mr. Linky deadline for that last month.

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  8. I was able to finish and review two books, White Teeth by Zadie Smith and Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. I really enjoyed both of them, and they were two of the books that have been on my to-read list the longest! Congrats on already having finished five of your challenge books. Even better, in my mind, is that they link up with your course reading–that’s such a great feeling! 🙂

    In case anyone is interested, my checkpoint post, where I link to all of the reviews for this challenge, can be found here: http://bookwanderer.wordpress.com/reading-challenges/.

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  9. I have GOT to get on this challenge. I’ll be out of town for a few days next week, and I’m only going to take one of my must-read books with me.

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  10. My early 2013 reads were old, to accommodate vintage mystery and classic youth themes all at once. Old publications are a delight. I found “Black Amber” difficult because an investigation of a sister’s death in Turkey included a brutal animal death: a deal-breaker. That’s a rule for getting rid of a book. “The Salzburg Connection” dragged longer than the average 300 pages; heavy because it was a nazi spy chase and I’m unaccustomed to that. I don’t read science fiction either, even though I love it on screen but “Dark They Were & Golden-Eyed” progressed quickly.

    If a closing post isn’t required: I’m done this challenge! It’s exciting there’s a giveaway this month. I believe my next one is the completion prize. I thank Adam for his generousity. Here’s my list for the interested. Hope your St. Valentine’s days were great! *Carolyn* http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/roof-beam-reader-2013/

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  11. I’m still working on my first book!! Not enough hours in the day 😦 I wish my coursework required the books on my list! But business and math classes hardly require literature :P.

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    • Elyssa: university is a reading killer! Soon on my blog, I’m going to share a funny story about how that stopped my pleasure reading for YEARS…. and what got it going again. Í’m in 30 reading events; must cross some of them off early!

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  13. Awesome progress, Adam! I have finished two books. I put this challenge and the Eclectic Reader on hold just for a bit because my local public library’s challenge is short, only from January–mid-March so I am making sure I can read those five before the end-date! I admit I’m looking at my TBR list and dreading a couple now, specifically Cold Mountain (Frazier) and The Shipping News (Proulx). Not that I think they’ll be bad, necessarily, but more because my interest in them have waned… and I think I might have seen The Shipping News movie a while ago, which sort of dampens my enthusiasm to read a book. It was an accident, I swear! 😉 http://mylittleheartmelodies.com/book-challenges/2013-tbr-pile/

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  16. Three more books off my challenge list, plus three more from my “secondary list” of sequels to challenge books. (I deliberately limited my challenge list to the first volume where there were sequels.) That’s six out of fifteen down, or eleven of 23 in the bigger list.

    And yet, I’m still three books behind in my overall goal of 150 for the year. Maybe I can finish two more over the weekend; I’m in the middle of another secondary book and have pretty much decided on the primary anthology I want to hit next. That’d be 7/15 and 13/23, and then I might only be one down for the year…

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  17. I finished two book from my list, and the reviews will be on my blog coming week. I read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi and Vita by Melania Mazzucco.
    For this month I have another book waiting to read, perhaps two of the books on my list.

    kind regards,

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  18. Amazing progress! I’ve managed to knock off three (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, My Life in France and Austenland) but only have the former two reviewed so far. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was good, if a little fairytale-ish for my taste. My Life in France was a gorgeous memoir, one of the best French ones I’ve read and Austenland was a bit like a train wreck I just couldn’t stop watching 🙂

    By the way, my blogs had a name change. What was Sarah’s Shelf is now The Everyday Reader.

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  19. I’ve fallen way behind already at the very first checkpoint. Have only gone as far as taking one book off the shelf! (Codex by Lev Grossman) Congrats to all who have been going great guns!

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  20. Congrats on fighting your TBR pile. I should do that too, face the pile and say: I can handle you, I’ll win. Hopefully, one book at a time will do for me.

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  21. I really should read something by Virginia Woolf, do you think Orlando is a good book to start with? Also, I have a question regarding the giveaway, I’ve reviewed several books for the Classics Challenge, but in Spanish, do they still count as an entry?

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  22. Wow, everyone is making good progress! I have finished exactly ONE book so far, “The Middle Window” by Elizabeth Goudge. I didn’t know anything about it when I started, but it would make a great Bollywood movie. I’m also halfway through “The Souls of Black Folk” and have started “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man,” so I’m not doing too badly, but I need to get going!

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  24. I’ve read one and 200 pages of Middlemarch and about to start Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood so quite happy with progress so far.

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  25. Yikes, I haven’t read any of mine yet. But it’s mostly because I’m trying to read all of the books on the Tournament of Books shortlist right now before the tournament happens, so that’s mostly what I’ve been reading recently.

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  26. I linked my first book read but posted it on the 17th of Jan. when I was on vacation so I missed linking it last month. Hope it’s ok to link it now!

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  27. Phew! I finally finished ONE of the books on my TBR list. Clearly, I need to prioritize these better.

    I read A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle.

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  29. I’ve only finished one (Cold Sassy Tree), but a book for this challenge came up as my Classics Spin book (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the month so I’ll still be on track. 🙂

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    • Woo! I love when challenge reads coincide! Two accomplishments for the effort of one! 🙂

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  30. I’m off to a pretty good start — three reviews posted! I just posted Please Look After Mom, and fortunately my Classics Club spin assignment coincides with this challenge. I’ll be reading On the Road, which I know is not one of your favorites — I’ve heard that from others too so it may be a tough read.

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  31. I have completed only one book in this challenge which I posted before 1/20. I am about 1/3 the way through “The Historian” but kind of stuck there since I have other books I must read. I’m not taking any classes before April 1st, so I’m trying to get the longer TBR books read now.

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  32. So far, I haven’t finished any books on my list. I’m hoping to change that in the next few weeks though, if everything goes according to plan.

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  34. grrrrrrr

    OK I’m reading my first book of the challenge now. By the next check point, I will be finally ready!! 😉

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