Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
TBR Pile Checkpoint #4: April Progress!
Welcome Back, TBR Pile Challengers!
It is April 15th and we are now at Checkpoint #4 for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge! Can you believe we’re already 1/3 of the way through our challenge? Congrats to all those who have been keeping pace and making some progress – it has been awesome to see all the discussions on Twitter, Facebook, and your blogs!
Where I’m At: I have already read 7 of my required 12 books. I can’t believe I’m more than half-way done! I plan to read one more (Gods and Monsters) by mid-May, which will leave me with just 3 more books to finish this challenge. Looks like I might get to read all of my 12 and the 2 alternates, this year!
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
Book #6: Sodom on the Thames: Sex, Love, and Scandal in Wilde Times by Morris Kaplan
Book #7: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
My favorites so far have been Orlando, A Streetcar Named Desire, and O Pioneers! but, I’ve really enjoyed all of my choices – the Morris Kaplan text, in particular, was very interesting!
Now that we’re 1/3 of the way into the new year and this challenge, what are your thoughts? How are you doing? Have any of your books blown your mind? Any major duds leave you diving for the alternate pile?
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!)
Now, Onward! And Happy Reading!
LINK UP YOUR REVIEWS March 21 – April 20
(Please wait until May 15th to link-up posts written after April 20th)
Roof Beam Reader 
Linked up the one I read for March, which I just finished the read along for. Now that means I definitely have to read one title each month in order to complete the challenge. I am wondering if I would have to hunker down and turn of all electronic devices and computer access in order to do that (mainly because I keep accepting too many review requests).
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I’ve linked up my tracking post–with the two recent reads in my link title. I’m half-way done at a little over a fourth of the way through the year. Not too shabby (although not quite my pace from previous years). I’ve been distracted by ARC reviews and shiny new books for 2013.
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That’s fantastic! To be ahead of schedule while also doing a lot of other reading is great – good on ya!
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That’s kind of where I’m at; several of the series I keep current in have distracted me, so I only knocked one book off of this challenge this month. I’m still well ahead for the year, though; I’ve only got 4/15 books to go.
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There should only be a total of 14 books on your TBR Pile list (of course, if you end up reading all 15, then you’ve met the requirements – but keep in mind the details specify a master list of 12 with 2 possible alternates. So that’s 14). 🙂
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I keep trucking along with about one book a month! The last book I read for this challenge was Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffennegger. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I expected I would, but I’m still happy to have finally read it and gotten it off of my TBR list! 🙂 Really interested to see how everyone else is progressing!
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This is a great project, Adam. I have a huge TBR pile (about 15 books) and I sure need to pay more attention to what I have there and why I bought it so that I read them as eagerly as I would have when I first purchased them.
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Thanks! I think most of us are in the same boat. Technically, sign-ups for this year are closed (since we get started at the start of each new year, sign-ups usually close by the end of January), but feel free to join along anyway! Late comers are welcome, although only original challengers are eligible for prizes. But, still, the main prize is conquering the TBR Pile!
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Oww thanks so much for the invite! I’m actually reading one TBR every other book I read (ARC copies, library copies etc). Thanks for being so open, I’m honoured!
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15? How does 345 sound? 🙂
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I just linked to reviews on my 4th and 5th TBR Pile books, so I’m ahead of schedule! The Virginian and Prodigal Summer are my favorites so far, followed by Brooklyn. Cleopatra’s Daughter left me with mixed feelings, and I was definitely disappointed with The Whiskey Rebels. I’m not sure which TBR candidate I’ll read next–I’m in the middle of Frankenstein (which technically is a TBR, but I didn’t declare it) and Murder Most Austen, which I’m reading totally on a whim…the type that keeps you from reading from your TBR shelf 🙂
I would love to see a live production of Streetcar–my kids read it in school this year (seniors in high school), and ended up liking it quite a bit.
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Already?? Agh! I have been working on one of my more challenging titles in the pile–Last of the Mohicans–and I’m only about 60% of the way through. For a riproaring adventure novel, it sure does have a lot of excessive verbiage. I’m enjoying it OK and it’s interesting, but I’m kind of thinking of putting it on a list of Unreadable Books.
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I’m such a bad challenge participant. I haven’t read a single book yet. *hangs head in shame* I still plan to read all 12, though. I just better get started soon, lol.
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Technically it’s still early in the year and I’m sure you’re not the only one. But yes…get a move on! Lol More giveaways are coming up, too…so you’ve got double incentive!
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I’ve completed four and I’m reading the fifth (Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut). So I’m on track but I haven’t tackled George Eliot yet.
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Oh, I love Cat’s Cradle! Vonnegut I’d one of my favorite writers and that’s one of God best, in my opinion. Eliot is great, too – I fell in love with her Mill on the Floss. Which of her books do you have on your list?
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I’m at 5/12, so still on schedule. A Year in Provence was my latest finish and that one was bitterly disappointing. I only finished it because it’s less than 200 pages. In other news, I recently realised my original list only had 10 books on it instead of 12 (I don’t know how it happened, I know even less how no one noticed or how I didn’t realise until I’d read 5 and thought I was getting through my list awfully quickly). So there have been two additions, including Les Miserables. Which may just break me in terms of getting through all 12 in the year, but I’ll give it a shot.
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Hmm…that I’d strange because I check all the lists. Ah well at least you caught it. Les Miserables is incredible!
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Let’s see…I’ve started two books for the challenge but haven’t gotten anywhere near finishing (or past the 20 page mark!). Really must work on that….
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I’m only one month “behind” and finished up The Bell Jar, which has been on my TBR for WAY longer than a year!
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I put up the link to my latest review, but I actually have 4 up, now. I’m on track for one TBR Challenge book per month, and I’m pretty pleased with myself. This month I read A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies by Ellen Cooney, an historical fiction about a woman who retreats from her philandering husband to a hotel where the male staff service the female clientele in ways that are impolite to discuss in Victorian society.
Before that, I read Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith, her final published book. It’s not the one I’ll be remembering her by, but it was a fun read, and it kept me turning pages.
Before that, it was The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones, which is a snarky guidebook to fantasy tropes.
Per a commenter request, I’ve taken down the word verification on my blog, at least until I’ve had a chance to see whether it’ll invite another flood of sp*m. So it’s no longer as much of a pain to comment, though I’m still moderating them in hopes that’ll deter most of the culprits.
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I was glad to see Jenni Elyse’s confession, as I too have to hang my head with my 0 for 12 reading record so far. I even put a page on my blog specially for this challenge – the only yearlong challenge that I signed up for – and still…not one single book read! I’ve got to get going on this, so thanks for the check-in post!
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I finally got cooking and knocked out three already. Still need to write the reviews, but I feel better at least having read them. 🙂
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I linked to a check in post instead of a review. I hope that’s okay. I don’t think I’d checked in since January!
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Check-in posts are totally fine!
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I’ve only completed two books, but I’ve just started a third which I hope to finish by the end of the month. I’m determined not to check out any more books from the library (except books for my book group) until I make more progress on the TBR shelves! And the book group books will all be on audio which I can listen to in the car.
I think I chose too many long books for my TBR challenge and they’re scaring me.
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I have read 3 of my 12 so far. No duds, but I found Woolf’s Between the Acts barely penetrable.
Haven’t reviewed any as yet though..
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I’ve read one of my twelve, so I’m a little behind. But! I’ve started 3 more, so there is hope I could get caught up.
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You can definitely still get caught up – there are still 8 months left in the year! And even one is still progress. Good job and Good luck. 🙂
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I’ve slowed down a little (though, that assumes I picked up any speed at all…) and am at 4/12 and 1/2 for the alternates. I’d really love to finish all 14 listed, but am aiming at a minimum of reading all 14! How on earth is is 1/4 of the way through the year already!?!?!
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