Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
March Checkpoint! #TBR2018RBR
Greetings, Challengers!
So, here we are in our third month of the TBR Pile Challenge – 25% of the way done! I am pleased to announce that we have 60+ book reviews linked up in our Mr. Linky widget (below). Nice work! Can we get another 30 this month?
As a reminder, the winner of the first Mini-Challenge was Fanda from Fanda Classiclit! Fanda won a book of her choice ($20USD) from The Book Depository. She chose a copy of Charles Dickens’s Hard Times, in honor of Dickens’s birthday. Enjoy, Fanda! Our second mini-challenge with prize will happen in April!
Question of the Month
This month’s question is simple: what’s the best book you’ve read so far this year? (It could be from this challenge, but it doesn’t need to be). If you feel so inclined, you might also share which has been your worst read of the year (any DNFs?)
My Progress: 4 of 12 Completed / 3 of 12 Reviewed
So far, I’ve read 4 of my 12 required books. At the moment, I’m confident that I will be able to read and review all 14 books on my TBR Pile Challenge list this year! I’m excited about that because I’m usually playing catch-up at the end of the year. What has been more challenging, though, is getting my reviews written in a reasonable timeframe. I have four books sitting in a pile to be reviewed, a couple of recent ones but a couple from weeks ago. This becomes a real challenge because the more time goes by, the less I can remember about what I meant to say about the book in the first place! Uh oh. I guess I have a new goal for myself… write my reviews within a few days of finishing the book(s)?
Books Read So Far:
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (Completed 1/3/18)
- Aristotle’s Poetics (Completed 1/10/18)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Completed 1/25/18)
- The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer (Completed 3/10/18 – review coming)
How are you doing?
Below, you’re going to find the infamous Mr. Linky widget. If you read and review any challenge books this month, please link-up on the widget below. This Mr. Linky will be re-posted every month so that we can compile a large list of all that we’re reading and reviewing together this year.
Each review that is linked-up on this widget throughout the year may also earn you entries into future related giveaways, so don’t forget to keep this updated!
Roof Beam Reader 
I’ve finished 4 of 12 on my TBR pile list! So far my favorites have been Miss Mole by E. H. Young (from the TBR Pile Challenge) and my current read (well, reread) Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. Least favorite so far is probably Crazy Rich Asians which is just glorified chick lit. Meh.
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I need to read more Gaskell! North and South used to be on my Classics Club list, but I think I took it off? I’m too lazy to go look. HA!
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I’ve read 7 of the 14, so I am halfway through! I am nearly finished with the 8th. But I have two longer books coming up. One of my favorites so far is Trust: A Godly Woman’s Adornment, a small devotional book dealing with combating fear and anxiety. It was on my TBR stack, but not one I listed for this challenge. Of the ones for this challenge I think my favorite is the one I am in now, Where the Red Fern Grows. My least favorite: Journey to the Center of the Earth. I like the other Verne books I have read, but this one just didn’t appeal to me on any level.
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Wow! Amazing progress. Where the Red Fern Grows is such a treasure! I absolutely love that book – I remember first reading it as a teenager and having to run off to a corner to finish it because I was crying like a baby. Verne is interesting considering the time he was writing, but I’ve never been that drawn in by his books… I did “like” Center of the Earth, though.
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Congrats on all your progress so far Adam! Right now I’m perfectly on track with 3 out of my 12 books read, although I did have to reach into my alternates list already. I don’t think any of the books I’ve read for the challenge have qualified as favorites but I am going to read The Little Friend by Donna Tartt next, so that may change soon 🙂 A backlist fave not on the challenge has been Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer! It was so perfectly creepy and I can’t wait to read the sequel soon too.
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Nice progress! I’ve finished two and I’m halfway through my third for the challenge.
Best of the year so far have been Dark Money, Broad Strokes, Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, and One Summer: America, 1927.
Worst of the year is Fire and Fury, just pure trash but it was kinda funny in a masochistic way. I also wish I’d skipped Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Not for me.
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Oh, man. I really liked Astrophysics!
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I get why people love it! I just… it was really over my head. Not my forté!
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Ha! I’ve got a post scheduled for tomorrow you might enjoy. I share a similar sentiment.
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I think my favorite read of the year so far is indeed one of my TBR challenge reads, The Young Fur Traders. It had been so long since I’d read a Ballantyne novel.
Tarissa
http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com
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I’ve only read two so far, I’m falling behind but will catch up! My favorite of the two was We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. An excellent read about how animal research can be heartbreaking.
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I just finished my 5th book for the challenge, which I’ll be posting about soon. I’m trying to write posts as soon as possible after finishing the books because my memories are so fleeting. My favorite book I’ve read so far this year was the first book I read for the challenge – A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
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Just linked up my post for the 4th book: Resurrection by Tolstoy. My worst read so far. 🙂
My favorite is East of Eden, which I read right before Resurrection. So, from the best to the worst in one month, haha…
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Yikes, based on how everyone else is doing, I need to catch up! I’m still only at one book read. I think once I catch up with a few of the reading schedules I have right now, I’ll try and knock out a few more in April.
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I just linked my fourth review for this challenge. At the moment, I’m feeling confident that I will finish this challenge. I need to continue to read at least 1 or 2 books from my list each month. As far as best book of the year, there have been several for me that make the cut. From my TBR list, my two favorites so far have been ‘Invisible Man’ and ‘If on a winter’s night a traveler.’ My other two favorites of the year are Natalie Goldberg’s fantastic ‘Writing Down the Bones” (a must read for writers) and ‘Stories of Your Life and Others’ by Ted Chiang. If you love sci-fi as much as I do, you should really read Chiang. He will blow your mind!
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I’ve read 3 and am half way through my 4th, so that’s ok; but I’ve fallen behind with the posting and I see there’s only a week of March left. I will not panic! My favourite read this year so far has been a re-read of Orlando. I had forgotten quite how brilliant, original and truly creative it is. Unfortunately it wasn’t for any of my challenges!
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Ohhh Orlando is amazing. 💜
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Have you seen the film? I watched it for the first time after this reading – what fun!
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I’ve read a few but forgot to link up reviews, should I still add them to the link up?
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Sure!
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