Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
May Checkpoint! #TBR2018RBR
Hello, TBR Pile Challengers!
Yahoo! Welcome to the 5th checkpoint for our 2018 TBR Pile Challenge. We have 100+ participants this year, with 115+ reviews already posted! That’s some pretty good reading and writing (about one book each? Maybe that’s not so great…. but here comes summer!)
I hope you’re having a good time making progress through your own TBR piles. Do I dare challenge you all to get us to TWO HUNDRED linked-up reviews by the next checkpoint? Can we do this!?
Question of the Month
If you had the chance to swap ONE book from your list right now, what would you take off your list and what would you add to it? I’ll leave my own answer in the comments.
My Progress: 4 of 12 Completed / 3 of 12 Reviewed
So far, I’ve read 4 of my 12 required books and have reviewed 3 of them. I’ve been stuck here since the last checkpoint, which is making me pretty anxious. I really wanted to be further into my list, and I DEFINITELY wanted to have that 4th book at least reviewed by now.
Unfortunately, the last 4 weeks have been the last month of the spring semester, which is always a busy time. I just finished grading 100+ research papers and 100+ final projects. I’m down now, though, and even though I will be teaching this summer, I should have plenty of extra time for reading and writing. I especially hope to get to these books on my “Summer Reading List,” some of which are on my TBR challenge list and some of which are on my Classics Club list.
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (Completed 1/3/18)
- Aristotle’s Poetics (Completed 1/10/18)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011) (Completed 01/25/18)
- The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer (Completed 03/10/18 – Review pending)
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!
MINI-CHALLENGE #2 WINNER
The winner of last month’s mini-challenge was Joel from I Would Rather Be Reading, who will receive one book of his choice ($15 USD) from The Book Depository. Congratulations, Joel! To everyone else, keep up the great reading & look for our next mini-challenge in July!
Roof Beam Reader 
To answer this month’s question: In reviewing my list at this point, I would probably Good Without God and add Pet Sematary. I would drop the first one because I’ve been doing my Bible As Lit challenge and reading a whole lot of supplementary text for that (along with the Christian bible itself), so the idea of reading more* religion this year is very unappealing right now. I would add Pet Sematary because I’m reading it right now and it would be a convenient “win” for me! Ha!
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I cannot think of anything more opposite to Bible Lit than Stephen King! It’s good to mix up what you read.
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Ha!
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I keep thinking that I put Paradox Bound by Peter Clines on my list and then being disappointed when it’s not there. I don’t know what I’d take off though – something nonfiction. Possibly A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, which I’ve decided is going to be my May book. It’s long and daunting and I need to get it out of my way!
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I have had that Bryson book on my shelf forever! Gah!
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Linda/ Adam – go for A Short History of Everything. It is one of the best introduction to the history of evolution with some wonderful anecdotes about the scientists and researches through the ages! One of my most favorite reads!
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I’ve posted six reviews so far so I’m feeling rather pleased with myself. I’m about 100 pages into book #7 and have taken a stab at book #8, but it’s a book of collected essays about WW2 Called London War Notes and it’s almost 500 pages long! That’s normally not a problem but they’re all short essays of about 1500 words and it’s not like a narrative where you get caught up in the plot, so it’s going to take a while. I am determined to finish it though probably not by the next checkpoint.
One of my other books is quite long (Testament of Youth) and some bloggers and I are doing a readalong in June. Of course it’s almost 700 pages long! Why do I simultaneously end up reading two massive books — WHAT WAS I THINKING?
If I had to choose one book to take off my TBR challenge list it would be The Collected Stories of Katherine Ann Porter, just because it’s the third book on my list that’s more than 450 pages. I seem to have left all the long books for the end!
I would probably replace it with something completely different, definitely something shorter! Maybe Barmy in Wonderland by P. G. Wodehouse. Or something by Angela Thirkell. Definitely something fun, not something about a World War!
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Haha. The only reason I’m not joining the Testament read-along is because of how long that book is. I won’t commit to anything like that right now.
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Ack! I totally missed this challenge in January… I’ve made note to pay attention to join in 2019 – in the meantime, perhaps I’ll unofficially participate 😀
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I couldn’t change a thing on my TBR list for this year. I’m still looking forward to each and every one. I feel like I need to catch up a little on my reading though!
Tarissa
http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com
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What do you teach? (As an aside, I scrapped the Twitter assignment I had planned for my students. I think it would fit better in an upper level class than a first-year comp one.)
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I teach the full range of composition (developmental through advanced/research), writing across the curriculum, and a variety of literature courses.
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Read 3.5, reviewed 3. One book that I would swap – March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman. I usually love Dr. Tuchman’s books, but in this one she has hammered the dead horse into becoming fodder and beyond. i cannot make myself go back and though I am on the last 100 odd pages and this was supposed to be my March Read Along! What would I swap it with? Not sure…may be Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope!
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I’m feeling quite pleased because I’ve read 5 and actually managed to post about 5! Also because my last read was a great new author for me (Denton Welch),so now I have all his writing to explore. I’m thinking I might have to change Dr. Zhivago, just because of the size but I don’t want to, so we’ll see.
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I have read 4 from my list and DNF 2.
Answer to this month’s challenge…
I wish I would have left off either Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight or The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I was not a fan of those two. Instead I would have added Portrait of A Killer by Patricia Cornwell and Tricks by Cambria Hebert.
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I’ve already laid aside one and keep debating about whether or not to finish it. I “discovered” Richard Armour’s poetry years ago and loved it. His books are out of print, but I found a few used copies. They’ve been sitting on my shelf for years, so I chose one for the TBR challenge. It’s just not very entertaining – maybe mildly amusing in spots. His poetry is much better. I still probably would have finished it, but I came to an off-color spot and set the book down. In its place I probably would have put The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which I’ll be reading for the Back to the Classics challenge, or Adorned by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.
I’ve already read both my alternates, which makes for 12 books complete, so technically I have finished the challenge. But I am almost done with Adam Bede, so I’ll have 13 done then, and I’ll keep thinking about finishing Amour’s book.
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I read and review 6 books, so I’m satisfied with my progress. I would swap The woman in white… I tried to read a couple of pages and I found it a little boring, so I would swap it with the first volume in the Skulduggery Pleasant series!
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I’ve posted six, but I am not currently reading one so that’s a problem. I need to start “The Sea and Poison” by Endo. If I could switch out, I’d take off “Libraries in the Ancient World” and add Hesse’s “The Glass Bead Game” to give me motivation to start the terrifying thing.
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Oh, and a next checkpoint challenge? Hm, I could maybe knock off two of the shorter titles by then?
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In retrospect, part of me wishes that I hadn’t chosen The Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton. It’s an 1100 page sci-fi behemoth that didn’t really pan out for me. I’m glad I finally knocked it off my TBR list, but I really wish I got those 40ish hours back. Oh well, onward and upward.
Hilariously, I cannot link one of the reviews I did. The link is too long. I wrote a hilariously long title for my blog post so the URL ended up being huge. If anyone cares, it’s for City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams, and it’s here:
https://anotherbook.blog/2018/03/07/7-mini-reviews-largely-because-i-worked-out-today-for-the-first-time-in-a-long-time-and-im-feeling-tired-so-deal-with-it/
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I’m in the same boat as you! Still on 3 read, haven’t finished another book off my TBR challenge list since last month. But I’m making my way through two more now, just slowly. Hoping to have these two finished by next month’s checkpoint for sure. I’ve been into listening to music a lot lately (again, always…) and sometimes that takes over reading time. Ebbs and flows.
I’m waaaaay behind on writing blog post reviews though. Really behind. I’ve been having some computer trouble and I just don’t want to deal with it!
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First, a note: I screwed up the link to my latest review, and couldn’t find a way to delete the link, so ended up post the correct link right after. That’s going to throw your books read count off by 1 — sorry!
What book would I remove from my list now if I could? Maybe The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, if only because that’s the one that’s been on multiple TBR lists over the years and I still haven’t managed to read it, so it’s the one least like to get read this year.
What would I add? Seanan McGuire’s first Velveteen Vs. book, since I’m going to read that for another challenge anyway.
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Probably a good time to pass on Junot Diaz, too. 🤐
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I’ve finished five from my list. It was such a relief to finish Orley Farm. I felt that book was really weighing me down and keeping me from getting anything fun read.
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I’m not doing so well this year, mainly because a lot of the books are hard copy and I just don’t read paper books very much. I think Les Miserables isn’t going to happen for me this year. I’d swap it for Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, which was amazing and feels like a very important read right now. So far I’ve read and reviewed three, and I’m working on the fourth.
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Just Mercy is an excellent and important read! But Les Miserables is so good, too.
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I’ve read two books from my list so far. Well, technically, I DNF’d one this month (The Swarm), but it was an 800+ page book and I did manage to read 250 pages of it, so it FELT like I read a whole book. The good thing about that experience is its a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time and now that I feel I’ve thoroughly experienced it, I can let it go. At this point, I don’t feel the need to swap out a book, but I need to get a move on if I hope to put a larger dent in my list.
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I have read and posted on three of my books, and I hope to get two posts up for May. So averaging one a month for the challenge isn’t bad, right?
If I could ditch one, it would probably be As I Lay Dying. Not that I don’t want to read it at some point, but after Moby Dick and now working on Anna Karenina, I’m good with the classics. I may just use one of my alternates. Who knows, I may feel different in the fall.
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I’ve read and reviewed 4, so I’m a little behind where I wanted to be (a book a month), but not bad. Planning to pick up the pace over the summer. I’d remove Guns, Germs, and Steel (I just can not get into it) and replace it with Your Jesus is too Safe.
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Adam: I have read and reviewed seven books plus read one that I haven’t gotten reviewed yet. I am so behind on my reviews this year–it’s pitiful!
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8 books in 6 months! That’s great!
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(I have 4 books sitting on my desk waiting to be reviewed and I’m in the middle of reading 2 more!) 😂😭
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I’ve read and reviewed 5 total, so at this point, I feel like I’m on track. If I had to drop one book, I would say ‘Don Quixote’ since it’s so long. Reading Adam’s comment reminded me that I have a copy of ‘Pet Sematary’ that has been sitting on my shelf forever. Since a new movie version is being made, I’m tempted, so tempted. Also, I was so excited to get my prize in the mail from the last checkpoint contest. I chose Calvino’s ‘The Baron in the Trees’ since I really liked the one by him I read for this challenge. Keep up all the reading everyone!
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