Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
July Checkpoint! #TBR2019RBR
Hello, TBR Pile Challengers!
I hope your summer is going well. We are now in the second-half of our annual challenge, and I’ve seen and read a lot of awesome updates and reviews for challenge books. Thank you for sharing!
As promised in June, this month’s checkpoint comes with the third of four planned mini-challenges. I hope you’ll all take the opportunity to play the game and have a little fun. It doesn’t matter how far you are into your challenge, this time! Anyone who pre-registered for our challenge and linked up their list on time, way back in January, can enjoy this one. See below for details.
Progress: 7 of 12 Completed / 7 of 12 Reviewed
I made a lot of progress in June, but none in July so far. That’s largely due to the fact that I decided to work on my own writing this summer and, in July specifically, I’m “avoiding” fiction in order to read poetry instead. I’m also starting a project on Buddhism, so I’m reading a lot of that as well. I find that reading poetry while writing my own fiction is helpful in keeping my creative juices flowing without unduly influencing my own work. That said, I’m technically on pace, having read 7 books in 7 months. I hope to sneak in a few more challenge reads before summer ends, to give myself a head start before fall term begins, when I know I’ll struggle to keep up. How are you doing!?
Books read:
- The House of the Vampire (1907) by George Sylvester Viereck
- The Funhouse by (1980) by Dean Koontz
- Timequake (1997) by Kurt Vonnegut
- Letters to a Young Poet (1934) by Rainer Maria Rilke
- We (1924) by Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Gemini (1975) by Michel Tournier
- Don Juan in the Village (1990) by Jane DeLynn
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 #3: Book poetry! Can you create a poem using the titles of the books on your TBR Pile Challenge list (finished or unfinished?) Give it a shot! The “best” poem entry, left in the comments of this checkpoint post, will win a book of choice, $20USD or less, to be shipped from The Book Depository! So get creative, and good luck! (P.S. Best is entirely subjective. I’m picking whichever one I happen to like most.)
LINK UP YOUR REVIEWS!
Roof Beam Reader 
If you go away to the gates of Bannerdale
There will be a crystal snowstorm for those who save us
Through the evil days of Avalon we will be set in stone
Is Niccolo rising? Is he with the travelers seeking life after life?
An American heiress is one of the sisters of fortune
Soon a fall of marigolds will soften our patriot hearts
(I had to add a few transition words but I think that improved it! In fact, this is better than the sonnets I tried to write in high school or college, but that is not saying a lot)
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Amazing! I’m still trying to write my own. Yours is inspired and inspiring.
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I too have read 7/12, and I’m on #8 but it’s a Trollope novel, so pretty long. And I’ve had little time for reading lately! Hm, a poem, that sounds tricky…
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I’m still at 11 out of 14, which is where I think I was last checkpoint. I’ve been reading, but from other challenges. But I’m more than halfway, so I think I’ll get the rest read by the end of the year. As to poems — just looking at my titles again, I can’t think of a way to make them fit, but if something comes to me, I’ll share it later.
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I ended up with two to list for this month, technically one was finished 6/30 but hey it’s progress right? 😉
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I’ve finished 5 titles off my list! Yes, I’m a little behind still…
About them poem… does it have to include all 12 titles from my list? Or can I pick and choose which titles to add to the poem?
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You can make it work however you need to!
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I finished another one from my list! This challenge just hasn’t had a lot of love. Hopefully once I finish some of my doorstops from another challenge, I’ll be able to whip through more books here!
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My poem — including 11 of my book list titles!
“Almost Perfect,” quoth Mistress Pat,
Riding upon A Horse Called Hero;
“As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust,
Thou, surprise steed of Capital Gaines,
Art now the Light in My Darkest Night,
When I have been lost and Swept to Sea.”
Through The Secret Garden they trot,
Nature’s beauty enshrouding them both;
“Doc Susie’s best,” proclaimeth she,
“Nor The Wizard of Oz FAQ,
Could compare to our own magical blend;
Never to part; Anon, Sir, Anon!”
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So amazing!
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The Man Born to Be King contemplated secrets.
Conundrums such as The Notting Hill Mystery and
The Barrakee Mystery were as nothing before him.
The Cream of Crime was when
Miss Agatha Doubles for Death and
The Final Curtain was rung down on Mr. Churchill’s Secretary.
And what a surprise indeed
When she was revealed at last
To have been….
An African Millionaire.
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Far away, in a forest of magic
That lies between wakefulness and dream,
Two lovers fruitlessly search for one another
Through an endless night of infinite jest.
The hunter was once a blind assassin.
Now cursed to roam the woods in the form of an oryx.
His lover, a maiden with a voice of honey
Now transformed into a rasping crake.
Their unending love is met only with unending torment
For the oryx who was once a man cannot hear his love
Over the loud croaking of the frogs
As his lover flies widdershins through the sky.
Perhaps stranger things happen
This side of paradise.
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Bravo!
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