|
|
Post by janetandjohn on Dec 25, 2019 12:52:58 GMT
So last year at this time, 194 books on my TBR. I managed to get my TBR under 200. I'd like it dropping every year by a small amount..... and this year it stands at 178. I read over 100 but the list is only reduced by 16.... how does that happen?!! Silly me, it happens because I added loads of books throughout the year, as most of us do!!
Anyway, aiming for 160 by this time next year, and by the way, please do comment on any books you may have read yourself or have on your TBR - no-one much does that now, but I like doing it to other people's lists, and seeing comments on mine in particular the last 50 plus on the list! 
Mutiny on the Bounty – John Boyne (oldest swap still unread, back to 2010)
South Riding – Winifred Holtby
As Meat Loves Salt – Maria McCann
The Circus of Ghosts – Barbara Ewing
The Promise of Rain – Donna Milner
The Observations – Jane Harris
The Falls – Joyce Carol Oates
Beyond Black – Hilary Mantel
The Abomination - Paul Golding
The Short History of a Prince – Jane Hamilton
The Wilding – Maria McCann
Cape Breton Road - D R Macdonald
The Monsters of Templeton – Lauren Groff
The Septembers of Shiraz – Dalia Sofer
Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – David Wroblewski
An Interrupted Life: The Diaries and Letters of Etty Hillesum 1941 – 43
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
Lorenzo Da Ponte – Rodney Bolt
...................................................................................................19
Alone in Berlin – Hans Fallada
The Promise of Rain – Donna Milner
The People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Sisters of Silver Creek – Bessie Marchant
The Lonely – Paul Gallico
At the Water’s Edge – Sara Gruen
Honolulu – Alan Brennert
The Blue Suitcase – Marianne Wheelaghan
Names on a Map – Benjamin Alire Saenz
Consequences – Penelope Lively
Reading in the Dark - Seamus Deane
The Playmaker – Thomas Keneally
The Purchase – Linda Spalding
The Gravedigger’s Daughter
Pontoon – Garrison Keillor
The Orchardist – Amanda Coplin
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer
Fanny by Gaslight – Michael Sadleir
The Winter Ghosts – Kate Moss
Ishq and Mushq – Priya Basil
The Amazing Mrs Pollifax – Dorothy Gliman
The Trout Opera – Matthew Condon
The Weather in the Streets – Rosamond Lehmann
Road Ends – Mary Lawson
Wise Children – Angela Carter
The Aftermath – Rhidian Brook
Jubilee – Eliza Graham
Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup
Arrow – R J Anderson
Grange House – Sarah Blake
Harbor – Lorraine Adams
The Essential Mary Webb
Pudd’n Head Wilson – Mark Twain
Light Shining in the Forest – Paul Torday
Stoner – John Williams
This Dark Road to Mercy – Wiley Cash
Wonder Girls – Catherine Jones
When the Snow Fell – Henning Mankell
Boy’s Life - Robert McCammon
Once on a Moonless Night - Dai Sijie
Lost Nation – Jeffrey Lent
Scapegallows – Carol Birch
A Long Way – Sebastian Barry
Broke Heart Blues – Joyce Carol Oates
The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
Mechanique – Genevieve Valentine
The Middlesteins – Jami Attenberg
When All the World Was Young – Barbara Holland
The Missing - Tim Gauteraux
The Age of Miracles – KarenThompson Walker
The Resurrectionists – Michael Collins
Wish You Were Here – Graham Swift
Annabel – Kathleen Winter
The Last Unicorn – Peter S Beagle
The Golem and the Djinni – Helene Wecker
The Kitchen House – Kathleen Grissom
Falling Angels – Tracy Chevalier
Nightwoods – Charles Frazier
Dear Benificiary – Janet Kelly
Church of Marvels - Leslie Parry
Peony in Love - Lisa See
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint - Brady Udal
I And My True Love - Helen MacInnes
Early One Morning - Robert Ryan
The Handsome Man's de luxe Cafe - Alexander McCall Smith
Eustace and Hilda - L P Hartley
Emily of New Moon - L M Montgomery
The Reckoning - Rennie Airth
Everybody knows this is Nowwhere - Alice Furse
Amberwell - D E Stevenson
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
Emily Climbs - L M Montgomery
The boy I love + Paper Moon (2 in one) - Marion Husband
Lily's House - Cassandra Parkin
The Empathy Problem - Gavin Extence
The Siege - Helen Dunmore
Breathe - Cliff McNish
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante
Memoirs of a Dipper - Nell Leyshon
Tim Winton - Shallows
A House Named Brazil - Audrey Schulman
Amy & Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
The Ups and Downs of Being Dead - M R Cornelius
The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes
Sleep, Pale Sister - Joanne Harris
Scottsboro - Ellen Feldman
The Muse - Jessie Burton
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
Parade's End - Ford Madox Ford
The Long Valley - John Steinbeck
The Conjoined - Jen Sookfong Lee
The Young Clementina - D E Stevenson
The King's General Daphne du Maurier
The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry
Haywains and Cherry Ale, Binder Twine and Rabbit Stew - Joan Kent
This House of Sky - Ivan Doig
The Book of Forgotten Authors - Christopher Fowler
Work Song - Ivan Doig The Summer Before the War - Helen Simonson Wallace at Bay - Alexander Wilson
.............................................................................100
Haweswater - Sarah Hall
Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan
Yiddish for Pirates - Gary Barwin
Charming Billy - Alice McDermott
Songs in Ordinary Time - Mary McGarry Morris
Sweetland - Michael Crummey
The Music Shop - Rachel Joyce
The Man I think I knew - Mike Gale
The good man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
The Goose Road - Rowena House
A Hanging at Cinder Bottom - Glenn Taylor
Lean on Pete - Willy Vlautin
The Girl On The Landing - Paul Torday
Uncommon Type - Tom Hanks
Set in Stone - Robert Goddard
The Winter's Child - Cassandra Parkin
The Notting Hill Mystery- Charles Warren Adams
The Lake District Murder - John Bude
Manja - Anna Gmeyer
Family Album - Penelope Lively
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng
Days Without End - Sebastian Barry
Their Finest - Lissa Evans
All Aces (Nero Wolfe omnibus) - Rex Stout
The Wood - John Lewis-Stempel N/F
Prisoner's Base - Rex Stout
The Madonna of the Mountains - Elise Valmorbida
A Place of Execution - Val McDermid
Whiskey When We're Dry - John Larrison
English Creek - Ivan Doig
Ride with Me, Maria Montana - Ivan Doig
Dancing at the Rascal Fair - Ivan Doig
The American Agent - Jacquiline Winspear
The Lost Landscape - Joyce Carol Oates
Christmas and Jan/Feb additions The Night Before Christmas - Nikolai Gogol Shotgun Lovesongs - Nickolas Butler Washington Black - Esi Edugyan Not at Home - Doris Langley Moore The Last - Hanna Jameson
The House Opposite - JJF Detective Ben - JJF Ben on the Job - JJF Ben Sees It Through - JJF Little God Ben - JJF Number Nineteen - JJF Murderer's Trail - JJF
March and April Not that kind of Love - Clare and Gred Wise The unexpected Return of Josephine Fox - Clare Gradidge
Celine - Peter Heller The Last of the Greenwoods - Clare Morrall
Hester and Harriet - Love Lies and Linguine - Hilary Spiers
The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
There was a Time - Frank White The Book of Lost Friends - Lisa Wingate Days of Wonder - Keith Stuart Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate
May/June
Gone - Min Kym
The Lie Tree - frances Hardinge
Bowlaway - Elizabeth McCracken
July/August
Motherwell - Deborah Orr The Carer - Deborah Moggach Educated - Tara Westover
.....................................................................................63
Currently standing at 182 |
|
|
|
Post by sarita on Dec 25, 2019 16:57:33 GMT
The Observations – Jane Harris excellent
Beyond Black – Hilary Mantel very good read
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer excellent book
The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor didn't like this at all, DNF but members of my book circle liked it
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante good but not worth the hype IMO
The Muse - Jessie Burton good
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger good but forgettable
The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry I adored this one
My Absolute Darling - Gabreil Tallent fabulous but very harsh read
|
|
|
|
Post by jen on Dec 26, 2019 23:38:56 GMT
I loved The Muse by Jesse Burton. Amazing writer. I bought a signed copy of her latest buy didn't get around to reading it. Her books are the best, riveting and absorbing. I enjoyed Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks I had it from a book fairy thing on twitter a while ago. It was a trick or treat theme and it was my treat, haven't read my 'trick'. Ugh two books on my tbr I haven't read.
How do you manage to widdle it down? I've given up keeping up with mine. Impulse bought again.
Tempted to read the good man jesus and scoundrel Christ by phillip pullman.
|
|
|
|
Post by janetandjohn on Dec 27, 2019 8:42:11 GMT
How do you manage to widdle it down? I've given up keeping up with mine. Impulse bought again.
But I am retired, so I have more free time. But I cannot read in bed. I read in the car (can't drive), I read waiting for the dentist, doctor, any appointment at all. If I am meeting someone for a cuppa in a cafe I always read a page or two before they arrive; I get up early and manage to fit in at least 30 minutes over a cuppa, and I do (honestly!) occasionally give myself a "reading day" with the equivalent of Do Not Disturb writ large over the sitting room door! No children, so no grandchildren, and no facebook page. I guess, bookwise, you could say I was really lucky!!
This hasn't helped at all, has it  .......  x |
|
|
|
Post by adelynechan on Dec 27, 2019 9:08:49 GMT
So last year at this time, 194 books on my TBR. I managed to get my TBR under 200. I'd like it dropping every year by a small amount..... and this year it stands at 178. I read over 100 but the list is only reduced by 16.... how does that happen?!! Silly me, it happens because I added loads of books throughout the year, as most of us do!!
Anyway, aiming for 160 by this time next year, and by the way, please do comment on any books you may have read yourself or have on your TBR - no-one much does that now, but I like doing it to other people's lists, and seeing comments on mine in particular the last 50 plus on the list!
Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup On my TBR (or so my spreadsheet says): Where the book physically is... I have not the slightest clue
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan I got this for Secret Santa last year (possibly Santa wanted to recommend this to me as I'd mentioned that I hardly read award winning books), but haven't yet gotten around to reading it. Might be a candidate for this year's 40+10+25BC for that category...
After the Party - Cressida Connolly On my TBR, and you know why!
Now Is The Time For Running - Michael Williams Read and loved. It's counterpart (I think officially one of them is the sequel to the other, I forget which, but I thought they were fairly standalone story-wise) Diamond Boy is a worthy read too.
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng Beautiful book that I recommend to pretty much anyone that will listen to me
The Bees - Laline Paull Have this on my TBR but keep hearing less than promising things about, and too often get distracted with something else
I can't believe of my TBR of >500 books there are only these few that overlap with yours, Mrs Mac! And it took a lot of self-restraint not to add the others, but it was fun to look through your list |
|
|
|
Post by jen on Dec 27, 2019 9:41:45 GMT
Everyone who I talk to who loves reading struggles with a huge tbr. You just keep finding more books and might not read them when you should. It doesn't matter. Impulse buying is my problem. I'll be good for ages and then buy 5
|
|
|
|
Post by janetandjohn on Dec 27, 2019 19:58:17 GMT
Everyone who I talk to who loves reading struggles with a huge tbr. You just keep finding more books and might not read them when you should. It doesn't matter. Impulse buying is my problem. I'll be good for ages and then buy 5 Jen - you are right, it doesn't matter at all! In the very early days of RISI, we had a moderator (tolly18) - Penny from the Isle of Skye. She lived on a god-forsaken road with only the water supply being from a burn which froze in winter, and ran dry in summer. In winter her washing up froze to the draining board. But that house was FULL OF BOOKS! every wall (poss. not the bathroom) lined with books.... and she said that she would never get round to all of them, but they were terrific for insulation!! Hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds..... |
|
rosemary3
Book Circle Assistant
Posts: 2,298 
Member is Online
|
Post by rosemary3 on Dec 27, 2019 20:40:52 GMT
Congrats on making room for more books, Mrs Mac! Here are my thoughts on some of your 58.
Manja - Anna Gmeyer 5 stars from me for this Persephone!
Family Album - Penelope Lively I enjoyed this until the ending, which didn't work for me. But you might feel differently!
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng I loved this one and bought it as a present for someone who also loved it. 5 stars and not to be missed!
The Bees - Laline Paull On my TBR
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein Perhaps a little over-hyped but still a lot of fun. I gave it 4 stars.
|
|
|
|
Post by jen on Dec 28, 2019 10:18:56 GMT
Everyone who I talk to who loves reading struggles with a huge tbr. You just keep finding more books and might not read them when you should. It doesn't matter. Impulse buying is my problem. I'll be good for ages and then buy 5 Jen - you are right, it doesn't matter at all! In the very early days of RISI, we had a moderator (tolly18) - Penny from the Isle of Skye. She lived on a god-forsaken road with only the water supply being from a burn which froze in winter, and ran dry in summer. In winter her washing up froze to the draining board. But that house was FULL OF BOOKS! every wall (poss. not the bathroom) lined with books.... and she said that she would never get round to all of them, but they were terrific for insulation!! Hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds..... Sounds like a character in a book 😮 I love seeing houses full of books. I used to go past one and stare haha. My boyfriend isn't a reader so my books are in the spare room. Still need a bigger house even though I already got one  |
|
|
|
Post by pennylane on Dec 28, 2019 15:50:06 GMT
I haven't read a lot of these but I did love My Absolute Darling, The Bees and enjoyed Lily and the Octopus
|
|
|
|
Post by littlereader on Jan 9, 2020 13:01:15 GMT
Wow you have some absolute crackers to look forward to here!
Mutiny on the Bounty – John Boyne Absolutely loved this one.
The Observations – Jane Harris Brilliant, loved it, a favourite.
The Monsters of Templeton – Lauren Groff On my tbr too.
Alone in Berlin – Hans Fallada Brilliant book.
The People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks Wasn't keen.
The Orchardist – Amanda Coplin Very good.
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer A good read.
Road Ends – Mary Lawson Loved it, one of my favourite authors.
The Aftermath – Rhidian Brook Brilliant novel, beautiful writing.
Stoner – John Williams Wasn't keen.
Wonder Girls – Catherine Jones Loved this book.
The Middlesteins – Jami Attenberg Enjoyed this from memory.
The Age of Miracles – KarenThompson Walker Interesting idea, enjoyed it.
Wish You Were Here – Graham Swift This was very good from memory.
The Golem and the Djinni – Helene Wecker Brilliant book, loved it.
Early One Morning - Virginia Baily Wasn't keen.
Scottsboro - Ellen Feldman Love this writer, very upsetting book though.
The Muse - Jessie Burton Loved this, love all her novels.
The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry Didn't love it as much as others.
Haweswater - Sarah Hall Love the Lake District setting and the topic.
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan On my tbr too.
The Music Shop - Rachel Joyce Really nice enjoyable read.
The Next step in the Dance -Tim Gautreaux Loved this one.
Manja - Anna Gmeyer On my tbr too must get to it.
Days Without End - Sebastian Barry A bit disappointed in this, love the author.
Washington Black - Esi Edugyan Good but I didn't love it as much as others.
|
|
|
|
Post by bookmadkirstie on Jan 13, 2020 17:34:19 GMT
At the Water’s Edge – Sara Gruen Adding to my list - her writing style in 'Water for Elephants' was fabulous
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer Cleverly written made me weepy
Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup on TBR
Peony in Love - Lisa See on my TBR next pile
The Long Valley - John Steinbeck might give this a go loved Steinbeck at school
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein adding to list - as film is on my radar
|
|
x
