2020 TBR Challenges

I'm going to continue with Bev's TBR challenges next year.  Adam, to my sorrow, will no longer be doing his. Bev hosts two:

The Mount TBR Reading Challenge is simple: pick how high you want to go.  As always, I'll be aiming for 24 books from the pile, though that is not nearly as many as I should read

Excelsior!

Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.  All books counted for lower mountains carry over towards the new peak.

*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2018.

*You may sign up anytime from now until November 1st, 2018.

*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2018. No library books. 

[snip: read at Bev's blog!]
*There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings!


My pile is bigger than ever, so I'm signing right up for 24 titles: Mont Blanc.

Titles read:

1. Bill, the Galactic Hero, by Harry Harrison
2. The Metal Monster, by A. Merritt
3.  Siege Perilous, by Lester Del Rey
4. The Case Against Tomorrow, by Poul Anderson
5. Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall
6. Passing, by Nella Larsen
7. Akenfield, by Ronald Blythe
8. The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith
9. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, by John le Carre
10. When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone, by Gal Beckerman
11. Pre-Shakespearean Drama vol. 1
12. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
13. The Bookshop of Yesterdays, by Amy Meyerson
14. The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz
15. Coronation Summer, by Angela Thirkell
16. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, by Ted Lawson
17. The Peasant Girl's Dream, by George MacDonald
18. Russian Tattoo, by Elena Gorokhova
19. The Unwomanly Face of War, by Svetlana Alexievich
20. A Strange Stirring, by Stephanie Coontz 
21. The Castle on the Hill, by Elizabeth Goudge
22. The Bards of Bone Plain, by Patricia McKillip
23. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, by Henry Handel Richardson (aka Ethel)
    
24. Virgin Soil, by Ivan Turgenev
25. Heidi's Alp: One Family's Search for Storybook Europe, by Christina Hardyment
26. The Return, by Walter de la Mare
27. Oroonoko, by Aphra Behn
    
28. The Golden Bough, by Sir James Frazer
    
29. Thames: a Biography, by Peter Ackroyd
30. The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe
31. The Uncommercial Traveller, by Charles Dickens
    
32. The View From the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman
33. The Children of Hurin, by JRR Tolkien
34. Tales From a Rolltop Desk, by Christopher Morley
    
35. The Spy and the Traitor, by Ben MacIntyre
36. A Celtic Miscellany 
37. Crossings, by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
    
38. Beside the Ocean of Time, by George Mackay Brown
39. Black Renaissance, by Miklos Szentkuthy
40. Resurrection, by Lev Tolstoy
41. The Anvil of the World, by Kage Baker 
42. After London, by Richard Jeffries 
43. Heap House, by Edward Carey
    
44. 
    

 The Virtual Mount TBR Challenge is library-based, which is good for me because my pile of library books is nearly as large as my actual TBR pile.   If the book is on your mental TBR list, and you get it from the library, it counts.  I'll be aiming for Mt. Crumpit, which is also 24 books.  Naturally, the virtual mountains are fictional.

 I decided to create a Virtual Mount TBR Reading Challenge Books for all those folks with mile-long "wish-list" of TBRs who would like a chance to climb as well. The strategy and general set-up is the same--except you don't have to own the books. Heard about a great book from a friend, took note of the title, and then never got around to reading it? Saw a book online that you thought sounded intriguing but you keep putting off ordering it up from the library? You borrowed a book from somebody and need an extra push to read it and return it? This is the place for you!

 Challenge Levels:
Mount Rum Doodle: Read 12 books
Mount Crumpit: Read 24 books 
Mount Munch: Read 36 books
White Plume Mountain: Read 48 books 
Stormness Head: Read 60 books 
Mount Mindolluin: Read 75 books 
Mount Seleya: Read 100 books
Mount Olympus: Read 150+ books 

    [In keeping with the virtual nature of the challenge, all mountains are fictional (references in comment below). How many do you recognize? The only one shared by both TBR challenges is Olympus--both fictional and on Mars. However, since I don't know actual heights, I have arbitrarily assigned the levels.]

 ~[UPDATE] Just to be clear: this challenge is only for books you do not own. They may be borrowed from the library, a friend, found on a free e-book site (like Project Gutenberg), or anywhere else that allows you to temporarily checkout the book. Also--unlike Mount TBR, there is no date limit on your wish list. If you see a book online that strikes your fancy after January 1 and you just have to go get it from the library, then it absolutely counts.

My library-books bookshelf is just as stuffed as my TBR bookshelf, so this will be good for me.  I am pretty much going to limit myself to books from the library that I've been meaning to read since before Jan. 1, 2019.  That is a lot of books.  I'll aim for Mount Crumpit, 24 books.  Also, I think the image for this challenge is great!

1. Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century, by Alexandra Popoff
2. Last Ones Left Alive, by Sarah Davis-Goff
3. Footsteps, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
4. Amrita, by Banana Yoshimoto
5. Women Without Men, by Shahrnush Parsipur
6. Tales of the Marvelous and News of the Strange: Medieval Arabic Stories
7. The Ultimate Tragedy, by Abdulai Sila
8. Subtly Worded, by Teffi 
9. The Dark Child, by Camara Laye
10. Red Cavalry, by Isaac Babel
11.  Jazz and Palm Wine, by Emmanuel Dongala
12. A Tempest, by Aime Cesaire
13. The Golden Thread, by Kassia St. Clair
14. Death of the Snake Catcher, by Ak Welsapar 
15.  Robin Hood: Green Lord of the Wildwood, by John Matthews
16. Mudlark, by Lara Maiklem
17. Edward Lear: Life of a Wanderer, by Vivien Noakes
18. Forest of a Thousand Daemons, by D. O. Fagunwa
    
19. The Forest of Enchantments, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
20. The Scapegoat, by Sophia Nikolaidou
    
21. Seeing Red, by Lina Meruane 
22. There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
    
23. White Guard, by Mikhail Bulgakov
24. The Inland Sea, by Donald Richie
25. Women's Work, by Megan Stack 
26. Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon
    
27. Ivory Apples, by Lisa Goldsmith
28.