mathgirl40's 2014 BC MTBR Challenge

I currently have 39 books on my TBR list that I'd acquired from other BookCrossers: 18 from 2012 and 21 from 2013. Ideally, I'd clear all of them in 2014 to make room for all the new ones I'm bound to acquire, but realistically, I'll be happy if I can clear most of the books from 2012 and some of the books from 2013.

Books acquired in 2014:
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King (BC link) -- finished, available
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (BC link) -- to be read
The Cage by Kenzo Kitakata (BC link) -- finished, reserved
Stories from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean (BC link) -- to be read
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (BC link) -- finished, available
The Nursing Home Murders by Ngaio Marsh (BC link)
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George (BC link)

Books acquired in 2013:

Death in the Air by Agatha Christie (BC link) -- finished, available
Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs (BC link) -- to be read
Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie (BC link) -- finished, reserved for a VBB
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (BC link) -- to be read
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (BC link) -- to be read
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (BC link) -- finished, released
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (BC link) -- finished, released
The Element of Fire by Brendan Graham (BC link) -- to be read
American Woman by Susan Choi (BC link) -- to be read
Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage (BC link) -- to be read
Mission Road by Rick Riordan (BC link) -- finished, reserved for a VBB
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (BC link) -- to be read
Heligoland by Shena Mackay (BC link) -- to be read
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (BC link) -- finished, released
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (BC link) -- to be read
Shake Hands Forever by Ruth Rendell (BC link) -- finished, released
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (BC link)-- to be read
Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (BC link) -- finished, released
Sundiver by David Brin (BC link) -- to be read
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett (BC link) -- to be read
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (BC link) -- to be read

Books acquired in 2012:

The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt (BC link) -- to be read
Little Bee by Chris Cleave (BC link) -- finished
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (BC link) -- finished, released
Mindscan by Robert Sawyer (BC link) -- to be read
The Death Committee by Noah Gordon (BC link) -- to be read
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (BC link) -- finished
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler (BC link) -- to be read
Death at la Fenice by Donna Leon (BC link) -- finished, released
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (BC link) -- finished, released
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay (BC link) -- to be read
The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby (BC link) -- to be read
Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier (BC link) -- finished, available
Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (BC link) -- to be read
Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson (BC link) -- to be read
My Life as Emperor by Su Tong (BC link) -- finished, available
Lovesick by Alex Wellen (BC link) -- to be read
The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou (BC link) -- finished, released
The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah (BC link) -- finished, released

>1 mathgirl40: Thanks for joining and good luck with your challenge!
I look forward to seeing your progress (and books that you've read).

Thanks, BoekenTrol71! I already acquired my first new book of 2014 and wondering if I should track those too. I'm hoping I can read the books on my shelf at a faster rate than the rate at which I'm acquiring new ones!

I was thinking about that as well, whether to have a list of books acquired, that way I could really see how many new books I am reading.

I use the field 'date acquired' here in LT for that. In the way the list appears in 'Your Books' I've added that field to the list and that provides me with an easy way to sort. Latest last gives you the oldest book at the top (if the field has been filled with all books).

The bad news is that I got distracted by the 2014 Tournament of Books shortlist and ended up reading a lot of new books instead of concentrating on my BC backlog.

The good news is that I did manage to read one book, Mission Road, from my 2013 books, so I'm at least on the scoreboard now!

The other good news is that, so far, I've only acquired one new book in 2014 from another BC member, so my TBR list hasn't grown.

For February, my goal is to read my two oldest books, The Bone Cage and The House of the Mosque. The Bone Cage is about two Olympic athletes, so I think it will be a nice book to read over the Winter Olympics, even though the characters are competing in the summer event.

I've also got American Gods slated for March, as it's the One LibraryThing, One Book selection.

Hi mathgirl! I have an "outflow" challenge going this year, too. Not just BX books, but all physical volumes. So far I have three more out than in, two more scheduled to go out this week. I'm sure that will change!!

Love your incoming lists, I'm working at getting more organized and you're an excellent inspiration.

> 8

The other good news is that, so far, I've only acquired one new book in 2014 from another BC member, so my TBR list hasn't grown.

I find BC meet-ups to be quite hazardous in that respect! :D

It's been a pretty good February so far. I finished reading The Bone Cage, about two summer Olympic athletes, over the period of the Olympic games. This was my second-oldest BC book. I also finished Death at la Fenice, and now I've started my oldest BC book, House of the Mosque.

You are making great progress, mathgirl!

>11 mathgirl40:

now I've started my oldest BC book, House of the Mosque.

Just curious. How old is your "oldest BC book"?

Oh, I see. 2011. Oopsie! Mine are a bit older than that. I'd better get a move one. :D

Wow, 2011. {{shakes her head sadly}}

If my oldest was from 2011 you would see me dancing in the streets! Well actually, I would probably be dancing to the local bookstore in a panic because I get jumpy without stacks waiting for me, but you get the idea.

SqueakyChu and wareagle78, I didn't join BookCrossing until 2010, so that's the main reason why my oldest is from 2011. I got it right at the end of 2011 and included it with the 2012 group in my first posts, so that I wouldn't have to make a separate 2011 ticker. If it makes you feel any better, I do have non-BC books on my TBR shelf that are over 20 years old! :)

I do have non-BC books on my TBR shelf that are over 20 years old

Phew!! I feel so much better now! :)

Glad someone finally roped you into joining BookCrossing! :D

I've just finished The House of the Mosque, my oldest BC book, and I liked it very much. It was sent to me by soffita1, who also happens to be a member of this LT group. :)

I'm working on Case Histories by Kate Atkinson right now.

I finished Case Histories and enjoyed it very much. I'm definitely going to continue reading from this series.

I've started American Gods.

Still working on American Gods ... but I finished The Long Song in the meantime. I really enjoyed this historical novel set in Jamaica.

I found American Gods a bit tedious, but liked the sequel, Anansi Boys, much better.

>20 SqueakyChu: I finally finished American Gods. I found some parts tedious too, but overall, it was a good read. I'll have to pick up Anansi Boys sometime.

Up next is The Vor Game. I always find the Vorkosigan books compelling reads, so that one shouldn't take too long!

You've read some good ones, glad you liked House of the Mosque. I am a big fan of Kate Atkinson, really enjoying that series. I bought Anansi Boys at a charity shop yesterday.

>22 soffitta1: Thanks for stopping by. I definitely want to read more in Atkinson's series!

I finished The Vor Game and sent it to another BookCrosser as part of a wishlist-tag game. I love Bujold's Vorkosigan series! By the way, I've been running a year-long Vorkosigan group read in the 2014 Category Challenge group, if anyone is interested in joining. Everyone is welcome, even if you're not actually doing the category challenge.

I've started The Robber Bride but it might take me some time to get through that one, even though I'm a big Atwood fan.

I finished Agatha Christie's Death Comes in the End, which I did not enjoy all that much, even though I'm a big fan of her books. It felt too much like a English country-house mystery that just happened to be set in Ancient Egypt.

I also finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride, which I loved. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to everyone, as people seem to either adore or detest Atwood. However, if you like her writing, then this one is definitely worth reading.

Finished another one: Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh, a nicely plotted classic English mystery!

I've been away from this thread for way too long! I haven't been doing well with the challenge, but I did manage to finish 3 books since my last post, including one of my oldest BC books. On the bright side, I acquired only one additional book during that time, so I should, with continued restraint, come out ahead by the end of the year. I hope to get through a few more in November and December.

The ones I'd finished were:
The Eyre Affair, the first in the Thursday Next series and a very fun book indeed!
Shake Hands Forever, a solid Ruth Rendell mystery.
My Life as Emperor, an interesting and different kind of story set in Ancient China.

From what I've seen listed as 'finished' in your earlier posts, it looks like you're not doing so badly at all!
Reading should be fun. Sometimes it helps to set a goal, but please don't feel too bad when you don't reach it! I probably won't reach my goals either, this year. Just too many other things getting in the way of reading... I really wish life would put a step back from time to time!

>27 BoekenTrol71: You're absolutely right that we shouldn't obsess about the goals and focus on enjoying the reading! Even if I won't meet my goals, I'm still happy about doing the challenge, as I'm doing much better than I would have without it. It got me motivated to read a few of my very oldest books, and I'm so glad I did!

I've just started reading Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?, a choose-your-own-adventure zombie novel that's perfect for Hallowe'en.

I finished Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, from my 2012 list, which was loads of fun to read. I also finished The Cage, a noir thriller from Japan, and that too was very good.

Next up is Oscar and Lucinda, another from my 2012 list.

It's been a good month. I finished Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey and The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. I'm also most of the way through Agatha Christie's Death in the Air.

Little Bee, about a Nigerian refugee living illegally in England, was well written, moving and thought-provoking.

I really loved The Beekeeper's Apprentice, which featured a young woman who becomes the partner of an aging Sherlock Holmes. Some Sherlock Holmes derivatives are very disappointing but this one was well done.

I have mixed feelings about Oscar and Lucinda, about two misfits living in Australia who find each other. It was a difficult read, but I'm glad I'd read it, especially since I'm trying to work through the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list (not that I have any real expectations of finishing even a largish fraction of the books in my remaining lifespan).

I finished Death in the Air, a very enjoyable Hercule Poirot mystery, and this concludes my 2014 challenge!

I finished:

• 9 of my 18 2012 books
  
• 8 of my 21 2013 books
  
• 3 of my 7 2014 books

In summary, I finished 17 of my 39 older books and ended the year with a net reduction of 13 books from my TBR list! All in all, I'm very pleased with the year's progress.

I look forward to seeing you all in the 2015 group!

I'll see you in the new group.

I'm also very happy that this group forced me to take a second look at some of my very oldest bookcrossed books...and actually read them!