Wednesday, December 21, 2011

2012 TBR Pile Challenge

I probably have entirely too much stuff going on in my life - but what is one more?  On top of trying to find an agent, polishing my NaNo novel, writing 40k a month for four months (this month makes number two, I am at a low 11k, but it's getting there... somehow), finding a new job, finishing my third novel, prepping my NaNo for queries, and self-publishing a set of short stories that is in the form of a memoir, why not add a reading challenge?

For the year, I want to read 50 books.  And I don't post reviews, I've said that before.  Therefore I will miss out on some entries to the prizes - but I will still recommend anything that I read and enjoy, as usual.

The TBR (To Be Read) challenge is simple:  Look at your shelves.  Remember that book that you bought one year ago that you wanted to read?  Remember that book you bought five years ago?  Well, now is the time to read them.  Dust them off and finally sit down with your To Be Read pile and finish them!

I don't know how many books I have littering my shelves that are in my To Be Read pile.  I know practically all of the Redwall series hangs there - though I've read Mossflower twice.  I know House of Leaves keeps on getting half read and I can't finish it because I get scared.  Hot Zone is the same reaction.  I have Breakfast of Champions and The Yearling.  There's probably quite a few others that I am not remembering right now.

My problem is, I have recently been given the opportunity to write for Examiner.com again as a YA Fiction examiner.  Most of what I have on my To Be Read shelf is not YA.  So, I'll have to do this challenge and still balance it with the rest of my reading... and writing and life...

Though, I must admit, I am very happy to have a lot of goals.  My goal for my To Be Read shelf is to read fifteen books that are on my shelf.  When I post my monthly recommendations, I'll note whether it was a "To Be Read" book or not.  I might finish more books than I recommend, but that is always the case.  At some point, I'll make a way to track my progress (maybe another sidebar element?)

If anyone joins the To Be Read Pile Challenge - let me know!  I'd be happy to have some followers along for the ride.  There are some fabulous prizes along the way too :)

The fabulous hosts:
Evie from Bookish - http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com @SeoEvie
Nicole from All I Ever Read - http://www.nicoleabouttown.com/ @Nicoleabouttown
Bonnie from Hands and Home - http://www.handsandhome.ca/ @HandsHomeBlog
Donna from Book Passion For Life - http://bookpassionforlife.blogspot.com/ @BookPforLife
Caitlin from WatchYA Reading - http://whatchyareading.net @caitlingss
Rie from Mission To Read - http://missiontoread.com/ @missiontoread
Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea -http://booksbiscuitsandtea.blogspot.com/ @alouetteuette
Christa from Hooked On Books - http://christashookedonbooks.blogspot.com @ChristasBooks
Jenna from Fans Of Fiction - http://fansoffiction.blogspot.com/ @fansoffiction
Angel from Mermaids Vision - http://mermaidvision.wordpress.com @mermaidvisions

5 comments:

  1. My Amazon wish list (currently holding at 384 items) is essentially my TBR pile, but I am trying to only buy fiction on my Kindle now since books are... overflowing... *the witch's hut*. I have no more room :)

    Good luck on your WIP! ...I also want to finish mine so I can figure out what happened the night Jackson died ;)

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  2. ^_^ I love it when your characters "hide" certain things from you :)

    I've saw the deer from your witch's hut - you live in a pretty rocking place!! I have a massive TBR Pile outside of just the books on my shelf - including 60 books on my Goodreads. I stopped buying books after I stopped working at Barnes and Noble - without the 30% off discount, it was way too much money!

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  3. Yup, those pesky deer... well, to me they're pesky eating my flowers/bird-seed, but further up Vancouver Island, they are decimating farms since they have no natural predators.

    I haven't used Goodreads before... do you like it?

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  4. Yes - actually! It took me a long time to get into it, to be honest. I found two YA book groups and have had a few frank discussions with people, which is nice.

    As far as getting book recommendations, it has been great for that. I even won a book in the Giveaways section.

    I don't like it for reviews, as in, posting my own. But I like the book progress bar and it really makes an easy way to track my "want to" reads. I tried to use my library's book list - and it deleted itself after I added a 30 titles! I don't even remember about 10 of the ones I added, so it was very disappointing.

    Also, I don't want to own all the books on my life, so it's a good way to keep my amazon list separate from my "will read when I have time" list.

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  5. I'm like you. I like to stay busy...always.
    +followed

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