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Reading report for August 2009, and changes to the TBR challenge

I finished 20 books in August:

1 perennial re-read:
  • Gerald Durrell: Catch Me a Colobus - memoir, animal collecting

5 books in the Top Mysteries challenge, one of them part of a trilogy that’s listed as one book in the CWA list, so you could say I have read 4 1/3 TM titles. They are:

5 in the Icelandic books challenge: 2 so-so short story collections, 2 pretty good poetry books, and one travelogue that pretty much sucked due to being mostly a rewrite of the historical and descriptive chapters of some guide book, interspersed with only a handful of observations by the author herself. They are:
  • Andrés G. Þormar : Hillingar - short stories
  • Eggert Ólafsson : Kvæði (Íslensk úrvalsrit) -poetry
  • Helgi Valtýsson : Þegar Kóngsbænadagurinn týndist og aðrar sögur - short stories
  • Jón Þorláksson : Ljóðmæli (Íslensk úrvalsrit) - poetry and poetry translations
  • Rannveig Tómasdóttir : Fjarlæg lönd og framandi þjóðir - travelogue

2 books from the TBR list:

Unfortunately I must admit that I have failed to keep to the TBR challenge list. The sin registry numbers a whole 8 books that I read because I wanted to read them more than I wanted to read any book on the challenge list, although at least 4 of them actually fit the challenge criteria. The books were:
  • Andrea Camilleri: The Terracotta Dog - Murder mystery
  • Polly Evans: Kiwis Might Fly - Travelogue
  • Ngaio Marsh: Off With His Head and Scales of Justice - Murder mysteries
  • Nora Roberts: Midnight Bayou and Northern Lights - Romantic thrillers
  • Dorothy L. Sayers: Have His Carcase - Murder mystery
  • (No. 8 was the reread).




The TBR-for-over-a-year challenge:
I am beginning to feel that having such a long master list is becoming a chore. Since reading is supposed to be fun, I have decided to change the TBR challenge, make it more spontaneous and allow myself to read books I am in the mood for reading that don’t belong in the challenge. I am now going to run the challenge on a monthly basis, at least to the end of the year. At the beginning of each month, I will pre-choose 5 books that fit the original criteria (I have owned them for more than a year but not read them yet), to read during that month. When I have finished reading those 5 books, I will be free to read all the non-challenge books I want, to the end of the month when the cycle begins again. Any books I read that fit the criteria but aren't on the list count towards the final tally. I am beginning with the 4 books on the original list I am most interested in reading right now (indeed, I have started reading one of them already), and adding 1 new one I am in the mood for reading.

The Books:
Heaven’s Command by James Morris
La Cucina by Lily Prior
Onions in the Stew by Betty MacDonald
Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb
The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

Comments

Dorte H said…
I heartily agree: reading should be for fun!

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