BJ's 2017 TBR Challenge

Here is my main list:
1. The Silver Chair (2017) (Read 8/31/17)
2. The Last Battle (2017) (Read 2018)
3. Death Masks (2017) (Read 2018)
4. The Waste Lands (2017) (Read 2/22/17)
5. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2017) (Read 2018)
6. An Acceptable Time (2017) (Read 7/10/17)
7. The Pilgrimage (2017) (Read 8/9/17)
8. The Lantern Bearers (2017) (Read 4/22/17)
9. Thank You, Jeeves (2017) (Read 2018)
10. Heaven's Prisoners (2017) (Read 9/29/17)
11. The Light Fantastic (2017) (Read 4/18/17)
12. Divergent (2017) (Read 7/29/17)

Here is my alternate list:
1. The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (2009) (Read 1/31/17)
2. Eats, Shoots & Leaves (2013) (Read 6/29/17)
3. Villette (2013)
4. Life of Pi (2013) (Read 7/20/17)
5. Meditations from a Simple Path (2017) (Read 1/11/17)
6. In Silence with God (2017) (Read 1/26/17)
7. Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne (2017) (Read 2018)
8. The Opposite of Fate (2017) (Read 5/6/17)
9. The A.B.C. Murders (2017) (Read 6/2/17)
10. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (2017) (Read 3/14/17)
11. Tobit's Dog (2017)
12. I, Robot (2017) (Read 1/16/17)

I still have 4 other books from old lists, but I thought my chances of finishing were better if I only used half of them. I don't know why the Alexander McCall Smith book isn't showing a touchstone. It is the next No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book. My brother gave me the 5 book set for my birthday a while ago.

Yea for Wodehouse and Agatha Christie! Hard to go wrong with either of them.

Good list!

Thank you!

Ooh I see some good stuff! L'Engle, Burke, Pratchett, Brontë, Christie, you ought to have a good year! :))

I don't look back to old lists. I have plenty of books I want to read (and of course I want to read them all NOW) so if I've put off reading a book already, I figure there's some deep seated reason for doing so, LOL. I'm really good at self-justificiation!

Ahh! The Beagle! My eyes, my eyes! lol, I just like making fun of it now. It's not completely and utterly intolerable. High praise, I know.

Lots of good stuff here. I see you're finishing up Narnia, taking another step down the Discworld road, trying that other Charlotte Bronte novel I've been meaning to read, and some Agatha Christie and Douglas Adams and Isaac Asimov. All good things. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is one I ought to read but haven't. Life of Pi I thought was pretty good.

>9 Cecrow: Read iiitttt! Some people complain about the main character but personally I found her pretty easy to relate to. My only problem was the way she ended it, though again, others seem to feel differently than me, haha.

I hope that it will be a good reading year. I had a great year this year, and I'm not sure why.

I used to add all the books from my old list back into the new one. But things got so behind that I only got to choose 5 books, and I was not happy at that point. Then Cecrow, I think it was, told me that I don't have to put all of them on the list. That was so freeing! I do want to read all of these books, so just adding 4 or 5 seems better than 8 or 12. I have enough choice to feel satisfied. But for some reason, I changed my list 5 or 6 times this year. At first, I put 5 old books, then I decided to only put 3. In the end, I put 4, which is half of the number that I have to read.

I must admit that I am a little nervous about the Beagle. Hoping to cross that one off, but not sure I can do it in one year.

And I left off Doctor Sleep, which it turned out I hadn't purchased yet. I did ask for it for Christmas. :) I'll have to be satisfied with the next Dark Tower book.

Kalahari Typing School for Men the touchstone works if you drop the The. Go figure! I'm looking forward to your comments of your trip on The Beagle. Beware, sometimes there's no wind in the sails and may proceed rather slowly. Good luck!

Thank you for figuring that out! I guess I didn't look at the title carefully enough.

I take your caution regarding the Beagle to heart. I'm hoping to at least get a chunk of it read next year, if I can't read the entire thing. It took me 8 years to read On the Origin of Species!

OK, I typed Kalihari rather than Kalahari. Boy, am I glad to get that fixed!

Great list BJ! I love the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, they're comfort reads for me.

Thank you! I have been enjoying that series quite a bit. I haven't seen the tv show, though. I need to check it out after I'm through reading.

I've got Stephen King on my lists, too (From a Buick 8 and Doctor Sleep). The Dark Tower are mostly enjoyable reads. Always nice to see someone reading the Narnia books - those are really good, too. I'm sure the David Byrne book will be very interesting as well.

Good luck and happy reading!

Thank you! I had thought that I had Doctor Sleep, but I didn't. However, I received it for my birthday, which would have been just in time for this challenge. So I guess I will read it next year. :) I have been enjoying the Narnia series, but I wanted to go ahead and finish it this year, rather than waiting another year to finish. I am a big fan of David Byrne, so I think that is one nonfiction book that will be a quick read (unlike Darwin).

I'm pondering which book to start with on January 1st. I can't wait!

I've started Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle and I, Robot, both from my alternate list. I'm alternating chapters.

That should work well for you, I think I, Robot is an anthology. 21 chapters of Beagle, so I'm anticipating you'll finish Asimov first. :)

I must have done some poor planning to be reading three books all from the alternate list. Anyway, I did finally finish a book, Meditations from a Simple Path by Mother Teresa. This was a lovely book and super-short, which I really needed. Still plugging away at the Beagle. I need to get back to I, Robot. I'm close to finishing that one. I did start The Waste Lands, but just barely. I forgot about that. And it's on the main list. Yea!

Hurray, another one out of the starting gate!

>21 billiejean:

Congratulations! :)

Thank you! And I finally finished I, Robot!, which was quite different from the movie, but very interesting. I liked the strong female protagonist for the date written.

That's 2 from the alternate list. I guess I should have switched the lists.

>25 billiejean:, happens to me too. I tend to put the less serious stuff into the alternates, the books that are easier for me to get through, and almost inevitably that's where I end up starting. I Robot was really good, and Robot Dreams is another good Asimov collection. I can't remember if there's story overlap between them.

I did not know about Robot Dreams. Thanks for the mention. I will definitely read that one. I remember dreams figuring in the movie.

I turns out one of my daughters has a copy of Robot Dreams. So I'm planning to get it from her.

I have read two more from my alternate list, In Silence with God, which had some good meditations, and The Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, which covered a circumnavigation of the earth primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. Interestingly, I watched the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to remember the book prior to reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. In it there was a costume party where one person dressed up as Darwin. The hint of who she was dressed up like was the stuffed beagle under her arm. Funny coincidence, I thought.

I have now read 4 books from my alternate list and none from my primary list. I am still reading The Wastelands from my primary list, but I'm also starting The Restaurant at the End of the Universe which is from the alternate list! I should have reversed the lists, I guess.

I knew it! I knew you were going to casually get through Darwin! So which did you find better/easier, the Voyage or his other? I had a Darwin coincidence too, although mine was to be expected; I had him on the go, as the world history text I was reading stopped to dwell on him for part of a chapter.

I did think that Beagle was easier than Species, although longer. I'm not great with biology. However, I appreciated that Darwin pointed out the drawbacks to his theory in the book (OOS). But I followed your advice entirely. I only read early and never at night. And I traded off with other books. So I had the benefit of your previously having read it. Thank you for your help.

It's been so many years since I read the Hitchiker books, I'm due for a reread! I hope you're having fun with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

I have been spending all of my time on the Stephen King book. I had intended to divide my time between the two. Maybe I still can. They are totally different. :)

I just finished The Waste Lands by Stephen King which ended on a big cliffhanger. Now I have to buy the next book. That is not the way this challenge is supposed to work, is it? Anyway, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Now back to Restaurant at the End of the Universe, another book from the alternate list.

>33 billiejean:

That is not the way this challenge is supposed to work, is it?

Hahaha, no, not really. This is the hazard of reading series for the Challenge, isn't it? Yeah, he really sucks you into that world with that one; it's quite a journey.

>33 billiejean:, at least you are in a better state than when the third book was original published and fans had to wait six years for the fourth. Reminds me now of a certain Game of Thrones author, come to think of it ... darnit, that means I'm one of those people!

6 years! That explains the Afterword where he doesn't promise to finish the series even though he ended the book on a huge cliffhanger.

I stopped reading the GOT series after I heard it was not finished. But the TV series has ended, I think. So he must know where he wanted to go with it.

I have been enjoying the Dark Tower series.

There's a season seven coming this year for GOT, and I think a season eight next year before they're done. Season six was when it started going past what's published, so I've been covering my ears as much as possible.

The author implies on a grand scale the TV show will reflect how the books will go, but the details will differ. They've shown divergence all along, since the very first season, more significantly with each one. So hopefully even if I do hear a whopper of a spoiler, it's not necessarily one for the books to come.

Boy, I was misinformed or just plain confused. But I do wish the books would get finished.

I'm almost through with Restaurant at the End of the Universe. What an imagination!

Continuing to read mainly from my alternate list, I finished Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I have the next book here, but it is not only either list, so I think I will go with The Lantern Bearers next.

How was Restaurant? It's coming up soon for me with my planned April reads. Looking forward to it!

It was great fun! I love the imagination Doug Adams has. I plan to read the next one next year. Maybe I will put more than one on my list so it doesn't take so long to get through the series. I'm trying that out with the Narnia series this year with the last two books.

I think I'll just park my Ford Prefect here for a bit and make a Dent in your thread. Hello! How's Tulsa these days?

Hi! Long time, no see! Sorry to take so long to get back here. I'm having a tough year so far, schedule-wise. Too many obligations, not enough time.

Life in Tulsa is good other than not enough snow. I have lost quite a bit of weight and wanted to celebrate by going sledding. But not enough snow to sled. I hope next year will bring a blizzard. :) However, now I am enjoying the Spring weather. The entire city is under construction. And more to come -- all surrounding my neighborhood. So I guess I will have more reading time for the next year and a half or so since travel anywhere will be difficult.

Are you still in the super cold UP? Did you get all my snow this year?

By the way, I finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, which I loved. I have heard people say that the first couple of Discworld books are not as good as the rest, so I am in good shape. I have enjoyed the first two books immensely. Laugh out loud funny. And I have bought the next one for next year's tbr challenge. Like I don't have enough books to read already to fill the challenge for many years to come.

I am 2/3 of the way through The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff. I hope to finish it soon, and I have started The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan. I am hoping that my schedule eases in the summer so that I have more time to read.

You're not alone in finding other distractions from ... oh look, squirrel!

Pratchett's series does seem like good fun, although so far I've not made time or plans to follow up that first one. Maybe I'll pick a few highlights from later in the series; I'll count on you to let me know which as you get to them. ;)

>44 billiejean:

Hey, you're doing great! Keep it up! :D

I'm done with the UP, at least for now. I'm sure they had plenty of snow and would happily lend some to Tulsa. I know how it goes with being to busy to check in on LT, obviously! I did nothing other than maintain a list of books finished for what, four years?

I'm currently in Bloomington, Indiana after spending a year in Iowa City. There's not much of a market for basic geology graduates unless you want to work in the oil industry as a laborer, basically. I've developed some health issues that preclude grad school so i guess that's that with the geology. Now i just keep up with a few areas of the scientific journals for my own interest. So it goes.

A friend of mine, more of an acquaintance really, moved to Tulsa after graduation for a job in the oil industry as a mud logger. That's a fancy title for the geologist that examines and records the drill cores for an operation. It would drive me nuts but more power to her. Important but maddening. I really dislike the computer stuff and wouldn't have thought that geology would be so infested with it. We spent way more time staring at monitors then anything else, but there's the way of it these days.

Hang in there with the construction and just remember how much nicer it will be when it's done. That's what i do. We have a major operation here in Bloomington converting a state highway into a full interstate, extending I-69 towards Indianapolis. What a mess that is, especially since i spent my first four months here driving a taxi.

>45 Cecrow: Lots of people really like Mort. I could skip to that one, but I'm going in order for now. I will have to live forever to finish all the discworld books, I think.

>46 artturnerjr: Thanks! :)

>47 DirtPriest: The way of the world is computers. Not really my thing either. I'm currently struggling with a glitch in my bookkeeping software. I was supposed to have it figured out yesterday, but I'm still working on it. Lots of road closures make it hard to get around, but highway work has got to be the hardest to deal with -- and especially driving a taxi! Indiana is nice. I hope you like it in Bloomington.

I finished The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff. This is the 3rd book in the trilogy. Wow. I love her writing. It is beautiful. I think I have one more book by her somewhere in the house. I will hunt it down, because I love the way she writes.

Still pretty close to the beginning of The Opposite of Fate, which is totally different. Trying to decide where to go next. Maybe I will finish the Narnia books next.

I finished The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan. The essays run the gamut of topics from humorous to serious to upsetting, but I thought they were all very good. Thanks to my daughter for recommending this book. :) This is yet another book off my alternate list. I am switching to the main list and have started The Silver Chair and plan to follow up with the last one in the series. I'm ready to finish the Chronicles of Narnia.

I've Amy Tan's first novel on my TBR pile, haven't read her yet.

There's a movie version of The Silver Chair getting underway, so you can try picturing how that's going to turn out as you're reading.

The Joy Luck Club? I think that was her first book. I also enjoyed that book. One thing I forgot to mention about the Musings on a Writing Life was that she was in a band with Stephen King and others. They were The Rock Bottom Remainders, or something like that. How did I not know about that?

I thought I had heard that there was another Narnia movie in the works. I really prefer to read the book first, but I don't always do things in that order. I am still at the beginning of the book. And others are calling me, so I need to get a few more chapters in so I will stick with it. I'm so fickle.

Does anyone know if the Dark Tower movie covers the entire series? I have only read 3 of the books. Should I read all of them before seeing the movie?

>53 billiejean:, I don't know it for a fact, but I fully expect the upcoming movie is just the first book. If that fares well, expect all the sequels to become movies one by one. Ideal Hollywood scenario these days = create a successful movie franchise, where the story becomes as drawn out as possible but still brings in the audience. They won't give up that chance with Dark Tower.

It does seem like sequels are the name of the game. I hope that you are right. The fact that the name was The Dark Tower and not The Gunslinger made me wonder. Thanks for the input.

>55 billiejean:, I think that's a marketing decision, same as how (in a reverse way) the Song of Ice and Fire TV series is all named Game of Thrones.

EDIT: Well, erase everything I speculated. Wikipedia says "A continuation of Stephen King's novel series of the same name .... intended to launch a film and television franchise, the first installment combines elements from several novels in the eight-volume series, .... King has tweeted a photo of the Horn of Eld with the caption "Last Time Around", which relates to the ending of the final book."

So .... it's going to launch a franchise, but it's a sequel to the books, but it uses elements from all books of the series. There, all cleared up. (?)

This apparent contradiction actually does make sense, but yeah, I guess you have to read all seven books first to know that.

A sequel to the books? Wow. I have the next book, but it is pretty long, so I was going to put it on next year's list. I guess I will pass on the movie for now. Thanks so much!

I read The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie rather than the Narnia books. Back to the alternate list again! Anyway, it was quite enjoyable. Agatha Christie is a comfort read for me, and I would like to read them all.

I'm not a mystery fan, but read several Agatha Christie as a kid (that was one of them) and still enjoy her work.

Still not sure when "The Silver Chair" movie is coming, you've got some time yet. :)

>57 billiejean: - That one was such a clever mystery and might make my top 10 of hers if I ever get around to crafting such a list.

My daughter is rethinking her aversion to mysteries. I'm thinking of sending her my copy even though it is very used.

I'm reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves now which is quite humorous.

I finished Eats, Shoots & Leaves which I really enjoyed. I'm no expert on punctuation, but I found this quite interesting.

What to read next? I still have The Silver Chair to read. And I'm thinking of starting An Acceptable Time. I am behind where I hoped to be by now. Maybe I can catch up.

I'm kind of sad that I don't have a Cormac McCarthy book to read this year. I do have one more around here somewhere. And after reading about punctuation, I wanted to return to his style of writing.

It's been a tough reading year for me too. Can't go wrong with Narnia. I recommend Life of Pi as a summer read. I just picked up a copy of Villette in a yard sale a few weeks ago.

I think you are doing pretty well this year what with that giant book on your list. Someday I hope to read Clarissa.

I started An Acceptable Time. I think I will also return to the Narnia book. It was interesting right off the bat. I'm not really sure why I put it down.

I saw the movie Life of Pi, which was quite interesting. I have been kind of looking in that direction, as well.

I finished An Acceptable Time and have started Life of Pi. Thanks for the recommendation, Cecrow.

I forgot to mention that I finished Life of Pi (3.14!). I could tell that it was written by a philosopher, which I liked.

I have started Divergent.

And I have started Song and Circumstance, which is pretty deep.

I finished Divergent, which was a quick, fun read. I am still reading Song and Circumstance. I also started The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. Got to get back to Narnia.

I didn't get much reading done in August, but I did finish The Silver Chair, which was a fun read. I wonder why it took me so long?

I finished The Pilgrimage without noting it on here. I enjoyed it more as it went along. I have started Heaven's Prisoners -- just barely. And I found my copy of The Last Battle and The Kalahari Typing School for Men.

I haven't heard much about the Silver Chair movie lately, only that it's going ahead, they have a director, and they're bringing back the actor who played Eustace last time. Speaking of which, been reading the Dawn Treader to my son at bedtimes lately. Language is still a bit rich for him, but he loved the movie so he's following pretty well.

I know I read that whole series as a kid but I don't remember The Silver Chair at all. Maybe one of these days I should do a reread.

I saw the movie Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I liked it. I think The Silver Chair would also make a good movie. I never read this books as a kid, except for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I haven't made much progress on books lately. But I am enjoying this beautiful weather. Worried about all those dealing with the hurricanes, though.

I finally finished Heaven's Prisoners. I had seen the movie already, but didn't remember the ending, which was lucky. I will continue with this series.

I don't think I can get all my books read this year, which I was really hoping to do. I will have to do better next year.

I'll be coming up short too, this time. Already figuring out how to fit my missed titles into next year.

But you're having a great reading year what with tackling Clarissa. My books overall are on the short side.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I have started Death Masks for my October read. I really enjoy these Dresden files books.