Sunday, June 24, 2012

Mount TBR Challenge 2012: Checkpoint #2


It's time for checkpoint #2 on this year's Mount TBR Reading Challenge, which is being hosted by My Reader's Block.  I wish I could report significant progress towards the achievement of this challenge, but of the 46 books I've read so far this year only 16 have come from my pre-2012 TBR pile!  In other words, I've only made it a little more than a quarter of the way up the mountain I've chosen to climb - Mt. Kilimanjaro, which requires I read 50 books from my pre-2012 TBR pile.   Since I still have six months to read the remaining 34 books, I'm going to try really hard from here on out to focus on my TBR pile instead of all the new releases I keep picking up...we'll see how that goes :-)

Here is an updated list of the books I've read for this challenge so far:

(1) Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn -  4 Stars
(2) The Running Vixen by Elizabeth Chadwick - 3.5 Stars
(3) Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King - 3.5 Stars
(4) The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick - 3.5 Stars
(5) The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane -  4 Stars
(6) Worth Dying For by N. Gemini Sasson -  3 Stars
(7) Henry Tilney's Diary by Amanda Grange - 3.5 Stars
(8) Rivals in the Tudor Court by D.L. Bogdan - 3.5 Stars
(9) A Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky - 3.5 Stars
 (10) Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb - 4 Stars
(11) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - 4 Stars
(12) Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran - 4 Stars
(13) The Xibalba Murders by Lyn Hamilton - 3.5 Stars
 (14) The Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick - 4 Stars
(15) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Cart - 3.5 Stars
(16) The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham - 4 Stars

While none of these novels was a standout for me, my particular favourite is Ben Kane's The Forgotten Legion.   

So far, my overall favourites for the year are all 2012 releases: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner, and The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani.