2013 wasn't even halfway over when I started planning my list for the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge! The goal: read at 12 specified books that have been hanging around the TBR shelves unread for at least one year. I've been revising this list for a while, and I think I'm finally done. I'm nearly finished with the 2013 challenge, and this year, I'm trying to include more fun books -- I really liked most of the books on the list this year, but I was really dreading some of them. I'm going to try and make this less of a chore this year. Here's my list:
2. Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert. One of many black-spine Penguin Classics on the TBR shelves. Also bought at the Borders blowout. Completed 12/29/14.
3. I, Claudius by Robert Graves. It's been on my to-read list for years, because it's on the Modern Library Top 100 list. I'm especially interested because my oldest daughter is taking Latin and she's learning all about Roman culture. I've never seen the PBS miniseries adaptation, so maybe I'll watch that too. Completed 12/17/14.
4. The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I loved The Cazalets miniseries, based on this book. Bought it (and the second in the series, Marking Time) for only $1 from the library's donation cart. Completed 1/5/14.
5. Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Another book from the ML Top 100. I've only read 49 so far, so if I complete both this and I, Claudius, I'll be more than halfway through the list. Completed 5/10/14.
5. Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Another book from the ML Top 100. I've only read 49 so far, so if I complete both this and I, Claudius, I'll be more than halfway through the list. Completed 5/10/14.
6. Dusty Answer by Rosamund Lehmann. A Christmas gift from about three years ago. Completed 2/16/14.
7. The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell. Bought after reading (and loving) The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate -- in 2006. Completed 6/15/14.
8. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. I bought this while I actually lived in Japan almost ten years ago (via Amazon, ironically). Still haven't read it. Completed 12/5/14.
9. Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After WWI by Virginia Nicholson. Bought during Downton Abbey withdrawal. I'm thinking about reading up on WWI next year, in honor of the 100th anniversary. There's also a WWI Library Thing readalong. Completed 7/19/14.
10. Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant. Another Penguin I have wanted to read for years. I've heard this one somewhere between Jane Austen (or is it Elizabeth Gaskell?) and George Eliot's Middlemarch, which I loved. Completed 2/1/14.
11. The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West. Also purchased during Downton Abbey withdrawal. Completed 8/31/14.
12. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. From my Big Box of Penguin Classics. My copy is actually the Graphic Deluxe Classics version, and the cover is really disturbing. Completed 6/7/14.
1. Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch. Yet another purchase from Borders before they closed. Sigh.
So -- several Penguins, several non-fiction books, four from my Classics Club list, two in translation, and some lighter reading as well. What do you think, bloggers? Good list? Which are must reads, and which should be put off until the bitter end? And who else is signing up for the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge? What's on your list?
I have read I, Claudius twice, that is how much I loved it :) Though it was harder to read the first time, I admit. I've always wanted to read Miss Marjoribanks too.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing great things about I, Claudius -- I can't believe I've left it for so long! And I really want to read Miss Marjoribanks.
DeleteI should really read Miss Marjoribanks, but I have it on my tablet, so it's harder to remember that I have it at all.
ReplyDeleteThe Mitfords are fascinating, you can't go wrong reading about them. I bet that's the same one I read a few years ago. And The Jungle is hard to put down--until the last two chapters, which are utterly skippable. I think you've got a great list!
I was afraid of The Jungle, it sounds so dire. It was a book group selection that I skipped out of fear, but a friend told me it's no worse than Germinal, which I loved. I'll give it a shot. And I love the Mitfords so I'm looking forward to that one.
DeleteThis is a great list! I just read Miss Marjoribanks and loved it.
ReplyDeleteGreat!! Can't wait to read it, I think it will be one of the first.
DeleteI've been wanting to read I, Claudius for years too. I hope you enjoy it. Good luck with the challenge!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's my third year in a row and I love how it forces me to read the books that are accumulating on my own shelves.
DeleteI'm starting to mull over my list for 2014--I've done well in 2013, with 11 on my list read, one abandoned, and I'm working on an alternate so I should meet the goal.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have some non-fiction on my list this year. Much as I love novels, I feel a hunger for non-fiction these days.
I listened to I, Claudius earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I plan to read the sequel in 2014.
Enjoy your end of year wrap up!
I've been reading a lot more nonfiction lately -- my new book group at the library is called Stranger Than Fiction, and it's ALL nonfiction, I'm really excited about it. We start in January.
DeleteI've enjoyed several books on your list. Peking Picnic, The Sisters, I, Claudius, Miss Marjoribanks, Singled Out & The Light Years so I can recommend any of those. What a good idea, should keep the mind focused!
ReplyDeleteYes, I really think this challenge inspires me to read more books off my own shelves. I tend to put them off but when I do read them I end up wondering why I waited so long!
DeleteLove your list, very varied. For some reason I'm terrified of the prospect of reading I, Claudius. Norwegian Wood is not my favourite Haruki Murakami book, but it's still good I think. Good luck with the list :)
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't scare me as much as The Jungle. I had several books I was dreading on my list this year, so I'm trying to mix in a few lighter reads for 2014. I haven't read any Murakami so I hope that will be a good introduction.
DeleteYou have a great list! Miss Marjoribanks is such great fun - she is sort of a cross between Jane Austen's Emma and Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy. Margaret Oliphant was one of those prolific Victorian women authors - you might end up with a shelf of her books next to your Trollope stash - like I did :)
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoy Kim, it's a great adventure story.
I'm really looking forward to Miss Marjoribanks. I read a couple of Oliphant's novellas last year for the first Classics Spin and I liked them. If it's a cross between Emma and Sophy I know I'll enjoy it!
DeleteGreat list. I love seeing all the different books that readers pick.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I tried to mix up the genres this year, and also to have a variety of book lengths. Last time I had some books that really scared me, and I think that made it a little harder.
DeleteI had a Mitford bio & Norwegian Wood as two of my possibilities, but they didn't make the cut this time around - maybe 2015 TBR!!!
ReplyDeleteI have nearly 200 unread books, it was hard to narrow it down! I had several different piles but finally just went with this one.
DeleteI, Claudius is a great reading. But perhaps it's because I love all about Ancient Rome? I like it because Graves can capture Claudius' unique personality, that you'd feel he (Claudius) himself has wrote the book. And it is not only about Claudius; it's a memoir where Claudius wrote much about politics and the corrupt dynasty. Good luck with the challenge! And...oh...I have actually expected to see a Zola here. Would read any of him this year? :)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about a Zola, but I only have four left unread on my shelves. I'm about to read The Earth for the Classics Club Spin selection, and that will be my third Zola for the year -- I'm trying to ration them out before they're all gone!
DeleteThis list is more about books I've been putting off and need inspiration to read. I never feel that way about Zola! I'm sure I'll read at least two more of the Rougon-Macquarts next year.
Great list! I have only read Norwegian Wood, but have any of those books on my list
ReplyDeleteGreat list. Kim and Singled Out are both sitting unread on my shelves too. Good luck.
ReplyDelete