After much agonizing, I have finally settled on a list of books for the 2019 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam of Roof Beam Reader. I decided to go with all non-fiction this year after realizing how few non-fiction books I'd completed last year (only 7/100, pathetically small).
So here are my choices, a mixture of memoirs, biographies, and social history.
So here are my choices, a mixture of memoirs, biographies, and social history.
Here are the titles, in case you can't read them (not in the same order as pictured):
- An Unlikely Countess: Lily Budge and the 13th Earl of Galloway by Louise Carpenter
- One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. Completed 4/28/19.
- Long Live Great Bardfield by Tirzah Garwood
- Terms and Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979 by Ysenda Maxtone Graham. Completed 3/31/19.
- Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard
- A London Family 1870-1900 by Molly Hughes
- Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller by Jennifer Kloester. Completed 1/29/19.
- Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
- Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" Letters, 1936 to 1949. Completed 3/12/19.
- The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicholson
- Millions Like Us: Women's Lives in War and Peace by Virginia Nicholson
- The Bolter by Frances Osborne. Completed 1/08/19.
Period Piece by Gwen Raverat
Bluestockings by Jane Robinson
So that's my list -- some very long (the Wharton bio is more than 700 pages!); some short, and I've wanted to read all of them for a long time! All of them were written by women, except for The GWTW Letters which is edited by a man (Margaret Mitchell wrote all the letters).
So what do you think of my list? And which one should I read first? Bloggers, are you signed up for the TBR Pile Challenge? What's on your list?
One Pair of Feet was in a suggested reading list I was given when I was thinking of becoming a nurse. It’s hilarious, especially if you’ve ever worked as a nurse. Although some of her experience related to ward work would be dated now, but I’d love to re-read it. I’ll have to see if I still gave my copy.
ReplyDeleteI loved A London Family, and I pulled it off the shelf the other day to read a few pages. The Heyer biography is really good. You may want to have her books right to hand!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a fantastic list. I cannot wait to read about your progress with the TBR challenge.
ReplyDeleteI've not read a single one from this list :S Looking forward to your thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know any of these but I hope some turn out to be fantastic for you Karen!
ReplyDeleteI can't do these kinds of challenges with just a list. I need loose categories. But I love to follow along vicariously with other bloggers and admire their will power! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of including all nonfiction reads! I'm still finalizing my list, but I'm planning to include one or two nonfiction books that have been lingering on my shelf for far too long. I'm very curious to hear how you find the Edith Wharton biography, The Perfect Summer, Bluestockings, and Millions Like Us if/when you get to them. Best of luck and happy (nonfiction) reading!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! I own Period Piece and I'd like to own Terms and Conditions, which I am unfamiliar with. I still love boarding school stories! Have you read Antonia Forest?
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to do this challenge also.
I read Millions Like Us back in 2015, it's a really interesting read. I also enjoyed One Pair of Feet but that was decades ago. I should join in with this challenge.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of those, but now I'm very curious about A London Family. :) I signed up for the challenge this year, too, with a couple of books that didn't get read during last year's challenge back on the list for this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably reading your #9 this year too! I've read most of it already. I have 150 pages left. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm in awe of your list! Although I haven't actually read any of your selections, I've read reviews (mostly in the Guardian, one of my favorite sources for book reviews) of several and actually own a few (Perfect Summer; the Lee biography of Wharton & the bio of Georgette Heyer, whose one of my absolute favorite light authors). I just re-checked the Guardian's review of Elizabeth Jane Howard's Slipstream, which sounds really fascinating. Read that one first (or maybe second -- I see you've already read The Bolter), so I can see what you thought of it!
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