The VIRTUAL Mount TBR Reading Challenge discussion

I completed my original goal of White Plume Mountain, and I'm not stopping. Heading up Stormness Head now. Not sure I'll make it up the top, as I want to start to refocus on my owned books. Yet I do have some NetGalley and Library books still to read... will see how it goes.

As I finished two books yesterday from my virtual list, I've made a good start already.

Running List:

----------- Rum Doodle ----------------

January:
1. Elizabeth Warren: Her Fight. Her Work. Her Life. by Antonia Felix (audio)
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
3. Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance by Bill McKibben (audio)

February:
3.5 The End of Nature by Bill McKibben (audio/print)
4. Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
5. Tap Out: Poems by Edgar Kunz
6. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land (audio)

March:
7. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. The River by Peter Heller
9. Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick
10. The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness by Diana Winston

April:
11. The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-Lee (audio)
12. The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life by Bill McKibben

----------- Mt Crumpit -----------------

April:
13. The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert
14. The Parade by Dave Eggers (audio)
15. The Ash Family by Molly Dektar
16. Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center (audio)

May:
17. The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick (audio)
18. The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver
19. A Hero on Mount St. Helens: The Life and Legacy of David A. Johnston by Melanie Holmes
20. The Crofter and the Laird by John McPhee
21. Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
22. Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa
23. The Doomsday Calculation: How an Equation that Predicts the Future Is Transforming Everything We Know About Life and the Universe by William Poundstone

June:
24. One Night in Georgia by Celeste O. Norfleet

----------- Mt Munch ------------------

June:
25. A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea by Don Kulick
26. The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames (audio)
27. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (audio)

July:
28. On Drinking by Charles Bukowski (audio)
29. Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth by Gordon L. Dillow
30. Embattled River: The Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism by David Schuyler
31. In Oceans Deep: Courage, Innovation, and Adventure Beneath the Waves by Bill Streever
32. In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada

August:
33. Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch (audio)
34. Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle
35. We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca White
36. The Last Redwoods and the Parkland of Redwood Creek by Philip Hyde

----------- White Plume Mt -----------
August:
37. The Warehouse by Rob Hart
38. Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr
39. The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia by Shelby Harris

September:
40. Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World by Clive Thompson (audio)
41. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
42. The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker by Mike Rose
43. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
44. Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard

October:
45. Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick
46. The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele
47. A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration by Kenn Kaufman
48. Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur

----------- Stormness Head------------
October:
49. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (audio)
50. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
51. The Things We Do to Make It Home by Beverly Gologorsky

November:
52. Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth by Diane Wilson
53. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel
54. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes (audio)

December:
55. Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table by Kit Chapman
56. Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale by Adam Minter
57. Creatures: A Novel by Crissy Van Meter

First stop up Stormness Head with book 49 is Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson.

3 stars, audiobook

This was a multi-cast narrated book that looks at the family relationships with a too young couple of kids that get pregnant, not even 16 yet. Their daughter is having her coming out day. It's multi-generational and is more in the past then present, then jumps forward. It was good, but not my cup of tea for storytelling styles.

Second book finished yesterday is book 50 Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha.

5 stars, eBook

I enjoyed this book. It's a look at race relations, one aspect with the 1992 L.A. riots, but more about the devastation of a shooting, in this case two shootings, and what it does to both families. The first shooting taking place in 1992, the second in retaliation in 2019. The book is told in alternating points of view by the witnesses of each shooting, a close family member. It was a good read for me.

Another book done number 51 The Things We Do to Make It Home by Beverly Gologorsky.

2 stars, print book

This one didn't work for me. Too many characters and not a story, no plot, it wasn't organized in a readable manner to me. By the time things started to happen the book just ended. Took too long to read too, I should have just stopped and moved on.

Book number 52 finished with Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth by Diane Wilson.

4 stars, print book

This is one of those books I've had checked out from the library at work. I've had it a while, although had others longer. I haven't read a book quite like this before. The writing style took a little to get used to, but also the book didn't really have the best form. Eye-opening on how some chemical companies behave, unsurprisingly, yet so disappointing and heart-breaking.

Book 53 done with Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel.

4 stars, eBook

This is a fast-paced thriller. It's one of those books you don't want to put down and still I was frustrated with the young protagonist. I kept wanting to yell at her with the decisions she made. It's a crazy story, with a satisfying ending.

Book 54 done with The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

4 stars, audiobook

See book #27 above, as it is similar in the setting, packhorse librarian women in Kentucky during the depression. Yet here we are more focused on a British woman, and a few others that work at the newly started library. It also has more of a middle-class feel than the poverty one might expect. It was a good, enjoyable read.

Book 55 now done with Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table by Kit Chapman.

5 stars, print book

This was a great pop-science book! It is how science books should be written, at least if not for someone in the field. This book is about the history of element discovery! It was quite the read, very much enjoyed it.

Book 56 completed with Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale by Adam Minter.

5 stars, eBook

This is a book that will likely change my life. Perhaps letting go of stuff, but also how I view my clothes, especially new ones. Sadly garments aren't made to last anymore, as well as other items that should, like washers and refrigerators. A fascinating look at where used goods go around the world.

Book 57 finished with Creatures: A Novel by Crissy Van Meter.

3.5 stars, eBook

A novel about a woman who had utterly horrible parenting, living on an island off the coast of Southern California. The timeline jumps around constantly which doesn't help the book. There were sentences at times that were quite beautiful.

I ended up the year of 2019 with 57 books on the virtual TBR. It was more than I planned, although I did want to reduce the number library books checked out, my reading consisted of mostly NetGalley books. My shelf of library books is still full. So is it a win? Well, I enjoyed the reading and has some very interesting books that came my way, so yes, I consider this a win. A good year of reading.

Hope all reading this can say the same. I'm looking forward to a happy year of reading in 2020.