2013 TBR Pile Challenge Wrap-Up

Friday, November 29, 2013


One of my favorite challenges has quickly become Roofbeam Reader’s annual TBR Pile Challenge. The whole point is to finally read books that have been sitting on your “To Be Read” shelf for a long time. I am so bad at letting the books I want to read stack up and then neglecting them.

For the second year in a row I’ve completed the challenge. Even if I don’t end up loving every book on my list it’s always such a satisfying feeling to finally get to them.

Here my list of books that I finished this year. There was only one from my list that I bumped and use an alternate for and that’s Dickens. I’m hoping to get to that next year. I am already working on my list for 2014!

1) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (finished March 2013)
2) An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (finished January 2013)
3) Birdsong by Sebastian C. Faulks (finished April 2013)
4) One of our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (finished May 2013)
5) Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy (finished September 2013)
6) Summerland by Michael Chabon (finished May 2013)
7) About a Boy by Nick Hornby (finished July 2013)
8) Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
9) 1776 by David McCullough (finished March 2013)
10) The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett (finished January 2013)
11) Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut (finished September 2013)
12) The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen (finished October 2013)

ALTERNATES:
1) Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder (finished October 2013)
2) Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

Photo by moi and from Adam's blog

10 comments:

Lisa said...

Congratulations on completing the challenge. Isn't it a nice feeling to cross them off the TBR lists? I also feel guilty about how many I accumulate - but not guilty enough to stop adding to them!

Kailana said...

Congrats on finishing! I used to try a similar challenge and I would tweak my list constantly and essentially cheat... :)

martine said...

Well done on finishing the challenge. what a lovely collection of books you have. Are you signed up for next year?

Jillian said...

Nice job finishing that challenge! Now if I could just get on TBR pile.

Andi said...

Great job! I've participated and failed spectacularly before. However, I've vowed to participate in 2014, and for the first time I ever I think I'm serious enough about reading my own books that I can knock this one out of the park. Woot!

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Lisa - I know, that's the problem. My TBR stack keeps getting bigger!

Kailana - Adam is pretty hardcore about his chaallenge. You can't change your list once you've started it.

martine - I am posting on my list for next year soon! I'm definitely doing it again.

Jillian - It's a great motivator to tackle those neglected books.

Andi - That's perfect! Here's to TBR reading in 2014!

martine said...

Hey, well done, You've had some interesting books there. Hope to see you next year too.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

martine - I am definitely in for next year!

JaneGS said...

Congratulations on completing the challenge--feels good, doesn't it?

I am a big fan of Vanity Fair, and enjoy it more each time I read it. I haven't read Dombey and Son yet, but I'm working my way through Dickens so will at some point.

1776 is on my wish list at the library to listen to--McCullough is such a wonderful writer of history. One of my favorites.

Good luck with the 2014 Pile.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

JaneGS - It really does feel good! I'm excited to re-read Vanity Fair at some point. I have a feeling I'll enjoy it even more the second time around.