Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Welcome to the Towering Pile!

Hello! Welcome! Be careful, though. I wouldn't want a book to fall on you! The pile (the to be read pile, that is) is 643 books tall at the moment. I try to chip away at it, but it just keeps growing! So join me in my constant struggle to conquer the pile, whether you're fighting the same battle, or you just like to watch others fight it and laugh/cheer us on.

I started this blog mostly because I participated in the October 2011 Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, and really enjoyed doing it and blogging through it, but didn't want to spam my genealogy blog every time I wanted to talk about books. So now I'll have a place where I can blog to my heart's delight about the books and snacks I've got planned for the next read-a-thon, how I'm doing in my ongoing reading challenges, and what I thought about the book I just read (because I am a woman of strong opinions).

I'm hoping this blog will also spur me on to get through my to be read pile once and for all. It will likely take many years, but I'll be happy if I can just see the number going down instead of up. My mom offered to take me out to dinner to celebrate when I get it down to 500 books, so that can be my first goal!

In accordance with this goal, I'll be participating in the Read Your OWN Library! Challenge, at the level of Biblio Rehab. This means that every month I must read a book I've owned for at least 6 months and haven't read, and until I've read it I can't go to the library or buy any new books. I hope to even exceed these requirements, since I want my pile to decrease as quickly as possible.

For the month of November, I've chosen The Shining by Stephen King, which I've already started to read. So far, I'm finding it quite enjoyable! Nothing much has happened yet, but I'm enjoying the writing (this is my first Stephen King book). I think this challenge is going to help keep me on track. Wish me luck!

Update: JNCL at The Beauty of Eclecticism has (hopefully temporarily!) suspended this challenge, but I'm gonna keep doing it anyway, sans link-up, because I just love this challenge! That way I'll be ready to jump right back in when she's ready to start it up again. :)

Second update: Due to the large number of challenges I'm doing this year, as of the start of 2013 I'm discontinuing this challenge. I will of course pick it back up if other people start doing it again.

Books read so far for the Read Your OWN Library! Challenge:

November 2011: The Shining by Stephen King
December 2011: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
January 2012: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
February 2012: Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
March 2012: John Dies at the End by David Wong
April 2012: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
May 2012: The Mummy by Anne Rice
June 2012: The Visitor (Animorphs #2) by K.A. Applegate
July 2012: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
August 2012: The Encounter (Animorphs #3) by K.A. Applegate
September 2012: The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
October 2012: The Capture (Animorphs #6) by K.A. Applegate
November 2012: I never got around to reading my planned challenge book that month.
December 2012: The Alien (Animorphs #8) by K.A. Applegate

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful to have you along for the challenge, Lianne! Don't forget to come back on November 5th and sign up on this month's link. Happy reading!
    Jennifer

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  2. Thanks, JNCL! I definitely will.

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  3. Lianne, so sorry about the confusion over the challenge linky. I have now extended the time that the linky is up each month, to give everyone a chance to sort out any such questions and contact me for help with any difficulties. Thank you for joining us, and I hope you enjoy the challenge.
    Jennifer

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  4. Hey Jennifer, it's all good! I just got confused over whether each month's linky was supposed to be for the book you read that month, or the month before.

    Definitely enjoying the challenge! It's giving me much needed motivation to get through that tbr pile of mine.

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  5. Hi, Lianne, welcome to the world of book blogs. I found your blog through the RYOLC listing. I've also got an enormous list and pile of books I have to get through. Happy reading!
    You can visit my blog at gibbee.blogspot.com
    Bean

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  6. Wow, Bean, it looks like you have almost as big a to-read list as I do! Maybe bigger when you count your e-books!

    Thanks for visiting! :)

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