TBR 24 in '24 and Mt. TBR Challenges -- My Sign Up Post

 

THE TBR 24 IN '24 CHALLENGE

My Sign Up Post

This is my sign up post for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge. The simple idea is to read 24 books off your TBR shelves between January 1 and December 31, 2024. If you want to join me (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page here to sign up. You can participate through your blog, social media, or just in the comments on the challenge pages.

You do not have to pick all your TBR 24 in '24 books ahead of time. I like to, so I do. You can pick them now. Or you can pick some now and some as you go. You can pick them all at whim. Or you can pick now and then change your mind. The only real rule is that you read books that you already owned before January 1, 2024. Find all the rules on the challenge page.

MY TBR 24 IN '24 BOOKS

I like to pick my books ahead of time and keep them stacked by my bedside to motivate me through the year. This year, I picked 12 fiction and 12 nonfiction. I plan to alternate fiction/nonfiction as I read through the stack in alphabetical order by author name. In years past, I read my challenge picks as my mood struck. But I always ended up in December with the least appealing books and that was no fun. 

Here's a list of what is in the picture. Do any look good to you?

FICTION

Quentins by Maeve Binchy. I went on a Binchy jag years ago and read most of her books, including several that involve the fictional Dublin restaurant Quentins. But this one slipped past me. FINISHED 

Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury. I loved Eating People is Wrong and The History Man so look forward to reading more of Bradbury's books. FINISHED 

The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary. This one is on Anthony Burgess's list of his 99 favorite novels, one of my favorite lists. FINISHED 

The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling, an Edgar Award winner. FINISHED 

 

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable, looks like fun! FINISHED 

J by Howard Jacobson. I like his books but this one is speculative, dystopian fiction, not my favorite genre. We'll see how it goes. FINISHED 

Out of the Shelter by David Lodge. He is one of my favorite authors. FINISHED 

The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch. So is she! FINISHED 

The New Men by C. P. Snow. I've been plodding my way through his Strangers and Brothers series and am determine to get through the whole thing. FINISHED 

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler. As with Binchy, I went on an Anne Tyler tear several years ago. Then I just stopped. I want to get back and read the ones I missed. FINISHED 

Come Fill the Cup by Harlan Ware, This is probably the most random novel I have on my TBR shelf so I decided to dust it off. FINISHED 

Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, which will also count as my Austria book for the 2024 European Reading Challenge. 

NONFICTION

My Almost Cashmere Life by Margy Adams. I already ripped through this memoir. FINISHED 

Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes & Asides from National Review by William F. Buckley, Jr. This is one of my favorite titles ever. I grew up reading his Notes & Asides column and look forward to revisiting the columns in this collection. FINISHED 

Political Woman: The Big Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick by Peter Collier. My husband gave this to me several years ago and it's time I read it. FINISHED 

An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David. I love food writing but have never read this classic. FINISHED 

Menagerie Manor by Gerald Durrell. I've read Lawrence Durrell books but never Gerald's. I love the TV show, The Durrells of Corfu, so want to try his books. FINISHED 

Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz. I bought this on a whim when it came out and don't want it to languish on my shelves. FINISHED 

Songbook by Nick Hornby. Another favorite author, but I missed this one. FINISHED 

The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis. I'm chipping away at reading all his books. FINISHED 

Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo. I found this at a library book sale and it looks terrific! FINISHED 

The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas by Paul Theroux. This classic book of travel writing has waited too long for me to read it. FINISHED 

Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull. I missed this when it came out and love ex-pat memoirs. FINISHED 

I'll Take the Back Road by Marguerite Hurrey Wolf, a 1975 memoir about living on a farm in Vermont. 

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

This TBR 24 in '24 Challenge dovetails nicely with the Mt TBR Challenge that Bev at My Reader's Block hosts every year. Like I've done for the past couple of years, I am signing up for the "Mt. Kilimanjaro" Level in 2024 to read a total of 60 books off my TBR shelves. That means 37 books in addition to those listed above.

MY MT. TBR BOOKS

I will try to remember to list my Mt. TBR books here as I read them, although I completely forgot this last year.

Here's the list. Consider them all marked FINISHED:

Need Blind Ambition by Kevin Myers 

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier

The Year I Stopped to Notice by Miranda Keeling

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean

Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope

The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle

The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life by Charles Murray

The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper by Dominick Dunne

Habits of the House by Fay Weldon

Long Live the King by Fay Weldon

The New Countess by Fay Weldon

His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle

Silverview by John le Carre

The Reivers by William Faulkner

Dead Lions by Mick Herron

Pocket Full of Poseys by Thomas Reed

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer

After All These Years by Susan Isaacs

Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh

The Light of Day by Eric Ambler

With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George

Loser Takes All by Graham Greene

The Third Man by Graham Greene

The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene

The Messenger by Megan Davis

The Stranger House by Reginald Hill

Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah

The Vacationers by Emma Stroud

Hanging the Devil by Tim Maleeny

Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis

Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh

Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thakeray

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh

NOTE: Updated September 21, 2024.