My Sign Up Post -- TBR 25 IN '25 & MT. TBR CHALLENGES

 

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Sign Up Post

This is my sign up post for the TBR 25 in '25 and Mt. TBR Challenges. If you want to join me in the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page, here. Bev at My Reader's Block hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge. You can find the details for that one here. 

The number of unread books on my shelves is staggering. I long ago stopped referring to "my TBR shelf" because there are many shelves of unread books in my house. I prefer to think to it as a "library" and may never get to all of them. But I mean to try. 

Last year, I read the 24 books I picked for the TBR 24 in '24 Challenge, plus another 70 books for the Mt. TBR Challenge, for a total of 94 books read from my TBR library. I hope to reach at least 100 this year. 

You do not have to pick your TBR 25 in '25 book ahead of time. You can. Or you can pick them as you go. Or you can pick and then change your mind. The only "rule" is that the books have to have been on your shelf before January 1, 2025. 

Here are my TBR 25 in '25 picks, in alphabetical order by author. I'll read them in any old order:

• One Man’s San Francisco by Herb Cain

• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell FINISHED

• Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster NOW

• Biter Orange by Claire Fuller

• Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

• Q.’s Legacy by Helene Hanff

• Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith

• Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith

• Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch FINISHED

• Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay

• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

• The Widow on Dwyer Court by Lisa Kusel

• The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev

• Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age by Michael A. Milton NOW

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell

• Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl

• Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair FINISHED

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen by Nigel Slater NOW

• The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

• Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

There was no rhyme or rhythm to how I picked these. A few, like the Herb Cain book, have languished on my shelves for too long. Others came to me more recently, but with the understanding that I would read them right away, which I haven't. Some are for group reads on Instagram, like Imitation of Christ and the du Maurier biography. A few won prizes and I'm trying to read all the winners, like the Charlotte Jay book that won the very first Edgar Award for best mystery in 1954.

I got this post up so late that I've already read several of these. I wanted to start strong in January so I have momentum to read these and then move on to my Mt. TBR books. 

I don't know which books I'll read for that one yet. But I signed up for the Mt. Everest level to read a total of 100 books off my shelves. That means I need 75 in addition tot he 25 listed above. I'm ready to climb!