Repeat by Neal Pollack

Repeat by Neal Pollack features Brad Cohen, a nearly forty-year-old mostly-failed television writer in Hollywood, California. He has a wife and two young daughters he loves, but everything else in his life is a huge disappointment. On the eve of his fortieth birthday, something very strange happens. He falls asleep and when he wakes, he is in... his mother's womb. Somehow, Brad has found himself back at the very beginning of his own life. Also very strange- he remembers everything. How long will he be doomed- for he does feel doomed- to repeat his own life?

Brad explains his existence to another character as being a little like Groundhog Day, except that instead of repeating the same day over and over again, it is the same forty years over and over again. Brad knows every major event that will happen until 2010. He makes investments and bets, he predicts the rise and fall of governments and politicians. Sometimes he improves his own life by following dreams he has always had and sometimes he makes a mess of his own life. I think we have all thought about how we would do things differently if we could just go back, but Repeat shows us that it might not be the utopia we'd hope.

I liked this book and for me it was a quick read. Once I got to the second half of the book, I just couldn't stand to put it down and finished it as quickly as I could. There were a few parts that I wish had been omitted. Brad's second time through puberty was a little too descriptive for me, but I suppose it was realistic. This book was a bit similar to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, but I didn't like it quite as much. ...Harry August had more purpose and more mystery, but Repeat was still fun to read.Parts of this book sound as though they may have been a bit autobiographical: according to the 'About the Author' section, Pollack is a certified yoga instructor and a three-time Jeopardy! champion. I thought that was pretty cool.

This is the kind of book that would elicit an interesting discussion. We only get one life and I've always believed that is what makes our decisions, our life choices, so important. If we could do this more than once, it wouldn't matter what we chose, but life isn't like that. We do have to choose and sometimes we are unhappy with those choices, but they make us who we are. 

Talk to Me by Sonia Ellis

Talk to Me by Sonia Ellis is a book about a young teen girl, Sadina, trying desperately to help her 7-year-old sister speak. Maddie speaks just fine at home to her mom, dad and older sister, but as soon as anyone else is around, she is absolutely silent. Maddie has selective mutism and it isn't something she can simply overcome. Sidina worries for her sister and is determined to find a way to help her.

This book was short and moved quickly. It would likely be a good read for a pre-teen. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy it that much. I was briefly engaged, but the storyline took an unlikely turn that seemed forced. There is an element of STEM in this book and so I appreciate that it is attempting to promote those skills, especially among girls. Perhaps you will like this book better than I did. It is the beginning of a series that could be cute.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

I loved Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel! It is present day in Toronto when the characters we've just met are faced with the outbreak of a deadly flu pandemic. And by deadly, I mean really deadly. More than 99 percent of the world's population is killed. It happens extremely quickly- from the moment a person begins to feel ill, they have less than forty- eight hours to live. Suddenly, nearly the everyone is dead. There is no one to maintain the electrical grid, causing the lights and all other electricity to switch off. Transportation breaks down as the people hoping to flee their cities to get away from the flu encounter unbreakable traffic jams, drivers dead in their cars. With no law enforcement, looting and violent crime run rampant causing even more deaths. Then the story flashes forward twenty years and we get to see how the world has adjusted, coped, with the new reality. People have survived and they have made new lives for themselves.

One of my favorite things about this book is that we get to see what happens next. So often with post-apocalyptic fiction, we see the event that causes the "end of the world" and we see the chaos, the anarchy, that ensues, but we don't get to see the rebuilding of civilization, however different that may look from the past. In Station Eleven, that is exactly what we get to see. I enjoyed watching how the practicality of life, the things we take for granted, fall apart surprisingly quickly.

We bemoaned the impersonality of the modern world, but that was a lie... it had never been impersonal at all. There had always been a massive delicate infrastructure of people, all of them working unnoticed around us, and when people stop going to work, the entire operation grinds to a halt.

No electricity, no running water, no cell phones, no internet, no transportation other than your own feet. No way to know if the people you love are alive or dead. And no way to reach them either way. It is frankly terrifying. I have little confidence in my own ability to survive and the thought of trying to keep my family alive is even worse. On the other hand, this book does bring up some interesting things to consider about survival, not least of which is the quality of the life we will live if we survive. One set of characters is a traveling troupe of actors and musicians and their motto is taken from an episode of Star Trek Voyager :

Survival is insufficient. 

The only complaint I had about this book was that the transitions between characters was abrupt and rather sharp, but I suppose that adds to the disjointed atmosphere the author was hoping to create. Also, the ending was awfully quick and left me wanting more. Perhaps that is a clever trick on the author's part, but I can't help but hope for a sequel. According to the author's website, that is highly unlikely. The good news is that she has sold the film rights, so we could possibly see this wonderful book on the big screen. If you haven't read this book yet, and I certainly waited too long, then get started now. I loved it.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

So many years ago, I picked up this book, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, at a library book sale. It sounded wonderful; the back of the book described it as "a vividly drawn portrait of the Victorian age, when girls were groomed for lives as rich men's wives...and the story of a girl who saw another way." It told of a young girl named Gemma with recent tragedy in her life and who had begun experiencing strange visions of other worlds. The problem is that you can't judge a book by its cover. And I mean that literally as the cover was my favorite part of this book.

I hate to sound mean about a book, but this one was just not very good at all. It was a great and terrible bore. So why did I read it? That's an excellent question. I have had no trouble whatsoever discontinuing a read I'm not enjoying. I've even been especially brutal during this last few months as I've made my way up Mount TBR, but for some reason, I kept at this one. I think it might be because it wasn't awful, it just wasn't good. If it had been awful I would have thrown it out right away, but I just kept hoping it was going to get better. It never did. Finally, I just skimmed the last one hundred pages, hoping for something to catch my attention or to just read enough of the resolution to feel satisfied that I had tried. The story had such potential, but the execution was sorely lacking.

This book is the first in a trilogy and sadly I can't recommend it. If I've gotten this wrong, I'm happy to hear why you think so. 

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Years ago I heard about The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell while listening to NPR. I added it to my "want to read" list and I snatched it up a year or two later when I discovered it at a library book sale for only $3. Three or four years after finding such a great bargain, I finally read it this week. Oh, my. I really shouldn't have waited so long! Esme Lennox is a sixteen-year-old young woman who has just moved with her family to Edinburgh from India where she grew up in a British Colonist community. Always a bit different from girls her age, this is exponentially more obvious (and troublesome) once she begins attending school in Scotland. Having a daughter who doesn't fit it with her peers, like the same things they like, and want nothing more than to be married makes Esme's parents very unhappy. In a time where a woman could be committed to a mental hospital on only the recommendation of her father and her doctor, Esme is banished to just such a place with no one to speak up for her. Sixty-one years later (!!) the hospital is closing and the administration contacts Esme's next of kin, Iris, her great-niece. Iris has never heard of Esme and has always believed that her grandmother was an only child; believed it because it is exactly what her grandmother always told her.

Oh, my! What a book! Esme has the misfortune of independent thought at at time when women were just not allowed such things. Her character is wonderfully written, as is her sister, Kitty. We see only fractured bits of Kitty as she is an old woman suffering from Alzheimer's. Iris is slightly less interesting, but only when compared with how much Esme captured my attention.

I sped through this book and it was so difficult to put down. It was slightly dark, mysterious and full of drama. There are so many things that aren't explained and that are left to the reader's imagination. I think there is far more to Esme than the author reveals, but I can't be sure what exactly that might be. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I do hope you'll read it.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Johsilyn Jackson is the perfect way to begin the summer. It's a fun mystery set in the deep south bordering the panhandle of Florida. Laurel lives in a picture perfect neighborhood surrounded by gates that keep out the ghosts she's seen all her life. That is until one ghost awakens her to lead her to the body floating in her backyard pool. How did this young girl end up in Laurel's pool and why did her ghost appear in Laurel's bedroom? Was it an accident or has something more sinister found its way into Laurel's carefully built life of safety? The only person Laurel trusts to help her put things back the way she likes them is her unpredictable sister Thalia.

Oh, this book was fun to read. Mysteries aren't usually my thing, but there was something about this one that wouldn't let me put it down. Perhaps it was the family drama that can't be kept at bay. Or maybe it was the sheltered, suburban life turned upside down that hits a bit home for me. Either way, it was an irresistibly entertaining novel that I can't wait for someone else to read. And as much as I thought it was just a fun read, I was surprised by the well-written discussion questions at the back of the book. I could totally see a book club discussion surrounding this book. It was fun and there would be plenty to discuss. That sounds like the perfect summer book club pick to me!

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

I am making excellent progress through my TBR pile! No really, it may not look like I've read tons and tons, but do you know what this challenge has made me do, besides read stuff I've had forever? It has made me be honest with myself about whether or not I'm actually going to read some of the books I have. And you know what? Some of those books I bought years and years ago at library book sales? I'm never going to read them. They may have been must-have books at $2 each, but there is a reason that every time I've picked them off my shelf and thought about reading them that I have then put them back because they just didn't appeal to me. There are far too many really good books out there to finish bad books. I used to power through even when I didn't like a book because I didn't want to miss something that might get better. And I didn't want to be a quitter, but I'm a grown up now (can it be true??) and I don't finish books I don't like. And you know what else? There are far too many really good books out there to even start bad books. If I have picked up a book numerous times and I still don't want to read it I know that I'll probably never want to read it and that has freed me to finally clear out my shelves a bit. It's quite liberating. I highly recommend it.

Ah, but on to my latest book from Mount TBR: Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat. It has been years since I read Lancaster's first book, Bitter is the New Black, but I really liked it. I can't tell you how long I've had this one, but it was about time I got to it. Oh, Jen Lancaster is hilarious and it's a bit frightening how similar our inner monologues can be. In her first book, she and her husband were fighting through a difficult financial time. In Such a Pretty Fat, Jen is fighting to lose the weight that has somehow appeared on her plaid-and-pearl-wearing frame. She admits that she may be a bit in denial about her appearance: 

I'm a hundred pounds heavier than I was in high school, my veins are full of creme fraiche, and yet I look in the mirror, take in the hair and makeup, and think, Damn baby, you fiiine.

When her doctor finally tells her that she absolutely has to do something about her weight, she is yanked into reality:

In painstaking detail, Dr. Awesome describes the number of agonizing, wasting ways I will die if I don't change my eating and fitness habits, like, immediately.

After several unsuccessful attempts at the Atkins diet, Jen realizes that the only way she will actually take her weight loss seriously is if she has a deadline and some accountability. Remembering a friend's suggestion that she write a weight loss book, Jen makes a book pitch to her agent in which she will detail her journey. Once her book is approved, her determination really does improve. She can't stand the idea of letting anyone down. If you think this will be another book where someone determines to loose weight and it is suddenly gone and you-just-need-to-try-try-try-really-hard-and-it-will-happen-for-you,-too, kind of books? Don't worry because it isn't. Jen experiences the same frustrations and hunger pangs we've all felt while trying to resist our favorite foods. And she also calls out the crazy that so often surrounds the weight loss industry.

This book was funny and entertaining and also motivating. I may not be quite a hundred pounds heavier than I was in high school, but I am interested in being healthier and I love the path that Jen chose. It's reasonable and achievable and still somehow funny. I will definitely be reading more Lancaster in the near future. 

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

Years ago I was a huge Amy Tan fan (that's fun to say!), but it's been a while since I've read anything from her. In my efforts to work through my TBR stacks, I picked up Saving Fish from Drowning. I bought this book from a library book sale so long ago that I can't even remember how long I've had it. It features a tour group of twelve people visiting China and Burma. Unfortunately, the person they all have in common, their tour leader Bibi dies just before the commencement of the trip and a substitute guide must fill in. While on this vacation, eleven of the tourists become lost in the Burmese jungle.

Interestingly for the reader, the story is told from the point of view of Bibi's ghost. This allows the reader to not only view the action as it takes place, but also to understand many of the motives as well as much of the history behind the scenes. Bibi watches as the new tour leader misunderstands the reasons behind the original itinerary and she understands the reasons behind all that befalls her friends. On the one hand, this allows the reader to understand so much more than what the characters understand. On the other hand, the reader gets an awful lot of information. This book was interesting, but it seemed a little heavy to me, as though I weren't making much progress. It held my interest and I wanted to read it, but I also often wanted the author to get on with it a bit. I feel terrible saying such a thing about Amy Tan, but this was not my favorite book of hers.

The one thing that can always be said of Amy Tan's books is that they bring a vivid visual of Asia and its many different cultures to the reader. There is nothing like reading one of her novels to make me want to book a flight on Cathay Pacific.

Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

One of the most fun things we did at the Texas Book Festival last October was the nighttime trip to the state cemetery to hear ghost stories. Jake Halpern read to us from his new novel, Nightfall, which he wrote with Peter Kujawinski. He read to us about Line, Marin and Kana, three fourteen-year-olds who have been left behind on their island of Bliss as night approaches. On Bliss, they have fourteen years of Day followed by fourteen years of Night. As the sun sets, all the residents flee to an island further south to escape the darkness, cold and ice of Night. But is that all they are escaping? The adults won't discuss the reasoning behind all the traditions related to leaving the island and Marin especially finds this frustrating. She thinks it is all superstition, but before long she learns more than the adults ever knew.

When I listened to Halpern read this book, I immediately thought of my eleven-year-old son. It sounded like something he would really like. The whole time he was reading it, he kept telling me how good it was and how he couldn't wait to talk about it. I must say that with that kind of endorsement I was anxious to get my turn with the book. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with it as strongly as he did. I felt the storytelling was lacking in depth. At times the action would drag and then suddenly the author would jump ahead as if he had gotten tired of the previous scene. As a Middle Grade book, it was good, but I didn't love it. My eleven-year-old, however, thought it was amazing, so perhaps it is just what it should be.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Zombies are not my thing. I've never seen an episode of The Walking Dead, I couldn't tell you anything about any zombie movie ever made except for Warm Bodies. I watched it one day with a friend and I was so surprised to see how much I liked it. When I realized it was based on a book, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, of course I had to read it. Normally I prefer to read a book before seeing the movie adaptation, but in this instance it was a little backwards, and that was okay. The book added so much more information and I still really liked it.

Warm Bodies follows R, a zombie wandering an airport with no recollection whatsoever of his previous life or even his name. He thinks it started with an R and so he just goes by that initial. When he and his zombie friends are out on a hunting trip, something a little strange happens to R. As he feasts on the brain of a young man, he sees what the young man knew and realizes that the girl cowering in the corner is the young man's girlfriend, Julie. Overcome by the urge to protect her, R takes Julie back with him, alive, and hides her. As they begin to form some new strange kinship, R begins to change, to almost awaken. The story follows them as they attempt to understand the world around them and consider if it can be fixed.

I was surprised by the prose contained in the thoughts and descriptions in this book.

Julie looks at me like she's waiting for more, and I wonder if I've expressed anything at all with my halting, mumbled soliloquy. Are my words ever actually audible, or do they just echo in my head while people stare at me, waiting? I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I'm drowning in ellipses.

I was also surprised at how deep this book gets at times. It examines humanity in a way one doesn't expect from a zombie book. When R says, "I've never thought of these other creatures walking around me as people. Human, yes, but not people." It hit that isn't that how we often see other people around us? Or don't see them, as the case may be? We wander through life, but do we really see the people around us? Most of us can't even name our neighbors. How can we know anything else about them? Marion seems to be questioning the loss of humanity in humans. Later in the story, a theory about the cause of the plague emerges:

"I think we crushed ourselves down over the centuries. Buried ourselves under greed and hate and whatever other sins we could find until our souls finally hit the bottom of the universe."

Is that what we are doing to ourselves? When the Boneys, the leaders of the Dead, educate the newly Dead they show them pictures of death, of the Living fighting back and killing the Dead. They show them horrible, gruesome pictures to teach them that the world is something awful and that they must hate it, fight it and kill it. I couldn't help but be reminded of some of the things we sometimes see on the news: the promotion of hate and fear in order to motivate the support of a philosophy of hate and fear. This ...thing... is different. First we fear it, then we hate it, finally, we kill it. It does sound familiar to me. Frighteningly familiar.

I really liked this book. I read it quickly and I think it's one I'll reread. Even if zombies aren't your thing either, I think you'll like it. Give it a try.

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst was not what I expected it to be; it was much more. When I first picked up this book at the library book sale a few years ago I thought it was simply a mother- daughter story. Mother and daughter go on reality show in the hopes it will strengthen their bond. That is all I expected. What I actually found was a fun page turner that explores all the behind the scenes craziness of a fictional reality television show.

Laura and Cassie are the mother-daughter pairing. Cassie is seventeen-years-old and has just had a very challenging year; Laura has had some significant changes herself and so has missed some of Cassie's struggles. In typical teenage fashion, Laura annoys Cassie; and in typical mother-of-a-teenager fashion, Laura is trying so hard to hold on before her little girl flies the nest. But Laura and Cassie aren't the only interesting pairing on this show: first there are Wendy and Jillian, middle-aged flight attendants who actually aren't particularly interesting; Carl and Jeff, funny brothers; Justin and Abby, oh boy do they have a good story; Juliet and Dallas, former child stars; Riley and Trent, genius inventors; and Betsy and Jason, high-school sweethearts who are recently reunited. As in any reality show universe, these couples were picked for their stories and for the possibility of conflict.

The premise of the show, entitled Lost and Found, is that the contestants are on a scavenger hunt. They search for objects all over the world and then have to carry those objects for the remainder of the game. The host's question to each team as they are eliminated is "You've lost the game, but what have you found?" Sure, it's cheesy, but just the right about of cheese for a reality show. This book contains all of the sleazy, disgusting tactics that you would expect to happen behind the scenes on a reality show: they manipulate the players by planting things they know will upset the contestants in hopes they will have a mental break down and talk about something that will increase their ratings, they deprive them of sleep to weaken their resolve to not lose it on camera, and of course they give every indication that the editing will be done in such a way as to not show anyone in their best light. It is everything I hate about reality TV because you know it's happening, but you can't actually see it. In this case, the characters are mostly decent human beings, mostly, but you can see how the producers will spin it. The reader is given a chance to root against the show itself.

I really liked this book. It was captivating and I was never ready to put it down. There were characters I really cared about and others that I didn't particularly like at all. The interesting thing is that even the character I hated the most, there were times when I felt sorry for that character when he or she was being manipulated. I also loved reading about some of the locations the characters visited. I added several locations to my travel list, including this bridge between Sweden and Denmark:

How cool would it be to drive over that?!

This was a fun book and I hope you'll give it a try. It would be perfect to read as we head into vacation season. Maybe it will give you a little wanderlust of your own.

The Birth House by Ami McKay

The Birth House by Ami McKay is set in Nova Scotia at the beginning of World War I. Dora Rare, the first Rare baby to be born a girl in generations, is seventeen-years-old and has fallen into an apprenticeship with the local midwife, Miss B. Dora never intended to be a midwife, but when Miss B. passes by on her way to a birth, she insists Dora come along. As Dora catches her first baby, she is filled with love for the tiny little child in her arms. It isn't long before she is learning everything Miss B. can teach her. Unfortunately, this isn't a time or a place where the people of their tiny town can appreciate a midwife's ministrations, at least not publicly. When a new doctor comes to town claiming medical science to be far superior to the witchery of midwifery, things only get worse for Dora and Miss B.

This book sounded so fascinating to me and the first half of the book seemed as if it was really going somewhere special. Sadly, the story seemed to stagnate and never made the kind of progress I had hoped it would. I was further thrown by the epilogue that is dated twenty-five years later. It is as if the author ran out of story and so just ended with "and they all lived happily ever after." I was disappointed, but I did enjoy some of the descriptions of midwifery. I'd like to find another book about it that is a little better written. Do you have one you'd like to recommend?

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

My sister, also a giant book nerd, joined me last year for Texas Book Festival and we had a great time. She reads mostly YA fiction and loved hearing all the YA authors speak. One such author, Paige McKenzie, was presenting her new book The Haunting of Sunshine Girl. McKenzie is a 17-year-old young woman who has created the character of Sunshine Girl and her various hauntings. After several years as a supernatural YouTube series, she released this book. Sunshine is a 16-year-old girl who comes to realize that she is meant to help spirits cross to the other side. She is very resistant to this idea at first, but when the stakes get too high for her to ignore, she accepts her role. This book is the first in a series and it ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, just to keep the reader interested.

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I am impressed by any 17-year-old who has a book published, but, sadly, this read exactly like a book written by a 17-year-old. The writing just wasn't very strong and I think her editors could have helped her more. Her website features a blurb by Yahoo that says "For Harry Potter and Twilight Fans." I certainly saw the Twilight connection, but it was definitely no Harry Potter. My sister really liked this book and that was my only real motivation to finish it. It was a quick read, but not really worth my time. Maybe I'm wrong and you'll love it. Or maybe not.

Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Oh, this book. Nest by Esther Ehrlich follows Naomi, better known as Chirp, as she attempts to navigate what is likely to be the most difficult year of her young life. At only eleven-years-old, Chirp must face the devastating illness of her beloved mother. Chirp's mother, Hannah is a talented dancer, but when her leg begins to drag everyone knows something serious is wrong. It is the 1970s and much isn't known about Multiple Sclerosis which is the diagnosis that Hannah finally receives. She is heartbroken and falls into a deep depression. Chirp does her best to cope with the changes in her home and spends her days bird watching at the pond near her home on Cape Cod. Chirp knows just about everything about the birds that visit her area, but her favorite is the elusive Red-Throated Loon.

This book covers topics that some might think are too difficult or painful for a middle grade reader, but that is what I think is important about it. So often we minimize what our children understand about the world around us. We protect them as best we can, as is right, but they see. They know. And so we must help them understand. When Chirp talks about her mother's depression, she is explaining it to the reader as well as to herself:

...her depression is chronic, which means it will never completely go away.

Chirp is afraid, but she is reluctant to say anything that might make her mother feel worse and so she keeps quiet.

I fill up the room with my haaaa so there's no room for anything else.

When things get even harder for Chirp, she retreats to her room and the only safe feeling she can imagine. She builds herself a nest from all her bedding and clothes, just like the birds she loves do.

A nest should be well constructed. It should keep you warm even when there are strong gusts or a downpour. It can't just fall apart. It should be as safe as possible from predators.

Isn't this what we all want from our home- a safe, warm nest? 

The prose in this novel is beautifully written. Right away in chapter one we get this lovely description:

The air's already thick and warm, even though the sun's still just a spritz of light in the pitch pines and scrub oaks.

And that wonderful writing continues through the entire novel. I really enjoyed this book. I think the subject matter is very important. It is touching and heartrending and beautiful.

*I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2016

I am so excited to sign up for my very first reading challenge! I came across this one somewhere in the blogosphere and it is perfect for me. The Mount TBR Reading Challenge is hosted by My Reader's Block and I absolutely love the idea. There are eight levels from which to choose and there is one doable for everyone. Check these out:

Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

The whole idea is to finally make my way through all those books I've had for so long that I've never gotten around to reading. Last year I tried so hard to work my way through my TBR list by forbidding myself from purchasing new books. While that was a worthy goal, all it really accomplished was making me a more frequent patron of our library. While I love libraries, I really need to do something about those boxes of unread books that I don't want to have to move again. This challenge allows for the reading of paper books as well as e-books and I have quite the backlog of those as well, though they are much easier to store and move.

My favorite thing about this challenge is that it allows for DNFs or Did Not Finish books. Often I will go to my TBR pile and nothing really looks good to me (I don't know why because they certainly looked good when I bought them). The point of the challenge is to clear off (or at least greatly reduce) that pile. If I start a book and give it a real try and it turns out it's a book I will never really want to read, I can count it toward my total as long as I donate, sell, or give it away. Book removed, mission accomplished.

I'd really like to aim high with my goal, but I want to keep this realistic and also fun. I don't ever want reading to feel like a chore. That is why I am planning to start with Mt. Ararat. If I make it to 48 books and still have time in the year, I can always upgrade my goal to the next level.

Join me, won't you? This is going to be a lot of fun and it will help me make room for new books! How high can you climb?