Thursday, June 21, 2012

Halfway up Pike's Peak

I've stalled a bit on my TBR challenge to be honest. I'd blame those dratted library books, because they’re so distracting. I seem to be stuck midway through several likely suspects. So I'm huddled in a nice section of the mountain, taking a break before tackling the next round. I am pleased, though, that I discovered the Goodreads' Mt TBR Reading Group for sharing our experiences/war stories/book discoveries.

The current list:
Strong Poison
In the Garden of Iden
Staying Dead
Dagger Magic
Blue Bloods
Affinity Bridge
Masquerade

1. Tell us how many miles you've made it up your mountain (# of books read).

I've finished seven books in my TBR Challenge, only three since the last update. To try my hand at the weird math, Pike's Peak is 14,115 feet. I've completed 7/12 books or 58% of my goal. That means that I'm 5,928 feet up currently. (Did I do that right? I'm lousy at math.) Oh, I do hope I brought enough supplies...

2. Compose a poem using the titles from your list (lower case words are what I added):

In the Garden of Iden
Staying Dead
is a
Blue Bloods
Masquerade


B. Who has been your favorite character so far and why?

I could be obvious and say Lord Peter Wimsey, but to choose from the last three books I read, I'd say Lawrence van Alen in the Blue Bloods series. He first appears in Masquerade and I liked how De La Cruz played with the usual expectations of vampire lore and changed it around a little with Lawrence's abilities. Lawrence is old and frankly set in his habits. He has certain expectations of how people should act that are rather contrary to the current crop. He makes for a different kind of contrast. I would have loved to have seen Lawrence in his prime, rather than as a fairly broken spirit.

C. Have any of the books surprised you -- if so in what way? (not as good as anticipated? unexpected ending? Best thing you've read all year?)

Dagger Magic surprised me in a bad way. I reread the earlier Adept books leading up to that one and they weren't stellar but they were good for they were. At Dagger Magic, all the charm and energy seemed to have disappeared, along with the copyediting. It wound up being a slough to get through. I still have Death of an Adept left in my TBR shelf and I'm not all that keen to get to it.

D. Bonus question: What am I reading now from the TBR pile?

I did manage to read a few chapters of Seanan McGuire’s An Artificial Night today. I’m hoping that will spur me on to finish that for book #8.

5 comments:

Bev Hankins said...

You did all questions! And a bonus! I'm so glad to see folks indulging me on the poem request--very nice.

I'm going to say your math is just fine--In fact, I'm currently wearing a t-shirt that says "English Major--You Do The Math" so I'm likely to take any answer. ;-)

Sitting at 58% is pretty good for half-way through the year. Let us know if you need a supply drop and we'll try to get a helicopter up that high.

Julia said...

I figured I'd give it a try. And since I've weirdly joked about the Blue Bloods being a cross of vampires and Paradise Lost, that poem wasn't really that far off the mark.

I'm stunned at my progress to be honest. I went through a long stretch where I wasn't reading much, so this year is pretty amazing.

As for the supply drop, I'll let you know. I will say thanks for creating the Goodreads group; hearing the encouragement from others and interacting is really helping the lull period.

Gigi Ann said...

You're climbing one book at a time up that mountain. You can make it the rest of the way, just keep reading...

Julia said...

Thanks for the encouragement Gigi Ann!

sawcat said...

Great job on being over halfway! I know what you mean about the library books. They have been my downfall so far this year (I think I've probably completed my library challenge twice over). There's still plenty of time!