BJ's 2019 TBR Challenge List

I decided to go ahead and post my list so that I would stop tweaking it.
Primary List:
1. Sarum (2009)
2. The Bear and the Dragon (2009)
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2013)
4. Villette (2013)
5. Tobit's Dog (2017)
6. The Full Cupboard of Life (2019)
7. A Morning for Flamingos (2019)
8. Mort (2019)
9. Sourcery (2019)
10. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (2019)
11. Mostly Harmless (2019)
12. Left for Dead (2019)

I went ahead and put in all the books that I haven't read from old lists.

Alternate List:
1. Song of Susannah (2019)
2. The Dark Tower (2019)
3. The Art of Reading Poetry (2019)
4. Night Soldiers (2019)
5. The Road (2019)
6. Asterios Polyp (2019)
7. The Martian (2019)
8. The Arm of the Starfish (2019)
9. Gormenghast (2019)
10. Titus Alone (2019)
11. The Eyre Affair (2019)
12. Girl, Interrupted (2019)

I decided to give the graphic novel another try. Good luck to everyone in 2019!

You beat me to it. I was just going to put my list out. ;) Good luck on your challenge!

Thank you! I can't wait to see your list.

You're the first! Good mix of stuff there, some fast/easy with some long/harder.

Only five titles left to catch up on isn't too bad, I've seven to do. My grandmother recommended Sarum to me about two decades ago. She's since passed, but I have a copy and I've read others by Rutherfurd. Vilette is another I have waiting; thought I should try more by Charlotte since I liked her Jane so much.

Glad to see you're continuing to enjoy the Discworld and Hitchhiker series. Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy will be grim, Peake is at least more whimsical. You will probably like Jasper Fforde. I liked the movie of Girl Interrupted.

Nice list and good for you in trying to get some of the books from prior years read. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish will be on my list as well. I really want to read Villette but am not sure when I'll actually get to it. Loved The Martian! Also remember enjoying Girl, Interrupted which I read ages ago after I had seen the movie.

Y'all are getting me excited about 2019. :)

I get pretty excited about my list too, in advance. Then something weird happens in January - it suddenly transforms into looking like a giant mountain to climb, lol.

Good lists! I see much to enjoy here (Pratchett, Adams, Mazzuchelli, Fforde, King). Villette I read a few years ago for this challenge and thought it was too dated for enjoyment -- but I hope that your mileage varies! Mervyn Peake's trilogy is on my tbr, but I'm unlikely to get to them before the 2020s.

Happy reading!

>8 Cecrow: You do put together some pretty challenging lists, but full of great reads. As I look at my stacks of books, I realize that this challenge is essential so I can clear out some space. :)

>9 Petroglyph: I'm glad that the graphic novel will be good. I'm not a big graphic novel person, but I give it a try every few years. Villette is a second attempt. Crossing fingers. And 2020 will be here before you know it. :)

Cool list! A nice mix of genres. I'm following along :)

Thanks!

Looks like 2019 is going to be a good year! Merry Christmas, everyone!

2019 indeed looks like a good reading year. As for the rest...

I've started Sarum. It's from my 2009 tbr challenge. I've had the book for over 25 years, given to me by my next door neighbor at the time. It's quite long with tiny print and tiny margins. And the pages are falling out as I read! That makes me sad because when I finish a book, I like to think of someone else reading it. However, I don't think anyone would take a collection of rubberbanded pages as a donation. But I'm excited to be reading it at long last. I will look for a short one to read at the same time. This one could take a while.

And Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy new year!

I read about Sarum a few months back, while preparing a visit to the Stonehenge area, and I was discouraged from reading it based on the reviews here. Curious to see what you think of it!

The book has Stonehenge on the cover. I hope I like it as it is quite long. :)

>15 billiejean:, I'm double-relating to that story. Sarum was recommended to me by my grandmother about that many years ago, and I picked up a copy maybe ten years ago, and there it still sits waiting for its turn.

On the falling apart front, I have a paperback of The Group by Mary McCarthy that has a spine split top to bottom four ways, and it would have to be read piecemeal and with great care. I don't actually count it in my TBR pile total because I think it'll see a recycling bin eventually. I have no idea why I have it (except that it was free, and I do want to read that novel) but I can't bring myself to throw it out, lol.

>17 Petroglyph:, I've liked others by Rutherfurd, especially The Forest, but he does tend to get long-winded and nearly all his vignette stories along the way are cliché romances.

James Michener (to whom he's often compared) used more variety than that in his multi-generation family dramas that simultaneously told a history, (e.g. Alaska, Hawaii and Chesapeake, all of which I enjoyed). I've another of his on my TBR pile too, so we'll see who wins the Michener/Rutherfurd race onto my challenge lists.

I had a copy of The Other by Thomas Tryon that was in terrible shape. It so bad that I never wanted to read it, but I couldn't throw it out unread either. I had had it forever when I finally just jumped in a read it. I was glad that I did! Then I had to throw it out. At least it's off my tbr. :)

I have also started The Arm of the Starfish.

Ooh Villette, will be curious of your thoughts on that one! Personally I enjoyed it a lot, it was only the end that made me go WHAT?! ahahaha. And The road, oof, I can't bring myself to read McCarthy in these bleak times, I haven't even gotten to the last of the Border trilogy, even though those are his "lightest" work, haha. At least, I'm assuming that's who you meant, since the touchstone goes to Kerouac. ;)

Thanks for the heads up on the wrong touchstone. I was focusing on getting the correct one for Left for Dead, and didn't even look at the one for The Road. I'm a big fan of Cormac McCarthy. This one might be too grim. I do think the last of the Border Trilogy Cities of the Plain is worth a read. I did get upset about a third of the way through The Crossing, throwing the book across the room, so I can understand why you didn't read the next one.

>23 billiejean: I'll certainly get to it eventually, I enjoy...well, I'm not sure "enjoy"is quite the word for what he does XD but, you know what I mean, lol. I like to read his works, just, the way the world is headed lately they're a wee bit much, heh, gotta keep from being drowned in the misery! hahaha.