Read What You Own Challenge

[ÚlldemoShúl]

I’m going to start a Read What You Own Challenge on the 1st of July to try and reduce down my ridiculously huge TBR both physical and kindle.
My rules for me are-

• No buying any new books after midday on July 1st
• Unsubscribe from the kindle daily deals email
• I am allowed to break it for the Booker Prize longlist when it’s announced, but must check my library for the books first.
• Keep going until August 21st as my first goal. (Maybe until 2026 in total)

These rules are specific to me and anyone who wants to join me is free to make their own set of rules for their challenge. I’m going to log each book I read here to keep me accountable. Anyone else up for it? I know some 50 Bookers are considering it…

Finished another - Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie which I’ve had since 2015.

I actually made a vow at Christmas not to buy any books this year and only to read what was already on my shelves (which just shows you how many unread books I have). I lasted about a week. I went to Cambridge in mid-January and came back with a pile of books – all still unread. Ugghh.

The following have been sitting on my shelves glaring at me for years now:

Dickens: Bleak House
Swift: Gulliver's Travels
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Harold Bloom: Shakespeare, Invention of the Human
P G Wodehouse: The Blandings novels
Evelyn Waugh: Vile Bodies
Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time
Mantel: Wolf Hall
Julian Barnes: Flaubert's Parrot
Ian McEwan: Atonement

Atonement is a nice read. I would start there!

Just finished another The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier. And in exciting news, I didn't buy all the August 99p deals I had my eye on which have now gone up in price and are less tempting and haven't looked at the deals today (yet!).

I agree on Atonement. Also loved Bleak House.
well done @CutFlowers i wish I could say the same- I bought a few that were on my wishlist

I LOVED Bleak House

I have less fond memories of Bleak House as it was one of my A level texts.

When I read A Dance to the Music of Time, I read a book a month which worked quite well as it meant I could read other things but I was reading them sufficiently close to one another that I hadn't forgotten the plot!

Finished Leonard and Hungry Paul. Loved it.

The Shadow Man – Helen Fields. This was ok, but I'm not sure why I picked it up. It was more a psychological thriller than a police procedural and was more gruesome that I like. I'm now moving onto Worse Idea Ever by Jane Fallon. I've read loads of JF and I'm not sure why I haven't read this one before now.

I've now read 3 books from the stack I found as a Facebook memory from 2 year ago, so I'm feeling pleased with that. There are a couple of books that I cant quite work out they are. I plan to check through my books to see if I can identify them. Goodness, how bad is that?? Unidentifiable books!

I have done some RWYO on holiday but also ended up buying more. Oops.

I ditched Duet by Carol Shields along the way, though. I got it off a freebie shelf a couple of years ago and have started it twice, and didn’t love it, so time to say bye!

I have finished two but bought two <shame>.
I subscribe to e-readeriq and they notify me when a favourite author has a deal on amazon. I have bought book two of The Cazalets as I have book one on my TBR. Also book 36 of the Moreland Dynasty.

Just started Us by David Nicholls which has been on my kindle 4 years. I've avoided it as it looks like a soppy romance (which it probably is) but OH MY the writing is fabulous. I had no idea and I love it. It reminds me of Kate Atkinson.

Not a soppy romance @OurMavisand You Are Here by same author is good too

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit it could be a weather report and I would still enjoy that writing!

I loved The Cazalets @OurMavis. Have them in paperback and have kept them to reread at some stage.

Finished The List Of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey.

Read Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili, a paperback about enigmas in physics that I have had for a long while. Let’s say 5 years at least. Reasonable canter through quantum mechanics, relativity and all that jazz.

Finished Book 1 of Kristin Lavransdatter which I bought shortly before we started RWYO. Have also read The Secret Place - Tana French. This was a gift (at the 50 Bookers London meet-up) which post-dates the challenge starting - but I didn't go out and buy it! Reviews on 50B thread.

Worse Idea Ever – Jane Fallon RWYO. I don’t know why I didn’t pick this up before now, as I always enjoy JF. Really pleased that I am managing to batter through my TBR.

Next up Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid.

Pattern - Emma Bridgewater Not entirely sure when I bought this, maybe about 5 years ago? Anyway, didn't really enjoy it as it was all a bit smug about her bucolic life.

Finished one for the first time in weeks So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell. Didn’t think much of it.

A Thousand Ships – Natalie Haynes - Kindle. Loved this and dont know why I didnt read it before.

Kindle wise, I'm now down to 13 books. I'm going to make a start on my longest unread one from March 2022. The Counterfeit Candidate by Brian Klein. I dont have much to do today for a nice change, but very busy week ahead, so I'll get stuck into that and also try to get a couple of more chapters from Secrets of the Sprakkar.

I finished The Bookshop Murder and then moved onto The Last Kingdom which I'm fairly confident I had before we moved into this house......ten years ago! I finished that and moved onto The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown which I've not had very long but felt in the mood for!
I have just a few pages of the chunky Dickens I was reading left and can tick that off as well, so definitely making some progress with the backlog.

I have finished Damien Boyd’s Kickback
and DNF Paula Hawkins - A Slow Fire Burning

I have also DNFd A Slow Fire but as Audible

Finally finished None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. Quite enjoyed it.

Have bought a few new ones though. And am contemplating buying the new Cormorant Strike……

Need to pick a new book to start.

Shrill - Lindy West has sat on my shelf for 5+ years so I have now read it! Took a while to get into but was good in the end - about her life as a fat (her word) feminist comic writer - internet trolls, misogynist comics and all.