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…

I have just finished The Hollow by Agatha Christie but I guessed the murderer so I suspect it might have been a re-read!

I am terrible for starting new books before I have finished the last one! They all look so exciting.

@ÚlldemoShúl I'm multi booker! I usually have a classic, a non fiction and a more easy going fiction on the go, sometimes a poetry that I dip in and out of. On occasion I have two fiction on the go as well.....I have e problems!

I finished The Will Of The Many - I really e joyed this and can't wait for the second book to come out so not sure it's helped the challenge as will be preordering 😄

I have a a couple of library books to finish so I am slotting them in this week then back to my shelves!

I think I am going to do a DNF on Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind. I have only seen the film once and loved it, but the way black people are written in this book is just gobsmacking and made me very uncomfortable

I loved Shrines of Gaiety.

I’ve DNF a Jenny Colgan book. I’ve read and enjoyed others, but the main character in this one was ridiculous.

Thanks for the laugh.

:)

Finished a few more on holiday. Family of Liars by E Lockhart and Brave Girl, Quiet Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard. Started a Jodi Picoult - Small Great Things and realised I’d read it before - apparently in 2017. Gave up on it as it wasn’t grabbing me.

Currently reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton but back from holiday now so not getting as much reading done.

I read nine and a half books in the week I was away. Bliss.

@Peridot1 - that sounds like my kind of holiday! And great progress on your TBR pile.

Finished The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie which I have had since January 2024.

Finished The Witch Finder’s Sister by Beth Underdown - terrifying that Matthew was based on a real life character, but I found this a bit slow going in parts.

Finished Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate and Grey Bees by Andre Kurkov

The Secrets of the Sprakkar – Eliza Reid from October 2022. I do find non fiction harder to get through than fiction, so determined to get through several by the end of the year.

Run Rose, Run – James Patterson and Dolly Parton from March 2023 Kindle.

@Peridot1 – I enjoyed it Run Rose, Run much more that I thought I would!

@SilverShadowNight – oooh which Jenny Colgan?

@Tarragon123It was Close Knit.

Finished the Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories. A handful of good ones. The rest just okay.

@SilverShadowNight – I did finish that one, but it drives me bonkers that its marketed as the Isle of Mure books when they don’t even get a mention!

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry – Gabrielle Zevin RWYO Kindle. Loved it. I hadnt picked it up as I really didnt enjoy Tomorrow x 3. I dont actually know why I bought it, but I'm glad I did.

Me and Remus both spoke highly of it on 50 Books perhaps that’s why @Tarragon123

Just finished Human Acts by Han Kang, struggled with it

Finished two more Madame Bovary (been on my TBR for about 20 years) - enjoyed it. And Gravesend by William Shaw- average police procedural.

Just finished Goodness Grace and Me by Julie Houston. This was a better read than I expected and quite funny in parts. I bought it in 2014 😳

I finished The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton yesterday. Quite enjoyed it.

need to pick something else now…..

Finished Martin Edwards, The Cipher Garden. Have had this since 2015. The first part was a bit slow for me, but the second part was better.

I have finished Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier - it was nearly a DNF - I persevered but not sure it was worth it.

I finished We Solve Murders by Richard Osman and Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir, both of which were newer additions to the tbr probably within the last 6-9 months.
I started Veronica Decides to Die three days ago and have read less than 50 pages - which as it's fairly short is surprising. This is one that someone told me was really good and I just impulse bought - then sat there for years. So I'm not sure if I'm just not interested in it or if I've just hit a wall/been busy.

I'm wallowing in Jilly Cooper nostalgia. Read them all in my teens and 20s and I've never been a re-reader. Watched Rivals and decided to read it again. I know they are unfashionable and incorrect but they are of my time and I adore them. Just finishing Polo because it overlaps Rivals a bit. There's a lot of polo in it! I've still enjoyed it but it's motivated me to buy more so not helping with the challenge.

@OurMavis I read Polo earlier in the year. Everyone is awful yet somehow it’s compelling. I decided to leave it there though having also read Riders and Rivals