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…

@Username65 I’ve started with some shorties to give me momentum! I’m totally switching genres for each read so I don’t get too bogged down in similar storylines.

Great suggestions Ulldemo and TeaDrinker. Some books definitely fall into seasons, and getting a few shorter reads over will be a good boost!

@Username65 my backlog is Kindle so slightly different but I’ve been starting a lot of books and going with stuff that hooks me in

I’ve started A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates, which is short and has been on my kindle since June 2012!

Funny @SheilaFentiman I’m also reading a JCO right now but it’s long!

Great thread. I started July with 174 unread kindle books and 56 physical books. I have finished three kindle books I had on the go and - feeling a bit guilty but did it anyway - deleted two I don't think I will get around to. I have a couple of library books I need to read next.

Pleased that Five Red Herrings, Dorothy L Sayers is now off my tbr pile. Negative review on the 50 book thread. It has not earned its place on my shelf.

I’ve finished another- The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel- non-fiction about a hermit and nowhere near as good as I expected it to be.

@CutFlowers great job so far.

Another vote for the soft DNF folder.
I gave up trying to read the small print of the Jilly Cooper paperback and will buy it on kindle so it's not a DNF.
I started Eleanor Oliphant yesterday. It's been on my TBR for years, reviews are unbeatable. I can see the writing is good but the subject just isn't me. All that introspection and awkwardness just makes me cringe. Will give it one more session.

Last year, Amazon put a ton of Joyce Carol Oates books on Daily Deals and I think I got 5 maybe. I’ve read two of her books previously and just finished one of those I bought. A Book Of American Martyrs

And I have just finished A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates. I didn’t really enjoy it, it was very dark and kinda hopeless.

2 more off the Kindle pile. Finished Water byJohn Boyne and deleted another (getting addictive now)!

2 more down:
American Housewife- Anita Abriel (kindle)
Inspector Imanishi Investigates - Seichō Matsumoto (library)

alas I also fell prey to the 99p offers & bought the second in the Villain series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Enjoyed Candy House- now wouldn’t mind seeking out some more Jennifer Egan books - which defeats the object but something to aim for when my shelves are gloriously empty and need refilling!

onto to “Butter” Asako Yusuki

Another one down TM Logan - The Holiday. Lots of twists and turns and will definitely read another by this author.

Another for me too- Time after Time by Chris Atkins on audio. Follow up to his prison diaries. Not as good as the first but okay.

@frozendaisy have you read The Visit From The Goon Squad? That's her previous book and has lots of the same characters of Candy House.

I haven't been doing very well on RWYO as have had a book club reading week. Have nearly finished the third Slow Horses book though. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't seen the series on Apple.

And I have finished The Scarlet Papers - Matthew Richardson which I bought almost exactly a year ago. Spy thriller - will do review on 50B thread.

Just finished Malibu Rising- Taylor Jenkins Reid- Jackie Collins for the 21st century.

Malibu Rising is on my unread pile!

I'vesoft dnfed two
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
And hard dnfed three
The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August (I only bought it because there's a cat on the cover!)
Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews.
Riders by Jilly Cooper.

I did Riders as an audiobook last year @ObtuseMoose it was….challenging

I’ve a DNF - Flora Lively - Murder at the Maples.

Eleanor Oliphant has gone into the DNF pile.
I'm now reading Beyond the Distant Hills by AnneMarie Brear .
She's an Australian who writes historical sagas. Some I've enjoyed, others not so much. I like this series because it covers the Irish potato famine and emigration to Australia in the 1850s.