Mount TBR Reading 2018 - checkpoint 2

Bev at My Reader's Block is hosting this very useful challenge, which aim is to lower the number of books on your TBR shelves. Four times a year we check-in and share our process. My aim was set for Mount Ararat, that is 48 books. I do hope to finish more, and it feels better to read more than less. So far I have finished 34 books. At the last check-in I had read 13 and was a little bit on my way up Mt. Bland. With 34 books I am nearing the top of Mt. Vancouver. The mountain is 4.812 m high and I am now at 4.545 m. Two more books to go. In the mean-time, a few challenge summaries of my reading that Bev has put together for us.

Choose two titles from the books you've read that have a common link.

Link is family - The Empty Family by Colm Toíbin and Kate Hannigan's Daughter by Catherine Cookson

Tell us about a book on the list that was new to you 

Målarens döttrar (The Painter's Daughters, my transl.) by Anna Karin Palm. First time I read something by her, and never heard of her before. The book was a treat, a present time story mixed with a past story that beautifully intertwines in the end.

Which book (read so far) has been on your TBR mountain the longest? Was it worth the wait? Or is it possible you should have tackled it back when you first put it on your pile? Or tossed it off the edge without reading it all?

I think it is Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques. A classic I wanted to read. It started it out quite well, but then it dragged out over months, or maybe even over a year before I finished it. I still don't know what I think about it. It is written in a wonderful and 'juicy' way, and I love the characters who really are 'characters'. Living their lives as they please and quite differently from anyone else. It is magic and you don't really know if you are in a real world or not. I found it a little bit too long, but am happy that I finally finished it.

Use titles from your list to complete as many of the following sentences below as you can

My Life According to Books

1. My Ex was The Secret Keeper (Kate Morton)
2. My best friend is The Girl in Rose (Peter Hobday)
3. Lately, at work (I have been) Restless (William Boyd)
4. If I won the lottery, (I would like to be one of) The Mistresses of Cliveden (Nathalie Livingstone)
5. My fashion sense (is a) Fatal Voyage (Kathy Reich)
6. My next ride (will be to) Brooklyn (Colm Toíbin)
7. The one I love is The Virgin's Lover (Philippa Gregory)
8. If I ruled the world, I would (buy) Cathedrals of the Flesh (Alexia Brue)
9. When I look out my window, I (see) A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
10. The best thing in life is Finding your Element (Ken Robinson)

Thank you Bev for another guidance to fulfil our challenge of reading from our TBR shelves. I just love these summaries, they make all the difference and put a little bit more excitement into the task. As if climbing a mountain would not be exciting enough!