Personal Challenge: Top of the Hoard 2015

January 7, 2015 Challenges 10

Top-Of-The-Hoard_2015-personal-challenge

Top of the Hoard is my personal challenge for 2015.

I decided to chose 20 books that have been on my TBR list for a year or more, and commit to reading them in 2015. This is the “must-read-in-2015 list” I’ve mentioned in a few previous posts. My choices were pretty arbitrary: some are books I heard about through other bloggers’ reviews, some were recommended by friends, some are continuations of series I love, and one is written by a friend (so I really should have read it by now!) Several I own already, but most I’ll need to borrow or buy. But one way or another, I’m going to get these read this year!

(List updated as of 12/18/15)

  • Deborah Crombie – Kincaid & James mysteries #9, #10, and #11
  • Charles Finch – Charles Lenox mysteries #1 through #6 (Reviews: A Beautiful Blue Death – #1; The September Society – #2; The Fleet Street Murders – #3)
  • Neil Gaiman The Ocean at the End of the Lane
  • Amie Kaufman & Meagan SpoonerThese Broken Stars
  • Susanna KearsleyThe Winter Sea
  • Robin LaFeversGrave Mercy
  • Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus (read)
  • Diana Peterfreund – For Darkness Shows the Stars
  • Sharon Shinn Summers at Castle Auburn (read)
  • Megan Whalen Turner The Thief (and the other books in the series)
  • Catherynne Valente The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland
  • V. V. Wedding An Uncivilized Yankee (read)
  • Gabrielle ZevinThe Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I’ve gathered them together on Goodreads, which is probably the easiest way to check them out if there are any you don’t recognize. As you can see, the list is a mixed bag in terms of genres and even age range, but it’s heavy on the fantasy and mystery, both of which I seem to be hungering for these days.

There are, of course, plenty of other books that could have gone on this Top of the Hoard list, but my hope is that by publicly committing to these 20, I’ll get them read. I hope to get to others on my overall TBR list as well, of course!

 

What books have been on your TBR list for ages, that you plan to read this year?

10 Responses to “Personal Challenge: Top of the Hoard 2015”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I debated “announcing” my list, but decided I’d be more likely to fit them all in if I went public and felt more accountable, so to speak. 🙂 As for choosing which books, I started with books I knew without looking at my Goodreads list that I really wanted to read, and then went through the first half of my Goodreads to-read shelf and picked the ones that really called to me… and stopped when I got to 20. (I sure hope I get more than 20 of my current to-read list read this year, though!)

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I had an ARC of AJ Fikry, but it turned out to be badly formatted for some reason (must just have been my copy) and I gave up on it. So now that I’ve decided to read it this year, I’ve requested it from my library. And I literally just started the first Charles Finch this morning – my first foray into the 20 books on my list! 🙂

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Good challenges! I’m doing COYER too, and I need to sign up for Kimba’s Take Control of Your TBR Pile. I’m not familiar with the Dust Off Your Classics, but I’ll check out that one and your February challenge!

  1. Lark

    Looks like we’re all trying to read from our TBR lists this year. You’ve got some great books on yours; I loved Night Circus and The Winter Sea. Good luck checking off all twenty books in 2015!
    Lark recently posted…Back to the Classics ChallengeMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Looking at people’s resolutions this year, I saw a lot of “read from my TBR pile” variations, so yes, I’d agree! Thanks for the good wishes, and best of luck to you, too!

  2. Jan

    Great idea, Lark! I keep an informal list on MS Office OneNote of TBR books–many of which also work for COYER and my TBR Pile Challenges. I have quite a few lists on OneNote and try to remember to check them (and add to them) regularly!
    Jan recently posted…WoW: Dead to Me by Mary McCoyMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I created a shelf on Goodreads for this “challenge, as well as a list (on MS Word.) And my extensive TBR list is on Goodreads also. Plus I keep an Excel document of all review books. Keeping track of what I need to read has gotten complicated!