Thursday 18 December 2008

TBR Wednesday 2008 in Review

So way back in March I took up the TBR Wednesday challenge as set up by Avidbookreader. To read and review a book that had been on my TBR pile for the third Wednesday in every month. Books had to be published in 2007 or earlier. And I did it! Even managed it the month I got my third Wednesday's muddled up...just.


March - Bloodring by Faith Hunger - B-
April - Lady of Mercy by Michelle Sagara West - A
May - Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder - B+
June - No Rest for the Wicked - Kresley Cole - B+
July - Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night - Kresley Cole - A-
August - The Raven Prince - Elizabeth Hoyt - A
September - Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance - A
October - The Road to Hell - Jackie Kessler - A-
November - The Taste of Night - Vicki Pettersson - B+
December - Voice of Crow - Jeri Smith-Ready - A

What if anything have I learnt from this challenge?

That I am trying to follow waaaayyyyy too many series? That I get easily sidetracked by new stuff, and occasionally forget what's on my TBR pile because the pile of books is that massive. Well...yes.

But I've also learnt that I have some hidden gems in there. I wasn't disappointed by any of the books I picked and I gave over half of them A grades. I finally found an hisotrical romance author I can read - Elizabeth Hoyt - and managed to get two books closer to catching up on the Immortals After Dark series. I'm not saying I'll ever overcome the lure of the new book - maybe that's the fear I'll be missing out on something - but I do need to take a much better look at my TBR pile and what's hiding there.

I'm not reading as much as I used to, but I'm going to try and make a better effort at keeping up with the series I'm following. I know if I get too far behind it can be difficult to work up the momentum to catch up again.

Anybody else pulled a great TBR book out of the pile this year and wondered why they hadn't read it sooner?

10 comments:

Jackie said...

Hi, Lesley -

A VERY belated thanks for the terrific HB and ROAD reviews! And a question: were you able to get your hands on HOT? If not, I'd be happy to air mail you a copy.

Sarai said...

I slacked off with the reading challenge. Real life kicked in and kicked my butt. However, I have hope for 2009! I will be attempting this challenge again! Looks like some great reads you have there. I might have to pick some up LOL like my 350 plus TBR pile needs more LOL!

nath said...

LOL, I think you should read more from your TBR pile if this is any indication :D

Nicole said...

Doppelganger (Marie Brennan) is one that I got off my TBR list this year and wondered why it had taken so long. (It has since been retitled "Warrior," that's how long it was sitting there.)

I need to catch up with the Immortals After Dark, too. I'm way behind on that series. The Weather Warden series, too. Argh.

LesleyW said...

Jackie - You're welcome. No, not yet. Amazon UK still have it as not available. E-mail coming your way. :)

Sarai - Sometimes real life has to be dealt with but I'm glad you'll be joining the challenge in 2009 I shall be looking out for your reviews. And your 350+ TBR pile makes me feel better about mine. :)

Jackie said...

**sigh** I probably don't want to know why HOT isn't available in the UK, do I?

LesleyW said...

Nath - You're right! I should. I have such an appalling (one l or two l's? I'm going with 2) memory that I forget a lot of the great books I have in there. One of my New Years resolutions should definitely be to sort it out into some kind of order.

Nicole - if they've retitled the book since it's been on your TBR pile, you're right it's been there a long time.

And thank you for reminding me about the Weather Warden series. I have GOT to start reading that again. I slipped into the habit of keeping a book in hand as Rachel Caine always seems to end on a cliffhanger, but I think I have three books to go at now so really need to get my finger out.

LesleyW said...

Jackie - It might just be an Amazon UK thing. Don't want to sound like I'm chained to my computer but I do most of my shopping online. So it's rare that I'll get out to a bricks and mortar Borders or Waterstones.

Usually with Amazon UK it's just the US version that isn't available, but for some reason at the moment there seem to be a lot of books that are coming up as not available some of them new releases.

I want to get the last of the Negotiator Trilogy by C.E. Murphy but that is coming up as not available and that was released this year. Books 2 and 3 in that trilogy are not available but Book 1 is? I think I feel a blog post coming on.

It is usually possible to get hold of the books second hand via Abebooks or Amazon marketplace but if its a series I'm following I like to have a new copy all of my own. Plus I do like to support authors if possible.

Three other books Amazon UK have as unavailable from my wishlist - The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter, Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis, Bloodangel by Justine Musk.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Nath - you have a great TBR pile! My TBR reads were less successful, though I did stumble across a few good ones.

Now that I've an ebook reader, I find myself buying mostly off US sites, so the UK/US release date thing is less frustrating. I can literally get a book on its US release date :-) Having said that, there are times when the ebook version gets released a few weeks after the p-version...

LesleyW said...

Li - I think I really lucked out on my TBR reads. I'm going to try and read more from my TBR pile in 2009 and get it under some semblance of control. :)

I haven't yet succumbed to the lure of the e-reader. I guess I just prefer the feel of a 'real' book.