I wonder if I could get BRIAN! BLESSED! to come along with me?
Inspired by mongrelheart, who signed up for this communal attempt to reduce the size of the to-be-read book piles of the world, based at My Reader's Block.
Challenge Levels
Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 25 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 40 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 50 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100+ books from your TBR pile/s.
You can, if you wish, start with the lowest level and, if it seems likely, switch to a higher level. There is no switching down to a lower level, however. There's a few restrictions (no library loans, no ARCs, no re-reads, limitations on audiobooks), but it seems anything is game otherwise; see the main web site for details. There's no prize, except for the prize of seeing the TBR stacks and walls not grow like Topsy through the course of the year...well, growing less speedily, anyway, depending on your challenge level.
I considered starting with the Pike's Peak level myself, but I figure I can do a bit better than that, so I'm going for the Mt. Ararat level.
So, in the spirit of organizing myself for this, here's my forty books, in no particular order:
01) Stephen Fry - Making History
02) Caleb Carr - Killing Time
03) Frederik Pohl - The Voices Of Heaven
04) David Brin - Sundiver
05) Todhunter Ballard - High Iron
06) Dean Owen - Last Chance Range
07) D. B. Newton - Shotgun Guard
08) Alan LeMay - Thunder In The Dust
09) Eugene Cunningham - Riders Of the Night
10) L.L. Foreman - The Renegade
11) Lewis B. Patten - The Odds Against Circle L
12) Richard S. Prather - Lie Down, Killer
13) Cornell Woolrich - Fright
14) Richard Aleas - Songs Of Innocence
15) Richard S. Prather - Darling, It's Death
16) James A. Michener - The Bridges At Toko-Ri
17) Alan Ryan (ed.) - Vampires: two Centuries Of Great Vampire Stories
18) Janet Evanovich - Fearless Fourteen
19) James Kakalios - The Physics Of Superheroes
20) DC Showcase Presents Dial H For Hero
21) Edward S. Aarons - Assignment Cong Hai Kill
22) John Zakour - The Frost-Haired Vixen
23) DeCandido/Mack/York - Star Trek S.C.E. Book 6 Wildfire
24) Sharyn McCrumb - Bimbos Of the Death Sun
25) Ed McBain - Widows
26) Bradford Scott - Curse Of Texas Gold
27) John Brunner - The Dramaturges Of Yan
28) Shelby Foote - Shiloh
29) John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem - The Plutonium Blonde
30) Stephen Bly - Friends And Enemies
31) Stephen King - Hearts In Atlantis
32) The Essential Iron Man Vol. 1
33) Ellis Peters - The Funeral Of Figaro
34) Alan Paton - Cry, The Beloved Country
35) Marvel Essential Tomb Of Dracula Vol. 4
36) Alastair Reynolds - Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
37) Sandra McDonald - The Stars Down Under
38) Peter F. Hamilton - The Reality Dysfunction
39) David Toop - Ocean Of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound, And Imaginary Worlds
40) David Manning (Ed.) - Vaughan-Williams On Music
I reserve the right to substitute as I go along, he said with a grin, and I rather suspect this list will expand a little as a number of the entries on it are rather brief little things -- aside from the comics collections, which are black and white phonebooks, the largest entry on here is Peter F. Hamilton's The Reality Dysfunction.
Want to come along for the climb?