Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012

Hi, everyone! Time for another 2012 Reading Challenge!

This challenge is being hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. 

Oh, this challenge is calling me! My TBR pile is insane!! However, I have a lot of books slated for review next year, so I'm afraid I won't be able to make a very big dent in my own TBR pile. I'll do my best!

Here are the challenge details copied from Bev's blog:

If you are a bookaholic like me, then you can't let a bookstore (used or new, it doesn't matter) go by without stopping in ("just to look") and walking out with at least something--if not an armload. I wait all year for the Red Cross Book Sale in October so I can cart them out by the bagful. And, well, that means that I wind up with gigantic piles of TBR books stacked up around my backroom. I don't have a TBR shelf. Oh, no. I have "Mount TBR"...possibly a whole mountain range.

With that in mind, and having read Susan Hill's Howards End Is on the Landing (where she spent a year just reading from her own shelves, I've decided to create my own TBR reading challenge and plan to concentrate on reading primarily from my own books this year. And you're invited to join me in knocking out some of those books that have been waiting in the wings for weeks....months...even years.

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

And the rules:

*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.

*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2012.

*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2012.

*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2012. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify--based on a question raised--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]

*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.

*Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb.

*A blog and reviews are not necessary to participate. If you have a blog, then please post a challenge sign up and link THAT post (not your home page) into the linky below. Non-bloggers, please leave a comment declaring your challenge level.

*A progress site for reviews will go up in January and I will post the link in my sidebar for easy access.

I am aiming to climb Pike's Peak (read 12 books from your TBR pile).

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

PIKE'S PEAK REACHED ON 27 APRIL 2012
MT. VANCOUVER REACHED ON 16 OCTOBER 2012
MT. ARARAT REACHED ON 29 DECEMBER 2012 

If you would like to join me in the challenge, just click on the challenge badge at the beginning of this post.

I will keep track of my progress below:

1. Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander, Book 1)
3. Wither by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden, Book 1)  
4. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes  
5. Incans, Aztecs & Mayans by John Holzmann 
6. Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Across the Universe, Book 1) 
7. Listening to Crickets: A Story about Rachel Carson by Candice F. Ransom  
8. The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole  
9. Toliver's Secret by Esther Wood Brady  
10. Alpha and Omega: A Companion Novella to Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega, Book 0.5)  
11. Walk Away the Pounds by Leslie Sansone  
12. The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong (Darkness Rising, Book 1) 
13. Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega, Book 1)  
14. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) 
15. Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia by Margaret Cousins (Landmark Books, Book 28)  
16. The Story of Eli Whitney by Jean Lee Latham 
17. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham 
18. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving  
19. 3rd Degree by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Women's Murder Club, Book 3)
20. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 
21. If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy
22. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (Anna, Book 1) 
23. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh (Nevermore, Book 1) 
24. The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
25. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
26. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 
27. Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
28. Fury by Elizabeth Miles (The Fury Trilogy, Book 1)  
29. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin, Book 1)   
30. Thee, Hannah! by Marguerite de Angeli
31. William Wilberforce: God's Politician by John Holzmann
32. The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds  
33. The New Guy: Gathering Bonus Short by Kelley Armstrong (Darkness Rising, Book 1.1)
34. The Winter at Valley Forge: Survival and Victory by James E. Knight (Adventures in Colonial America)   
35. American Indian Prayer Guide by Danette Maloof 
36. First Encyclopedia of Seas & Oceans by Ben Denne
37. Mysteries & Marvels of Nature by Elizabeth Dalby  
38. The Usborne Science Encyclopedia by Annabel Craig and Cliff Rosney  
39. Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz  
40. And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz  
41. What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz  
42. You Wouldn't Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party! by Peter Cook (You Wouldn't Want to... series)  
43. Water by Trevor Day (See for Yourself series)  
44. The Story of the U.S.A., Book 1: Explorers and Settlers by Franklin Escher, Jr. 
45. Real Science-4-Kids: Biology, Level I by Dr. Rebecca W. Keller
46. Lyrical Life Science, Volume 1 by Doug C. Eldon
47. Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin, Book 2)