Friday, December 12, 2014

The TBR Double Dog Dare (First Quarter 2015)

The TBR Double Dog Dare is hosted at James Reads Books.  This event has been running for several years but last year was the first time I joined in. As he says, it is NOT a challenge, it is a dare. It is meant to be fun.


The goal is "to read only from your TBR pile between January 1 and April 1. You can still buy books, you just can’t read them until the TBR Double Dog Dare is over." I did buy books in the first three months of 2014, and I did not read them until April or later. For some of them that was very hard.

There are exceptions; bend the rules to make it fun for you:
You can make exceptions for books clubs, arcs, and other things you really want to make exceptions for. The TBR Double Dog Dare is all about having fun. So if you join in for a week or a month, no worries.

You can sign up here.

Personally, I have a few books from NetGalley to read during the first quarter of the year and I will include those. I will make exceptions if I need to acquire a book for the crime fiction of the year meme hosted by Rich at Past Offences, but so far every book I have read for the meme was already in my library. I will have a goal to cut way back on buying books during that time; but I never say never when it comes to buying books, so that is a very loose goal.

12 comments:

col2910 said...

Good luck with this one, Tracy. No challenges for me next year - just to maybe finish off this year's ones if I can! I'm half tempted to just delete them and crack on with 2015.

Anonymous said...

Tracy - I respect you for taking on this challenge! I'll be interested in finding out what you think of the books you read.

TracyK said...

I don't blame you, Col. I keep trying to cut back on challenges, and I will in 2015, but they are always appealing to me.

TracyK said...

Margot, I keep eying the shelves but trying not to plan ahead too much.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to The Dare. I think you'll enjoy it. Many people tell me it really changes the way their vew their own reading.

Clothes In Books said...

This actually is roughly what I have been doing since August - and it has been hard work, but interesting and worthwhile. I will report on it on the blog in the New Year, when I finish. Good luck with it!

TracyK said...

Moira, you have made much more of an effort to cut back on buying than I plan to. But who knows, maybe I will do better in that area than I expect to.

TracyK said...

Thanks, James. I am definitely going into this experience optimistically. Very excited about reading only books on my shelves.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with doing this. I started the year doing this, but then succumbed to library books and gift books--althought hey do go on the stacks here anyway.

You can't miss the Planned Parenthood used book sale though. When is that?

TracyK said...

The Planned Parenthood book sale is not until September 2015, and you are right, Kathy, I would never commit to not buying books when that comes around.

Last year I found that my concentrated dose of TBR pile reading was in the first quarter, but I maintained my momentum to a certain extent throughout the year. I borrow books from my son and my husband a lot though... and those books will have to wait until April.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, how does one decide what's on one's TBR pile between January through April? There are hundreds of books and ebooks on mine but I don't have specific lists for each of the months. I just read what catches my fancy at that particular moment. Not the best way to clear one's TBR pile!

TracyK said...

Prashant, I have no specifics books I will definitely read but I plan to visit my book shelves and just choose what I like. Last year I had planned to read Elmore Leonard books, Ed McBain books, several Len Deighton books. I plan to get to some of those in January, Feb. and March. Just some examples. Most of the books on those shelves I have had longer than a year or two. I have been planning just to read real books, but I sure do have a lot of books on the Kindle that have been there a year or two.