Mt. TBR Challenge Quarterly Checkpoint

This quarter I have read only six books that count toward my goal of 25 books for the 2012 Mt. TBR Reading Challenge. (Actually, I have read 11 books from my TBR stacks, boxes, and bookcases, but I did not start the challenge until February 26th and thus am only counting those I read this month.)

Since my goal is 25 books from my TBR stacks, I still am on track to reach my goal. Every year I say I will read more books from my stacks and buy less, and every year I have a hard time doing that. And I really think joining this challenge has been a motivator to accomplish this goal.

Books I have read (with links to reviews):

1. Do One Thing Different by Bill O'Hanlon
2. Winter by Len Deighton 
3. The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson
4. Heads You Lose by Christianna Brand 
5. Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
6. Bluffing Mr. Churchill by John Lawton

In progress:  Second Violin by John Lawton

My goal this year (until September) is to limit my fiction purchases to books written by authors that I have read previously. Preferably, don't buy books in series that I have not started, even if I have read the authors. Even though that still leaves a lot of books I could buy, my preference is to work down the TBR piles. In September I go to a yearly book sale where I can get books really cheap and it benefits a charity, and I don't plan to limit myself there.

Based on my records (not complete), of that set of books, I have had The Company of Strangers the longest, about five and a half years, and bought the copy at the book sale in 2006.  It is the first book by Robert Wilson that I have read and I really enjoyed it. Which is a good thing, since I have six other books that he wrote in my TBR stacks.

Of these six books, the one I enjoyed the most was Bluffing Mr. Churchill, the fourth book in the Inspector Troy series. It was also my favorite book in the series.  Partly because of the subject matter (events in World War II) and setting (London), but really because it kept me interested the whole time and I cared about the characters and the outcomes.