With 9 "book jokers"* saved up over the course of this year, any other book I finish that was on the original 2018 TBR Project pile will be a bonus. 

Therefore, I declare the 2018 Mt. TBR Project completed, over, and done with.

Here's to you, Mt. TBR ...

* Physical books I read that are on my shelf but aren't on the designated Mt. TBR Project pile.

Things have unravelled a bit with respect to posting regular updates of the Mt. TBR Project and with respect to keeping track of which books I have read over this year. That is, erm, I never posted an End-of-October update and I did something to my spreadsheet that...well, I don't believe the numbers I'm getting on the TBR percentages (original pile vs. new additions vs. books read in other formats) are right. But since there is only a month to go, and I would be wasting valuable reading time in trying to figure out where I went wrong, I am just not going to fix this. I think the update picture will speak for itself that this year's method of reducing Mt. TBR has worked.

Also, I now have a total of 7 books that I haven't deducted from the piles as "swaps", yet. I.e. 7 books I read from my own shelves that aren't on Mt. TBR. I'll apply any swaps at the end of December. 

Also, I have come to the conclusion that there is a flaw in this year's MT. TBR reduction method as it is unlikely that newly bought books will be read straight away and putting them on Mt. TBR defeats the purpose of trying to read the books that have been sitting on my shelves for ages, in some cases years. 

So, I am not adding the most recent additions (small pile on the left) to the official Mt. TBR. The next time I set up a Mt. TBR Project, I will likely set a cut-off date after which books will not be added...or I will just track the new additions in a separate way. We'll see.

End of November Mt. TBR:

(The actual pile for MT. TBR Project purposes is the one on the right.

Mid-October Mt. TBR:

End of August Mt. TBR: 

End of July Mt. TBR: 

End of June Mt. TBR:

End of May Mt. TBR:

End of April Mt. TBR: 

End of March Mt. TBR:

End of February Mt. TBR:

End of January Mt. TBR:

Start of the Year Mt. TBR:

The Stats:

Books read this month: 17 (Nov)

Mt. TBR Books read this month: 3 

Women / Men / Team*: 51% / 46% / 3%

Fiction / Non-fiction*: 73% / 27%

% of original Mt. TBR read: 97?% 

% of live Mt. TBR read**: 87?% 

Available swaps (not made yet): 7

(* - of all books read since 01 January 2018)

(** - live Mt. TBR includes new purchases added throughout the year)  

Link to the original Mt. TBR (2018) post.

Link to the original Mt TBR (2018) Reading List.

Rules - same as previously - are that I picked a stack of physical books off my shelves at home which I would try to read over the course of the year. Any new purchases are added to the pile. If I pick another physical book of my shelves, I get to take one off the pile and put it on the shelf - as a substitute.

From the book's description:

The true story of the remarkable John Rae - Arctic traveller and Hudson's Bay Company doctor - FATAL PASSAGE is a tale of imperial ambition and high adventure. In 1854 Rae solved the two great Arctic mysteries: the fate of the doomed Franklin expedition and the location of the last navigable link in the Northwest Passage.

But Rae was to be denied the recognition he so richly deserved. On returning to London, he faced a campaign of denial and vilification led by two of the most powerful people in Victorian England: Lady Jane Franklin, the widow of the lost Sir John, and Charles Dickens, the most influential writer of the age. 

Fatal Passage will be my nomination for the Fear the Drowning Deep square.

I have some travel coming up next week and needed a non-fiction book to read on the trip. For some reason, I prefer non-fiction when travelling.

Venner departed with the hate still ugly in his eyes, with more hate for an innocent Hugh than for a guilty. The Venners would not be changed in their generation.

I'm not going to provide many plot details for this book as I found it hugely beneficial to know next to nothing about this book. 

Every reveal, every additional detail that Hughes affords the reader changed the context of the story and how I read this. She did this masterfully. 

It is very much a story of telling you the facts, then changing one little thing, and suddenly the same facts appear different, more complex, more ... prone to consequence. 

Suddenly we get to understand why Hugh, our MC, is eager to keep his head down, does not want to engage, does not want to stand up for himself. It's because he can't. The Expendable Man tells a story of oppression (in more ways than one as we learn throughout the story) taking place in broad daylight. 

I was angry for Hugh, for his helplessness. And, yet, there are glimpses of hope in this book, too. These glimpses might just be individual characters but they were there and if we have learned anything it is that it only takes a few good people to inspire others.