The TBR 25 in '25 & Mt. TBR Challenges -- MY WRAP UP POST

 

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Wrap Up Post

I did two TBR challenges in 2025, the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge that I hosted and the Mt. TBR Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. Both aim to clear books off TBR shelves. Any book in your possession as of January 1, 2025, counts as TBR. 

I finished the 25 books I picked for the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge earlier this year. I really buckled down and got 24 of them finished by June. The last one, Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, took my longer because it was dry and dense. I didn't finish that one until the end of September and I started it in March. 

For the Mt. TBR Challenge, I finished an additional 112 books off my TBR shelves, for a total of 137 TBR books. I signed up at the Mt. Everest level to read 100 books off my TBR shelves and exceeded that goal. Inspired to try harder, I signed up for the Mr. Olympus level in 2026, with the goal of reading 150 TBR books. Wish me luck!

THE TBR 25 IN '25 CHALLENGE

• One Man’s San Francisco by Herb Cain

• French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

• The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell 

• Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster 

• Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

• Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

• Q.’s Legacy by Helene Hanff

• Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith

• Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith

• Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch 

• Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay

• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

• The Widow on Dwyer Court by Lisa Kusel

• The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev

• Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age by Michael A. Milton 

• Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell

• Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl

• Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair 

• The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen by Nigel Slater 

• The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

• Zabar's: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

The TBR 25 in '25 Challenge dovetailed nicely with the Mt TBR Challenge Bev at My Reader's Block hosts every year. This year, I signed up for the "Mt. Everest" Level to read a total of 100 books off my TBR shelves in 2025.

I climbed even higher! In addition to the 25 books I read for the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge, I read 112 books off my TBR shelves, for a total of 137 TBR books. That's a record for me.

MY MT. TBR BOOKS

Here are the additional 112 TBR books I read in 2025, in the order I read them. 

• Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

• The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes

• Dragon's Teeth by Sinclair Lewis

• Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan

• The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

• The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando

• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

• Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake

• How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz, PhD

• With Thanks and Appreciation: Thoughts, Sentiments, Tokens and Traditions of the Past by Pat Ross

• Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

• The Templars' Last Secret by Martin Walker

• A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

• This Body of Death by Elizabeth George

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Sun Bird by Lindsay Moore

• Writing Notes with a Personal Touch by Daria Price Bowman

• Love Quotations: A Collection of Romantic Pictures and the Best Love Quotes, compiled by Helen Exley

• The Secret Place by Tana French

• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

• Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George

• Slightly Foxed, Vol. 84, Winter 2024

• Bamboo Farmer Wisdom: 101 Inspirational Thoughts by Greg Bell

• I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano 

• Lonely Planet Hidden Libraries: The World’s Most Unusual Book Depositories by DC Helmuth

• Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today by Christina Hoff Sommers

• Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George

• Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand

• Penmarric by Susan Howatch

• The Trespasser by Tana French

• What Shall I Say? A Guide To Letter Writing For Ladies by Mrs. Humphreys

• The Snare of the Hunter by Helen MacInnes

• A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George

• The St. Trinian's Story *and the Pick of the Searle Cartoons, edited by Kaye Webb

• The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

• The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle

• Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke

• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten

• A New Lease of Death by Ruth Rendell

• A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene

• The New Artisans: Handmade Designs for Contemporary Living by Olivier Dupon

• The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis

• Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter

• Transcription by Kate Atkinson

• Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki 

• Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn

• Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher

• The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan

• Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life by Daniel Klein

• The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy

• Emma by Jane Austen

• Agent in Place by Helen MacInnes

• Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

• Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes

• Helena by Evelyn Waugh

• The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

• Wolf to the Slaughter by Ruth Rendell

• The Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell

• I Like it Here by Kingsley Amis

• Old Bones by Aaron Elkins

• Thus was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell

• The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning

• A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr

• Jazz Funeral by Julie Smith

• August Folly by Angela Thirkell

• Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

• No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym

• A Guilty Thing Surprised by Ruth Rendell

• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

• The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien

• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

• Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revised by Tamar Adler

• Murder Being Once Done by Ruth Rendell

• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

• Zorba the Greek by  Kazantzakis

• No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell

• Indian Summer by William Dean Howells

• The Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse

• Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark

• The Fisher King by Anthony Powell

• The Light of Day by Graham Swift

• The Anti-minimalist House by Massimo Listri

• Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell

• The Lonely Girl by Edna O'Brien

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

• Shake Hands Forever by Ruth Rendell

• The Complete Stories by Evelyn Waugh

• Ivanov by Anton Chekhov

• Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford

• A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell

• Brazil by John Updike

• Falstaff by Rober Nye

• Persuasion by Jane Austen

• Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

• L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home by David Lebovitz

• The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch

• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

• The Devil's Advocate by Morris West

• Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien

• The British Baking Book: The History of British Baking, Savory and Sweet by Regula Ysewijn

• Rabbit Remembered by John Updike

• My Life as a Man by Philip Roth

• The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe

• A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Sleter

• Cat Stories by James Herriot

• Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

• The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

• Tempest Tost by Robertson Davies

• A Christmas Treasury of Yuletide Stories and Poems, edited by James Charlton and Barbara Gilson

• Leaven of Malice by Robertson Davies

My Sign Up Post -- TBR 26 IN '26 & MT. TBR CHALLENGES

 

THE TBR 26 IN '26 CHALLENGE

THE MT. TBR CHALLENGE

My Sign-Up Post

This is my sign-up post for the TBR 26 in '26 and Mt. TBR Challenges. If you want to join me in the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page, here. Bev at My Reader's Block hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge. You can find the details for that one here.

My shelves of unread books are groaning under the weight of my TBRs. According to my LibraryThing spreadsheet, I have over 2,800 books on my shelves, waiting to be read. Good thing I’m now (all but) retired. I plan to spend more time with my nose in a book!

Last year, I read the 25 books I picked for the TBR 25 in '25 Challenge, plus another 104 books for the Mt. TBR Challenge, for a total of 129 books read from my TBR library. My goal was to read 100 off my TBR shelves, so I am very pleased with 129. I’d like to exceed that number in 2026.


TBR 26 IN ‘26

You don’t have to pick your TBR 26 in '26 book ahead of time. You can. Or you can pick them as you go. Or you can pick and then change your mind. The only "rule" is that the books have to have been on your shelf before January 1, 2026.

Here are my TBR 26 in '26 picks, in the order they appear in the photo above. I'll read them in any old order. There was no rhyme or reason for how I picked these. I didn’t try to overthink it, I just grabbed what caught my eye.

LEFT STACK: NONFICTION

Hiroshima (1946) by John Hersey

Steaming to Bamboola: The World of a Tramp Freighter (1982) by Christopher Buckley

Rereadings (1995) by Anne Fadiman

A Walk in the Woods (1998) by Bill Bryson

Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor (2009) by Tad Friend

Overdrive: A Personal Tour of American Politics (1983) by William F. Buckley Jr.

Discovering Main Street: Travel Adventures in Small Towns of the Northwest (2010) by Foster Church

Curriculum Vitae (1982) by Muriel Spark

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage (2013) by Nicholas Wapshott

The Merry Heart (1959) by Robertson Davies

A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters (2016) by Penelope Rowlands

A Cook’s Tour of San Francisco (1983) by Doris Muscatine

The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard (2017) by John Birdsall

RIGHT STACK: FICTION

A Severed Wasp (1970) by Madeleine L’Engle

Showing the Flag (1999) by Jane Gardam

Homecomings (1956) by C. P. Snow

The Last September (1929) by Elizabeth Bowen

The Boss Dog (1949) by M. F. K. Fisher

The New York Trilogy (1985) by Paul Auster

Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream (2005) by John Derbyshire

The Paris Directive (2000) by Gerald Jay

The Food of Love (2001) by Anthony Capella

Chocolat (1999) by Joanne Harris

Women Like Us (1999) by Erica Abeel

The Wonder Worker (2002) by Susan Howatch

My plan is to start strong in January so I have momentum to read these and then move on to my Mt. TBR books.


MT. TBR

I don't know which books I'll read for Bev’s Mt. TBR Challenge. I decided to push myself and signed up for the Mt. Olympus level to read 150 books off my TBR shelves. That means I need 124 in addition to the 26 listed above. I'm ready to climb!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on this Friday after Christmas. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.

-- from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Until about five minutes ago, I didn't know that the full title is A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. That's pretty cool. 

I know people who read A Christmas Carol every year but I am not one of them. I've only read it two or three times in my whole life and the last time was at least ten years ago. But the whole novella is included in A Christmas Treasury of Yuletide Stories & Poems (1994), edited by James Charlton and Barbara Gilson, that I'm reading this Christmas week. So I reread Dickens's classic and loved it all over agin. 

Did you read anything Christmassy this year?  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from A Christmas Carol:

Awakening in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One. He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the especial purpose of holding a conference with the second messenger despatched to him through Jacob Marley’s intervention.

 

FROM THE WIKIPEDIA DESCRIPTION

A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. In the process, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as cards and Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the novella, and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London's street children. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story or a Christian allegory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

1 Day to Christmas!

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1 Day to Christmas!

 

2 Days to Christmas!

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2 Days to Christmas!

 

3 Days to Christmas!

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4 Days to Christmas!

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4 Days to Christmas!

Portraits of Philosophers by Minco van der Weide -- BOOK REVIEW

 

BOOK REVIEW

Portraits of Philosophers by Minco van der Weide (Platonic Press 2025)

While studying philosophy at Cambridge, filmmaker Minco van der Weide started making a documentary featuring contemporary philosophers. The project combined Minco’s love of photography with his interest in philosophy. The project developed into a new book, Portraits of Philosophers, out now from Platonic Press in a gorgeous, linen-bound coffee table edition.

Minco interviewed 13 influential philosophers, asking them to discuss “what constitutes a life well-lived, what love is, where to find purpose, and how to face suffering with wisdom.” He crafted these interviews into verbal portraits of these living philosophers, presented along with his striking black and white photographic portraits. The philosophers come from different backgrounds, speak with their own voices, and approach the questions from varied perspectives. The questions asked invite no easy answers and the ideas presented sometimes contradict each other.

This is not a typical coffee table book of beautiful pictures with little substance. The photographs are a stirring enhancement to the rather dense thinking expressed in the text. This isn’t a book to flip through but to savor. Readers may wrestle with the ideas they encounter, but Minco encourages that struggle as his readers confront their own understanding of the human condition.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Portraits of Philosophers is an elegant, clothbound coffee table book that pairs striking photographic portraits with intimate interviews about philosophy. It captures the presence and the ideas of some of the most influential philosophers of our time.

    

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Platonic Press is a UK independent publisher turning profound ideas into beautifully made, readable books. We pair lucid writing with intimate access to leading thinkers, creating clothbound volumes that invite conversation as much as they reward reflection. For retailers: cross-category appeal, strong display presence, and full partner support—with flexible wholesale terms and stock-free dropshipping.

NOTES

Portraits of Philosophers is out now and available through Platonic Press and select booksellers. Platonic Press was kind enough to send me a review copy of this new book. Thank you, Platonic!

Varsity magazine published an interesting profile of van der Weide that you can read online here. 

See a reel I did about Portraits of Philosophers on Instagram @gilioncdumas. 

5 Days to Christmas!

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5 Days to Christmas!

 

6 Days to Christmas!

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6 Days to Christmas!

 

Tempest-Tost by Robertson Davies -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Tempest-Tost by Robertson Davies

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

"It's going to be a great nuisance for both of us," said Freddy. "Couldn't you make a fuss about it, Tom?"

-- fromm Tempest-Tost by Robertson Davies.

Tempest-Tost is the first novel in Robertson Davies' Salterton Trilogy set in a fictional Canadian university town. This first book, published in 1951, is a comedy of manners focusing on an amateur production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

I loved Davies's Deptford and Cornish Trilogies so much that I've put off reading the Salterton books because then I will have no more to look forward to. That may sound silly but makes sense in book world!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Tempest-Tost:

She did not seek to thrust herself upon her goddess; she wished only to love and serve Mrs. Caesar Augustus Conquergood, to support and if such a thing were possible, increase her grandeur. If Mrs. Caesar Augustus Conquergood's name might appear, alone, at the top of an otherwise double column of patrons of the Salterton Little Theatre then, in Nellie's judgment, the drama had justified its existence, Thespis had not rolled his car in vain, and Shakespeare was accorded a posthumous honor which he barely deserved.

This elaborate writing tyle might not be to everyone's taste, but it make me laugh so I like it. I love a good, shaggy novel with lots of humor and lots of plot.  

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Weaving a tapestry of wonderfully developed characters, smoldering rivalries, and witty satire, Robertson Davies introduces the first book in the Salterton Trilogy.

An amateur production of The Tempest provides a colorful backdrop for a hilarious look at unrequited love. Mathematics teacher Hector Mackilwraith, stirred and troubled by Shakespeare’s play, falls in love with the beautiful heiress Griselda Webster. When Griselda shows she has plans of her own, Hector despairs on the play’s opening night.

7 Days to Christmas!

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7 Days to Christmas!

 

The 2026 European Reading Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

THE 2026 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

WRAP UP PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE, OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR POST

When you complete the 2026 European Reading Challenge at whatever level you signed up for, please do a wrap up post and enter a link to your post here. Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media profile.

A wrap up post can be very simple. You can do a separate post on your blog or social media platform. Or, if you participate in the challenge on your blog and just update your original post without doing a separate wrap up post, that's OK too. Just post a link to your updated post here. If you participate on social media, please do some kind of wrap up post listing the books you read and link it here.


OR LEAVE A COMMENT

If you want, you can also simply leave a comment below listing the books you read. Please include your name, the names of the books, the authors of the books, and the countries of the books.


WANT THE PRIZE? WRAP IT UP!

Without some kind of wrap up post, I don't have any way to know if you finished the challenge. I like to know so I can visit everyone. But it is more important if you are competing for the Jet Setter Prize. If you want to compete for the prize, you have to leave a wrap up post or I will have no way to know if you visited more countries than the other people competing with you. This is also why you need to identify the country of your book. I don't want to guess and I don't want to research.

When I announce the prize winner, Honorable Mention will go to the participants who visited the most countries (but not as many as the winner), with links to their wrap up posts. If you don't link a wrap up post, I won't be able to find you.

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NOTE ABOUT DATES

You have until December 31, 2026, to finish reading the books. You have until January 31, 2027, to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2027.

The 2026 European Reading Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

 

THE 2026 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

REVIEW PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE, OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please add links to your review posts in the Linky box below. Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Gilion at Rose City Reader, War and Peace, Russia.

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LINKS

When you review a book for the 2026 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget above. Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not need a blog to participate. If you review books on Instagram, Facebook, goodreads, or some other platform that generates a URL, you can add link to the review in the Linky box above the same as a link to a blog post. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment to ask me, email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas. Please follow me on Instagram before you DM me or your message will be hidden and I probably won't see it. 


REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the European Reading Challenge. You can complete the challenge simply by reading one to five books (or more), each set in a different European country or written by an author from a different European country. But if you do review books, please link your reviews here so other people can find them.

Also, if you want to win the Jet Setter Prize, you have to review the books. Only books reviewed count for the prize. If you are competing for the prize, definitely link your reviews here. You can link all your reviews, but only one book per country counts towards the prize.


WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post -- you just update your original post -- that's fine! But please, please, please link to the updated post after you finish the challenge. It is too hard for me to count all your reviews to figure out if you finished the challenge or not. If you are going for the prize, you have to leave a wrap up link so I know you are in the running.


NOTE ABOUT DATES

You have to finish reading all books by December 31, 2026. You have until January 31, 2027, to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner(s) as soon as possible after January 31, 2027.

8 Days to Christmas!

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8 Days to Christmas!

9 Days to Christmas!

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9 Days to Christmas!

 

10 Days to Christmas!

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10 Days to Christmas!

 

11 Days to Christmas!

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11 Days to Christmas!

 

The TBR 26 in '26 Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

WRAP UP PAGE

FOR THE TBR 26 IN '26 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LINK A REVIEW, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP FOR THE CHALLENGE, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE OR CLICK THE CHALLENGE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POSTS HERE

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WRAP UP LINKS

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post in the Linky box above. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine! Please still add the link to the updated post in the box above.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the your blog or your social media handle and the platform in the comment or email so I can find you. Thanks!

REVIEWS

If you review a book for the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge, please add the link to your review on the review page. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky box on the review page. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment, email me at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas.

The TBR 26 in '26 Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

FOR THE TBR 26 IN '26 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle and the name of the book you reviewed. (EX: Rose City Reader, War & Peace, or @gilioncdumas, Pride & Prejudice.) Please link to your review post and not your blog home page or main social media profile page.

 

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LINKS

If you review a book for the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge, please add the link to your review in the Linky box above. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky box above. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment, email me at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com, or DM me on Instagram @gilioncdumas.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion (at) dumasandvaughn (dot) com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the book you reviewed in the comment or email. Thanks!

BOOKS AND REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 26 in '26 Challenge.

The only point of the challenge is to clear 26 books off your TBR shelf in 2026. You can pick all of them them ahead of time, some of them, or none of them. You can choose at whim. If you pick them, you can change your mind later and switch books. The only "rule" is that you must own the book before January 1, 2026.

Your TBR shelf can include a virtual shelf of ebooks or audiobooks, as long as you owned them prior to January 1, 2026. It does not include library books.

This is supposed to be fun!

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine too! But please still add the link to the updated post on the wrap up page.

12 Days to Christmas!

ADVENT

12 Days to Christmas!

 

13 Days to Christmas!

 

ADVENT

13 Days to Christmas!

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I have known the Melbury family since the time when Jennifer, the youngest daughter, and I climbed trees and built wigwams together in the Flaxmere garden.

-- from The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay. I like that beginning. You can tell from the get go this is a country house mystery because "Flaxmere" just sounds like the name of a Stately Home of England. I adore country house mysteries, especially one set at Christmas. 

The Santa Klause Murder is a Golden Age crime novel first published in 1936. The British Library reprinted it in 2013 as part of its Classic Crime series. The BLCC series features many Christmas-themed mysteries and I'd like to read them all. My book club picked this one for our December meeting.  

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Santa Klause Mystery:

Ladey Evershot, who has no little ones of her own, is never behindhand in giving her opinion about other people's, and she seemed to have some idea that Santa Klaus was old-fashioned and the children would see through him. Well, I must say I like a bit of old-fashioned fun at this festive season myself.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered―by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus―with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond's death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. Various members of the family have their private suspicions about the identity of the murderer, and the Chief Constable of Haulmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well and that is his difficulty, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion and hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two.

14 Days to Christmas!

ADVENT

14 Days to Christmas!

 

15 Days to Christmas!

ADVENT

15 Days to Christmas!