Down the TBR Hole #52

Hello Hello! How are you today?

I can’t tell you how excited and happy I am to finally be back doing a TBR Purge post. The last one dates back to April 2021… and I can tell you that the TBR has grown exponentially since then, so it is high time for a clear-out. In the last year, I’ve also come to the conclusion that I’m never going to have time to read ALL the books, so I’ve become a bit more strict about my TBR and I hope that will mean the Goodreads Want to Read list will also become more manageable. I’m going to change up a few things about this post from now on as well, so buckle in and keep reading!

You know the drill: if you’ve never read any of my Down the TBR Hole posts before but you want to find out why I started and what rules to follow to do your own TBR list purge on your Goodreads, head over to the first edition of this post to find out more! One change I am making is that instead of ordering the books in ascending date added, I’m now going to do it by alphabetical order. I don’t know why, it just seems to have more sense this way for me. I’m also going to aim to remove 50% of the books mentioned in each post and update my Goodreads with the books I do actually own!

So, leaving off from my DTTH Tradition, today’s Down the TBR Hole post is starting off with a total of 4,131 books (last time it was 3,660 books) on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, which means that I’ve managed to add 471 books since last time… Yikes. I’m going to make my way through the next 20 books as usual, starting off on page 1 again with the first As on the list (having looked it actually starts with numbers and a few other weird ones, lol)!

DOWN THE TBR HOLE #52

The Green Bicycle Mystery: The curious death of Bella Wright by Antony M. Brown

No idea why this is the first book on the list when it doesn’t even start with an A, but oh well. I’d not heard of this book series before. You know I love crime stories (fiction and nonfiction alike) and getting the reader to solve the mystery in an interactive way sounds so fun. I hadn’t heard of this murder before, so I am definitely interested and willing to give this one a shot!

KEEP

Reine de coeur by Akira Mizubayashi

Also not quite sure why this is at the start of the list… It’s also a book on my French library TBR. I liked the sound of it when I first read the blurb at work, and it’s not a very long one, so I’m inclined to go with my gut instinct to give it a chance and see if it’ll be my cup of tea.

KEEP

#Murdertrending (#1) by Gretchen McNeil

Now this sounds great! I like dystopias a lot and mixing that with a kind of murder mystery in the vein of The Thursday Murder Club (Christie & Osman’s versions!) sounds really unique and very engaging. I hadn’t heard of this series before but I definitely want to try it out.

KEEP

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

I’ve seen this one about a lot in recent years and the cover is very beautiful, so eye-catching. I have to admit that while literary fiction is not generally my cup of tea, I have been moving back to this genre through French books and quite enjoying them. I’m interested in this and have heard a lot of good things about the author’s writing, so I want to try it out!

KEEP

The 13-Storey Treehouse (#1) by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

I discovered this series while working at my library this past year, it’s very popular among our children’s section readers! It is a humourous middle-grade series which I’m not sure is fantasy, science fiction or a mix of eveything. But now having read the blurb it doesn’t really captivate me, so I am going to pass on this one.

REMOVE

1984 by George Orwell

I’ve wanted to read this classic for a long time and while I don’t think I will LOVE it, I do think it will be a very unique and eye-opening experience. You never know, it could well become a favourite, but it’s been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read it, which I will one day!

KEEP

1991 by Franck Thilliez

Another French book on the TBR! Franck Thilliez is in the top 10 authors in France and has written about 20 mysteries/thrillers… none of which I’ve yet to read. I remember buying this one a few months ago, and now having reread the blurb, I remember why. It’s a murder mystery with detectives and forensic scientists (my favourite kind) racing against the clock to find the murderer, and I will have to read it sooner rather than later!

P.S. I also love how cool the cover is.

KEEP

27 Hours (#1) by Tristina Wright

I’ve neither heard of nor seen this book before… It’s the kind of book I would have jumped at the chance to read as a teenager, and I’m still interested in this genre now (dystopia, sci-fi). However, the blurb is just confusing and jumps about, so I’m happy to pass on this one as there are plenty more like it!

REMOVE

The 5th Wave (#1) by Rick Yancey

This book/series has a really high rating on Goodreads and I know it’s fairly popular. I remember seeing the film and thinking it was a bit meh, but I have to be strict and stick with my gut instinct. I’ve got a lot more books like this on the TBR, so I think I will pass on this one.

REMOVE

99 Days (#1) by Katie Cotugno

As you know, my reading tastes have changed since I was a teenager and range in the darker genres and moods now. I want to find some contemporary romances to have on the TBR when I’m in need of something light, but this feels outdated and not remotely my kind of thing, so easy decision to make.

REMOVE

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

As I just mentioned I’ve been on the lookout for some contemporary romance to have on the TBR for days when I need cheering up or a quick read. I’ve seen this book about a lot and it sounds cute and not too cringey so I’m going to keep this one!

KEEP

999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam

Wow… this sounds haunting and devastating and I never knew about this book or these women, so there is some method to my madness of adding books to the Goodreads TBR blindly. As you know, I am fascinated by anything WWII so it will be a great read about something new to learn about!

KEEP

A Clash of Kings (#2) by George R. R. Martin

This is the second book in the Game of Thrones series that I own in its entirety and that I’m still yet to read. I already read the first instalment a few years ago but never continued! I think I will set the whole series aside for next summer and try to reread the first book before diving into the rest of the books!

KEEP

A Promised Land by Khadija Mastur

This is a historical fiction about Partition and being a refugee in Pakistan. I do like historical fiction and I would be interested in reading this book but the blurb just does nothing for me, unfortunately. I think I own a book on this topic already though, so I’ll read that first before looking for more probably.

REMOVE

Abandon by Blake Crouch

I’ve heard of Blake Crouch before but not of this book I don’t think. And I don’t particularly like this cover so would need to find another one! I love the premise of this book, it sounds close to horror with mystery and very spooky. The perfect read for a cold winter’s night snuggled under a blanket with the fire roaring. I’ll have to give it a shot soon!

KEEP

Abandon (#1) by Meg Cabot

I don’t think this book has anything to do with the previous one despite the same title, lol. I’d not heard of this book before, but the author yes and I do have some of her other books on my TBR that I want to read for sure. This isn’t taking my fancy and it sounds like it will have a dangerous and toxic relationship, which I really don’t like reading about, so I’ll give this one a miss.

REMOVE

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (#1) by Hank Green

I don’t know how this book came t be on my TBR because it is really not my cup of tea and I hardly understood what the plot was about. Are “The Carls” supposed to be statues? If so, I think this book would bore me half to death, t is just not remotely interesting to me, so I am giving it a hard and fast pass.

REMOVE

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

If you know me, you know I’m fascinated by everything and anything do to with Native American history and culture. But, this blurb is not captivating me much and I know I have a load of other books similar to this that I would prefer reading, so for their sake, I’m going to red rid of this one.

REMOVE

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

There was a time when I would buy and read everything by an author I liked, but since realising that I just don’t have the means to do that all the time for every author I like or have liked in the past, now I rely on reading the blurbs first! This sounds cute and funny and the kind of book I’d have gobbled up a few years ago, but I don’t 100% fancy it now, so I’m going to let this one go even though I really like this author. I’ll pick up his two most recent books soon as I do have a genuine interest in those!

REMOVE

The Abyss Surrounds Us (#1) by Emily Skrutskie

The final book this week is one I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen and didn’t know I had on the TBR. It’s pirate fantasy/sci-fi with a kind of weird twist. I really like pirates in my fantasy but this seems kind of weird or far-fetched and I have loads of other pirate fantasies to read anyway, so this is going to be a no from me!

REMOVE

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A bit of a mix of genres and books and I’m glad to have been able to remove a fair chunk of these, gotten those out of the way and found some I’m genuinely interested in!

So the tally for this week is that I was able to remove a total of 10 out of the 20 books, so I did manage to get rid of 50%, which I think is brilliant for this new first time! I’m really happy with this although small but still visible progress.

That takes the Goodreads Want to Read List down to 4,121 books & I’m excited for my next foray into the TBR list, hopefully soon.

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx