Down the TBR Hole #15

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Hello Hello! How are you?

I can’t believe it’s already Friday, I’ve been home for nearly 2 weeks already! Where is the time going? I hope you’ve all had a good week, it’s been really hot and the pollen has been very bad here, so I’ve been struggling and trying to hide from most of it aha. Yesterday I started organising all my books, I’ve not gotten very far yet because I’m doing spreadsheets and unhaul piles, but it’s getting there, I just have to tackle the unread books now… and that’s a story for another day!

For today’s post, I’m actually quite ashamed, because I’ve added A LOT of books to my TBR this past week… everything I came across in blog posts and just generally browsing Goodreads sounded and looked so incredible, so I’ve added nearly another 200 books to my list… I know, it’s really bad, but it is what it is and I’m going to try to tackle some of it today! I really need to go through the sequels too, I think I might leave that for this weekend because it’s going to be long.

Today, I’m starting with a total of 4,273 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read Shelf”, and I’ll be looking through the next 20 books on the list, starting at #167. Fingers crossed I’ll get a few more books off this huge list during today’s purge! As always, if you would like to read my first post to see how I started out and what you have to do for your own purge, you can find Down the TBR Hole #1 here!

GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

Jackaby (#1) by William Ritter

I’ve been in a proper murder mystery mood later and have had this book on my TBR ever since I first heard about it on BookTube a few years ago. I love all things Sherlock and the added paranormal elements to this book just made me pick this up, I actually nearly started it the other day but picked And The Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, but I’m sure I’m going to get to this one soon as it is on a few of my challenge TBRs and it just keeps calling for me from its pile on the floor lol!

KEEP

Incarnate (#1) by Jodi Meadows

Now, I know you are all going to laugh about why this is on my TBR, but this is the truth: I added this book a few years ago because I was obsessed by the song New Soul, and one day I typed the name of the song in Google, and this book came up, so I added it 🙈. Don’t judge me please aha! I didn’t actually know what this book was about until I just read the blurb, I’m honestly not too sure about it, it sounds a bit far-fetched if I’m honest, but I am willing to give it a chance because it might just turn out to be great! Have you read it?

KEEP

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry

I’m very sceptical about this book if I’m honest, I’m sure I added it for the cover as I had never read the blurb, it sounds very interesting but the Goodreads ratings are rather low and only 9% are 5 stars. I don’t really want to read into that as something necessarily bad, but since I’ve not heard anyone speak about or recommend this book, I think I might remove it for now and maybe add it again later.

REMOVE

The Fall of Butterflies by Andrea Portes

I’m sure this was also another cover-add, and after reading the blurb I’m not feeling this one. As you know, I’m not a fan of “mundane” plots and this one just seems a bit BLAH, I also struggle with obviously rich-people settings because it just seems so fake and annoys me a lot, so this is going to be an easy choice.

REMOVE

The Bone Season (#1) by Samantha Shannon

I’ve had this series on my list forever after hearing so many good opinions about it and I was finally able to pick up a copy of the first book in the series while I was in Scotland. I remember that every time I’ve read this blurb I have been awed and thought I needed to start it straight away, but I never do aha! I find it a bit weird that it’s both described as fantasy and sci-fi/dystopia, but I love all those genres, so I’m bound to enjoy it!

KEEP

Illuminae (#1) by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

I read Aurora Rising at the start of the year and loved it, so you bet this book is on my list. However, it’s been on my list ever since it came out a few years ago, I’ve even got the first book in the series and have read the first 100 pages, but I put it down because I knew I was going to need the other two books in the series so I could binge it, and I still haven’t gotten around to picking them up yet aha! I am hoping to at least start, if not finish this series this year though, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

KEEP

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

YES, YES, YES and YES. I’m that weird person who has to read all the books by one author in the order it was published because if I don’t, it can make me feel physically sick, I know, I’m strange lol. And I would have read this book in December if my fiancé’s mum hadn’t bought me the wrong edition of this book because she thought that I (English national and fluent in French) was going to struggle to read the normal version, so she bought me the “easy non-native version” instead. Needless to say, I’m annoyed, but I’m hoping to pick up the correct version soon lol!

KEEP

Dividing Eden (#1) by Joelle Charbonneau

I’ve also had this book on my TBR for quite a few years, and I’m definitely sure that I want to try to read it one of these days now that I’ve read the synopsis again. I feel like quite a lot of YA fantasy books have the same “sounding” blurb, but it sounds like such a cool concept that I can’t say no to any of them!

KEEP

The Last Namsara (#1) by Kristen Ciccarelli

Shocker alert, I’ve had this one on my list for years, again, ever since it was released, and I’m ashamed to say that I don’t think I even knew what it was about until right now. But I have to say it sounds rather cool, I love all fantasy, be it MG, YA, NA or Adult, and it’s hard for a fantasy blurb to not sound appealing to me, hence the ridiculous number of fantasy series on my TBR. Another easy choice to make.

KEEP

The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh

I don’t remember adding this one to my list, as you do, and I’m not really sure about the blurb now. I am trying to read more mystery and thriller books, but I think that this one would put me in a slump because it doesn’t really draw me in, so I might remove it now and add it again later.

REMOVE

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

I’ve had this one on my list for ages after hearing a few people rave about it, but now that my reading tastes have changed and I’m not in the mood for this type of mental health rep LGBT contemporary read, I think I’m going to take it off the list for now.

REMOVE

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki

Yeah, I’m really not a fan of these types of thrillers with mundane plots and people springing up from all over the place. I must have added this one when I thought that I could read and enjoy everything, but obviously I can’t lol. Another really easy choice.

REMOVE

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

I’ve had this on my list since it won an award or something along those lines a few years ago, and since having read and really enjoyed Circe by Madeline Miller, I now know that I really do like these types of classical mythology retellings. The fact that this one centres on Helen of Troy makes me want to dive in straight away because I loved the film Troy as a child and have seen it too many times to count (I actually want to rewatch it now aha). The blurb drew me in within a few sentences, so I know I need to get to this one very soon!

KEEP

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

This is going to be another really easy choice, I got this book last year when I was in Cork and I started reading it a few months ago but didn’t really get into it properly. But I’ve heard and read so many rave reviews about this book, that I know I’m definitely going to give it another go when I feel like it, I think it will be more of the type of book I’m likely to read and love if I wait for the mood to hit me.

KEEP

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

I added this book to my TBR because of all the hype it was receiving and a few months ago I would maybe have read it, but I’m not going to force myself to read something that I’m not a fan of anyway just because of hype, and I really don’t enjoy the majority of family-type books like this one, so I’m going to give it a miss.

REMOVE

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

I also added this one because of hype and everyone seemed to love it, but having read the blurb I know it really wouldn’t be a book for me, I need an actual plot that seems to be going somewhere and this sort of doesn’t, so it’s another easy remove.

REMOVE

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

Once again, a book I either added because of the hype or because of the cover, but the blurb really does nothing for me. I don’t read much chick lit because I don’t find it very engaging, so this is going to be another very easy choice.

REMOVE

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I’m going to repeat myself again, but I don’t read these type of contemporary fiction novels anymore as they just usually bore me a bit and I just find them a bit lacking. I have wanted to read some of Liane Moriarty’s work, but I might try another of her books that sound more intriguing to me.

REMOVE

Girls Burn Brighter by Shoba Rao

I’m not going to go into any detail over this one either, and I’m sure you can already guess but this wouldn’t be my cup of tea either (I’m doing quite well getting some books off aren’t I?).

REMOVE

There, There by Tommy Orange

If I hadn’t have studied Native American History in my final year of undergrad, I would have removed this book today too, but since having studied all about the history of Native Indians, I am so fascinated by their lives and everything that happened to them, so I’m really looking forward to picking this one up. It’s a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think I’m going to enjoy it!

KEEP

It literally took me the past couple hours to compile this list because I’ve been struggling to focus and have been distracted so many times, but it’s finally done, phew! Out of today’s list of 20 books, I have removed a total of 10 books, which I think is really rather good. I know for a fact that at least half of next week’s books are going to be in the same boat as the ones I’ve removed today, so I should be getting this massive TBR down some more in the coming weeks!

My Goodreads “Want to Read” Shelf is now at 4,262 books, and I will be starting next week’s post at #177, hopefully removing at least another 10 and maybe even more if I get a chance to do a sequel clear-out!

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

Ellie xx