Down the TBR Hole #24

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Hello Hello! How are you?

It’s Friday again, so that means it’s time for the next TBR purge post on my blog! I had a fun start to my week as I did some organising in my closet and then we went canoeing all day, and then I ended up sleeping half the day away on Wednesday. I’m feeling much better than I have previous weeks though, so the pills must be keeping flares at bay (that means I’ve got more time for reading ehehe).

You know the drill if you haven’t ever 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!

I did it again, didn’t I? I organised all my unread books into genre spreadsheets the other day and added a few to my Goodreads TBR list, so obviously, it’s gone up again. I’m going to have to start being stricter with myself because I will end up with millions of books to read and never get to them!

Today, I’m starting off with a total of 3,899 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, and as usual, I’m going to be going through the next 20 books on this list, starting at #260. I’m really looking forward to this week’s purge, and I hope I will be successful!

GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

The Fifth Season (#1) by N.K. Jemisin

I’ve heard so much about this book, this series, and N.K. Jemisin as an author, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen this recommended in BookTube videos or Twitter threads and yet, I still have not read it. I really liked this kind of dystopian, end of the world storylines, I know that’s a bit weird, especially right now, but I am very much enjoying the whole vibe I’m getting from this category of books. This one sounds rather complicated, but I love intricate fantasies with a lot going on and I think I will enjoy it when I eventually get to it.

KEEP

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty’s books have been on my TBR list ever since I discovered them, unfortunately, though, I no longer read that much contemporary fiction, chick-lit, family mysteries, etc, as I did when I added them. The synopsis doesn’t do much for me, and I know these books are loved but I’m not feeling this one, and I don’t want to force my way through it, so I will be removing it for now and maybe coming back to it later!

REMOVE

Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu

I don’t think I’ve actually ever heard of this one, so it has to be one of those books I just added without doing any research. I do generally enjoy books with topics on mental health, but I don’t read many books about teenagers still in high school, and I’ve heard of so many other YA contemporaries about mental health that seem more like my kind of book, so I will try to concentrate on those first.

REMOVE

Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst

I’m pretty sure that I haven’t heard that much about this book, and even though it’s YA fantasy, and sounds really intriguing, I think that I might have to let it go. I’ve got a few other books on my TBR that have heists, and I think those might appeal to me a bit more. It might be the first time I’ve removed a fantasy book from my list, but this one isn’t really a winner for me!

REMOVE

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (#1) by Becky Albertalli

I still have not read this book, and it’s one of those really hyped YA contemporaries that nearly everyone and their mother has read. I actually have a copy of this in French for some reason, but I know I won’t enjoy it as much, so I will need to unhaul it and get it in English. It’s probably not going to be my cup of tea, but I do want to give it a go as it sounds like a really good one!

KEEP

Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke

I feel like I added this book because the title caught my eye, the cover is so cool, and loads of people were talking about this a while back, but I haven’t heard anything more since then! But the blurb is sort of all over the place and I don’t really know what it’s about, other than the reference about Big Brother. I’m really not a fan of reality TV, so I feel like I wouldn’t enjoy this one, I’m going to let it go.

REMOVE

Reign of the Fallen (#1) by Sarah Glenn Marsh

Another YA fantasy series that I’ve had on my list for years but still not picked up, oops, there are many more where this one came from. I’ve never read a book with necromancers but this one really appealed to me, I don’t usually choose to read books with zombies, but it sounds so unique and a bit spooky, so I think it will be fun if nothing else!

KEEP

Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

I’m sure this is another “add everything” book because I have no idea what it’s about, other than it’s a contemporary romance, so I will probably not really want to read it. I’ve moved away from reading this genre, especially high school students falling in love, and even though the drama/theatre part intrigues me, I don’t really feel invested in this blurb enough to want to pick it up.

REMOVE

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

I was obviously in the YA contemporary, romance phase of my reading tastes around the time these books were added, and I’m frankly not in this mood anymore at all. I very rarely read romance, and when I do it’s mostly adult. I have no idea what this book is about, it’s a contemporary, but it sounds like it has more fantasy-esque vibes, I don’t know, it sounds a bit weird and doesn’t make me want to read it, unfortunately.

REMOVE

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich

I saw this book about on social media, mainly Bookstagram a lot over the last few years, but I’ve also heard some very mixed reviews on it, some found it amazing, and others hated it, so I’m fairly sceptical of reading the blurb. I had no idea that the book was based on a Broadway show…. This is intriguing lol. Frankly, now that I’ve read the whole blurb, this book sounds fairly problematic to me, I don’t like reading books about dead people or when people pretend to be the dead person’s friend when they were alive (this is what I’m supposing this book is about), so I’m going to let it go.

REMOVE

A Fragile Thing by Kevin Wignall

Another book I’ve never heard about or seen, but this time it’s a thriller, I promise that there aren’t millions more like this on the list. I don’t read many thrillers, and I’m not a fan of family thrillers, or books with money laundering, etc, I’m more of a crime, murder mystery type lover, so I’m going to take this off the list and concentrate on my murder mystery books!

REMOVE

Finally, a book I have actually heard about before, phew aha! And it’s a YA fantasy with a witch, otherwise known as my favourite thing in the world! It sounds spooky, I love how unique this blurb sounds, even though it reminds me a bit of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, but I know that this one is hyped and loved by a lot of people, so I’m definitely going to give it a go!

KEEP

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Isn’t it strange that only a few weeks ago I said that I hadn’t read a YA historical fiction before In The Neighborhood of True by Susan Carlton Kaplan, and now suddenly all the historical fiction novels in my list are YA. This book has a lot of themes that are very important and that I personally love to find in a book, however, the execution and plot of this one don’t sound like something I would like, so I think I might leave this one for now and maybe add it again in the future. Have you read it?

REMOVE

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Once again, we have an unknown book on the TBR list, and I usually really like historical fiction, especially different sounding blurbs like this one, but I’m afraid it’s not really doing anything for me. I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction as it’s my favourite time period in this genre, but this synopsis just sounds really vague and more on the family side of things, which I don’t enjoy as much, so I’m going to give this one a miss.

REMOVE

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

I added this one to my Goodreads “Want to Read” list after watching Kayla from Books And Lala (BookTube) read and really enjoy this one, but you know me, I’ve still not read the blurb or done any research into it. But ohhhh, this blurb sounds so great, I love YA contemporary mysteries and this one sounds like something I would really like, and I’ve heard some very good things about it, so I’m excited to give it a go!

KEEP

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Ohhh another YA horror on my list, this TBR purge is turning out to be so interesting ahah. I don’t usually read horror, but I’ve been broadening my reading genres this year and have actually read a few horror novels and not hated them, but I also haven’t been scared. Saying that, just reading the word horror is scary to me and I know that this book has been described as fairly scary and spooky. This sounds a bit like Wilder Girls (which I didn’t really like very much), but it also has a bit of a better vibe to it and I’m feeling adventurous so want to give it a shot.

KEEP

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

This book has been around for years, I know it’s a really chunky one, and I also know that most people who read it end up in tears at the end, but I have no idea what it’s about. Now that I’ve read the blurb and seen what genre it is, I’m afraid this doesn’t make me want to read it, it’s maybe a very unpopular opinion, but this is not my cup of tea and I don’t think I would enjoy it much. I know I have this one on a challenge TBR, but I will have to see what I can replace it with as I’m just not feeling it.

REMOVE

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

I’m in the sort of mood right now that I just have to see YA mystery as the genre on the Goodreads page and I’m already excited and want to buy it! And now I want to read it even more because of the blurb at the top that says for fans of Riverdale (I’m sold lol – it’s one of my fave series, and please don’t spoil me, I haven’t finished it yet). It sounds very intriguing and like the type of YA mystery that I really like, so I am definitely going to pick this up soon.

KEEP

The Lies We Told by Camilla Way

I don’t think I’ve heard of this one before, and the fact that it’s a thriller is already pushing me to remove it before I’ve even read the blurb aha. I’m honestly not a fan of psychological suspense, it just never seems to do anything for me, having read the full blurb, it does sound quite good, but knowing me, I probably won’t really enjoy it, so this is an easy remove!

REMOVE

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

I have to admit that even though the title sounds cool, I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard of this book before, and it actually sounds like one of those weird wacky books, so it’s not my cup of tea! It probably would be a fun read, but I don’t think I can get past how weird the blurb sounds, so please forgive me if you have read and loved this book, but it’s not one for me.

REMOVE

Well, this was a quite successful week, and I have removed a total of 13 books out of the 20 that I went through, I think it’s my highest amount of removes, so I’m really happy about that and I feel like this list is getting cleaned out, thank god, because some of these books were really not for me.

Today’s post went as well as I could have hoped really, and I got my Goodreads “Want to Read” list down to a total of 3,884 books, and I’m hoping to keep pushing it down over the next weeks. I’m going to be starting next week’s post at #267 and I’m excited for more great finds, and hopefully a few more removes!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post. How many books from this week’s purge have you read? See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx