Down the TBR Hole #28

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Hello Hello! How are you?

It’s time for another Down the TBR Hole post, I’m really looking forward to this post today. I had my master’s meeting yesterday and it went really well, I’m looking forward to this year, it’s going to be very new, but hopefully really good and interesting! I’m going to spend the weekend getting ready for classes, hopefully putting some order in my office and maybe making a little reading nook there. I’m definitely going to read as much as possible before I have to start studying! I’m putting my post up a day late, but it will be going up on Fridays as usual for the rest of the month.

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!

Today, I’m starting with a total of 3,835 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, I’m going to go through the next 20 books on this list as usual, and I’ll be starting at #282. I hope it’s going to be a good week!

GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting this book to be YA mystery, as soon as I saw that it was, I was drawn towards it. I am on a bit of a YA mystery kick, so while I’m at it, give me all your recommendations please! This blurb is actually quite vague, but it definitely pulled me in, I’ve never heard of this book before, but I’m willing to give it a shot as it just sounds really good!

KEEP

The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

I’m pretty sure I added this book to my list because I saw it on Instagram and thought the cover was really cool because I would not have added it had I seen the genres noted on Goodreads. I’m not a horror fan and I’m usually too scared to try, it’s described as a gothic psychological thriller, and that doesn’t really sound like my thing at all. It sounds rather good actually now that I’ve read the blurb, but I’m still a bit sceptical so I think I’m going to give it a miss for now.

REMOVE

Damage Done by Amanda Panitch

I haven’t ever seen or heard of this book before. It’s YA mystery and while that would usually pull me in, the cover is kind of weird and the blurb is very vague, I have no idea what the mystery is, it seems a bit like a protective custody plot and I’m not really interested by those, so I think I’m going to take it off the list.

REMOVE

Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young

Again, we have some YA, but this time its horror. I must admit, I do add the strangest books to my TBR list sometimes. It honestly doesn’t sound like a horror novel, it doesn’t have a scary aspect and the plot is not really what I would go for. I think I’m going to get rid of this one for now and maybe add it back another time, I’ll have to see, it’s just not calling to me right now.

REMOVE

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

I love the fact that I’ve added so many YA mysteries to my TBR, I just wish that they all sounded as good as some of the recent ones I’ve read. Finally, though, this book sounds like what I like. The actual mystery isn’t clear, but there is talk of a disappearance and secrets, and old-fashioned town and it does sound like I’m going to enjoy it, hopefully.

KEEP

The Smaller Evil by Stephanie Kuehn

The first thing I have to say about this book is that the cover is very bizarre and I have no idea what this book is about, what genre it is or anything else. I’m actually very surprised that it’s YA mystery… However, it doesn’t make me want to read it, I’m not a fan of this kind of stories and even though it’s YA mystery, it doesn’t do anything for me, so this is an easy choice.

REMOVE

Illegal by Bettina Restrepo

I’ve never seen or heard of this book before either, we are on that bandwagon again apparently aha! This book is described as a young adult realistic fiction, I’m not sure I’ve ever read that kind of book before if I’m honest. I think this book may have some very good themes, but the mundane plot is not my cup of tea, I just don’t get on well with books like this one, so I’m not going to try it.

REMOVE

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Wow, yet again we have YA mystery! Unfortunately, it’s not the type of YA mystery that I enjoy. I can’t really say much about it, I’m sure it’s good, but I much prefer murder mysteries to secret mysteries and the likes, so I’m going to give this one a miss.

REMOVE

Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach

Sometimes, I have the weirdest looking books on my TBR and I have no idea how they get on the list. I have no idea what this book is about, I tried to read the blurb 3 times and it just didn’t go into my brain, so I don’t think there is much point me giving this book a chance, some books I just can’t connect with at all!

REMOVE

Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood

This is another unknown book. I think I would have picked this book up when I was a teenager and I probably would have really enjoyed it, but as I’ve said multiple times, my reading tastes have changed quite drastically and I just don’t enjoy these familial contemporaries at all, unless the blurb is very enticing to me, so I’m going to let this one go.

REMOVE

Take The Fall by Emily Hainsworth

Oh another YA mystery! This cover reminds me of when I first started watching BookTube about 5 years ago, all the contemporary books had the same font and style! Ohhhhh, this is more my type of mystery, and it actually reminds me a little of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, I’m not expecting it to be the same or as good, but I’m definitely going to give this one a chance!

KEEP

In the Season of Blood and Gold by Taylor Brown

Apparently this is a short story collection, I do want to read more short story collections, however, this blurb doesn’t give me anything about what these stories are actually about, the only thing I can guess is that they are about America, but that’s really vague.

REMOVE

Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods edited by Tracy Chevalier

Again, this is a collection of short stories, this time with a focus on the environment I believe. I love anything nature and apparently this book is in support of the Woodland Trust, it sounds really interesting and even though it might not be my cup of tea, I think I want to give it a go!

KEEP

Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories by Brad Watson

This is another short story collection, do we see a new bandwagon? Maybe! This time it’s about animals, I’ve never heard about it before. It sounds fairly interesting, I’ve read a few short story collections of animals when I was a teenager and I enjoyed them, but not enough to really remember them or want to read anymore. I might pick this up one day, but I’m not really feeling it right now.

REMOVE

Heartbreaker by Maryse Meijer

It’s officially a new bandwagon, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d find so many short story collections on my TBR as it’s not something I’ve read much of or have that much interest in unless it’s something I feel strongly for or want to know more of. Again, this is not the kind of plot/story that I gravitate towards and I know that I wouldn’t really enjoy it, so I’m going to get rid of it and concentrate on other short story collections that I’m really intrigued in.

REMOVE

Dictionary Stories: Short Fictions and Other Findings by Jez Burrows

Here we go again, aha, this one, however, sort of pulls me in! This is a humour/language short story collection, it’s already more up my alley than the others. Reading the blurb gave me a massive nostalgic kick, I used to do theatre/drama in high school (actually for 9 years before university) and one year, we did a play about different meanings of words, and we focused on dictionary terms linked to friendship and love, I adored it, and this sounds just like that! I definitely want and need to read this book soon, I’m so glad that I found it among the million books on my TBR.

KEEP

To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts by Caitlin Hamilton Summie

Another short story collection, it’s one of those more daily life orientated ones that I don’t care for or enjoy, so I’m going to make an easy choice and remove it from my list.

REMOVE

The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings by Angela Slatter

I’ve not heard of this short story collection before either, it’s a fantasy one and Oh My God, I didn’t even need to finish reading the blurb for me to be fully hooked and absolutely want to pick up this book. Fantasy is my favourite genre, this book sounds like my cup of tea and I hope I’m able to get to it soon!

KEEP

Sweet Home by Carys Bray

Another short story collection, oops, this time it’s magical realism. First things first, the cover is awful, dreadful, horrible, I hate it and I don’t get it. Having read the blurb, I do get it, but it’s creepy and makes me think of Chucky. I’m really not into this kind of stories with babies and grief, so I’m not going to read this one.

REMOVE

Time by Eva Hoffman

We are off the short story collection bandwagon and on the nonfiction philosophy one now, this is not my strong subject at all. I’m not interested in this topic and I don’t really feel like reading this type of nonfiction, so once again, I’m finishing this post with an easy choice!

REMOVE

Well, I’ve had another strange week where most of the books on the list were unknown books to me, most of them were really not my cup of tea and I had no interest in, but I’ve also found a few really intriguing ones. Out of the 20 books I looked through today, I removed a total of 14 books, which is really good and I’m very happy about my progress!

After all of today’s removes, I got my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf down to a total of 3,820 books. I’ll be starting next week’s post at #289 and I really hope to remove a bunch more books and finally get on page 4 because I’ve been on page 3 for weeks aha!

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

Ellie xx