Down The TBR Hole #29

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Hello Hello! How are you?

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted on my blog, this week has been extremely busy, long, hot and just generally tiring for me, I’ve been struggling a bit but pushing through and hoping for a bit of a chill weekend. Luckily, I only have a 3-hour class this morning and then I can come home and get my pyjamas on!

I’m really glad to be back for this post, it’s been two weeks since I had a purge as I think I kind of needed a break last week, but it’s good to be back! I think I might start doing a WWW post on my blog or some other meme, let me know what you think!

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!

This week’s purge is starting with a total of 3,821 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf, as usual, I’m going to be working through the next 20 books on this list and today I’m starting at #289. I’m really happy and excited for this post, so wish me luck, I hope it goes well!

GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

Catapult by Emily Fridlund

Well, we are already starting this week off with a short story collection. I’ve got no recollection of having consciously added this one to my list, so it must have been during one of my adding sprees (as you do). I have to say before I even read the blurb, I’m such a sucker for covers with flowers, it’s one of my favourite things! Unfortunately, this doesn’t sound like a book I would usually go for, I don’t think I would be the intended audience so I’m going to let this one go.

REMOVE

Apprenticed to Venus: My Secret Life with Anaïs Nin by Tristine Rainer

It’s the first time I’ve seen an author with a surname that’s super close to mine (same pronunciation, different spelling) and this time we have a memoir! I’ve not read many, I do want to read more, but I just have to find one that I know won’t bore me, we’ve all read a super boring memoir and that’s just not my jazz. I’m probably going to show myself up but I have no idea who Anaïs Nin is and having read half of the blurb it just doesn’t grab me, so I think I will let this one go as well!

REMOVE

Attrib. and other stories by Eley Williams

We have a book of short stories again, and what an absolutely coincidence that the author’s name is Eley (again, same pronunciation, different spelling), this has never happened to me before aha! Last time I did this post, I came across a book that sounded so amazing, and this one is giving me the same vibes, I’ve got a degree in English studies and I’m currently doing a Publishing Masters specialised in semiotics and language, so this book is 100% up my alley, I love the sound of it and how it seems to be a bit of mixed media. I’m not used to this kind of short stories, but I really want to give it a go!

KEEP

The Maze in the English Park by Elizabeth von Witanovski

It doesn’t happen often, but this book does not have a genre list on Goodreads and that bugs me a lot. I’ve only read a few lines and I really don’t think it’s the kind of book for me, so I’m going to remove it from the list!

REMOVE

Mirror Image by Michael Scott

There is just some kind of connotation with the word “horror” that literally scares me so much, I’m not one to call myself a scaredy-cat because I’m not really, but this gives me the creeps. I don’t mind spooky books, but this one focuses on a kind of haunted mirror and that scares me a lot, so I think I will let this one go.

REMOVE

Unruly Creatures: Stories by Jennifer Caloyeras

More short stories, I must have been hitting the add button for ages! It kind of sounds like a good book, and it’s got some really good ratings and reviews, but it seems a tad on the weird side for me personally, I do like these types of narratives usually, but this one just isn’t pulling me in, so I will have to get rid of it I think!

REMOVE

Snap by Belinda Bauer

We’ve finally changed bandwagons, this is a mystery novel and I feel like I’ve either seen this cover before or heard about it somewhere, so at least it isn’t totally unknown to me aha! As you’ve probably heard from me before if you’ve read my blog in the past, I am a very picky mystery reader and need some kind of murder or big mystery to really make me want to read it, this honestly sounds more like a thriller to me and I’m not that much of a fan, the blurb doesn’t really pull me in, so I’ll take this one off and concentrate on the other mysteries I’m keeping instead!

REMOVE

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

I’ve had quite a few Liane Moriarty books on my list before and also taken them off during the course of these posts, they just don’t sound like the kind of books I enjoy reading now, and I don’t know whether this one will be the same or not. Unfortunately, it’s as I predicted, this doesn’t sound like what I read and enjoy, so this is an easy choice to make.

REMOVE

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

This is a YA contemporary, also something I don’t read much anymore. The premise is kind of cool and I like the writing and feelings dimension that this book seems to have, but there is something super weird to me about this whole plot, I don’t know what, but I don’t really fancy finding out, so I’ll let this one go too.

REMOVE

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Finally, a book I have heard about and seen before, yay! I actually came across this book I think last year when one of my friends read it and told me all about it, I read the blurb and immediately added it to my list and it’s been in the back of my mind ever since. It sounds quite emotional and meaningful, but those are two things that sometimes turn books into my favourites (I bawled my eyes out reading Les Misérables), so I am definitely looking forward to this one and can hopefully get to it soon!!

KEEP

Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini

I added this book to my list after I saw it in one of Books and Lala’s videos on BookTube, I think she was reading it with her son and she made it sound like a really good book. This sounds like another one that going to have me in tears throughout, but I think it’s also a really important book to read, so this is staying on my list and I hope that I will be able to read it in the not too far future!

KEEP

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Oh, we finally have some historical fiction, it’s been a while and I had missed it aha! Just reading the word “slave” I immediately wanted to read it, I love (that sounds weird for the topic but I think you know what I mean) reading books about slavery or set during slavery time. This book sounds absolutely amazing, I can’t believe that I have no recollection of adding it or having heard about it, I am so excited to read this book, I think I’m going to really love it.

KEEP

Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel

This has turned into a really eclectic week actually, which I wasn’t expecting. Again, YA contemporaries are not really my thing anymore and I don’t know about you, but that cover really puts me off wanting to read it for some reason. Definitely not my type of book after reading the blurb, I would probably have read it if I was younger, but it’s not my thing anymore.

REMOVE

First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano

Another YA contemporary, this sounds like a friend backstabbing another one and I really don’t care for those type of plots, it’s just something I hate in real life so I definitely do not want to read about it in a book, this is an easy choice.

REMOVE

Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

I’ve never heard of this book before either, oops. Another YA contemporary, I don’t know why, but I just do not seem drawn to contemporary novels, and I’m not feeling it with this one either. I do usually like road trip books, but I don’t fancy this one at all and I’m going to let it go.

REMOVE

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

I seem to be on another YA contemporary bandwagon apparently, which makes sense because its what I predominantly read when I was younger, but I don’t really like this genre that much anymore. It sort of also sounds like a bit of a thriller and has a road trip, I mean, it sounds kind of good and I would definitely have read it as a younger Ellie, but I know I would probably not enjoy it as much now, so I’m going to take it off the list.

REMOVE

Rules for 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern

Another YA contemporary on the list, the book cover looks really cool though! I wouldn’t have thought that I would want to read this book, but it has some themes of illness that I find really intriguing and as someone which a few chronic conditions, I have to say that illnesses aren’t really a focus in my usual reads, so I think I might give this one a shot, it seems both meaningful and fun.

KEEP

Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (#1) by Kimberly Karalius

I’ve not heard of this book before, its YA romance and the cover is so freaking cute, right? Again, this is the kind of book I would have read and most assuredly adored when I was a teenager, and I still kind of want to read it as it sounds fun, but I’m not very drawn to it right now, so I think I will get right of it for the time being and maybe add it again later!

REMOVE

Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu

Another unknown book to me, it would be interesting to keep a tally of how many of these they are (or maybe that would be terrifying actually). NOPE, NOPE, I’m not even going to read this blurb as it starts with “devoted to God”, I’m not a religious person and I just don’t do books with religion (not a judgment at all, everyone can believe what they want, I just personally don’t), so I’m going to take this one off my list.

REMOVE

Truest by Jackie Lea Sommers

And we are finishing this week with a YA contemporary again. I don’t really know what this book is about but I can tell that from the blurb and the cover, it’s not my kind of read, so I’m ending this week on yet another easy choice, I think I’m on a roll now!

REMOVE

So, out of the 20 books that I went through in my list today, I was able to remove a total of 15 books, it’s not my best but it is really good and I’m really proud of myself and how strict I am every week, I don’t think I would see the end of this list otherwise aha!

My Goodreads “Want to Read” list is now down to a total of 3,807 books and I will be starting next week at #294. I hope I’ll do okay again!

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

Ellie xx