Down the TBR Hole #31

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Hello Hello! How are you?

Well, it’s that time of the week again, and now we are in October, which is crazy! I had a relatively calm week, next week is going to be bonkers though, so I’m going to try to get some posts ready in case university work swallows me! How has your week been?

I’ve actually waited all week to do this post, I’m pretty sure I haven’t added any (maybe read that as many) books to my TBR shelf on Goodreads, but it still needs a lot of work and I love going through all the books!

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!

For this week’s TBR purge, I’m starting with a total of 3,795 books on my Goodreads “Want to Read” Shelf, it’s still an insane number, but I’m getting there! As usual, I am going through the next 20 books on this list, starting at #297, I have no idea what’s in store for me today, but looking forward to rummaging through the books to find out! Wish me luck!!

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GOODREADS “WANT TO READ” SHELF

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The Wake (#1) by Paul Kingsnorth

First off, I have never heard of this book, which isn’t surprising if you know me. I’m kind of intrigued because it’s historical fiction (one of my favourite genres) and it has quite high ratings! I’m actually really stuck on this one, because some parts of this plot sound very promising and right up my alley, but others parts kind of make me want to say no. It doesn’t have that many reviews compared to some books I read, and I do think I would enjoy it, but I think I will keep it in mind and remove it for now.

REMOVE

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Barkskins by Annie Proulx

Another unknown to me book, it’s kind of becoming embarrassing now aha! This cover is really cool looking to me, I don’t know what it is, but it makes me want to pick it up, it is also historical fiction and it has what seems to be an environmentalist stance, so that could be interesting. I don’t really get the environmentalist part as the blurb doesn’t have that much to do with nature, again, it sounds very interesting and potentially something that I would enjoy, I have read family sagas like this one before and enjoyed them, but I think I will concentrate on my other books first.

REMOVE

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Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

I don’t know what you think, but this looks like a really scary book to me, you know that I don’t really read that much horror because I’m a bit of a wimp, I’m pretty sure some books have actually scared the terror out of me though because I’ve read a few horror novels this year and not even blinked at the scary factor moments! The blurb is really vague and doesn’t really make me want to pick it up, so this is an easy choice.

REMOVE

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Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Another historical fiction set in America with a really vague blurb that I don’t really understand. I kind of feel like these past three books have been sort of colonialism seen through the eyes of white people going to live in America and the stories of their children, grandchildren, etc, and I have to admit it’s really not something that sparks an interest for me.

REMOVE

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Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

Guess what? Another historical fiction book that I’ve never seen or heard of before, but this time, it is apparently LGBT, and that already sounds better than the previous ones! Wow, this blurb completely drew me in though, apparently it is a retelling of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (I don’t know what that is and don’t really want to know) but I love the sound of it, it has some very important themes, I think that it will be very interesting and I’m glad it found its way into my TBR because I’m keeping it!

KEEP

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News of the World by Paulette Jiles

Another unknown to me historical fiction, oops. This is also described as a Western and I suppose you could say that the previous ones I removed were Westerns too. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Western though, do you have any recommendations? Once again, it’s a book that sounds interesting to me and I would pick it up and most likely enjoy it, but I’m really not in the mood for it right now, so I think I will let it go.

REMOVE

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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

I think it’s fair to say that this is one of those unknown to me historical fiction bandwagons kind of week! What are the rules for a book to be historical fiction? It seems like the setting is much too contemporary to me (2004) for it to actually be a historical fiction, no? It’s described as similar to The English Patient, which is a film I adored and want to read the book so badly, so instead of keeping this one, I think I’m going to try to pick up the other one soon as this blurb didn’t pull me in and I can’t even remember what it’s about!

REMOVE

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Doc (#1) by Mary Doria Russell

Another unknown to me historical fiction Western, yikes, I am so glad that the crazy “add everything before it disappears in case of them is good” period has ended and I’m a lot more controlled now because it would be disastrous otherwise. I struggled to read this blurb, it just doesn’t sound like something I would enjoy, so I’m going to let this one go.

REMOVE

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Shadow Country (Shadow Country Trilogy #1-3) by Peter Matthiessen

Ohoh, what do we have here? Another unknown to me historical fiction! *hides* Apparently this book is a cut-up version of the trilogy put into one big book, that kind of sounds a bit weird to me because I love big books for one reason (it’s not the only one, but you know): because they have DETAILS, INTRICACIES, COMPLEXITY, and if there is one thing I love in a book, it’s those things! I’ve read the blurb of the first book too and unfortunately, this does nothing for me.

REMOVE

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Ulverton by Adam Thorpe

I’m going to stop repeating myself and only tell you when the genre changes because it’s getting ridiculous now, I love historical fiction but I had no idea I had so many on my list that I’ve never heard of before and most of them don’t sound very good to me either. I kind of like the sound of this book, I especially like the format, I’m a big fan of mixed-media in books, but the actual setting/plot of the book doesn’t take my fancy.

REMOVE

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A Wrinkle in Time (#1) by Madeleine L’Engle

Finally, a book that I have heard about before and that is fantasy, and a series, YAY, I was starting to get a little bit worried there for a moment!! I’m a little bit sad that the blurb is so short as it doesn’t tell me what this book is about at all, but I have had it on my list for ages and I do sometimes prefer going into fantasy fairly blind, I know this book is loved by a lot of people, so I’m just going to have to dive in one of these days!

KEEP

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A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti

Phew, I’m glad the bandwagon for this week seems to be changing, it’s another book that I’ve heard about before, and this time its YA contemporary, which isn’t my favourite, but we will have to see what the blurb says! I kind of have no idea what this book is about which really bothers me because it has an absolutely amazing rating on Goodreads and I think that people do really enjoy this book, I’m not a fan of sports and I think that the whole book about one character running around the U.S. and not knowing why isn’t enough to draw me in, unfortunately!

REMOVE

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Dream Country by Shannon Gibney

Oh no, we are back on the unknown to me historical fiction bandwagon, this time it is a YA book though. When I first started reading this blurb, I was really expecting to remove the book, I’ve read books like this one before such as Roots by Alex Hailey (one of my all-time favourites – go read it now please) and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, so I was expecting it to be like that, but actually, it sounds really good, I love books that delve into slavery and this isn’t a setting that I’ve heard of before, so it needs to stay on my list!

KEEP

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Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

Back to some YA LGBT, but I still have not heard of this book! This book honestly sounds a little bit weird to me for some reason, as I’ve said, I love mixed-media in books, but I’m not a fan of the high school setting, so I think I will take this one off my list.

REMOVE

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You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins

I’m pretty sure that I have heard of this one before, although the cover is not very appealing to me so it must have been the blurb that made me add it. It is YA historical fiction which is a genre/subgenre that I hadn’t even really known about until recently! Again, this book sounds interesting, it has some very important themes and it is diverse, but the blurb is just not enough for me to want to pick it up.

REMOVE

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Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones

Another YA LGBT book that I haven’t heard of before! This book is about indigenous people on a reserve in the U.S., a theme that I adore BUT, the book just doesn’t sound that good, which makes me so sad because I love learning and reading about Native Americans, so I would love some recs if you have any. I’m not a fan of suicides and tragedies in books, so I’m going to have to remove this one, unfortunately.

REMOVE

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Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert

I am going to have to admit that I really do not like that cover, at all. I am no longer really interested in reading this type of YA, I generally don’t like family/friendship/mundane life kind of settings and this blurb is giving me exactly those vibes, I just don’t read that anymore and I know I wouldn’t really enjoy it, so an easy choice!

REMOVE

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Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender

This is such a beautiful cover and I am very happy because this is a middle grade book, yay! It’s also LGBT, which I’m pretty sure I haven’t read yet in MG, so I’m really interested in reading the blurb. This is much more on the contemporary side of MG, and I usually read fantasy, but, it does sound rather intriguing and I want to give it a shot!

KEEP

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What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper

As you can probably guess, I have not heard of this YA historical fiction before! I believe it is set in the aftermath of WWII, a time period that I really enjoy reading about but this is one of those mundane stories that don’t really do much for me, so I’m going to let it go.

REMOVE

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Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya

This is another MG book, I don’t think I’ve heard of it before and this time it’s realistic fiction, which I’m pretty sure is not my cup of tea. This is the kind of book that I would have read a few years ago and it just doesn’t take my fancy at the moment, so I’m ending this week on another easy choice.

REMOVE

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So, this was a really good purge again, loads of books that I had never heard of before and that were just a bit too vague or a bit too weird for me, which is unfortunate because I could have kept quite a few more of these if the blurb had been a bit more enticing.

Out of the 20 books that I’ve looked through today, I was able to remove a total of 16 books, taking my Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf down to 3,779 books, which I’m really happy about. Next week, I will be starting the purge off at #301, yaaaas, I’m finally on page 4, I think I deserve a pat on the back for that one ahaha!

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

Ellie xx