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Hello Hello! How are you today?
It’s been a while, but I’m finally back with a Down the TBR Hole post this Friday. I have to admit though that all the progress I made last time has totally failed because I’ve added a lot of books to the Want to Read shelf on GoodReads these past months. I was gifted a lot of books for Christmas and my birthday, but I also add books I like the sound of or sequels I want to read, so I have some clearing up to do this year!
You know the drill: if you’ve never 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! One change I am making is that instead of ordering the books in ascending date added, I’m now going to do it in alphabetical order. I don’t know why, it just seems to have more sense this way for me. I’m also going to aim to remove 50% of the books mentioned in each post and update my Goodreads with the books I do actually own!
Looking at the last Down the TBR Hole post I did in mid-October, I’m starting off with a total of 4,284 books on my GoodReads Want to Read Shelf, which is over 100 books more than last time… Yikes! Now going through the next 20 books on the list to see if I can remove 50% of them!
A un cheveu by Maëlle Desard
This is a French book I added to my TBR without really taking much notice in the blurb I think because I honestly can’t remember what it’s about. It’s about a teenager who lost her hair two years prior to the start of the book, I think she must have alopecia or some other form of hair loss/disease. Even though I want to keep reading books about disability/illness/diseases because of awareness and because I’m passionate, I don’t feel that French books succeed all that well with this theme, and I just don’t fancy the contemporary style of it.
REMOVE
After Story by Larissa Behrendt
This sounds interesting, and I probably would have read it a few years ago but it just doesn’t sound like my cup of tea now. It seems to be an Australian literary fiction mystery kind of story, set in England with a mix of searching for one’s literary idols and also coming to terms with the disappearance of a loved one years before, and someone else now. The premise sounds good, but it’s just not something that I fancy, so I’ll give it a miss.
REMOVE
After the End (#1) by Amy Plum
This is a YA fantasy dystopia that I’m sure I’ve seen and heard about before, but couldn’t remember the blurb. I still really like dystopia as a genre and need to read more of, and I really like the premise. It seems like it will be filled with secrets and racing against the clock, survival, and T definitely think I should give it a chance, so I’m going to keep this one.
KEEP
After the Fall by Charity Norman
I can already tell by the cover and the genre (contemporary fiction) that I won’t be keeping this book. But I do need to read the blurb to make sure, lol! It also seems to be a sort of family mystery/thriller set in New Zealand. It doesn’t sound awful my any means, but I really don’t like the family secrets mystery/thriller trope, so I’ll be giving this one a miss.
REMOVE
After the Fall by Kate Hart
Another book with the same title like I had in the previous Down the TBR Hole post. I hadn’t ever heard of this book or seen it before, but it doesn’t surprise me that it’s on my TBR since I had a “click everything you see on GoodReads” phase a few years ago, lol. I’ve just read the blurb and it doesn’t interest me in the least and I just don’t like the sound of it, so I won’t waste my time!
REMOVE
After the Fire by Will Hill
Another book I’ve never seen or heard of before, but I quite like the cover in a weird kind of way. This is YA fiction, although the cover and the blurb made it sound like Adult. I can already tell that this is really not the book for me. From what I can tell, it’s got a kind of priest or “Father John” at its centre, which makes me say that it might have some kind of religious fanaticism in it. I really, really hate books with that theme and it makes me feel very uncomfortable, so I’m not even going to attempt to read this book.
REMOVE
After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
Ohhh, I really like the cover of this book, but I think it won’t be exactly all clouds and rainbows, lol. This one is science-fiction dystopia, but it has family at the centre, and it’s about a mother grieving for her eldest daughter being taken away by her father, and trying to find her in a desolate and destroyed America. I mean, this premise isn’t bad, and I probably would have enjoyed it at one point, but my reading tastes have changed a lot in the past years, and this is no longer something that I want to read.
REMOVE
After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Lot’s of “afters” in the titles in this post it would seem! This time we have a YA dystopian science-fiction, which I haven’t seen much of in the previous Down the TBR Hole posts now I come to think of it. It’s basically a doom’s day prepper kind of story, which doesn’t interested me in the least. I’m sure this would be a twisty, full of surprises and lots of suspense kind of book, but definitely not my cup of tea, so I’ll be giving it a miss.
REMOVE
After the Party by Cressida Connolly
Changing things up drastically with this adult historical fiction book which from the cover looks to be set in the 1920s, but so far I know nothing about it! Oh, actually it is set just a year before WWII. The blurb is actually rather vague so I’m not 100% sure what this is about. I think it could be interesting, but I’ve never seen it about and I wish the blurb was a little more precise, because I’m not sure where this one would go. So, I think for that reason I’m going to give it a miss.
REMOVE
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
Finally a book I’ve seen and heard of before!! If I remember correctly, it is YA Christmas and apparently also fantasy! And I do still like the sound of this book. It’s a kind of modern take on A Christmas Carol with a Scrooge this time being a 17-year-old called Holly Chase. I think this will be a fun and cute book to read at Christmas, so I’ll be keeping it on my TBR and adding it to my Wishlist, even though it’s massive already, lol!
KEEP
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
The next book on this list is one I already own as I got it as an “extra/bonus book” in either one of the Illumicrate or Fairyloot book boxes. The only problem is that I don’t think it’s my kind of book, but I need to reread the blurb to remember. It sounds like a cute but also hard-hitting book, and I do want to give it a chance… It’s just not my usual read so I’m not sure about it. I think I’ll read 50 pages to see what I think before removing it, so it’ll stay for now!
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?
Again, but Better by Christine Riccio
I’ve seen this book everywhere and follow the author on social media and YouTube! I really love the cover, it’s so pretty and very cute, but would it be my kind of read? This is YA contemporary romance in which a young girl sign-up for a college semester abroad, in London, to try to get out of her comfort-zone. I did an Erasmus semester in Stirling, Scotland and absolutely loved every minute of it, so I would be tempted to pick this up. But I’m worried it just wouldn’t gel with me properly as it’s not a genre/style I read now. I think I’ll give this one a miss and wait to see if the author writes anything else that would suit my tastes better.
REMOVE
The Agathas (#1) by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
Another book I’ve seen about quite a lot and from the off, I think I would enjoy this one more. This is YA mystery, which is a genre I’ve gotten into these past years and thoroughly enjoyed reading. It’s about girls who keep going missing in a small town in America and one girl who believes the culprit is not who everyone thinks… and it includes references to Agatha Christie’s works. I mean, how could I say no?
KEEP
The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer
Another historical fiction set before, during or after WWII, and with the same kind of cover as the previous one, which is such a coincidence! Oh, I’m also not sure about this book. It sounds quite interesting. It is about a woman who goes to Paris to learn photography with Man Ray, but he doesn’t turn out to be what she expected, all mixed in with her learning the craft and being one of the first war correspondents to photograph the liberation of concentration camps. It sounds up my alley, but there is also something bothering or stopping me, so I think I will listen to my instincts and give it a miss.
REMOVE
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
This is YA science-fiction, which would usually interest me, but I lost interest about halfway through the blurb, which doesn’t bode well. I think this is a “changing tastes” kind of thing and I totally understand why I would have put it on my TBR a few years ago, but unfortunately it is not my cup of tea anymore. I think I have another book by this author on my TBR, so I’ll concentrate on that one first, but for now I think this is a no.
REMOVE
Age of Myth (#1 The Legends of the First Empire) by Michael J. Sullivan
I’ve seen this one about quite a few times and the title definitely rings a bell for this epic fantasy book. I’ve had to Google this author because I think this is a sort of spin-off from a previous series as the blurb confused me, lol. This blog post details really well where to start with this universe written by this author and I’ve actually discovered that the first book of this “world” is already on my TBR. My lovely friend Esther from @BooksCozy recommended The Crown Conspiracy as one of the books for my 12 Books Challenge. So, I’m going to remove this book and start at the start, with the one already on my 2023 TBR!
REMOVE
The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan
Ohhhh WITCHES!! I really hope I’m going to like the blurb because I really like the cover and I really like reading about witches! This is also historical fiction fantasy and it sounds REALLY good. I’m definitely going to give this one a shot and it seems quite unique as well as keeping in with the usual “witch theme”. I think this will be a good book and I will have to get my hands on a copy soon!
KEEP
Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams
I love the cover of this book and I vaguely remember seeing it around, but I have to admit that I don’t know what it’s about. This is a YA science fiction dystopian story which sounds like a mix of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Grace Year, which are both books I really enjoyed reading. I really like the cover and the premise, so I want to give it a chance! I have a feeling I will really enjoy it.
KEEP
Agnes Moor’s Wild Knight by Alyssa Cole
This is another book with an “Agnes” in the title, but I don’t think it’s going to be anything like the previous book. It’s a historical fiction romance, which I must admit, isn’t really my cup of tea. I’ve just read the blurb, and it sounds kind of crass to be honest, at least in my opinion, so this is an easy choice, I’m not going to be keeping it on the list.
REMOVE
Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell books
This is sounds like such an interesting book, and one that I’d be very intrigued by. However, the fact that it was published over 40 years ago is stopping me, because I know there have been so many other feminist books about women and race published since then. I think for this specific topic, I’ll search for more recent books first and maybe come back to this one later, but I’ll be taking this off the list today.
REMOVE
Well that was not a bad effort and I think I got rid of a lot of books that just didn’t interest me anymore or weren’t my cup of tea to start with.
So, for this week’s post, out of the 20 books I went through, I was able to remove a total of 14 books, which is really good and over 50% of today’s list!
That takes the Goodreads Want to Read List down to 4,274 books and I’m hoping this number will go down again next time.
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
See you soon, stay safe,
Ellie xx