A couple years ago I went through my Goodreads TBR and cleaned it out... kind of? But here we are, in August 2018 and it has just hit 402. Why are there over 400 books on my TBR? Will I ever read them all?? Nope. I've often thought about going through them again but IT IS SO DAUNTING!
I was so excited when I spotted the Down the TBR Hole meme on This Dark Material! The meme was started by Lost In a Story and it is the most perfect tool for cleaning off shelves that I've come across. Here's how it works:
- Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
- Read the synopses of the books
- Decide: keep it or should it go?
This is going to be so much fun! And also possibly slightly embarrassing because I have no idea what's on the shelf.
THE BOOKS
THE WHITE QUEEN BY PHILIPPA GREGORY
I added this book to my TBR back when I was still reading Philippa Gregory novels and thought they were the height of sophistication. I read a few from the Tudor Court series (apparently these two series have now been combined into The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels now??) but then there were just too many, I got overwhelmed, and never came back. VERDICT: PASS
VAMPIRE ACADEMY BY RICHELLE MEAD
I don't know where I heard about this series way back in the day, but there it is. I remember trying the first couple pages and thinking the MC sounded like a brat. To be fair, I wasn't reading YA back then, so I may enjoy it more now that I'm used to teenage characters. I've heard SO MANY good things about this series, but I just don't know! Is it dated? VERDICT: YOU TELL ME
FORBIDDEN BY TABITHA SUZUMA
I think I saw this on a Goodreads recommendation. A brother and sister falling in love sounds kind of gross, obviously, especially as a human who is a woman and has a brother. But also, I love the forbidden romance trope and I liked Flowers in the Attic, so maybe it's good? The ratings are honestly what has kept this on my shelf for so long! If this many people loved it then it can't be all that creepy. VERDICT: KEEP
POSSESSION BY A.S. BYATT
This was purely a case of cover love. I remember really enjoying a couple fantasy books by Patricia A. McKillip and this one looked similar to those, so onto the TBR it went. Honestly though, this book sounds a bit exhausting. And surprise! It's not even fantasy!! It's historical fiction, so joke's on me. At over 550 pages, I don't think this is one I'll actually ever attempt. VERDICT: PASS
EMPRESS OF THE SEVEN HILLS BY KATE QUINN
This is another one from before I really discovered YA. I read the first two in this series in 2012 and really enjoyed them! (Can you tell I read a lot of historical fiction back in the day?) Of course, I had every intention of reading this one. Alas, it's 6 years later and I don't remember a single thing about this series. At the same time, I saw the author's answer to a question stating that this one can be read as a standalone. What if one day I'm in the mood for historical fiction?? This is why I have 402 books on my TBR list. VERDICT: PASS
Well, there you have it. I think getting rid of 3/5 (maybe 4/5 depending on what you guys suggest) is pretty good for my first round! It's funny that over half of these were historical fiction and really takes me back to the dark ages before I read much fantasy or knew that good YA really existed.
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Was there a genre that you read years ago that you hardly pick up now?
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Well, there you have it. I think getting rid of 3/5 (maybe 4/5 depending on what you guys suggest) is pretty good for my first round! It's funny that over half of these were historical fiction and really takes me back to the dark ages before I read much fantasy or knew that good YA really existed.
Let me know in the comments!
