#trying to whittle down my tbr
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#trying to whittle down my tbr#tbr#books#literature#chaotic academia#dark academia#poll#vote#count of monte cristo#war and peace#sense and sensibility#the age of innocence#vanity fair#something wicked this way comes#bradbury#austen#slay
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Hi! These are my TBR shelves. My goal this year has primarily been getting this down to a reasonable number. I made a rule where I can’t end a month with more on my physical TBR than I started with and right now I’m over that and I can’t read enough books before June to make up for it (my preorders this month got out of hand and I’ve been writing more than I’ve been reading).
I’m looking for suggestions on where to cull! So please, please snoop through my shelves and give me your opinions?
#I usually try to read a few pages or the first chapter before getting rid of anything#but I’ve been doing that to the ones I’m questioning since January and I don’t know where to start looking again#for the record I’ve made it down to 178 so far though I’d hoped to whittle it down faster#booklr#my shelves#my physical TBR#idk what to tag this yet oops#they’re also just vaguely split into genre or vibe except for one shelf on the right that’s just spill over and current/next reads
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I'm reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and I'm already getting the cosmic horror stuff I had been expecting from Leviathan Wakes but didn't get.
#i only got about halfway through leviathan wakes but i do Not care about this inner vs belter shit#i might go back and give it another try after i whittle down my tbr#im also reading hp lovecrafts works and im enjoying them#im excited to get to the more well known stories but the ones ive read so far are pretty good#the first one i read was the beast in the cave which was really good so yeah
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Read in June 2023
even though I still didn’t read much this month, I’m feeling better about how my reading’s going. I’m getting better at saying “this isn’t for me, let’s try something else” so hopefully I can keep whittling down my TBR
I am thinking I’m gonna reassess my challenges for the year though because I’m really struggling to meet all my little goals and I think the stress of the goals is part of what’s making it hard to read more. so hopefully July will be a little better ^.^
Series reads:
1. The Iron Fey: Evenfall by Julie Kagawa
1. The Iron Vow - DNF
2. None Shall Sleep series by Ellie Marney
1. None Shall Sleep - 5/5 (reread)
2. Some Shall Break - 5/5
Familiar authors:
1. Then Everything Happens at Once by ME Girard - 3/5
2. A House With Good Bones by T Kingfisher - DNF
Backlog books:
1. Witches of Ash and Ruin by E Latimer - DNF
2. Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon - 3/5
Other reads:
- Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest - 4/5
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gonna try (once again) to whittle my tbr down one fic at night at a time.....
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End of 2022 Book Stats
Because I like crunching numbers and I think some of you might be interested? Maybe I’m just flattering myself…
Yearly total: 147 + 2
rereads
DNFs: 4
Queer books: 52 (35%)
Authors of colour: 31 (21%)
Books by women: 88 (60%)
Books by nonbinary/genderqueer folk: 9 (6%)
Canadian authors: 15 (10%)
Off the TBR shelves: 30 (20%)
Compared to my 2021 stats, my percentages of queer books (subject matter and/or author), nonbinary authors, and authors of colour are holding roughly steady. My female and Canadian authors percentages are down. I also always try to set a goal for reading more classics and poetry. This year I read 9 (6%) and last year I was at 6 (3.7%). Success!
At the start of the year, I posted 22 reading goals for the year. I read all but one book off the list (Night Watch by Sarah Waters)! I also wanted to read at least one book off my TBR shelves per month (done) and increase my percentage of authors of colour from 22% (not done, basically holding steady). I was also hoping to have read more Canadian authors than I did, but at the same time, so much Canadian fiction just does not grab my interest.
Top Fiction (Not ranked)
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Babel - R.F. Kuang
The Mummy! - Jane Webb
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance - Foz Meadows
Semiosis - Sue Burke
Top Non-Fiction (Not ranked)
Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust - Yaffa Eliach
Highway of Tears - Jessica McDiarmid
1491 - Charles Mann
The Emperor of Scent - Chandler Burr
Let’s Do It! - Bob Stanley
Longest book
: The Fabliaux, translated by Nathaniel Durbin
Best queer book: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
Most Impressed By:
The Emperor of Scent - Chandler Burr
Katzenjammer - Francesca Zappia
The Escapement - Lavie Tidhar
The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper
Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust - Yaffa Eliach
Hot Moon - Alan Smale
Biggest Disappointments:
High Times in the Low Parliament - Kelly Robson
Pride, Prejudice and Peril - Katie Oliver
Attrib. and other Stories - Eley Williams
The Monsters We Defy - Leslye Penelope
Epically Earnest - Molly Horan
Did I beat 2021? No.
Did I beat my Best Year Ever? No. That would be 2021.
Did I read more classics? Yes!
Did I read more Canadians? No.
Did I whittle my TBR shelves down any? No. I hauled 102 books, most of which were gifts, free copies from publishers, or hand-me-downs, and I read 30. This gives me a net gain of 72 books. There are also 29 ARCs on my floor. This is, as I’m fond of saying, fine and not at all worrying.
Was it a good reading year? It was fine? I read a lot of good books that weren’t particularly memorable, and a lot of okay books that barely were. And I kind of burned out halfway through the year and had to slow my pace to keep my interest in reading going.
Breakdowns by Month
January February March April May June July August September October November December
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[Image id in alt]
☆☆☆
(Spoilers in last two paragraphs)
Like most YA thrillers I read, this is on the more campy side, so if you're looking for something like Sadie by Courtney Summers, this isn't for you. I really like YA thrillers for that campiness, similar to why I love reading cozy mysteries. This one delivered that well, though the "woke" dialogue that popped up now and again took me out at times, though at least some of it is believable.
The narrator, Olivia, is a white, (presumably) straight scholarship student from Maryland attending a school full of the 1%. She's 18, so she's learning about social justice and believes she knows more than many of her classmates, having more real world experience than many of them will face, and she grasps this to give her a feeling of superiority. She needs to be a good person, especially when she helps her friends, The Ivies, sabotage their classmates to get a leg up in the competition to their first choice schools.
It could make Olivia grating to read at times, but for the most part, she was an easy protagonist to sympathize with. She'll need to learn not to babble and keep on a good poker face, though, if she wants to go into investigative journalism (granted, I'm not sure if it was specified what in journalism Olivia wants to focus on).
It was pretty easy to whittle down who the killer was. It wasn't Sierra or Margot, because I was very sure Donne wouldn't make a WOC kill the white girl. If Avery's sexuality had been revealed earlier, she would have been knocked out of the suspect pool also. I wanted it to be Ethan. It would have been more interesting if it had been Ethan, even if I usually hate the "one of the investigators was the killer all along" trope. It would make sense given his backstory, and it could have been an accident he made worse by trying to hide evidence, accidentally incriminating Olivia and helping her to both keep her from suspecting him but also having this internal war for possibly pushing her under a bus meant for him.
After its revealed Tyler did it, I just shrugged, and his speech made me laugh. Like I said, I enjoy YA thrillers for the campiness, but this seemed much. It would have helped if there'd been more hints of his utter disregard for human life. The closest I remember seeing of that was close to the end, where Olivia learns he'd written his college essay about how quarantine had given him time to learn more about himself, help delivery drivers by tipping them, and gain TikTok followers, and that's pretty generic "blinded by his own privilege" stuff. I did like how smug he is through the trials, safe in the knowledge people with his kind of money can easily get away with murder with little more than a slap on the wrist (though it's a bit different in this case, since while not as rich as the Monteforts and St. Clairs, Emma's family is rich, too, so they can play the game of media too, if they'd wanted, but it sounds like they'd pretty much disappeared after cleaning out Emma's dorm room).
Overall it was a fun read, and I added Donne's other YA thriller book to my TBR to see how she'd grown as a writer, since the skill is there.
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Best Backlist Books of 2023
Leave me alone—I read 235 books in 2023. You try whittling that down! These are my favorite books I read this year that came out before 2023. Every year I try to read more and more of my backlisted titles from my physical TBR.
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#2023#backlist#best books#best of#blog#blogger#blogging#book#book blog#book blogger#book blogging#Books#favorites#literature#novel#read#reading#ya#young adult
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Concept:
To try to whittle down my to-read (aka the TBR or "to be read") I will pick one book for each month. If I read it that month, great! If not, it goes in the donation box.
Wish me luck!
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Dear Seanan, I heard from a friend that earlier this year you offered to call another friend who was dying of cancer, to talk to her about books she would not get to read any more. It ended up not happening because she passed away too soon, at the end of March, but it means a lot to me that you offered. I have only read one of your books so far, but I plan to go on a shopping spree as soon as I whittle my tbr pile down a bit more, and read all of them in Cindy's memory.
I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to make the call. It was literally 1) I am told that she is going to pass and that she would like to talk to me, 2) I agree to call her so I can answer any questions she has, 3) I am told that she is gone. She was always delightful to see at release parties, and I am genuinely sorry that I won’t get to see her anymore. I know that people who knew her better are going to be hurting a lot more than I am, and I’m not trying to dump pain inward, just express my regret.
Thank you for reading. Cindy always enjoyed my work, or when she didn’t, she didn’t say so to my face, and it seems like a good way to connect to a part of her.
Please be well.
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I'm doing two reading challenges right now to try to whittle down my TBR! One is a color challenge and the other is the official Books and Tea 2021 reading challenge!
1. Hexed with Colour – ask a friend for a colour, read a book with a cover to match
I asked my gf for a color, and they gave me blue! So for this prompt I'm reading Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. I've watched the show, so I'm really interested in how they differ; so far, it's actually a decent amount.
For the second reading challenge, I'm going in rainbow order, so of course the first color to go is RED. For that, I'm going with The Project by Courtney Summers. I've never read one of her books before, and I've heard a lot about them, so I figured I'd give this one a shot! Besides, I'm a sucker for cult stories.
You can find the official Books and Tea reading challenge, as well as some other 2021 reading challenges being hosted on northern plunder here
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Mid Year Freak Out Tag 2021
Copied from @bookcub
1. How many books have you read so far?
39 books + 4 novels beta'ed + 2 full rereads of my own WIPs
2. What genres have you read?
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
(all in prose and graphic novels, MG-Adult)
3. Best book you’ve read so far in 2021
The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín, City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab, The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe, and one of the books I beta'ed that I can't talk about yet because it doesn't have an agent nor has it sold yet but it's SO GOOD and full of witchy Appalachian magic and it's gay
4. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021
Predominately I've been starting new series as I wait for sequels, or reading standalones... but:
Either Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab or The Worst of All Possible Worlds by Alex White
5. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to
One Last Stop. I've been trying to get my hands on a physical copy but no one's had it in.
6. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
7. Biggest disappointment
Witches Steeped in Gold. I've tried twice to get into it, I'm stalled at like 120 pages in. I usually just DNF a book I'm not into, but I really thought I'd like this one.
8. Biggest surprise
Giant Days. I'm not always one for slice of life comics (my wife loves them) but I devoured the 3 volumes we have in one sitting.
9. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)
Tracey Deonn (I need the second Legendborn book stat), and Silvia Moreno-Garcia
10. Underrated gems
The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín. I don't know how this didn't hit bigger than it has. It's got creepy fae, good disability rep, queer rep, dystopia/hunger games esque survival. And the writing is so very good
11. Newest fictional crush
does my continued love of Harrow count?
12. Newest favorite character
I am so bad at favorites, I love so many characters.
13. Book that made you cry
nothing yet, but it's really hard to make me cry over a book (the last one that succeeded was Code Name Verity)
14. Book that made you happy
Lightfall by Tim Probert
15. Most beautiful book cover of a book you’ve read so far this year
Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke
16. How are you doing with your year’s goals?
1 behind! but, I moved 300 miles at the start of the month so I'll get back on track here soon.
17. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
Anything on my TBR. It's like 100 books long. I need to whittle it down, especially if people are going to keep writing really good books I need to read. But especially any book on my TBR that I already own. There's like 60 of those somehow (though a few of those are pre-orders)...
Tagging anyone who wants to do this
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Read in April 2021
A quiet month for me but the reading slump I had for 1/3 of March and 1/2 of April was a bit of a spanner in the works. Still, I managed to get through some excellent reads - especially House of Hollow and The Bone Houses.
I’m hoping to read a bit more in May, and to try to cut back on my book-buying a bit because I’m doing terribly with my yearly goals of whittling down my TBR and keeping my bookish spending under control :s Wish me luck!
Australian Authors:
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland - 4/5
Backlog Books:
Touch of Power by Maria V Snyder - 4/5
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente - 4/5 (up from 2/5 - reread)
The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones - 5/5
Other Reads:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - 5/5 (up from 3/5 - reread)
The Monarch of the Glen by Neil Gaiman - 4/5 (short story)
The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland - For a Little While by Catherynne M Valente - 3/5 (short story)
The Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still by Catherynne M Valente - 3/5 (short story)
The Project by Courtney Summers - 4/5
#read last month#april wrap up#2021#book reviews#trcc original#long titles really ruin the aesthetic of these posts...
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Talk about your TBR game
I was tagged by the lovely @thereadingchallengechallenge thank you!!
rules:
Look at your TBR pile or list
Get 3 numbers from a random number generator (Google it if you’d like to use a different one)
Talk about what books correspond to the numbers you were given. (Why are they on there? Were they recommended to you? Etc.)
Tag people to do the same
Okay I only used my actual, physical TBR shelf at home - as I no longer keep TBR lists online or anything, and I’ve whittled it down considerably through reading and purging of books. Therefore I only had 21 books for the number generator.
My numbers were 10, 19, and 5
10: Thunderstruck by Erik Larson I read Devil in the White City a couple of years ago and liked it a lot and I saw this one either here on tumblr or it was recommended by Amazon in my “based on past purchases.” I don’t remember how I came across it. But I read the plot summary and it sounds just as intersting and intriguing as Devil in the White City did.
19: The Shining by Stephen King I’ve never read a Stephen King novel - I attempted one a while ago (but honestly can’t remember which one) and I didn’t care for the writing style but I still wanted to try others - Oh I remember now the other one was Needful Things because I freaking love that movie! But there is too much description and build up to the story than actual story for my taste so I abandoned the book. But I also do really like the movie and story of The Shining so thought I’d give it a try. I actually have started it but it was during a busy time so I put it down with the bookmark still in it. I do remember liking what I’d read so far, there is build up but I’m feeling like it doesn’t drag as much as Needful Things did (to me). I’m hoping to read it this year - maybe in the Fall around Halloween.
5: Sphinx’s Princess by Esther Friesner I’ve read a couple of other books by this author and remember liking them. Middle child had a collection of this author’s books but was also doing a purge and was getting rid of several duologies, so I claimed a few of them to read before donating them. This was one of the duologies. It’s been on my TBR shelf for quite some time so it’s entirely possible I may not read it at all before donating but I’m still thinking about it so it and the others will stay on the shelf until I decide for sure.
I tag: @the-forest-library @all-these-paperback-dreams @highwaydiamonds and @librarianlirael and anyone else who would like to do this!
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Nancy’s bad reading habits, pt 2
I’ve already shared how I’m a book hoarder. But that’s not my only bad reading habit! Oh no--not even close.
As you can see in that post, I have an extensive TBR. And as TBRs tend to do, it only gets bigger. I should be at least trying to whittle it down, right?
And yet, here I am reading Lord of the Rings for the... 4th? 5th? time. Serial re-reader, book hoarder... no wonder my TBR never shrinks!
Do you re-read books? What are some favourites you go back to over and over?
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2018 Reading Goal Reflections
Overall a great and busy year, I graduated from college, moved, and started my first 2 nursing jobs! I set 5 reading goals at the beginning of the year and at least half of them could have gone better! Here’s how they went:
Meet my goodreads goal of 50 books. Crushed this one. I’ve read 74 books this year which is pretty good considering all my on and off slumping I felt I did!
Try 12 classics. Full post here. This one beat me, I only read 5 this year. Overall happy with it because it is more than I read last year but I definitely could have pushed myself harder to complete this.
Read more nonfiction. I had a goal to read the ones I own, about 6 at the time. I read 4 which ain’t to shabby. As of now I own 3 I haven't read, so those will be the goal for next year!
Read 50 of my currently owned books. Just made this one at 51 owned books read. Which is kind of surprising because that means I read about a third of my books from scribd/my library which is more than I would have thought. I think I’ll continue this one over to next year. However my tbr is still bigger than ever due to the next goal I failed.
Buy less books. Okay so overall I definitely bought less than I did last year when I had just discovered the bookish community and in turn all these amazing books I wanted to read. However, I still bought more than plenty prob around 70 maybe a little less. A big part of the growth of my tbr (178 to 244. yikes.) is that I changed how I defined my tbr. Before it was really just a way to track my buying. Almost all the books on my “tbr-owned” list were ones I personally purchased. However, I had in my possession a lot of books I didn’t buy but maybe my mom owns that she has recommended to me, or that were gifts. Furthermore, there were some books that either myself of my family owned that were classics or the like that were on my lifetime tbr but not something I thought i would get to in the next couple of years. However, I felt just keeping it to my bought books was too restrictive and I wanted to track all the books i have ready access to and want to read hence the large hike in numbers. Unfortunately, that means It’s going to take a lot more time to whittle down my tbr, but honestly I was just lying to myself before as I wanted to read/owned all these books before anyways I just wasn’t “counting” them.
How did you all do on your 2018 goals?? Happy New Years, here’s to an even better 2019!
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