Culling the TBR Pile 2

A blogger called Lia from Lost in a Story created a kind of meme thingy called Down the TBR Hole that aims to cut your TBR pile of the books you no longer want to read and remind yourself of the ones you do want to read.

The process:

  • Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5-10 (or more if youre feeling adventurous) books.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Culling the TBR Pile This Week:

Mistwalker by Saundra Mitchell

My friends on Goodreads have an average ating of 3.43 stars at the time of writing. Some reviewers whose depth and inteligence I trust have given it positive but not 5 star reviews. My instinct is to keep this one, because it reminds me of one of my favourite dark fantasy series, called Indigo by Louise Cooper, and reminded me how much I used to love reading dark fantasy. It isn’t available at my library but Saundra Mitchell has gone on to write lots of other stuff and I remember quite liking a short story of hers I once read (although I can’t remember what it was, it was the whole reason for adding Mistwalker). Verdict: this one stays.

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

My firs instinct is to remove this. I like dance novels, but I’m ambivalent about older-guy/teacher romances. Since I’m trying to be ruthless, and I have lots of other dance novels to read and have read some really good ones, I’m going to get rid of this one.

Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

I added this because I love performing arts books, and I only have 2 Goodreads friends who have read this, one whom gave it 5 stars and one 4 stars but neither reviewed it. I was already feeling a lack of excitement so when I went to the community reviews to seek out the 2, 3, and 4 star reviews (which tend to be more balanced than the 5 star fangirling and the 1 star haters) I found it had an ending I think I would pretty much hate. Anyway, I’m not looking for average books, I’m looking for something amazing, so this one’s gotta go.

Arclight by Josin L Mcquein

I remember Josin exploded onto the writing scene with her incredible query letter for Premeditated, and I added Arclight when dystopian fiction was a big thing. But upon reading the blurb and finding it complicated, and reading some friends’ reviews where they confirm the worldbuilding is complicated and the plot isn’t great, and since I already own Premeditated, I’m happy to remove this.

Auracle by Gina Rosati

Bonus points for being about astral projection, a concept I still think hasn’t been explored very much in YA fiction since this was released in 2012. Negative points for mostly being about a romance with a boy next door best friend type. Bonus points for boyfriend being ‘sincere.’ My instinct is to keep this one, since it reminds me of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove for some reason, and I quite enjoy reading about high school bitches for some reason (the bitch in this case is the antagonist of the book, not the protagonist). Verditc: keep this one.

Cinderella Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan

I was thinking about removing this from my to-read pile even though I love fairytale retellings, and then I read some review that reminded me it was a choose-your-own-adventure type book and I got really excited to read it, but after I tried to find a physical copy, I found out it was a small press run too long ago and now the physical copies are way too expensive, so I’m taking this one off my list. I’M SO SORRY PRECIOUS BOOK.

Cinderella Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan

Like its sister novel CInderella Ninja Warrior, this book had too small of a print run too long ago for me to find a physical copy in a price range I can afford, so I’m sorry, wonderful-sounding choose-your-own-adventure fairytale retelling, but you’ve gotta go.

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

My Goodreads friends who did not fangirl over this say her later books are better, and it’s also on my Kelly’s Project shelf, which is a list of all the books my friend Kelly wanted to read before she died of cancer and I was going to read for her, but the blurb and the reviews simply don’t excite me anymore, so I’m culling it. Kelly, I’m sorry.

All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

While I usually love reading about character who are bitches, upon re-reading this blurb, it just didn’t do anything for me anymore. ‘m trying to be more ruthless. Sorry, book, you’ve gotta go.

Redemption by Veronique Launier

Even though the cover is pretty second rate, I wanted to keep this on my list not only because it’s about gargoyles, but because it’s set in Montreal. But since I’m trying to be ruthless and none of my friends have reviewed this positively, and there are lots of mentions of the love interest being stalkery, I’m culling it.

VERDICT

Removed: 8

Kept: 2

What do you think? Should I have kept any books? Have you read any, and what did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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