TBR Lows & Highs #1

I made a Goodreads account in 2010 and thought it was a good idea to add every book in existence to it. Once I got back into reading regularly I realised what a mistake that was and I’ve been slowly doing a cull of my Goodreads shelves ever since. I found this series on Jamieson @ Jamishelves‘ blog and thought it’d be a good way to make sure I stay on top of removing things I don’t want to read. It was created by Destiny @ Howling Libraries.

Rules:

• Link back to the original post at Howling Libraries
• Sort your Goodreads TBR shelf by date added, ascending
• Find 5-10 (or more, if you feel ambitious!) titles to purge from your TBR (the “lows”)
• • ALTERNATIVE OPTION: Find 5+ titles that are at the BOTTOM of your TBR—books you want to read someday, just not right now! (Thank you for this idea, Ari!)
• Post those 5 books in the list, with a brief explanation
• Next, sort your Goodreads TBR shelf by date added, descending
• List the last 5 (or more!) books you added to your TBR, with a synopsis or your brief summary of why you added it (the “highs”)

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry – This is a NA/YA romance contemporary and that is a genre I am definitely no longer interested in. People whose opinions I trust have left reviews saying this is full of misogony and unhealthy relationships so no thanks.

Inside Out by Maria V.  Snyder – Whilst I still have a soft spot for dystopia and if I had have read this when it was published I probably would have enjoyed it there’s just other books I care about more? It’s definitely not a story that hasn’t been told before and I’d much prefer to reread The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Bracken.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi – I think this is a fantasy/dystopian YA romance and again, this is just something that in 2018 I am no longer interested in.

 The Duff by Kody Keplinger – This is just not something that I need in 2018 when there’s way better books dealing with a similar topic in a much healthier way. Again, people I trust have pointed out a lot of issues with this book and I don’t need that kinda stuff in my life.

When Summer Ends by Isabelle Rae – Hello friends this is when I reveal that my 2011 self loved the problematic trope of student/teacher relationships. I think this was the height of my Pretty Little Liars (the books not the TV show) obsession. Obviously I quickly realised how not okay that is and there is no way I want to read a book dedicated to it. I have no idea why this is still on my TBR lmao I should have removed it years ago.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – PLEASE DON’T HATE ME. I added this to my TBR when I became obsessed with the 2012 musical. I even tried reading it back then and couldn’t get more than a few chapters in. My brain just isn’t wired for this kind of fiction. I definitely appreciate and understand that it’s a well loved classic but there is no way I am ever going to be able to read 1000+ pages of it. I’m sorry. It’s just not gonna happen.

** I recently added a bunch of unreleased books to my TBR that don’t even have covers so I’m only counting books that have been released **

Defy the Dark edited By Saundra Mitchell – This is an anthology of short “dark” stories and they’re my favourite. Saundra Mitchell also edited All Out which I LOVED and this has stories from Courtney Summers and Malinda Lo. It was published in 2013 so it’s probably a bit outdated, but hopefully I’ll still enjoy it.

Vanished by E.E. Cooper – I feel like this could potentially be not great but it’s a YA thriller that involves a girl falling in love with another girl so like I couldn’t not add it to my TBR.

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix – An ex heavy metal band member realises the vocalist of the band sold the rest of the bands souls and she gets the rest of the band and goes on a road trip to confront him? Uhh. Yes. Thanks??? This is one of my favourite tropes ever.

Tomie by Junji Ito – This is a horror manga that has short stories about this evil spirit called Tomie who is apparently a “femme fatale”. I read Junji Ito’s other manga about a town becoming obsessed with spirals and that was some dark, twisted shit (which I loved) so I’m hoping this will be similar.

The Narrows by Travis M. Riddle – It’s no secret that I love the band Waterparks and Travis is really good friends with the band. I follow him on Twitter because he’s hilarious. I saw him Tweet about this book and he posted an excerpt where he’d mentioned Waterparks in a scene so I automatically already wanted to read it. Then I saw that it was a horror about a group of friends trying to figure out what caused the death of their friend and there’s this other world thing going on so I was like YES THANKS.

The Party by Lisa Hall – This was a random book I found in BIG W lmao it looks like a trashy thriller which I love so why not. Who knows if I’ll ever read it, but we’ll see what happens.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the books I’ve mentioned!

I hope you’re all having a fantastic day.

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