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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Oh I’m kind of glad you’re getting rid of The Duff, that book wasn’t…. well, it just wasn’t good, I think I was way too nice years ago when I read it, because I think I rated it 3 stars, but now thinking back to it, just, nope nope nope, aha 🙂
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Haha! Yeah, I’ve heard that it has a lot of issues and definitely didn’t deal with the subject matter in a healthy way. It’s a shame, but I’m glad there’s books available now that give it the respect it deserves.
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Ahoy there matey! I be glad that ye jumped aboard this series! I love readin’ why me crew take books on and off their ports for plunder lists. Arrr!
x The Captain
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Yes, same! It’s so interesting to see. Thanks so much, Captain 😊
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I feel like this is something I need to take part in, I have way too many books on my TBR list and a lot of them are probably books I’m never going to get around to. 🙂
The only two of these I’ve read are from your ‘lows’ list; Inside Out and Under the Never Sky. I did actually really enjoy Under the Never Sky (but actually I’d prefer to re-read The Darkest Minds series too) and at the time I liked Inside Out but looking back I can’t actually remember anything about it, not really a glowing recommendation is it?
Great post Lauren, I really hope you enjoy the ‘highs’ still on your TBR. 😀 ❤
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Thanks so much, Beth! I feel like if I had have read both books back when they were released I would have enjoyed them. I’m glad you liked Under the Never Sky though! I have heard good things about that so I debated for a while about removing it, but realised I’ll probably never read it 😂
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That’s all right, and yeah I get what you mean. I’ve never re-read either but I have that feeling that if I do I wouldn’t enjoy them as much this time around.
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OH this sounds like such a fun little tag. 🙂 Under the Never Sky and The DUFF are both books I recently removed from my TBR, but I really enjoyed the DUFF movie – thought it was a lot of fun. The Party’s on my TBR too because I’m a hoe for trashy thrillers
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Ooh, I might have to check the movie out then ☺️ Hahaha right like sign me up for all of them 😂
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Oh, this is a gorgeous post! ❤ I've heard mostly bad things about The DUFF, so I think getting rid of it is not a bad idea, haha. (Even though I thought the movie was quite fun.)
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Ah, thank you so much Lily 😊 I tried something new with the formatting so I’m glad you liked it! I definitely might have to give The DUFF movie a shot because it sounds like it could be fun!
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It turned out so well! I’m heart eyes all the way. 💓
It is!! Well, it’s also a bit of your typical “teen movie”, but it’s not too clichéd, and definitely a lot of fun! 🙂
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The DUFF isn’t great, you could always watch the equally-bad movie adaptation of it if you were curious 😀
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haha yes, a few people have suggested that!! i might have to 😅
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