Down the TBR Hole (Again) – #1

This challenge is something that I did a couple of times when I first started this blog. The idea behind it is to reduce the number of books on your TBR list.

As far as I can tell, this challenge was created by the writer at the literary blog, Lost in a Story, but it appears that the domain is no longer valid.

Here are the rules:

• 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?

I’m going to aim to do this challenge once a week because as of this writing, my TBR list has 3,768 titles on it. 

Yes, I know that’s a ridiculous and impossible number of books that I hope to read. I have a tendency to add books to my TBR if they are even mildly interesting to me although, logically, I know I’ll never actually read most of them.

Here’s the first post in many more to come.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Verdict: Keep

I still can’t believe I haven’t read this classic novel. I’m a bit ashamed of myself, so this is definitely one that will stay on this list until I actually get around to reading it.

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The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

Verdict: Keep

After reading the synopsis of this one, it’s definitely something that I’m interested in. It follows a single woman throughout her entire life and her “inability to understand her place in her own life.”

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The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper

Verdict: Keep

According to the synopsis on Goodreads, this novel “is set in a post-holocaust feminist dystopia that offers only two political alternatives: a repressive polygamist sect that is slowly self-destructing through inbreeding and the matriarchal dictatorship called Women’s Country.” I’m sold.

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Verdict: Keep

This is another classic that I’m eager to read, so it’s an obvious keep.

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Verdict: Keep

I tried to read this very short novel years ago, but I remember setting it down as it wasn’t holding my attention. I want to give it another chance, so it’s another keep.

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So far, I’m not doing great on this whole “cleaning up my TBR” thing.

Anyway…

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A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

Verdict: Toss It

I’m only mildly interested in A Spark of Light, so I’m not going to keep it on my TBR. I’ve heard very mixed things about it anyway, so I don’t feel like I’m really missing out on much.

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Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

Verdict: Keep

This magical realism novel sounds bizarre, which usually means I’ll love it.

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Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

Verdict: Toss It

Years ago, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s non-fiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and loved it. I’ve always been curious about a homesteading lifestyle, and that book showed me what it might be like. This fictional novel, however, doesn’t spark any interest in it. I have a feeling I added it to my TBR just because I recognized her name.

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The Witch Elm by Tana French

Verdict: Keep

The main reason I’m deciding to leave this novel on my TBR is that I keep hearing amazing things about Tana French, and out of her novels this one seems the one I’m most likely to enjoy.

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The Dispossessed (Hainish Cycle #6) by Ursula K. Le Guin

Verdict: Keep

Even though this is the sixth book in Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle series, from everything I know this series does not need to be read in order, so I’m keeping this one on my TBR. The main character, Shevek, “will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe.” I adored Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, so I’m eager to read more of her work.

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Two out of ten books removed from my TBR is less than I was hoping for, but I feel like the books I’m keeping on this list are books that I’m going to love.

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Have you read any of these books? If so, let me know what you thought of them in the comments below!

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