Down the TBR Hole #31

Down The TBR Hole is a meme created by lost in a story that revolves around cleansing your TBR of all those books you’re never going to read and sort through it all to know what’s actually on there.

The rules:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

So this week has been super busy for me and I didn’t get this posted as early as I would have liked, but it’s here now and I hope you all are having an awesome Sunday!

Picking up from where I left off:

All the Birds in the Sky – Charlie Jane Anders

So this book is a little mix of science and magic. One character’s a witch, the other an engineer. They part ways as kids and then find each other later as adults. It sounds a little dystopic but in a more fantasy way, which I think was what initially drew me to the book. I’m a bit on the fence about this one. On the one hand, I think the story could be really cool, but on the other I won’t know how I really feel about it until I actually pick it up and try to read it. I think, for now, I’ll hold onto it. As much as I don’t like DNF-ing books, I will if I have to with this one, when I get around to trying it out.

Verdict: KEEP

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Eggshells – Caitroina Lally

I think I was initially charmed by this book’s description. The main character is under the delusion that she’s a changeling and is constantly looking for a portal in the world she supposedly might have come from. In the end she tries for something a little more realistic and puts out an add for a friend, but the friend must be named Penelope. It sounds like such a quirky, character-driven book. I was set to go ahead and keep it, but one of the reviewers compared it to James Joyce and I absolutely HATE Joyce. So now I don’t feel confident in it at all.

Verdict: GO

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The Mermaid’s Daughter – Ann Claycomb

So this book is being billed as a re-telling of Hans Christen Anderson’s story, The Little Mermaid, but in this case it’s an extension, dealing with the descendants of the Little Mermaid. I don’t know why I put this book on my TBR, because I’m not a huge fan of the story. But I guess I was intrigued because I like re-tellings. But I’ve read through numerous reviews of this book to help me make up my mind and I’ve seen the words “bland,” “boring,” etc. And that there’s a lot of opera talk (the main character is studying at college as a Soprano. I think since I’ve never had a big interest in mermaids that I’ll go ahead and skip this one.

Verdict: GO

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Alex, Approximately – Jenn Bennett

This one just sounds like a cute, fun rom-com! I think that’s probably why it made it to my list. I’ve never read anything by Bennett before, but in the summary she was compared to Rainbow Rowell and John Green, both authors who I love! I’ve been finding difficulty in reading YA romance of late, maybe because I’m moving farther and farther away from that age group and I’m becoming less and less tolerant of “stupid” teenage decisions/personalities. I wouldn’t say I’m a curmudgeonly old person who shakes their fist at teenagers, per-say, but I do have slightly less tolerance for reading about them/identifying with them. I hope this book is one that I would more thoroughly enjoy.

Verdict: KEEP

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Murder is Bad Manners – Robin Stevens

I’m so excited about this book! It’s the kind of murder-mystery that I love, when characters find a body, but it disappears and they have to prove there was even a murder in the first place. This is a middle-grade mystery, which can be hit and miss, but I like that there is some PoC representation in here and I like that the two main detectives are girls! This is part of a series, so if I do end up liking it, I’m opening myself up to an even larger TBR, with all following books, but I’m ready to check this book out soon to find out.

Verdict: KEEP

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Funny in Farsi: a Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America – Firoozeh Dumas

I don’t generally read a lot of memoirs, but I put this on my TBR because I read Dumas’ middle-grade novel, It Ain’t so Awful, Falafel, and really loved it. She’s really funny and I liked her writing. I was definitely curious to find out more about her and her life. I’m hoping to read this within the next year, or so, because I was really excited to come across it and it definitely still sparks my interest.

Verdict: KEEP

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Hamlet Glove to Globe – Dominic Dromgoole

Again with my penchant for Shakespeare! This time, Dromgoole looks into how Hamlet is performed across a wide array of countries, over 100! I think it’s basically a look into how universal Shakespeare’s stories are and also to look at how different cultures interpret and approach the same work of literature. I’m still really curious to see about this book. I am a huge fan of Shakespeare’s work and I love being able to read about other peoples’ love for the Bard as well.

Verdict: KEEP

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The Rest of Us Just Live Here – Patrick Ness

Why, oh why have I not read any of Ness’s work yet!? I don’t know. He’s pretty prolific in the YA genre and I’ve definitely put more than one of his books on my TBR. I know many people who gush about him. So why am I so late to the band wagon? I like the sound of this book because it’s about a guy who isn’t the “Chosen One,” and there’s an fantasy setting, which always interests me. Here’s hoping I can finally get to this book soon!

Verdict: KEEP

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The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

So another fantasy middle-grade. I’m curious about this story mainly because the main character is the daughter of a cartographer, and she is goes on quest because she is needed for her knowledge and possession of maps made by her father. There’s a fiery dragon and a monster-filled wasteland in store, so I’m obviously stoked about that! Honestly, I don’t know what’s taken me so long to pick this one up, either – though maybe because it’s not an American publication?

Verdict: KEEP

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Rebel of the Sands – Alwyn Hamilton

So I think I was initially drawn to this book because I liked the idea of the Middle Eastern setting mashed up with the Western (as in spaghetti-Western). But now that I’m looking on it, I find it kind of weird that a – the book is written by a white person and b – the idea of westernizing a Middle Eastern setting seems a bit of a poor choice. It also seems that it’s very similar to other books in this “Western” genre, like Walk on Earth a Stranger, which I love. I would possibly find this book to not live up to that book’s standards, since I loved it so much. I probably hadn’t gotten round to this book yet because the series wasn’t finished when I initially came across it and I don’t like to start series that aren’t finished. But I don’t think I’ll start this one now, even though it is.

Verdict: GO

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Results:

Kept: 7

Discarded: 3

Thoughts?

So, what do you think? Any books I cut that you wouldn’t? Any books that I’m keeping that aren’t worth my time? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you. See you next week for another meme post.