Down the TBR hole #6 // starting March fresh 🌼

Hi, pals! I’m bringing you another episode in this installment I love: the Down the TBR Hole series. I’ve had so much fun unhauling books in the past and this will be a good breathing room for my blog in March — there are so many reviews and discussion posts coming!

So buckle in, put your purging hats on, and fall into my TBR hole with me! Please help me cut down on my too-long TBR shelf on Goodreads. It’s getting out of hand…

As always, this tag was created by the lovely Lia @ Lost in a Story. The rules are simple: sort your TBR shelf on Goodreads from first added to most recently added and choose to keep or let go of those books.

If you haven’t already (and want to keep up with my purging saga), you can read my other posts here: first // second // third // fourth // fifth. You can also read why I’m in favor of getting rid of books that don’t spark joy anymore.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma  🌼  In short, this is the love story between a brother and a sister who have to act as parents to their three youngest siblings. This has proven to be very stressful but has also made the pair grow closer to one another. If you didn’t know, this is young adult fiction and super risqué. I am definitely picking it up in the future.
Verdict: keep ✅

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley  🌼  From what I can tell, this coming-of-age novel is about a young man growing up in a dull Arkansas town who spots a bird that hadn’t been seen since the 1940s. I’m sure there are a lot of themes in this one, but it’s not very appealing to me (unfortunately, since it was so big when it came out!)
Verdict: go ❎

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian  🌼  I’m sorry, Jenny Han. I love your books and your writing, but I don’t think I can commit to this series. It feels very much like a recycled YA plot, so much so that I feel like I’ve read it before 😓
Verdict: go ❎

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta  🌼  I’ll put this one off my list not because the plot sounds dull (it doesn’t), but because I want to read Marchetta’s other book that I already committed to a while back. If I like that one, I’ll try my luck with this one!
Verdict: go, temporarily ❓

 

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner  🌼  What I’ve read by Faulkner, I have loved, as well as I have loved reading the American Southern Gothic. Since most of my teachers rave about this (despite its difficulty to get through), I really want to pick it up.
Verdict: keep ✅

 

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte  🌼  Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels, which is why I added this Bronte to my list. But English Literature from this time period isn’t really my cup of tea. And you know what? I don’t have to always keep my classics.
Verdict: go ❎

 

The Russian Concubine & The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall  🌼  I love Chinese history, and court-dramas are my favorite. But there are so many reviews calling it smut and mindless fluff — not something I want out of my historical fiction novels…
Verdict: go ❎ and go ❎

 

Schizo by Nic Sheff  🌼  I don’t think I’ve ever read any books with a main character who has schizophrenia, but I would love to. However, by the description of this one, it kind of seemed like the main character was being called crazy in a way??? I want to make sure I read #ownvoices when it comes to this, so please let me know if the rep is done well in this one!!!
Verdict: go, for now maybe? ❎

 

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess  🌼  Fucked up characters, a fucked up setting, and fucked up writing, you say? I’m all in, then. But I know I’ll have to be in a very good mental place to pick this one up…
Verdict: keep ✅

 

The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick  🌼  I really wish I had prioritized this one earlier in life. Unfortunately, I’m no longer attracted to YA, and I have other wartime novels I would rather read first… I’m so sorry!
Verdict: go ❎

 

Deadly Class by Rick Remender & others  🌼  I have not seen one of the reviewers I follow on Goodreads say good things about this graphic novel, and so I’m leaving it behind.
Verdict: go ❎

 

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer  🌼  I believe this is a loose adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s Beljar (which I loved but must revisit). However, the ratings on Goodreads aren’t that positive, especially for a young adult novel!
Verdict: go ❎

 

White Teeth by Zadie Smith  🌼  This novel is set in London and (I think) it explores two different families somehow connected. From what I’ve heard, it’s supposed to be a study of interculturality in London, and if that’s right, I know for sure that I will love reading my first Smith.
Verdict: keep ✅

 

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy  🌼  I know I’ve said I’m not a fan of 19th-century English Literature — but the plot to this one sounds really intriguing and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it! I think it’s only fair that I give this one a chance.
Verdict: keep ✅

 

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin  🌼  YES YES YES, I’m keeping this. Not only because this novel leave a mark on the English language, but also because I love thriller stories about the middle class and this sounds murdery — or at least suspenseful.
Verdict: keep ✅

 

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy  🌼  So many mixed reviews for this one, some calling it “pleasantly boring” and others calling it just plain-old boring. I think I’ll take other people’s advice and stay away… But who knows, if I like Hardy’s other novels, I may pick this one up eventually.
Verdict: go ❎

 

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver  🌼  I watched the movie (oops) and I loved it (yay!), but since the book is told through letters, I really don’t think I’ll ever pick it up. What I really loved about the film was how it was shot and set up, and so I think I’ll leave my memory of Kevin’s story intact by not reading this one.
Verdict: go ❎

 

American Gods by Neil Gaiman  🌼  I really love this author and I seriously need to read something of his soon. But I really don’t think it will be this one. Although I adore urban fiction, there is no sequel out yet (it’s been more than 12 years) and I don’t care enough to commit to a series that might never be concluded. I’ve been burned before…
Verdict: go ❎

 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky  🌼  I read the SparkNotes for this one a long time ago and it seemed like a very boring story — but only because it told me the plot, not the psychological state of the main character! I love psychological novels and always wanted to read a Russian classic, so why not!
Verdict: keep ✅

 

The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott. Fitzgerald  🌼  I’m a great fan of Fitzgerald, but this book has so many negative reviews… If I ever get to it, I’m sure it will be after I have read his other, better-acclaimed novels.
Verdict: go ❎

 

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern  🌼  My boyfriend and I watched this movie recently and loved it. He is not a rom-com kind of person, but he rated this one 10 stars (I was shocked too!! But it’s truly hilarious and frustrating at the same time). I feel like I know the story already, so I don’t feel the need to revisit.
Verdict: go ❎

 

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith  🌼  I already unhauled the first book in this series. This one will keep that one company!
Verdict: go ❎

 

The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss  🌼  This series has wrecked my heart, and I haven’t even picked up the second novel. I’m so scared the third and final one will never come out, so I’m postponing this novella to when the third book does come out. (Or until we get the news that Rothfuss has died without publishing).
Verdict: keep ✅

 

Yes Please by Amy Poehler  🌼  Amy Poehler is so funny and she has such an interesting personality. Ever since I read Tina Fey’s memoir, I’ve been meaning to read this one as well. If I can find her narration of the book, I’ll definitely get it!
Verdict: keep ✅

 

What If? by Randall Munroe  🌼  This is a book my boyfriend would love. I’ve flipped through it already and there are interesting chapters in there. But since I’m not that inclined to read science anymore, I won’t make an effort to read What If?
Verdict: go ❎

 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng  🌼  Mark my words when I say that nothing is stopping me from finally reading Ng’s works this year. Nothing!!!
Verdict: keep ✅

 

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon  🌼  I am never reading the Outlander books. Ever. I don’t even know how the eight (!!!) made it onto my list?!
Verdict: go ❎

 

🌼 statistics 🌼

I looked at… 28 books
I kept… 10 books (36%)
I unhauled… 18 books (64%)