Down The TBR Hole is a meme created by Lost in a Story, but Lia has permitted Jody’s Bookish Haven to adopt it since she is no longer blogging; the only thing changing is you can now link up to your post.
It works like this:
- 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
I started my Goodreads account in May 2012. As you can guess, I have loads of books on the list that I’m probably no longer interested in reading, as my tastes have naturally changed in the past 14 years.
Beginning Want to Read Shelf: 507 books (I added more after the first post 😬)
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Summary: Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam’s unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women’s endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.
Comments: This is one of those books that I feel is considered a modern-day classic that everyone must read.
Decision: Keep
2. At Legend’s End (The Teacup Novellas #4) by Diane Moody
Summary: When her best friend prayed for God to “blow your socks off,” Olivia Thomas had no idea that prayer would be answered only a few hours later. Stunned by such an unexpected gift from someone she’d helped years ago, Olivia suddenly finds herself with unlimited possibilities. She packs her bags and heads to Caden Cove, a tiny coastal town in Maine, where she hopes to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. Little does she know her reservation at the Captain MacVicar Inn has put her in the path of a historic legend.
Trevor Bass owns Caden Cove’s only bookstore and dabbles in real estate. All the locals know the grouchy bookseller is an avowed bachelor, which explains their utter shock when he invites a “tourist” to visit their book club. The mere hint of romance sends the town into a frenzy wondering if the object of Trevor’s affections could be the next victim of the legend’s curse. Will history repeat itself once more in Caden Cove?
Comments: I started this novella series way back in 2013 because the first book was available on Nook for free. I read the first three novellas by 2014, but never continued the series. I loved the first novella because it was a spin on Jane Austen’s Emma, but the series devolved into focusing entirely on original characters. This might be something I’ll return to in the future if I want a super quick read, but at this point, I have lost interest mostly.
Decision: Remove
3. A Christmas Peril (The Teacup Novellas #5) by Diane Moody
Summary: Lucy Alexander’s Teacup Novellas were inspired by a collection of vintage teacups her Aunt Lucille bequeathed to her. She’s excited about writing the next book in the series, a Christmas tale loosely based on her aunt and uncle’s love story set in the 1940s. But when a hostage situation lands Lucy’s boyfriend in the hospital, she sets her work aside to keep a bedside vigil with Mark. As the long hours of waiting stretch on, Lucy starts to read her beloved aunt’s handwritten diary. Shocked to discover a frightening story so eerily similar to the one she’s living, Lucy longs to find hope and encouragement in the pages of Lucille’s diary.
December 1944 – “The most wonderful things seem to happen when you least expect them,” writes Lucille Alexander after a serendipitous meeting with Gary Reynolds, a handsome lieutenant home on leave from the war in Europe. The two are inseparable in the five precious days he has left before heading back overseas just weeks before Christmas. On their last morning together, Lucille accompanies Gary to the train station, already dreading the long separation ahead. But that would be the least of her worries after her brave lieutenant rushes to help an elderly woman in distress.
Lucy finds a strange solace in her namesake’s ink-stained journal. Though seventy years have passed between them, would their stories have the same ending?
Comments: This one sounds a lot more interesting to me than the previous novella in the same series. However, it’s not something I see myself picking up any time soon.
Decision: Remove
4. United We Spy (Gallagher Girls #6) by Ally Carter
Summary: Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.
Comments: I have a TERRIBLE habit of not continuing series after I’ve read everything that is available when I start it. Typically, it’s because I’m fearful I won’t remember enough to truly enjoy the new installment. So I create this plan that I’m going to reread previous books before starting the new one, which never happens because there’s always something new and exciting out. At some point, I will either read some quick summaries on the previous books or I will do a reread of the series, but I have to finish Cammie’s story eventually.
Decision: Keep
5. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Whistle Stop, AL #1) by Fannie Flagg
Summary: Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who is telling her life story. Her tale includes two more women, the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.
Comments: I’ve seen the film and have always wanted to read the novel that inspired it. I really enjoy listening to the audiobooks of films I’ve already seen, so I will probably pick this up from my library soon for my work commutes.
Decision: Keep
Ending Want to Read Shelf: 505 books
wings and fables 