Down the TBR Hole #10

Down the TBR Hole was originally created over at Lost in a Story.

Most of you probably know this feeling, your Goodreads TBR pile keeps growing and growing and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep adding, but you add more than you actually read. And then when you’re scrolling through your list, you realize that you have no idea what half the books are about and why you added them. Well that’s going to change!

It works like this:

  • 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?
  • Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week!

My to-read shelf: 1052 titles

The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America by Nigel Cliff

Published: April 17, 2007
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I’m just not feeling the need to read about the Astor Place Riot anymore.

Stay or Go? Go

The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins

Published: July 1, 2009
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

On the other hand, I am still interested in the story of the First Folio. (Thanks again, Book Riot.)

Stay or Go? Stay

The Return to Judaism: Descendants from the Inquisition Discovering Their Jewish Roots by Sandra Malamed

Published: November 15, 2010
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I’m still interested in the topic, but not this particular book.

Stay or Go? Go

The Big Bang Symphony: A Novel of Antarctica by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

Published: May 6, 2010
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

A little contemporary Antarctic fiction to go with all the non-fiction history.

Stay or Go? Stay

Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages by Guy Deutscher

Published: August 31, 2010
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I’m a little on the fence with this one, but I think it’ll stay. For now.

Stay or Go? Stay

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester

Published: October 27, 2009
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

Simon Winchester is one of my automatic TBR non-fiction writers.

Stay or Go? Stay

Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People by Jon Entine

Published: October 24, 2007
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

Another one where the topic sounds interesting, but not this particular book.

Stay or Go? Go

You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know by Heather Sellers

Published: October 1, 2010
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I actually started reading this at one point, and couldn’t get into it.

Stay or Go? Go

Descartes’ Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human by Paul Bloom

Published: April 27, 2005
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I’m pretty sure I started reading this at one point, too. And I think I may have had it confused with a different book.

Stay or Go? Go

Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything by Stephen Baker

Published: January 1, 2011
On TBR Since: March 10, 2012

I watched the Jennings/Rutter/Watson match on tv, and I’m interested in the history of the machine

Stay or Go? Stay

Five to go, five to stay. Chipping away at the TBR. New to-read shelf: 1047 titles.