Down the TBR Hole #6

Another installment of the meme (challenge?) from Lisa at Lost in a Story.

Last time on "Down the TBR Hole" episode 5, we finished going through books added to my To Read shelf on Goodreads on April 13, 2010, which left 1,690 on my To Read shelf. After some natural fluctuations (adding, removing, and reading), today it sits at 1,695. Hey, not too shabby!!

Let's get rolling, shall we? It looks like I went on another adding books binge on April 15,  2010 so the goal for this Down the TBR Hole post is to get through everything I added that day... almost 8 years ago. Haha!

Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin
This actually has not very good reviews, I think I'm going to release it into the wild.
Decision: Go

Last of the Amazons by Steven Pressfield
I appear to have been on an ancient Greece and Rome kick this day. It's not really a genre that interests me much anymore.
Decision: Go

Tides of War by Steven Pressfield
Same explanation as above, I guess!
Decision: Go

In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1) by Catherynne M. Valente
I've got a copy of this sitting on my To Read shelf in my room. This is supposed to be kind of a 1,001 Arabian Nights set up, where the girl is telling a bunch of interconnected short stories. Let me just say this book is HUGE. I'm up for the challenge, though.
Decision: Keep

The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore
It's a fairy tale retelling and those are my jam, but I'm actually just not feeling this one.
Decision: Go 

Ingo (Ingo #1) by Helen Dunmore
This one has been on the to read for so long, and I love mermaids so much, that I feel like if I was ever actually going to read this I'd have done it already.
Decision: Go

Goddess of the Sea (Goddess Summoning #1) by P.C. Cast
I think I might own most of the books in this series thanks to a shopping spree at Half Price Books many moons ago. Better keep this and actually, y'know, read it someday.
Decision: Keep

Bull God (Greek Myths #4) by Roberta Gellis
I have all 4 of this series on my list. Removing all but #1 and will add the next in the series if I like the first one after reading it.
Decision: Go

Enchanted Fire (Greek Myths #3) by Roberta Gellis
I have all 4 of this series on my list. Removing all but #1 and will add the next in the series if I like the first one after reading it.
Decision: Go

This Scepter'd Isle (Doubled Edge #1) by Mercedes Lackey & Roberta Gellis
I LOVE Mercedes Lackey, and haven't read anything by Roberta Gellis. Interested to see if I like this as much as some of the other Misty novels I've loved.
Decision: Keep


Well that's my 10 for the week, but let's keep going with the rest of this stuff added on April 15.

Keep:
Dazzling Brightness (Greek Myths #1) by Roberta Gellis
Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1) by Seanan McGuire
Violet Eyes: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea by Debbie Viguie
Spirited by Nancy Holder
Winter's Child: A Retelling of The Snow Queen by Cameron Dokey
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
The Wild Orchid: A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulan by Cameron Dokey
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The Ivory and the Horn (Newford #3) by Charles de Lint
Cygnet (Cygnet #1-2) by Patricia A. McKillip
Elfland (Aetherial Tales #1) by Freda Warrington
Wolfskin (Saga of the Light Isles #1) by Juliet Marillier
Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint


Go:
Shimmering Splendor (Greek Myths #2) by Roberta Gellis
Thrice Bound (Greek Myths #5) by Roberta Gellis
Pay the Piper (A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale #1) by Jane Yolen
Troll Bridge (A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale #2) by Jane Yolen
The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales of Childhood Survivors edited by Terri Windling
The Midnight Dancers (A Fairy Tale Retold #4) by Regina Doman
Into the Wild (Into the Wild #1) by Sarah Beth Durst
The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep
Birdwing by Rafe Martin
A Necklace of Rubies by Cindy Lynn Speer
Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand by Louise Hawes
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
Tapping the Dream Tree (Newford #9) by Charles de Lint
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey
Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
The Arrow and the Lamp: The Story of Psyche by Margaret Hodges
Moonwise by Greer Gilman

Starting To Read Total: 1,695
Total Kept: 16
Total tossed down the TBR Hole: 25
New Total: 1,670

Yes, I added ALL of these books to my to read list in one day. Oy vey.

Down the TBR Hole #5

Another installment of the meme (challenge?) from Lisa at Lost in a Story.

So as of Down the TBR Hole #4, by To Read shelf was sitting at 1,727.
Of course, I can't help but add new books to my to read list, so today my starting number is ... 1,704? ...Well huh. That's odd. I was sure it was going to be HIGHER, not lower, because I know I added more books...

Ah well, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, eh? Here we go. (We're at April 13, 2010, btw - in case you are curious when I added these!)

Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper
I think I started trying to read this once and gave up because there are so many things going on and it's pretty convoluted. Letting this one go, but I think they're a physical copy buried somewhere in my stacks so maybe I'll run across it again someday.
Decision: Go

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
OK, I need o keep this one. Stop judging me.
Decision: Keep

Brisingamen by Diana L. Paxson
This one was written in 1986! That's almost as old as I am, haha. After reading (rereading? because I must have read it before?) the description, I don't know that I'm interested in this much anymore.
Decision: Go

Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost
Letting this one go, but again, I'm pretty sure I have a physical copy lurking around my house somewhere that I may stumble across again someday.
Decision: Go

How to Spin Gold: A Woman's Tale by Elizabeth Cunningham
Apparently told from Rumplestiltskin's point of view... Oh yeah, and Rumple is a woman.
Decision: Keep

Lady of Sherwood by Jennifer Roberson
This is #2 in a series, so I'm booting it. Will re-add if/when I ever read the first book and if it's any good!
Decision: Go

Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson
Oh, here we go! Sherwood #1. I'll keep this one, it still looks interesting to me.
Decision:

Maid Marian by Elsa Watson
Eh... I just kept Lady of the Forest, so I suppose one story about Maid Marian is probably enough. ...For now.
Decision: Go

Midnight Never Come (Onyx Court #1) by Marie Brennan
A secret Faerie England hidden in the catacombs underneath Elizabethan England? Sounds pretty cool.
Decision: Keep

Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising #1) by Susan Cooper
Urgh, meh.
Decision: Go

Kept: 4
Eliminated: 6
New Total: 1,698

Hey! I did good this time! Let's keep it going, shall we? Express style. Going to try to get through the rest of the books I added on April 13, 2010, LOL. Looks like I went on an adding frenzy!!

Kept: 10
Twice Upon a Time edited by Denise Little
White as Snow by Tanith Lee
Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S. Byatt
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
The Shadow of the Bear (A Fairy Tale Retold #1) by Regina Doman
Aurelie: A Faerie Tale by Heather Tomlinson
Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling
Glass Slipp, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella by Paul Fleischman


Eliminated: 8
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
Black Swan, White Raven edited by Ellen Datlow (I think I have ALL of these anthologies on my to read. I'm just going to remove them and will read them as I read them, when I'm in the rare mood for short stories)
Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman
The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling
The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy
The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales by Tom Muir

NEW New Total: 1,690

Down the TBR Hole #4

Another installment of the meme (challenge?) from Lisa at Lost in a Story.

So last week I got rid of a bunch of books, but then I've added another bunch since then. /sigh I am trying to be a bit more discriminating when adding books to my to read shelf, but... There are just so many good looking ones! I want to read them all!

Ready yet? Get set!

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
OK, this is the third Michelle Moran book in a row on this list. I kept Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen, so clearly I should let this one go... But it's rated 4.11 stars... And my friends liked it a lot... And it sounds so good! ...Drat.
Decision: Keep

Nobody's Princess (Nobody's Princess #1) by Esther Friesner
The top five or so reviews are all 2 and 3 stars, so I'm going to let this one go.
Decision: Go

The Frog Prince: A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults by Stephen Mitchell
The blurb literally tells me nothing, so I'm not going to chase it down and instead am just going to boot it off my shelf.
Decision: Go

Elske (Tales of the Kingdom #4) by Cynthia Voigt
It says it's #4 in a series, but they all read as stand alones. I love love LOVED Jackaroo (and it's probably due for a reread) so I'm going to keep this one.
Decision: Keep

The Wings of a Falcon (Tales of the Kingdom #3) by Cynthia Voigt
Ditto the above. ;)
Decision: Keep

Song for the Basilisk by Patricia M. McKillip
The cover is just so pretty... *mesmerized*
Decision: Keep

Goa (Blood of the Goddess #1) by Kara Dalkey
I'm mostly letting this one go to keep my ratio of these 10 books up... If I'm willing to let it go for such a silly reason, obvs I don't need to keep it!
Decision: Go

The Sooterkin by Tom Gilling
This has an average rating of less than 3 stars, and I am basing my decision purely on that.
Decision: Go

The Godmother's Apprentice (Godmother #2) by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Keeping this solely because I liked the first book enough to actually write a review for it when I read it back in 2010, which was the time before I ever wrote reviews for things.
Decision: Keep

Watership Down by Richard Adams
I've got this on my list of 50 classics to read in the next 5 years for the Classics Club, so clearly I must keep it.
Decision: Keep









Starting: 1,778
Kept: 6
Exterminated: 4
New total: 1,774

OK, so I didn't do so well this time (I was really aiming for a 50% elimination rate), BUT, like last week, I'm going to keep going!

Kept: 35 
Daughter of Glass by Isabel Glass
Ice Land by Betsy Tobin
The Fool's Tale by Nicole Galland
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1) by Robin Hobb
Fool's Errand (Tawny Man #1) by Robin Hobb
Shaman's Crossing (Soldier Son #1) by Robin Hobb
Firebird by R. Garcia y Robertson
Mad Morgan by Kerry Newcomb
The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King #1) by T.H. White
The Broken Crown (The Sun Sword #1) by Michelle West
Hades' Daughter (The Troy Game #1) by Sara Douglass
The Dragon and the Unicorn (Arthor #1) by A.A. Attanasio
The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus Sequence #1) by Jonathan Stroud
The Magic of Recluse (Saga of Recluse #1) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout
Quicksilver by Stephanie Spinner
Changer (Athanor #1) by Jane Lindskold
The Year of the Floor (MaddAddam #2) by Margaret Atwood
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Tokaido Road by Lucia St. Clair Robson
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip
The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip
In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip
The Hidden Stars (The Rune of Unmaking #1) by Madeline Howard
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk (translated by Michael Heyns)
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Sea of Poppies (Ibis Trilogy #1) by Amitav Ghosh
A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman
You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start in the Morning by Celia Rivenbark
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison (translated by Cyril Laumonier)
Rhinegold by Stephan Grundy
What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire


Eliminated: 47
The Divided Crown by Isabel Glass
The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Telling Pool by David Clement-Davies
Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy #2) by Robin Hobb
Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy #3) by Robin Hobb
Golden Fool (Tawny Man #2) by Robin Hobb
Fool's Fate (Tawny Man #3) by Robin Hobb
Forest Mage (Soldier Son #2) by Robin Hobb
Renegade's Magic (Soldier Son #3) by Robin Hobb
The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey
The White Bull by Fred Saberhagen
Stealing Athena by Karen Essex
The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden
Nefer the Silent (Stone of Light #1) by Christian Jacq
The Wise Woman (Stone of Light #2) by Christian Jacq
Shadow of the Sphinx (Stone of Light #3) by Christian Jacq
The Ten Thousand: A Novel of Ancient Greece by Michael Curtis Ford
Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Michael Curtis Ford
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
The Alchemyst (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott
River of Gods (India 2047 #1) by Ian McDonald
Revenge of the Rose by Nicole Galland
The Riddle-Master of Hed (Riddle-Master #1) by Patricia A. McKillip
Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip
Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
Tai-Pan by James Clavell
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia by W.F. Ryan
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
Beneath the Pyramid (Judge of Egypt #1) by Christian Jacq
Fire in the Ocean: A New Testament by Curly Raphino
Shadows of Myth and Legend by E.J. Stevens
Turning Thirty-Twelve by Sandy James
Swoon at Your Own Risk by Sydney Salter
The Lost Children by Carolyn Cohagan
Juliet by Anne Fortier
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson
Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel
The Mermaid's Pendant by LeAnn Neal Reilly
Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain
The Privileges by Jonathan Dee
Belle de Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl by Belle de Jour
The Mermaid's Madness (Princess #2) by Jim C. Hines
Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli

NEW new total: 1,727

Down the TBR Hole #3

Another installment of the meme (challenge?) from Lisa at Lost in a Story.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
I got rid of the other Lisa See book I had on my to read shelf, so I'm going to keep this one. It looks like it had better ratings, and it still sounds pretty interesting to me.
Decision: Keep

Tomato Rhapsody: A Fable of Love, Lust & Forbidden Fruit by Adam Schell
Ehhhhh... I remember being really excited for this book before it was published, and I think I even bought a copy, but it just never felt like "Wow, I've got to read this now!" I'm going to take this off my to read list for now, but we'll see if I actually part with the physical copy if/when I come across it.
Decision: Go

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
YA dystopia, rated over 4 stars, and available on Kindle Unlimited... hmm, ok, I'll keep this on my list for now.
Decision: Keep

Blackbringer by Laini Taylor
I'm back on a faerie and fairies kick, and this is rated a bit over 4 stars, so I'm going to let it stick around. Hey, I may even bump it up the line for the next time I need a faerie fix!!
Decision: Keep

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
This is basically a classic at this point, so obvs I need to keep it.
Decision: Keep

Mad Kestrel by Missy Mastey
I really dithered over whether to keep or toss this one... It's got rather mediocre reviews, I'm currently reading The Pirate King's Daughter which may either fill my quota of young lady pirates or make me hungry for more, some of the reviews made it sound like it left people wanting a second book (which is good if there IS a second book, which I have been unable to find, so maybe bad...) I'm keeping this for now just because I feel so torn about it.
Decision: Keep

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
Bought this at some point and it has in inch thick layer of dust on it. Couldn't even be bothered to read the blurb on Goodreads fully, and figure if I found myself skimming that I'd better release this one back into the wild.
Decision: Go

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
The blurb made me smile. I love the idea of the Greek gods in modern times, stuck with (pretty lame) day jobs to make ends meet.
Decision: Keep

Couch World by Cathy Yardley
Meh. I don't even feel like writing about this one, so obvs it can go.
Decision: Go

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
I love the story of Tam Lin, but according to the reviews the magic/faerie element in this one is suuuuper subtle, and it's more focused on the life of some Mary Sue (again, according to reviews) in college in the 70's. Eh, pass.
Decision: Go


Starting total: 1,804
Total kept: 6
Total eliminated: 4New total To Read: 1,800

Bonus round: I kept reading through my list to decide to keep/eliminate some more, because I had some time to kill and felt like whittling this monster down further. You can probably tell from my "kept" pile that this was a time of mighty fairy tale retelling obsession, and I obviously still can't let it go, haha. I don't love short stories, so I did manage to make myself remove most of the anthologies... Though I still own many of them and am not in any hurry to remove them from my physical shelves, haha!

Kept: 29
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
The Ill-Made Mute by Cecelia Dart-Thornton
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews
Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
The World Above: A Retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk and Robin Hood (Once Upon a Time) by Cameron Dokey
Shadowfever (Fever #5) by Karen Marie Moning
Seeing Redd (The Looking Glass Wars #2) by Frank Beddor
Vision in White (Bride Quartet #1) by Nora Roberts
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran


Chucked down the rabbit hole (enjoy, Wonderland!): 17
Ash by Malinda Lo
Silver Birch, Blood Moon edited by Ellen Datlow
Kissing the Witch edited by Emma Donoghue
Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer by Tanith Lee
The Rose and the Beast edited by Francesca Lia Bock
The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Cybele's Secret (Wildwood #2) by Juliet Marillier
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazney
The Digging Leviathan by James P. Blaylock
Scar Night by Alan Campbell
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
White Chapel Gods by S.M. Peters
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade
The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski
Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
My Fake Wedding by Mina Ford

New total: 1,782

Down the TBR Hole #2

I actually spent a fair amount of time this past week going through my Goodreads To-Read shelf and removing books I'm no longer interested in reading. To be honest, I think a lot of them I added because I was entering a giveaway. Others I was on a major kick about space operas, or mermaids, or krakens, or Christmas romance, or memoirs, or... whatever other random obsession to read about popped into my mind, haha.
 
Anyhoo, Before we begin today, my Goodreads Want To Read shelf is sitting at 1,836 books. I'm sorting them on date added (ascending) and since I removed so many since last week, I'm scrolling through until the first one I hit that I didn't already touch with my purge by author (I made it up to Campbell). I'm also going through and adding some tags (genre, character types, etc) to the books I keep, so when I'm in the mood for (for example) a fairy tale retelling I haven't read yet, I can check out that shelf on my To Read list and see what I've got marked there.
 

The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
Eh, it's got an overall rating of 3.3 and I have a lot of books about dragons on my list. This was can be released back into the wild, I think.
Decision: Go 

Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro
Another one with an overall rating of 3.3, and none of my friends have added it. Meh, it can go.
Decision: Go

The Diamond Secret (A Retelling of Anastasia) by Suzanne Weyn
I've read most of the rest of the books in this series a hundred years ago, and I seem to recall liking the others by Suzanne Weyn.
Decision: Keep

To Kiss A Frog by Elle James
It's rated 3.89 and it's The Princess and the Frog set in the Bayou (before the Disney movie, I have to say) and she's a scientist and he's been cursed into a frog by the Voodoo Queen. Yeah, I think this one's a keeper. I think I own the paperback of this one, but it looks like it was rereleased as Voodoo on the Bayou in 2013 and again a few times in 2015 with sexier covers.
Decision: Keep

Once Upon a Winter's Night by Dennis L. McKiernan
This is another one I own, and in hardback even! That's how badly I wanted to read this. It's got some really awful reviews, but an overall rating of 3.75... somehow. I love the East of the Sun and West of the Moon story so much that I'm not quite ready to give up on this one yet.
Decision: Keep

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dia Sieji (translated by Ina Rilke)
Here is the beginning of a big clump of books with east Asian influences, because I was on one of those binges I talked about earlier, haha. It's historical fiction about some city boys being sent to the country during China's Cultural Revolution, and I'm keeping it purely because the blurb talks about them finding western classics in Chinese translation and learning about the wonder of reading. The reader in me says I must read it.
Decision: Keep

The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa (translated by Adriana Hunter)
In the interest of actually weeding down my list, I'm going to let this one "go." (Haha, see what I did there?)
Decision: Go

Empress by Shan Sa
Based on the true story of the only female Chinese Emperor. I let my other Shan Sa novel go (and I down both this and The Girl Who Played Go in physical copies, so I really am physically getting rid of it, not just deleting it from a list), so I'm keeping this one. :P
Decision: Keep

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
I really struggled with my decision on this one, one moment for sure determined to let it go and the next to keep it. Guess I'll keep it (for now... DUN DUN DUNNNN!)
Decision: Keep

Peony in Love by Lisa See
Ahh, now I remember. This must have been about the time that I first read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It looks like a lot of the reviewers who read this did the same, and totally hated it. I'm going to keep my love for Lisa See pure and let this one go.
Decision: Go
 





 
Starting total: 1,836 (but if you go by my total last week, it was 2,524 I should have started at!)
Total kept: 6
Total eliminated: 4
New total To Read: 1,832

Down the TBR Hole #1

Blogger Lisa at Lost in a Story had this great idea that she calls "Down the TBR Hole." I heard about this over on The Ravenclaw Library's blog and was inspired to join in!

Here's the scoop:

You 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!

It woks 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?

Remember to keep track of where you left off so you know where to start the following week! My goal is to do 10 a week. Right now my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads is at 2,555 - which is a MONSTROUS amount of books, and even if I never added another book (which is, frankly, not going to happen) I don't think I could finish them all in my lifetime. They go all the back to 2009, so some of them have been hanging on there for almost 10 years... Heh, yeah, time to clean it out.

With this in addition to the #BeatTheBacklist challange, who knows - maybe I'll get my TBR pile down so a somewhat sort of manageable size.

Without further ado, here we go!

Dune by Frank Herbert
I mean, this one is basically a classic, plus I own a physical copy of it.
Decision: Keep

By Mercedes Lackey: Winds of Fate, Winds of Change, Winds of Fury, The Oathbound, Oathbreakers, Oathblood, The Black Gryphon, Storm Warning, Storm Rising, Storm Breaking, The Silver Gryphon, Owlflight, Owlsight, The Lark & The Wren, Owl Knight, The Elven Bane, Elvenblood, Alta, Sanctuary, Elvenborn, The Robin & The Kestrel, If I Pay Thee Not in Gold, The Eagle & The Nightingales, Bedlam's Bard, Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, The Phoenix Unchained, The Phoenix Endangered
OK, this is a giant list of 28 (if I counted right?) books, but I'm going to just count it as one and make a mass decision to release them all back into the wild. I love Mercedes Lackey and the Valdemar books I've read (The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, The Arrows of the Queen trilogy, The 500 Kingdoms series, all her Elemental Mages books...) but the woman just has too extensive of a backlog to try to read them all, and I frankly just don't care for some of her series/trilogies. If these stumble across my way later in life and I feel compelled to read them, I will, but for now:
Decision: Go

Babyville by Jane Green
I think I'd added this after reading a few other books by Jane Green.
Decision: Go

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner
Combines faerie lore with a post-apocalypic world - what's not to love? Plus, Tamora Pierce reviewed it and rated it 5 stars.
Decision: Keep

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
I own a physical copy of this book, and my husband really liked the series.
Decision: Keep

The Faerie Path by Allan Freewin Jones
Didn't get very good reviews.
Decision: Go

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Added this when the movie came out and I devoured everything Julia. Eh, I saw the movie, good enough.
Decision: Go

The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt
Cozy mystery, I'll read it someday if it comes across my path and I feel like it, but it really doesn't need to stay on my Goodreads list.
Decision: Go

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
This is one of my BFFs favorite books, so I'd better keep it and actually read it someday.
Decision: Keep

Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
I must have been on a historical fiction kick, not sure why I added this way back in 2009... Haha.
Decision: Go








Total Kept: 4 I did so good you guys!! Got my To Read shelf from 2,555 down to 2,524. Only a BILLION more weeks to go! Hahaha! Since I'm in the mood to purge, I'm actually going to go keep going so next week I (hopefully) start with a number smaller than 2,524. I'll mention a list of ones I decided to keep (but won't post covers, my decision making process, or titles of ones I deleted, in the interest of not boring my few readers to tears) and then go through the next 10.