Down The TBR Hole #5: In Which I Surprise Myself

 

Down The TBR Hole is hosted by Lia @ Lost In A Story

Hello dear book lovers and welcome to another post in the Down The TBR Hole feature hosted by the awesome Lia.

Hello my lovely bookworms and welcome to another episode of my attempt to control my TBR. Today we start the count at 3120. Let's start, shall we?

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a book I first heard about right after I finished high school. A friend of mine was super ecstatic about it and I decided to check it out. Of course, me being me, I promptly forgot about it, because that's how my brain works. Flash forward many years later (more than I care to count, thank you very much) and I saw the movie. While I know it's not the same thing, I didn't really feel as interested as before, so I lost interest in the book as well. Verdict: It goes
• The Sworn is another book I added because it was everywhere and I was curious. Although the reviews aren't very flattering, I'm curious enough about it to still want to read it, though not right away. Verdict: Moved to the maybe shelf
• I've always wanted to try Jennifer Weiner's books, but I've always been kind of scared to do so. Then Came You sounds like my type of story though, so I'm definitely going to check it out. Verdict: It stays
• I have no memory of Falling Together, but looking at the blurb I can see why I wanted to read it. I'm a sucker for old friends reunite type of stories, and this book sounds right up my alley. However the reviews aren't all that encouraging and my already waning interest is getting smaller and smaller. I'll probably still want to read this later on, but I don't see myself doing it in the near future. Verdict: It goes
• I added Witches of the East when I was on a witch-binge. The blurb kind of reminded me of the movie Practical Magic and I was curious. The ratings range from 5 stars to 1 star, so it doesn't really give me much to go on. I might read this book sometime in the future. Verdict: Moved to the maybe shelf

• I have no idea when I added Crave on my list. Reading the blurb, it makes me think of a Romeo and Juliet meets Twilight type of story. Honestly, I'm not interested enough in a "human girl falls for forbidden paranormal boy" stories at the moment. Verdict: It goes
• Bookends and a number of other Jane Green books ended up on my TBR shelf when I wanted more and more chick lit books. I can't really say I'm very interested in this particular book, but I'm ready to completely discard it. Verdict: Moved to the maybe shelf
• The Princess Diaries has been on my shelf for a very long time now. It's actually embarrassingly long. But I am going to get to it! Verdict: It stays
• Another book I've been dying to read is Water For Elephants. I'm very very excited about reading it and hopefully I'll get to it before the year is over. Verdict: It stays
• Enchanted Inc. is also a book I'm curious about, especially since it's a paranormal chick lit from what I understand. So it sounds really awesome and I'm excited! Verdict: It stays

• In my quest to read more and more paranormal/urban fantasy books I stumbled across Stray a long time ago and I naturally added it on my TBR shelf. Even though the blurb doesn't give me all that much to go on, it gives me serious Bitten vibes, only with cats instead of wolves. I'm going to reserve judgement until I read the actual book, but based on the fact that I was reminded about one of my favorite urban fantasy series ever, I have really high expectations for this book. Verdict: It stays
• I really have no explanation as to why I haven't picked up Halfway To The Grave by now. None whatsoever. As soon as I finish my current physical books TBR, I'll dive into this series. Verdict: It stays
• I'm usually reluctant to read comic books based on fiction, as my previous attempts have been more on the negative side. I am however willing to give Mercy Thompson Homecoming a chance. Verdict: Moved to the maybe shelf
• My previous attempt at reading a Stiefvater book hasn't been all that stellar. Yes, I kinda liked the writing style, but I'm not sure if I want to go through a slow-paced book like that again. Shiver sounds like an interesting story, and I'm fascinated with how people make their own mythology of how werewolves are born. That being said, I've seen the dreaded word mentioned a few times in a few reviews and the blurb certainly points at that word as well. You know the one. INSTALOVE. So I'm not sure this is going to be a good fit for me. Verdict: It goes
• Soulless is a book I keep seeing popping up every few months here and there, and I'm curious about it enough to want to read it. I'm not 100% sure about the steampunk elements, as I'm not entirely a fan of the genre, but we'll see how it goes. Verdict: It stays

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Today's final count will be a surprise for everyone Not really. First, out the 15 books I looked at today, I eliminated 5 and moved 4 to the maybe shelf. This would get my TBR down to 3111. HOWEVER I was a busy bee during the weekend, what with the 24 in 48 readathon and making up my ARC August TBR, and now I'm back where I started, with 3120 books. 

I've been thinking of the fact that I can't seem to get very far with my weekly clean up for a while now and I think I have a solution. I know that a lot of my TBR is comprised of books from series and I have the ugly tendency to add entire series on my TBR shelf even before reading the first one, so I though I'd eliminate all the books going from book 4 onward if it's a series I haven't started yet, OR to keep maximum 3 books in advance counting from the last book in the series I've read. I also eliminated any books I knew in advance I wasn't ever going to read, like the Hunger Games or The Selection. This turned out to be my best idea ever since it brought my TBR total down to a surprising 2943 books. Which is huge. Anyway, there's no chance I can add 200 books on my TBR until next week, so we'll definitely start from there next week. Hopefully.