So I am going to try to start doing a weekly wrap-up as to what books have been added or removed from the TBR… it may or may not actually happen, so we’ll see. I’m not always the best at posting goals with this blog, although I have been able to keep up with the monthly Rearview Mirrors!
Added to the General TBR:
Three entries here:
I’ve read a couple of Katie Fforde’s books with mixed results. She is one of those prolific writers that I’m sure have several good books in their bibliography, but I just don’t know where to start. So when I read the review for A Vintage Wedding over on FromFirstPagetoLast, I thought I would give it a whirl, especially since I actually really enjoy books about wedding planners – maybe because I used to cater??- I’m on multiple email lists for book deals, but, being my cheap self, I don’t usually actually buy the ebooks (unless they are less than a dollar, of course!), but if they sound interesting, I throw them on the TBR. That’s how I ended up with Jack Heckel’s The Dark Lord, which is billed as a parody of an epic fantasy – sounds exactly like something I might enjoy.
- GoodReads also does its best to add books to the list, with moderate success. This week, GR convinced me to throw The Book of James by Ellen J. Green on the list. Who doesn’t want to read a book whose blurb states: “After a devastating car accident, Nick whispers his last words to his wife, Mackenzie: ‘As soon as they know I’m dead, they’ll come after you.’ ” Cue creepy music!
Off the General TBR:
I don’t officially remove books from the TBR until I have finished their reviews, so unfortunately nothing has been deducted this week. Go figure…
Total for the General TBR: 852
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Added to My Personal TBR:
These are books that I own, so they get added if I purchase a new book and get deducted if I’ve read that book since I started blogging, an attempt to read all of the thousand-or-so books that I actually own. This also includes books that mysteriously appear on my Kindle even though I obviously would never buy new books because I already own SO MANY BOOKS. *innocent face*
This week, this tab of the TBR took a pretty sizable jump, mainly because my mom cleaned off one of her bookshelves and added eight books to mine! They are all nonfiction children’s books from an older book series called Landmark. These were originally published, in fantastic cloth-bound editions, by Random House in the 1950’s and 60’s. They cover a wide range of subjects and famous people, and because they’re intended for a middle school audience, they are honestly a great way to get just a brief, general overview of a topic – just enough to help you decide if you want to delve a little deeper. Mom and I have both been collecting these books for years, and she realized that she had accumulated a few doubles that have now been added to my collection…
I also ended up with two Kindle books. The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers was a freebie. Written before World War I as a thriller – two young folks uncover a secret plot wherein the Germans are going to take over Great Britain. The blurb says that it helped inspire the British government to boost its defenses on the North Sea. It was originally published in 1902, so I think it may have a lot of interesting historical context.
My other freebie was Ocean of Storms by Christopher Mari and Jeremy Brown. It was one of this month’s Kindle First free books or whatever it is where you get a free Kindle book every month for being a Prime member. It sounds like a sort of sci-fi space thriller where an explosion on the moon causes lots of trouble on earth, so China and the US have to work “together” (things are not always as they seem) to get back on the moon and figure out what is going on.
Off the Personal TBR:
Once again, I don’t check books off until they get reviewed, so a slow reviewing week means I didn’t really have a drop in numbers…
Total for the Personal TBR: 551
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Added to the Series TBR:
Any books that have more than two that go together get added to this tab of the TBR. I really enjoy series a lot of the time. For this list, each series counts as a number, not each book within the series.
No new series added this week… whew!
Off the Series TBR:
I didn’t review anything this week, but I did finish the Codex Alera (brilliant!), so that series will be coming off soon. (Of course, it inspired me to add Jim Butcher’s other series, so I didn’t really gain anything there…)
Total for the Series TBR: 136
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Added to the Mystery Series TBR:
Because yes, I count mystery series separately…
Only one addition here, a 14-book series that Fictionophile convinced me to add – the Adam Dalgliesh series by P.D. James. Lynne listed this as one of her “series to savour”. She goes on to say: “Though some might say these books are a bit verbose, I believe that anyone who enjoys a literary/psychological mystery, with an intriguing and compelling protagonist will love the Dalgliesh mysteries!” Sounds good to me!
Off the Mystery Series TBR:
I’m still in the midst of the Amanda Jaffe series, which I just started last week, so four more books to go!
Total for the Mystery Series TBR: 62
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Added to the Nonfiction TBR:
My good intentions regarding reading more nonfiction rarely seem to materialize. I’ve been reading the same three nonfiction books since the beginning of October! I definitely read more nonfiction when I am working less, though, so now that I am down to only about 15 hours a week at the orchard, I expect my nonfiction reading to pick up accordingly.
This week, Claire over at TheCaptiveReader posted her Library Loot for the week, and two of her reads caught my eye: The Fall of the Ottomans, regarding the aftermath of World War I on the Middle East, and Red Plenty, a book about the USSR in the 1950’s. A while back I did quite a bit of reading about Russia leading up to and during World War I, and a book about Russia in the midst of the Iron Curtain years sounds really intriguing.
Off the Nonfiction TBR:
Well then. We all know the answer to that one!
Total for the Nonfiction TBR: 48
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Grand Totals for the Week: 16 books added to the overall TBR and no books removed!
Really, I think the best way to help my TBR is for everyone to stop reviewing books I think sound interesting… ;-)
The Aroma of Books 