Happy Independence Day!!!
And what better way to celebrate than by attempting to reinstate my weekly(ish) Tottering TBR posts??!
A weekly(ish) post wherein I pretend to lament the fact that I have so many books on my TBR… but in fact am secretly rubbing my hands together with delight that there are so many amazing books left to be discovered…
I haven’t done one of these posts for almost a year, but now that things are getting under control (haha) on this blog, I thought I would give it another try. I really do like linking to other people’s reviews to let them know that they’ve inspired me to add yet another book to the never-ending TBR!
For those who are unfamiliar with my weird TBR set-up, I kind of have five separate lists:
- The General TBR – basically regularly, stand-alone books that I don’t own. This is the big one.
- The Personal TBR – all the books that I own… which is a LOT. You can see more details on my Quest page, but basically I am slowly trying to read/reread every book that I own. Theoretically, this is to help me cull some books… ha ha ha
- The Series TBR – pretty self-explanatory… series, rather than individual books.
- The Mystery Series TBR – ditto, except mysteries instead of not-mysteries.
And for all of my TBRs, even if a series has tons of books, it only counts for one entry. So even though I own like 30 Nancy Drew books, it’s only one entry on the Personal TBR.
Okay, enough with the boring stuff! On to the goodies…
Added to the General TBR:
In the last week, I’ve added four books.
Uprooted was one of my favorite reads last year, so I was pretty excited to see that Naomi Novik is coming out with another book in July! While she says that Spinning Silver isn’t set in the same world, I get the impression that it’s set in a similar world. One of these days – hopefully soon – I’m going to get around to rereading Uprooted, too.- I had mixed feelings about Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood. It was gripping – like I literally read it in almost one sitting – but I kind of hated everyone and didn’t really like the ending. I haven’t gotten around to any of her other books, but I’ve added yet another to the TBR. I’ve been seeing reviews come in for The Death of Mrs. Westaway, and it sounds like Ware may have created another gripping book full of kind of unlikable people. :-D We’ll see. In the meantime, I read reviews by both Cleopatra Loves Books and Fictionophile this week, so be sure to check them out!
- FictionFan is a regular contributor to my TBR problem. The extra tricky part is that she has a knack of making me want to read books that I’m not sure I would pick up on my own! I’m not sure that I would normally pick up a book about someone plotting to kill his aunt, but FF assures me that reading The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull is well worth it.
- Finally, we all have those authors we are always meaning to read something by but haven’t gotten around to yet. Erin Watt is definitely one of those authors for me. I already have several of her books on my TBR, but what’s another? Stephanie’s review of One Small Thing meant another Watt book got added to the list. The odds of one of her books coming up on my random number generator has to be increasing, right??
Off the General TBR:
My personal rule is that books don’t get to be scratched off the TBR until I’ve actually reviewed them. In the last week, I’ve mostly been reading/reviewing random books that I own or that just popped up not on the list. So the only official removal I’ve had is Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us. It was an alright, but not stellar read. However, I’ve been reassured that it’s one of her weaker books, and I still definitely plan to read more of her books.
Grand Total for the TBR: 837 (!!!)
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Added to the Personal TBR:
Whilst rearranging some shelves this past week, I came across two nonfiction books that weren’t on my original list! Apparently, they got set aside when I was teaching an Ohio history class. But fear not! Now both Ohio: Its People and Its Culture by George Crout AND Ohio: The Buckeye State by William Collins are on the list! :-D
Off the Personal TBR:
Actually, I’ve been knocking off quite a few of these, as I’ve been on a bit of a Kindle kick. Ring of Truth by Jaclyn Weist was an utterly ridiculous yet somehow endearing chick lit read. The Second Chance by Joanna Starnes was a P&P variation that was almost amazing. While Elizabeth Bennet’s Deception by Regina Jennings was so terrible that it was a DNF, that still means that it is checked off the list! The Holiday Swap by Zara Stoneley was another random chick lit read, The Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Pamela Mingle was another so-so P&P variation, and Swamp Cat by Jim Kjelgaard was an enjoyable read by one of my favorite authors from childhood. I’ve also been working my way through the Judy Bolton mysteries – this week I reviewed the first five books – but they won’t get checked off until I actually finish the series! So, grand total off – five!
Grand Total for the Personal TBR: 678
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Added to the Series TBR:
Nothing this week.
Off the Series TBR:
I finished the Paper Magician series, which was so-so for me. There were concepts I liked, but overall just found them to be boring. I didn’t bother with The Plastic Magician, which is supposed to be a spinoff from the first three books. However, my sister tells me that Holmberg’s stand-alone, Followed by Frost, is totally worth the read, so Holmberg may be getting one more chance…
Grand Total for the Series TBR: 228
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Grand Total for the Mystery Series TBR: This one hasn’t really changed lately – holding steady at 106.
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Grand Total for the Nonfiction TBR: Still plowing my way through How to Cheat at Everything, which is fun and interesting but taking forever to read. So this list is holding steady also at a mere 77.
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Grand Total for the Week:
Six added and seven off, so I’ve had a net of one book down this week! Go me! :-D
Keep those reviews coming, people – I obviously don’t have enough to read!
The Aroma of Books 