Managing my TBR

Welcome to my post! My Goodreads TBR has gotten out of hand. As I’m writing this my ‘to read’ list has 544 books, compared to my physical TBR which is 17 books! As much as I’d love to read all of them, that is not going to happen, so I’m going to pick some books on my TBR (with a random number generator) and decide if I should keep them or not. (My inspiration for this post was mainly @ Way Too Fantasy‘s TBR Shelf Clean Up series, so credit to them!).

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And Now She’s Gone

♦ And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall

♦ Mystery/thriller

Isabel Lincoln is gone.

But is she missing?

It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family.

This does sound quite intriguing, but I’m not a massive mystery-thriller fan. It’s also not in my library and it wouldn’t be top on my list to buy, so sadly I’m going to remove this one!

Cassandra

♥ Cassandra by Christa Wolf

♥ Mythology retelling

Cassandra, daughter of the King of Troy, is endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated never to be believed. After ten years of war, Troy has fallen to the Greeks, and Cassandra is now a prisoner, shackled up outside the gates of Agamemnon’s Mycenae. Through memories of her childhood and reflections on the long years of conflict, Cassandra pieces together the fall of her city. From a woman living in an age of heroes, here is the untold personal story overshadowed by the battlefield triumphs of Achilles and Hector.

While I do like feminist mythology retellings, and I haven’t read a Trojan War retelling from the Trojan side, Cassandra is structured in a stream of consciousness with no chapter breaks, which doesn’t really appeal to me anymore. I’m going to remove this one too!

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine

♦ Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika and Maritza Moulite

♦ YA contemporary

You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything?

Actually, a lot.

Thanks to “the incident” (don’t ask), I’m spending the next two months doing what my school is calling a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. I’m toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit. And my lean-in queen of a mother is even here to make sure I do things right. Or she might just be lying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her own…and to hide a rather devastating secret.

All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks…like flirting with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with my mom and experiencing Haiti for the first time. I’m even exploring my family’s history—which happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions and possibly even a family curse.

You know, typical drama. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. 

Originally I really wanted to read this, but the longer it’s on my TBR shelf, the less interested I am. I’m not too interested in YA contemporaries and I’ve heard very mixed things from my friends on goodreads, with the lack of plot and unnecessary romance, so I think I’ll miss this one out. I do have One of the Good Ones on my TBR though and that’s staying!

The Chestnut Man

♥ The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup

♥ Thriller

If you find one, he’s already found you.

A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.

His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene. Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.

A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted?

To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues.

Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over.

And no one is safe.

Although I want to read more translated book, I think I’m going to take this off my TBR for now, because like I said I don’t read many mystery/thrillers and I don’t really want to start with a 500+ page one!

To Dream of White and Gold

♦ To Dream of White and Gold by R K Hart

♦ YA fantasy

All the dreamers are dead.

All but one.

Lyda d’Cathan has inherited something from her long-dead mother, Siva. Something unknown, something unwanted, and something entirely dangerous. Lyda must make a choice: should she spend her life mistrusted and maligned, living as an outsider with the other gifted? Or stay in Kingstown, and risk hurting the people she loves with the power that spills from her in sleep?

In order to control her gift, she will need to follow in Siva’s elusive footsteps and travel further from home than she ever imagined. But just like her power, knowledge has a cost – and it might be more than she is willing to pay.

What will Lyda give to become the last dreamer?

I’m not sure about this one. The blurb doesn’t sound really interesting, but I think I’m going to hold off and wait until the rest of the series comes out before I decide to read it, since it was only released in August and it definitely won’t be in my library yet. For now it’s coming off my TBR but I will keep an eye on it!

Under the Udala Trees

♥ Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

♥ Historical fiction

Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls.

When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.

Okay I completely forgot I added this but I am 100% keeping this on my TBR. A sapphic historical fiction set in Nigeria? Sign me up!

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

♦ Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

♦ Contemporary

In a chilling, eerily truncated third-person voice, Jiyoung’s entire life is recounted to the psychiatrist—a narrative infused with disparate elements of frustration, perseverance, and submission. Born in 1982 and given the most common name for Korean baby girls, Jiyoung quickly becomes the unfavored sister to her princeling little brother. Always, her behavior is policed by the male figures around her—from the elementary school teachers who enforce strict uniforms for girls, to the coworkers who install a hidden camera in the women’s restroom and post their photos online. In her father’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s fault that men harass her late at night; in her husband’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s duty to forsake her career to take care of him and their child—to put them first.

Jiyoung’s painfully common life is juxtaposed against a backdrop of an advancing Korea, as it abandons “family planning” birth control policies and passes new legislation against gender discrimination. But can her doctor flawlessly, completely cure her, or even discover what truly ails her?

I’ve heard a few people raving about this book and it sounds really insightful so I’m keeping this on my TBR and hopefully I’ll be able to get to it soon!

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So, I’ve taken 5 books off my TBR and kept 2, which I’m now really excited to read. That’s progress!

Thanks for reading! Is your TBR out of control like mine?

—ella♥

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