That Dreaded TBR #23

Time to take another look at my Goodreads ‘want to read’ shelf, and see if I can chip away at it one book at a time. Last time, I actually didn’t keep any books on my list. Let’s see how we do today, shall we.

Part 22

I originally saw this on Becky’s Book Blog

Rules

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5/10/however many books. If done again, start from where you left off.
Read the synopses of the books
Decide: should it stay or should it go?

The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss

I feel like this is one of the books I’ve heard at some point is a “must read” for Fantasy fans, or seen someone insist Rothfuss is a “must read” author. At the time of adding this to my TBR, it was probably exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, but there are so many other Fantasy books out there now more to my taste, I’m not sure I’d get the same enjoyment from this as I would have say ten years ago.

Status: Gone

Kiss Me, Judas – Will Christopher Baer

I don’t know…I feel a bit wary when it comes to books like these, written by men. Especially when it’s got that ‘noir’ element which tends to be something I don’t particularly enjoy. The plot of this sounds pretty simple – dark/mysterious/magical woman, poor innocent man, man goes on hunt for the woman. It just really doesn’t sound up my street at all.

Status: Gone

The Maze Runner – James Dashner

Ah I’m old enough to remember when books like this were everywhere, as publishers tried to cash in on the popularity of Hunger Games. And at this point I probably did want to see something similar, which is likely why I added this to the list. But honestly, my interest has diminished over the years, and I’ve not even watched the film. Maybe this book really is great, but like the Fantasy novel above, there’s always such YA coming out now I’d rather focus on that.

Status: Gone

The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch

Wow, the cover doesn’t really match the actual description of the book here. The cover makes it look more like a Romance than Fantasy, but maybe that’s just me? Anyway, interestingly, even with the amount of male-penned Fantasy books I’ve shifted off my list, I am actually intrigued by this one. It sounds like a lot of fun, and the ‘Robin Hood’ premise underpinning it makes me want to read this. I think I still want to.

Status: Keep

Perdido Street Station – China Méiville

Another author I really should have read by now. This is one of those names that seems to crop up a lot around SFF, and I’m still interested in Miéville’s work. This definitely sounds intriguing too and something I think I’d quite enjoy. It might take a while, but hopefully I can eventually pick up this book and series.

Status: Keep

So another 5 books from my want to read, and three of them gone. That’s pretty good going. We also seemed to have moved a bit away from zombies now, which is a good sign. At this point I have been through 115 books, and managed to get rid of a fair lot – Perdido is now number 58! That’s good going, and hopefully eventually I can get my ridiculously large ‘want to read’ shelf down to an actual manageable level.