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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Reducing the TBR list

Word Canyon by Magic Madzik
I think it's fair to say that my To Be Read list is reaching truly monumental proportions... I'm hovering at somewhere just under 700 books that I have my eye on.  I won't deny that I'm an eternal optimist. I am just the kind of person to check out a stack of eight 300-page novels from the library on Friday with every expectation that I'll surely have them read and ready to return on Monday morning. There are only two ways that I know of to reduce the list of Things to Be Read, 1) Read faster! or 2) Take some things off the list.

As painful as it it to admit, there are quite a number of books that I just don't think I'll be getting to anytime soon. So, here's my list of books that I'm giving up on. Let me know if you think there's anything vitally wonderful that should go right back on the list, won't you?


  1. Young Fredle - Cynthia Voigt
  2. Red Moon Rising - Peter Moore
  3. The Year We Were Famous - Carol Estby Dagg
  4. Rival - Sarah Bennett Wheeler
  5. Guardian of the Dead - Karen Healey
  6. Book of the Maidservant - Sarah Barnhouse
  7. Wake Unto Me - Lisa Cache
  8. Toads and Diamonds - Heather Tomlinson
  9. Ghostgirl - Tonya Hurley
  10. Plain Kate - Erin Bow
  11. Immortal - Gillian Shields
  12. Turtle in Paradise - Jennifer L. Holm
  13. Warp Speed - Lisa Yee
  14. The Body Finder - Kimberly Derting
  15. Notes from the Blender - Trish Cook, Brendan Halpin
  16. The Day Before - Lisa Schroeder
  17. Just Your Average Princess - Kristina Springer
  18. A World Without Heroes - Brandon Mull
  19. Watersmeet - Ellen Jenson Abbott
  20. Shadows on the Moon - Zoe Marriott
  21. The Boyfriend List - E. Lockhart
  22. The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy - Clive Cussler
  23. The Adventures of Nanny Piggins - R.A. Spratt
  24. A Million Shades of Gray - Cynthia Kadohata
  25. Bitter Frost - Kailin Gow
  26. Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
  27. Bamboo People - Mitali Perkins
  28. Diary of a Parent Trainer - Jenny Smith
  29. Vintage Veronica - Erica S. Perl
  30. The Princess Plot - Kirsten Boie
  31. The Radleys - Matt Haig
  32. Mockingbird - Katherine Erskine
  33. Artichoke's Heart - Suzanne Supplee
  34. Fablehaven - Brandon Mull
  35. Love, Aubrey - Suzanne LeFleur
  36. Dark Song - Gail Giles
  37. The Pull of Gravity - Gae Polisner
  38. Through Her Eyes - Jennifer Archer
  39. You are My Only - Beth Kephart
  40. Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress - Tina Ferraro
  41. Getting Caught - Mandy Hubbard
  42. Better Latte Than Never - Catherine Clark
  43. Tattoo - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  44. Losing Faith - Denise Jaden
  45. Invisible Things - Jenny Davidson
  46. Crossed Out - Kim Baccellia
  47. OyMG - Amy Fellner Domini
  48. Jessaloup's Song - Hester Velmans
  49. Hickey of the Beast - Isabel Kunkle
  50. Shade - Jeri Smith-Ready
  51. The Pearl Wars - Nick James
  52. The Blackhope Enigma - Teresa Flavin
  53. Tyger, Tyger: A Goblinwars Book - Kersten Hamilton
  54. Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown

    16 comments:

    1. I haven't even heard of most of those! Two maybe?

      Do you mean that you OWN 700 unread books or there are 700 books on your wishlist? If it's the former, then... wow. I have 110-ish and I thought I was bad!

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      1. Nope, I only own about 3 of these on this list! The rest are ones I've been "meaning" to get to from the library.

        My To Be Read list total - I'd say I own about a third of them. Yeah. I've probably got 200+ unread books lying around the house. That's way too many. I have a "high priority" shelf with my top 50 to read.

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    2. I don't think you should miss a million Shades of Gray. There are others on here that are good, but none I would say is a must read except that one...

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    3. I quite enjoyed Turtle in paradise. But I agree, it's worth culling!

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      1. I mean having 700+ is worth culling, not Turtle In Paradise. But if you got too much to read, it's not like the best book ever or anything.

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    4. I humbly suggest that Notes from the Blender is worth your time. Bamboo People is also excellent.

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      1. Mitali Perkins is so nice! I might have to add that one back on.

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    5. Good luck with it! I am so daunted by my own tbr list I can barely stand to contemplate it.

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    6. Hi, Madigan. The sheer number of books (and titles) on this list is impressive, not to mention the number you have on your larger TBR list. Looking at the titles above, I'm both glad and sad: glad because none of my books are on your drop list (my optimist side) and sad because it's likely none of my books made your TBR list to start with (my realist side). I like your blog. Keep doing the good work you are doing.

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      1. Thanks, Bill! These are all middle-grade and YA titles. I don't really make lists or track my picture book reading as carefully. In a year where I'm on an awards committee, I might read thousands of picture books. I know the number of picture books I've read this year has gone way down... if I had to guesstimate, I'd say I'll probably only read 400-500 picture books this year. I'm still pretty selective about what picture books I review, though.

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    7. My bedside table bows to yours, Madigan! But if you can find time to dip into Vintage Veronica, I'd be honored... Here's the trailer if you need added incentive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udRBvaJvT_M&list=FLkCnZeovaJof3QmFPAFK-aw&feature=mh_lolz
      Best,
      Erica

      ReplyDelete
    8. Help me. I have so many books I want to read that, honestly, I'm losing hope. If a book has 350pp and you read 35 pages per hour, it takes 10 hours to read a book. If you have 700 books on your TBR list, you have 7,000 hours of reading, which is the equivalent of 3 years of full-time work. What's your plan?

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      Replies
      1. I haven't really thought about the math! I try not to, to be honest!!!
        OBVIOUSLY, folks will continue writing great books which MUST be included on my "to be read" list - I mean, I'm not going to cut off all new authors at this point.
        That's why I do an annual culling of the list - to get things (even just a tiny bit) under control!

        Delete
    9. Don't give up on The Body Finder or Hush, Hush!!! I thoroughly enjoyed both of those and they're definitely worth keeping.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Tempting... but I started reading Hush, Hush and I couldn't get into it... it was just toooooo - angelic, I guess. It's the rare angel-instead-of-vampire story that I can really get into.

        I love the cover for The Body Finder, but I'm afraid it might be too scary for me. I'm a real wimp when it comes to horror novels, lol.

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    10. Wake Unto Me - Lisa Cache: I didn't like this one much. Good idea, but the execution wasn't quite *there* yet.

      Toads and Diamonds - Heather Tomlinson: I liked this one a lot. I think it's definitely worth your time, but no rush. It's a solid fairy tale retelling and the change in location was, I think, brilliant. The characters are more fairy tale level depth though, which is to say, not very deep.

      Plain Kate - Erin Bow: This one is on my Special Shelf. I LOVE it so much and can't recommend it enough. I'd definitely put it back on your list. But it's SAD.

      Immortal - Gillian Shields: I liked this, but it is definitely flawed. If you had time to read it, great, but I wouldn't make it a priority.

      The Body Finder - Kimberly Derting: I liked this too, but it hasn't stuck with me the way some other books have and I don't feel the need to read the sequels. It's not VERY scary and about half the book focuses on the romance (which I liked a lot).

      Just Your Average Princess - Kristina Springer: I thought this was sweet, but not something you need to make a priority.

      Tyger, Tyger: A Goblinwars Book - Kersten Hamilton: I DNF-ed this early on.

      Hope that helps! I'm curious about a bunch of books on your list (that have been on MY list for far too long!)

      ReplyDelete

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