Come, dearies, and prepare yourselves for an ugly truth about the TBR: sometimes, just sometimes, it’s a place books go to die.
More of a book graveyard, really. Or maybe not die. That’s a bit dramatic. It’s more like purgatory. Eventually, they’ll be read. Probably.
What I’m saying is sometimes books get put on my TBR … and then they wait. For a really, really long time.
This says absolutely nothing about the length and utter chaos of my TBR, I assure you, and everything about my procrastination skills. No, wait, I don’t think that’s what I meant, either.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is books on my TBR I’m avoiding reading and why.
And I assure you, I have the best, most logical reasons for avoiding reading these books, and it’s not at all to do with a short attention span and capacity for quickly forgetting books I own.
Dread Nation
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Wait … I own this already? Since when?!
✿ Lost somewhere in the endless void of my Kindle, struggling its way to the top
✿ Oh, there’s a sequel coming? Well, maybe I should just wait for that, then …
✿ So not feeling up for zombie reads right now.
The Boy Who Steals Houses
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Not ready for my feels to be shattered into 1034385423 different pieces.
✿ The perfect book deserves waiting for the perfect moment.
✿ Want to be able to devote 100% of my attention to loving it.
✿ Kind of enjoying living in the excitement for this.
Letters To The Lost
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Keep forgetting this exists until someone mentions it, for some reason?
✿ Probably somewhere screaming into the void that is my Kindle TBR.
✿ Need to be in a certain mood for contemporary romance.
✿ Had too much grief reading. Need a short break.
The Raven Boys
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Everyone loves it! So much pressure to love it, too.
✿ Despite being super old, somehow difficult to get my hands on these library books?
✿ Stuck in wait list hell. Send help.
✿ Need to clear my schedule to read the whole series at once.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Want to love this series so much, but what if I don’t?!
✿ Have to really be in the mood for romance.
✿ And boy, nope, it’s not looking good for that any time soon.
✿ Only have two out of four books and want to read them all together.
The Name of the Wind
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ The series isn’t finished yet, so maybe I should wait for the full series.
✿ This decade isn’t looking likely for book three. Maybe next decade.
✿ This book is sooooo long, and it’s only the first!
✿ Unique second-person POV. Intrigued, yet hesitant.
✿ … did I mention how freaking long this book is?
Mistborn
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Hubby wants me to. Watching him suffer and squirm is fun.
✿ Always suspicious of hubby’s recommendations. Possible ulterior motives?
✿ Have tried to read this twice and set it down both times, for reasons not at all involving the book. Third time’s the charm?
✿ The book is long, the series is long … so many words!
A Natural History of Dragons
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ I don’t own this yet, and my library doesn’t have it.
✿ Must have all hardback books so I can read it back to back.
✿ Also because they’re gorgeous (have you seen those covers?!)
✿ Reviews seem hit or miss with this series.
✿ Want so much to love the dragon book about dragons, because dragons.
Starfish
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ Want to love this so much, since everyone else does, but what if I don’t?!
✿ Contemporary romance is a mood read, at best, for me.
✿ Still need to get a copy.
✿ Not ready for all the feels.
The Book Thief
Reasons For Not Reading:
✿ The pressure to love it is real.
✿ Love the idea, but what if the book itself is disappointing?
✿ Want so bad to love Death.
✿ Unique point of view that I’m still not quite sure about.
✿ Avoiding all the inevitable feels.
I’m putting off reading The Boy Who Steals Houses for the same reasons. Also, I’m not emotionally okay with such heavy topics at the moment. I will read it eventually, I just need to be in a better headspace first. 🙂
My TTT.
I’m sad that Cait’s struggled getting another book published, since when I read ATPN, I knew I had another book to look forward to so there was less pressure. But now I feel like I have to enjoy TBWSH even more to tide me over for a while. It’s definitely good to know when you can’t deal with heavy content, though. Knowing your limitations is so important. 🙂
Kristoff. 🤐
Dread Nation? Yes please and thank you! That book is just. I cannot wait for the sequel that I will bet all the things will have NO ARCs.
*whispers* You want to read Illuminae Files.
Hm? Who said that? Weird.
I was excited to see it had a sequel. For some reason, I was thinking it was standalone. I love the idea, and I’ve heard such great things! I wouldn’t be surprised if there were no ARCs, either. Go figure lol.
Harper is breaking my heart about this quite a bit late 😔
I knew there would be another book but I had no clue when. The cover reveal kind of came out of nowhere (well to me). But yeah. I’d be SHOCKED if there were ARCs
Oh and yes Illuminae won which really surprised me. Maybe because of the meltdown over Nevernight wrapping up but I didnt see that coming lol
Clearly, you didn’t see my clicking it a million times … erm … I mean, you underestimated how much people love that series!
I’ve actually seen quite a few people say they loved Nevernight and weren’t as fond of Godsgrove, so that could be why. Whereas, I don’t hear many saying they loved Illuminae and didn’t subsequently love Gemina and Obsidio. xD
But Twitter hath spoketh! *bangs staff on the ground* Get to reading, woman. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. 😛
HAHA Oh Sammie, you’re too funny. Your introduction alone had me cackling like mad because YUH, soooo relatable!? They don’t go to die… Just you know, languish in purgatory for a while… Just a shortish time, y’know 😂😂 Oh lordie, the shame I feel (and I’m currently surrounded by these books at home and I’m feeling their judgement)! LOL
This is such a great list and I love all your reasons for why you’re avoiding these! Hah I totally agree with plenty of them, even for the books I’ve already read (Mistborn and Name of the Wind–which are both LOVE) because they’re definitely chunky beasts. I’m totally putting off Boy Who Steals Houses for the same reason. I just know it’s going to take a sledgehammer to my feels! Welp 🙈
My TTT post
Thankfully, I’m in the living room, with a full wall between my library of books and I, so it’s my little shame buffer. xD I’m sure they’re judging us.
I did grab Mistborn from the library this week, so I’m only partially avoiding that one. It’s happening. Soonish. For reals this time. I will probably end up reading TBWSH closer to Christmas, because I’m always in the mood for emotional reads around then! But right now, I want something spooky and scary. xD Or some fantasy. Fall is putting me in a fantasy mood.
The Book Thief is amazing!!! Read it😁
I wiiiiill. For sure. I even bought a copy of it and everything. xD I’m thinking maybe over the winter break. It seems like a good winter read. :3
Yeah the boy who steals houses made me cry. And angry. Then cry again. Repeat throughout read- then cry because it’s finished!
I mean, that’s pretty much how I reacted to A Thousand Perfect Notes, so I really expected nothing less from TBWSH going in, which is why I’m taking this time to mentally prepare myself. xD I was so woefully underprepared going into ATPN and I shouldn’t have been because Cait totally warned us. I just don’t listen. xD
Yes it is absolutely heartbreaking I’m warning you too!!!
I read The Daughter of Smoke & Bone. I know it’s got a romance, but that’s not really what I remember when I think back on reading it. I loved the MC and her lot in life. Then there’s a huge twist in it that was pretty mind blowing for me. You might be more ready for it than you think!
Ooooh, that does sound pretty good! I don’t mind romance in books. I just really need to be in a mood for books that are heavy in romance. Maybe I’ll pick up the series sooner rather than later and give it a try. :3 I do love mind-blowing twists!
Oh man, I put off heavy reads too (like The Book Thief, which is on my procrastinated TBR this week also). And the hype is a huge factor for me. But also I agree that sometimes I want a specific format for a particular book, and so I procrastinate reading all other formats of it, and then it somehow gets lost in the shuffle. Sigh.
The struggle is real. I do that sometimes, too, particularly if I find books at sales. If I want to read it, heck yeah I’m going to grab it for a couple dollars. But sometimes physical copies are so annoying and I don’t wanna. xD
Love your introduction!
The Name of the Wind is completely understandable. I’m still not sure book 3 is ever going to be a thing. I read the first one but I’m in no rush to read the second. It is a very long book but it didn’t feel very long to me if that makes sense. It’s pretty easy to read so it goes by quite fast.
And you should read The Book Thief. At least to experience Death in that book. It is something else.
Thanks! I know people who have been waiting foreverrrr for that third book, and I’m just like … waiting a year for the next book in the series I’m following is killing me. xD
I do need to read it! I know I’m going to love Death. I’m not sure why I keep putting it off.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone is probably one of my favorite books. That whole series was just wonderful. I can totally understand being apprehensive about The Book Thief, but it’s perfectly okay to love Death in that book. I know that sounds weird, but trust me.
It’s nice to know that someone else has a bottomless void in their Kindles. I thought I was the only one! 😀
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I know for sure I will love Death! I love the idea of it, even if I haven’t read it yet.
I’m definitely going to have to read Daughter of Smoke & Bone sooner rather than later, I think.
I like to believe Kindles were made specifically with us in mind, so we can pretend our Kindle TBRs don’t exist. Can’t see it, so that means there’s less guilt, right?! xD
Exactly! And then we *think* we don’t have enough to read, since we can’t see how many books we have, and then we buy more books! It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!
Clearly, a very well-planned conspiracy. *makes note to recruit these people when I attempt to take over the world*
The Raven Boys and Daughters of Smoke and Bone are awesome. I hope you’ll enjoy them if you like it.
Thanks! I definitely think I will, when I get actually get off my bum and pick them up!
Seriously this article was simply GREAT!!!!
BUT YOU NEED TO READ DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE!! Also there are only 3 books not 4?? And romance is part of it but there is so much more PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read it!! I see we have a few in common too like Patrick Rothfuss or Mistborn series (though I did read book one for these two!).
I laughed so much thanks again haha
Oooh it is a trilogy! I’m not sure why I was thinking there was four. Well, jeez, now I’m only missing one. I guess I can spend the money to get that last one and start the series, then, yeah? 😉
Absolutely 😀
I’m probably the lone wolf on this one.. but I could not get into The Name of the Wind. I just couldn’t. I tried listening to it, I tried physically reading it, and I didn’t even get halfway. I just removed it from my shelf and gave the book away to someone who would love it more than I would because that was just not my cup of tea. I love this list though! I think almost all of these are on my goodreads list, just not on my T10T post lol
I’m sure you’re not the only one. xD High fantasy is hit or miss with me, so I’ll be interested to see what I think of it when I get around to it. Maybe we’ll be in our lonely little corner together, sipping margaritas? xD
Narrowing it down to 10 was for sure hard. I’ve seen so many lists that had books that I was like, “Oh yeah, me too,” but that didn’t make my list. I’m not sure what that says about us. xD
I just finished the Raven Boys series and the pressure to love it probably took away from the book for me. I wish I had gone in with lower expectations (although it was very good, I just didn’t luuuuuurve it).
I feel ike Patrick is never going to finish The Name of the Wind and it really is good fun. Enjoy it and join the crowd of us pecking at him to finish the trilogy! My only recommendation is to try and get it on e-format because it will break your wrists!
Loved your post!
Ahhhh see? And this is what I’m afraid of with that series in particular. xD I will read it, for real, eventually. But I think I have to go in just looking at it for what it is and forgetting the hype surrounding it.
Oh, for sure, I’ll need that in e-book. xD I always try to get the monster books in Kindle format because, one, you can’t see how long they are and, two, my feeble arms won’t fall off trying to heft them around LOL!
The name of the wind and mistborn are very worth it though!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I have no doubt they are! I did finally cave and grabbed Mistborn from the library, so that one’s happening, at least. :3
yes, enjoy!
DoSaB is such a good trilogy – or I should say the first two books are great. I recently reread them because I wanted to finally finish it but it’s been over 5 years since I finished the second and I wanted a fresh mind with it. Mistborn and Name of the Wind should be on my list too because I got them for my husband earlier in the year and he binge read them and loved them and said I would love them too. The Raven Boys is a series I would love to finish but like DoSaB, it has been forever since I read the first two and I need to reread them to move onto 3 & 4.
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What is it with husbands forcing good books on us? Like our TBR piles aren’t already bad enough, am I right? 😛
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is amazing! I loved it! Laini is such a good writer. There are only three of them and one little novella witch is Zuze and Mik’s first date, so it’s not essential.
I don’t know why I was thinking there was four. xD Maybe I saw the novella and thought it was another book. Who knows with me. I have the first two, so I’m going to try to grab the third one, and then I’ll be ready to read it, I think. :3 I want to try Laini’s other books, too, but this seemed like a good series to start with.
I’d start with this one. Both series are excellent, but I think there are few things in her second series that would be more impactful if you’ve read this one first. They’re not exactly related, but Stranger the Dreamer is set in yet another dimension and makes subtle references to DoSB.
Ooooh, I didn’t know that! Thanks for telling me. Will for sure read this one first. I love when there’s little Easter eggs and references like that. I’m such a nerd when it comes to that. :3
Your husband *might* have ulterior motives, but Mistborn is so freakin’ good!
I have no doubt. He always does seem to. But I’m going to give Mistborn a try soon despite that. xD
I is Godsgrave the second book? All I know is with the concluding book that just came out my timeline broke with everyone being shattered lol.
And yes! As soon as October ARC madness passes along with Ninth House and Kingdom for a Stage, it is next. Hey he is in rare air. I dont go out of my way with backlist planning like this lol.
Yup, Godsgrave is the second one. Yeah, it definitely seems like the third book turned it around again LOL.
My ARC madness is aaaalmost over. This month is the one where I looked at my calendar and went … what was I thinking?! x.X (Hint: I wasn’t). I’m behind in reviews now, but I’m almost caught up, at least. xD So I hear you. I don’t know why, but September and October seemed to be when all the new releases I wanted to read come out lol.
Yes Sept and Oct is the new July and Aug. Then there are a few in Nov and then pretty much till January?
Which is weird. You’d think November or early December for Christmas releases, right? But books follow their own release cycle, I guess lol.
That is exactly what I thought! Like PR 101… its right up there with Dads and Grads season.
Weird.
I definitely feel you on the hype train for The Raven Boys and Daughter Of Smoke & Bone! I’m there too. Maybe we’re neighbors? The pressure to love them is so real yet so crushing. Maybe that’ll past in the next 5 or so years and then “maybe* I’ll pick them up? 🙂
If we’re not, we should be neighbors! I’ll let you borrow all the sugar you want, even. xD
I don’t know, maybe in five years? But I feel like the almost two years I’ve been blogging, people are still shouting endlessly about them, so I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you! I even had a random person at my library tell me to read The Raven Boys. xD
I’m with you on The Name of the Wind. If we’d have a release date on the horizon I would be a bit more likely to pick it up since I own the second book and the novella too… Ahum.
I don’t own any of them, so at least I don’t feel that pressure of wanting to get to it since you own it. xD Waiting is the worst, though, after you’ve started a series, so I’m happy to do my waiting on the front end lol.
It’s quite possible we may never get book three of the Kingkiller Chronicle. No idea what Patrick Rothfuss is doing, but it’s apparently not writing book three.
I love The Book Thief, but it’s definitely a different style of book and devastating. Absolutely devastating.
I too want to read Starfish, but I’m worried!
Well, I got hubby a Rick & Morty meets D&D graphic novel, and Patrick Rothfuss helped write that, so … he’s writing something, at least. xD
True! He tends to work on stuff OTHER than the Kingkiller Chronicle. Oh well… XD
I love your formatting for this post. What a cute take! I especially cracked up at your reasons for Mistborn. “Possible ulterior motives?” I can feel the love!
Ha, thanks! It was fun thinking back to all my silly reasons for not thinking about books. That’s always my first thought when hubby recommends a book! xD Always better safe than sorry. 😛
I’m a mood reader too so I relate to not feeling ready to read something. 🙂