I’m not sure at what point a bookwyrm needs to officially admit to having a problem, buuuut . . . I have 678 books on my to-read shelf and I don’t even remember adding them all.
Is that a bad sign? Should I be concerned? I recently was scrolling through my Goodreads TBR to help decide my next book, and I was surprised by how many things are on it that I don’t remember adding! It’s not even a case of, hey, it’s been a decade and my tiny reptile brain can either remember how to breathe or remember all the books I want to read (which is admittedly a tough choice to make). My Goodreads account is only from 2017. You would think I might remember some of these things, right?! Ha, joke’s on you.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, and in light of my recent discovery about my Goodreads situation, I thought this would be a good time to dig up some unfamiliar books.
Let’s make this a game, shall we? Let’s play a little Keep or Delete based on the summary and first line of each book. Maybe I’ll lighten my TBR by a few books. Maybe you’ll add a few books to yours. Perhaps my TBR rises up and smothers us all. Who knows?! Anything could happen. That’s the fun of it!
Under a Tell-Tale Sky
The grid is down, the world is in flames, and FEMA is demanding his ship and cargo, but Captain Jordan Hughes isn’t buying it. When the lights go out, seemingly for good, Hughes quickly finds being stranded far from home on a ship with working generators and a cargo of ten million gallons of irreplaceable fuel isn’t exactly a low profile position.
Faced with rising crew discontent, and surrounded by worsening violence ashore, things can’t get much worse — until they do.
As the remains of the federal government become increasingly corrupt and self-serving, Hughes joins a ragtag band of sailors, farmers, preppers ex-Coast Guardsmen, and dissident soldiers in an effort to re-unite his crew with their families and use remaining resources to rebuild a devastated society.
Along the way they face a desperate and starving population, rampant violence from street gangs and escaped convicts, and powerful warlords created as an unintended consequence of the federal government’s ill-advised use of mercenaries.
First Lines:
Not physically, of course, but the world as most know it.
Verdict: KEEP
Not entirely the sort of book I read a lot of, but I’m always a sucker for apocalyptic fiction. I can see why I added this one in the first place! Plus, that opening really grabs my attention and makes me want to read more. So I think this one will just hang around for a bit longer.
My Name Is Memory
Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. For all the times that he and Sophia have been connected throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart.
But just when Sophia (now Lucy in the present) finally awakens to the secret of their shared past, the mysterious force that has always separated them reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.
First Lines:
Verdict: DELETE
I can see why I probably added this to my list, but . . . romance. I’ve just not had good luck with it recently. Not when that’s the pain focus. I’ve also struck out a lot with the whole “chasing love through time” sort of story, even though that’s not quite what this is. Still, even though it sounds like a book a lot of people I know would probably like, I don’t think it’s something I’m really interested in picking up anymore.
Run in the Blood
Raised on the high seas as an avaricious corsair, Aela Crane has turned her back on her roots, but she can’t seem to stem the ancient magic that courses through her. Del is a soft-spoken soldier who seems to know more about Aela’s inherited powers that she does. Brynne’s the crofter’s daughter who’s reluctantly learning to become a princess, if she could just get a certain swashbuckling someone off her mind.
Originally hired on (okay, blackmailed) by the King of the island nation of Thandepar, Aela’s light monster extermination gig takes a fast turn into kidnapping-for-profit. Del tries to ignore family issues by searching for a long lost friend, and ends up getting both for the price of one. Brynne’s prepared to give up her heart for her country until her own personal heartbreaker shows up with the most terrible timing.
As the three of them become more entwined in their own political predicaments, and each other’s lives, they may discover that the legacies their parents have left them aren’t as solid as they seemed. In fact, they may just slip through their fingers, leaving all three fumbling to forge their own future, before the kingdom comes crashing down around them.
First Lines:
Verdict: DELETE
I went through a hardcore pirate phase for a while, but that seems to have fizzled out. At this point, I take my pirates with a side of fantasy or . . . something else? Straight up pirate books don’t do it for me anymore.
Devils Unto Dust
Life out here is hard.
So you have to be harder.Willie has always survived. No matter what life in Glory, Texas, has thrown at her. The sickness that swept through the state and turned most living creatures into terrifying shakes. Her own mother succumbing to the disease. Her father disappearing into saloons and gambling and liquor. Willie survives. And she’ll make sure her younger brothers and sister do, too.
Then her good-for-nothing father steals a fortune from one of the most merciless shake hunters in town, and Willie is on the hook for his debt. With two young hunters as guide, Willie sets out across the desert to find him, and make him pay up.
But the desert holds many dangers—and the shakes are only a few of them. This is no place for the weak.
First Lines:
Verdict: KEEP
Doesn’t sound quite like my normal read, but I admit that I’m super curious about it all the same. The genres say horror, western, and zombie, which is a combination I’m not sure I’ve seen before. Well, color me intrigued!
Beneath the Haunting Sea
Sixteen-year-old Talia was born to a life of certainty and luxury, destined to become Empress of half the world. But when an ambitious rival seizes power, she and her mother are banished to a nowhere province on the far edge of the Northern Sea.
It is here, in the drafty halls of the Ruen-Dahr, that Talia discovers family secrets, a melancholy boy with a troubling vision of her future, and a relic that holds the power of an ancient Star. On these shores, the eerie melody of the sea is stronger than ever, revealing long-forgotten tales of the Goddess Rahn. The more dark truths that Talia unravels about the gods’ history–and her own–the more the waves call to her, and it may be her destiny to answer.
First Lines:
Verdict: DELETE
I don’t know, there’s just not much here that’s catching my interest. Mythology and gods are always fun, but I’m not sure about another romance (even if it’s fantasy romance). That beginning is kinda yawn, too, though I don’t always judge books on their first lines, of course. In the milieu of all the other books vying for my attention, I think this one will have to fall by the wayside.
Blood and Sand
Forged in battle…
From the dust of the arena…
A legend will riseRoma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire―an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves.
Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor. Enslaved as a child, Xanthus is the preeminent gladiator of his generation.
Against all odds, Attia and Xanthus form a tentative bond. A bond that will spark a rebellion. A rebellion that threatens to bring the Roman Republic to its end―and gives rise to the legend of Spartacus…
First Lines:
In the shadow of the Coliseum, through the paved streets of Rome, armed guards dragged them by the neck.
Verdict: KEEP
I’m a sucker for Rome and historical fiction set in Rome. Especially when it features bad-ass women. I actually really like the writing style in the opening paragraph, too, so I’m thinking this one’s probably going to work out for me.
Sworn to the Night
Marie Reinhart is an NYPD detective on the trail of a serial killer. When she sleeps, though, she dreams of other lives; she dreams of being a knight, in strange wars and strange worlds. On the other side of the city, Nessa Roth is a college professor trapped in a loveless marriage, an unwilling prop in a political dynasty. She’s also a fledgling witch, weaving poppets and tiny spells behind closed doors.
When Marie’s case draws her into Nessa’s path, sparks fly. What comes next is more than a furtive whirlwind affair; it’s the first pebbles of an avalanche. Nessa and Marie are the victims of a curse that has pursued them across countless lifetimes; a doom designed to trap them in a twisted living fairy tale, with their romance fated to end in misery and death.
They aren’t going out without a fight. As they race to uncover the truth, forces are in motion across the country. In Las Vegas, a professional thief is sent on a deadly heist. In a Detroit back alley, witches gather under the guidance of a mysterious woman in red. Just outside New York, an abandoned zoo becomes the hunting-ground for servants of a savage and alien king. The occult underground is taking sides and forming lines of battle. Time is running out, and Nessa and Marie have one chance to save themselves, break the curse, and demand justice.
This time, they’re writing their own ending.
First Lines:
Verdict: KEEP
Yes. Just yes. To all of this. That opening immediately grabbed my attention. So much so that I went ahead and just grabbed it from Kindle Unlimited. Whether I’ll have a chance to read it before my KU expires, I have no idea. I’m absolutely loving the sarcastic narration here, and I have a feeling that Carolyn and I are going to get on just fine. Plus, it sounds pretty action-packed.
Across the Fourwinds
Will Owens is an orphaned teenager with a unique ability that has alienated him in the quiet town of Cochrane: he can see dark creatures emerging from the Arden Forest. And people are dying.
Will is befriended by Morgan Finley, a stunning fencing champion whose dreams of a Yale scholarship are haunted by her family’s secrets. The unlikely friends venture into the Arden Forest where they enter a magical realm in the throes of a brutal war.
Entrusting their lives to a Callum Sage and his rogue companions, Will and Morgan embark on a perilous journey across the Fourwinds to face an ancient evil birthed in a tower known as the Maidstone.
Courage and friendship are tested at every turn, but the group has yet to realize the full extent of the powerful forces that threaten to destroy the Fourwinds and reach far beyond the town of Cochrane.
First Lines:
Verdict: KEEP
Meh, it has a dragon. And obviously blades and stabby stuff. That’s enough for me. I rest my case, Your Honor.
When the Kingdom Falls
“And you wonder why I don’t trust you to behave?”
In a world of multiple races, cultures, and lifespans, those words apply to almost everyone. With over a decade working with the various races and kingdoms of her world, the human Ranger Z knows this well. Even with the resurrection of the Alliance, very few kingdoms willingly work together.
Yet when a magical disaster threatens their world as a whole—a disaster that has occurred once before, and left nothing in its wake—racial differences will have to be set aside. With the tentative agreements between kingdoms to assist in these types of crises untested, Z knows it’s up to her to gather the assistance she’ll require.
Calling upon the heirs of the Allied kingdoms, the Shades of a long perished race, and the exiled, unsocial Dragon who invited himself, Z might actually succeed. If her allies can get along, if they can stop something others failed to avert before, and if she can contain the personal demons that sporadically endanger the lives of those who travel with her. But the buildup of magic, the heart of it, is rooted in the kingdom that holds her past and the scars she’s never managed to escape.
To defeat the danger that’s brewing, Z will have to return to the kingdom that broke her, confront the man who rules there, prevent the magic building in the depths from escaping, and protect those who stand beside her, all while risking the second annihilation of their world if she falters—if any of them falter—in even the slightest way.
First Lines:
Verdict: KEEP
Again . . . dragon! Although, I’m really curious about this opening, too. It sounds like a rather fun sort of fantasy world to visit.
The Novice
When blacksmith apprentice Fletcher discovers that he has the ability to summon demons from another world, he travels to Adept Military Academy. There the gifted are trained in the art of summoning. Fletcher is put through grueling training as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire’s war against orcs. He must tread carefully while training alongside children of powerful nobles. The power hungry, those seeking alliances, and the fear of betrayal surround him. Fletcher finds himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with only his demon Ignatius for help.
As the pieces on the board maneuver for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands. The Novice is the first in a trilogy about Fletcher, his demon Ignatius, and the war against the Orcs.
First Lines:
Verdict: KEEP
I see this cover around all over the place, but I remembered absolutely nothing at all about the story. Sounds like something I would enjoy, though! So I’m not quite ready to give up on it just yet.
Wow, 678 books on your TBR! That’s impressive. Good for you for starting to trim it down to what you actually still want to read.
Lydia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Gifs
I’m not sure you’re using “impressive” here correctly. xD I’m pretty sure it’s probably a cry for help or something along those lines haha. I definitely need to do a little more narrowing down, but this was at least a start!
I should clear out my Goodreads shelf too, and mine’s even worse since I’ve had my account since 2011😜 Of your books, I’d be interested in reading Sworn to the Night, I’ve read some good reviews.
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…What’s On My Plate – June 2021
Oh gosh, I can’t even imagine what my Goodreads TBR will look like after 10 years. Nor do I want to. What a nightmare. xD
“Meh, it has a dragon. And obviously blades and stabby stuff. ” Definitely feel this! Most of my TBR list (297 books) consists of books that have yet to be published. If a book is out, and I still haven’t read it, I either look for it at the public library or delete it. There are SO MANY books. But yeah, anything with “stabby stuff”!
To be fair, it seems like at least 85% of what I read involves blades and stabby stuff, so that’s maybe not as effective as a criterion as I imagined it would be. xD
I have too many books that have been released that I haven’t read for that. I think the majority of my TBR tends to be books that are already out that I’ve just missed in the shuffle. xD
Well, I have to say, I don’t seem to use the Want-to-read shelf like most people do. I see a book I find interesting, I click Want-to-read. Books I actually own go on a different shelf.
I’m not even sure what I have on that Wtr shelf. Do people really sort through that? But what do you guys put on all of the other shelves?
PS. The end of the world as we know it will definitely come on a Tuesday, not a Wednesday. Wednesdays never do bad things to anybody.
Marion recently posted…Monthly Goals for June and the Possibility Pile
I think that’s how most people use the Want-to-read shelf? I don’t have a separate shelf for books I own, because … I don’t actually have a reason why. Huh. I think most of my books tend to come from the library anyway that I guess I never really thought it was worthwhile to make one.
I have an overall WTR shelf that has everything that I’m interested in, and then I have sub-shelves for books that I’ve read and where they fit in different categories. That’s it. Well, and a read and DNF shelf, of course.
P.S. The world can’t end on a Tuesday. What will we do about that day’s releases that we’ve waited at least A YEAR for?! I will protest, darn it!
What a great idea for a post! I also have huge to-read shelf! 🙈
Liza recently posted…Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers: ARC Book Review
In some ways, I think that almost comes with the territory at this point. xD
I have over 1,000 books on my tbr. I might need to do a post like this soon.
And just like that, I feel a little bit better about my totally unruly TBR. 😛 We’re all in this together. 😉
Haha I totally feel this! Sometimes I go through my list and I’m like ‘what are all these books?!’
Evelyn recently posted…June TBR/ Whateverathon reading plans!
I hate to admit it, but I don’t just do that with my TBR. I tend to do that with my Kindle collection, too. xD Oops?
Great post! I’ll have to remember this for a future post because there are so many books I don’t remember adding to my Goodreads!
Hannah recently posted…Libraries I’d Love to Visit
I’m not to the point yet of not remembering adding any books, but I do sometimes have to look the book up to remember anything at all about it. My TBR only goes back to mid-2019 and is a fraction of the size of yours. 600+ books would put me into stress fits over not feeling like I’m reading fast enough!
Kristi recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: 5 Stars or Not?
Yeeeeah, you kind of basically summed up my every day life. I’m always in a state of deciding I need to read faster. xD I think it’s a little hard in that I *say* I’m a picky reader, but really, I actually read pretty broadly when you think about it. Which means I want to read everything. My brain wants to read more than my eyes can keep up with.
Yup yup, the TBR beast can get out of control. I trimmed down my TBR a while back, and it felt good to kick books off that I didn’t want to read anymore.
That said, about your list the one with the “chasing love through time” style theme would be gone from mine, too. That just sounds too stalkery, and I wouldn’t trust most authors to do it well.
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Throwback TTT ~ Characters I Wish Would Get Their OWN Book
I’ve also gone through my TBRs before and been like…what is this book?? 😂 That being said, I’m glad you decided to keep Blood and Sand, I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great read!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! I’m looking forward to picking it up (eventually). 😀
I had several thousand books on my GR TBR shelf when I deleted the whole thing last year. It was too much of a pain to go through ALL of those books and decide which were worth keeping, so I started over from scratch. It felt very freeing!
Now, it looks like I’m going to have to add UNDER A TELL-TALE SKY to it. I hadn’t heard of the book before, but now I really want to read it.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I bet starting over from scratch felt so much better. I’d be reluctant to do that because I’d never remember the several dozen books that I definitely, absolutely want to read and just haven’t yet because for some reason I haven’t figured out how to read in my sleep. xD
Oh wow 678 books that is one beast of a TBR, Sammie!! I am glad this freebie topic has helped you cull a few off that… 😉 Happy reading the ones you’ve chosen to keep. 😃
jessicabookworm recently posted…📚 Top Ten Tuesday | The Very Best of Best Friends From Books 💛
Oh, yeah, my wish list online has several hundred books on it, in different categories. Though my actual physical pile, on the coffee table (TV stand) has about 50+ current books. I think my partner would have a heart attack if those 700+ books were on the coffee table! Ha! Ha!
I had a bunch of books on my Goodreads TBR I didn’t remember adding until a couple of years ago when I batch deleted them! I have read that Brashares book. I think it was a 3 star read for me.
Three stars isn’t too bad! I still definitely need to go through and batch delete things lol. A problem for another time, though!
Lol, I love your topic for Top Ten Tuesday! I have over 3100 books on that list and I don’t know how they all got there!
Lisa @ Captivated Reader recently posted…Bookish Quote of the Day!!
I’m EXACTLY the same with my goodreads to-read shelf! There are so many titles on it that I don’t even remember adding… I deleted over 100 titles recently I don’t want to read anymore, and I’m still at a whopping 893. xD The only one I’ve read of these is My Name Is Memory, which I think you made the right decision about as I didn’t really enjoy it.
Snap, you have me beat! Thank goodness. xD I’m glad not to be the largest TBR in the room for a change. Though, there are books I plan to read that I never bothered to add to my TBR, so that figure is just a teensy bit misleading …
The Novice and Devils Unto Dust are both on my tbr and I am looking forward to both of them. Hope you enjoy!
This is a great prompt! I am so glad I am not the only one who does this. I currently have 500+ on my GR tbr and every now and then I go through them and take some off because I just don’t know where they came from. It’s a conspiracy I think!
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I’m jealous of your 678! I have over a 1000. And I got it down to 800 not too long ago. Oops. I’ve never heard of any of these so I can’t be much help, but thanks for reminding me I need to go through my tbr again. haha
Dedra @ A Book Wanderer recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Read If You’re Nostalgic for the ’80s
LOL this is so funny. I look at my Want to Read shelf sometimes and think “huh, whats this book?”. It’s so easy to click that button! Run in the Blood sounds interesting – I am still in a hardcore pirate phase lol I added Devils Unto Dust as well! The genre combo intrigued me too.
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook recently posted…6 Indie Fantasy Books On My TBR
I can almost guarantee you that I’ll go through another pirate phase. It seems to keep coming back around every so often. xD Pirates are hard to resist.
I was just thinking about how my TBR needs to get under control, I might do something similar, I have far too many I can’t remember
I definitely need to do more weeding than just from this post! It’s an easy thing to forget, while we just keep on adding, adding, adding more books!
Wow, 678 books is epic! I also have books on my Goodreads TBR which I don’t remember adding 😄 I hope you enjoy all the ones you’ve kept!
Go big or go home! xD
I’m certain I commented on this post last week, but it seems to have disappeared. I think it was something about how I’d feel positively buried under a TBR list that big. In any case, the main reason I’m re-commenting is because I somehow missed the last book in your post last week and just want to say that I’ve read the Summoner trilogy and really liked it, so I’m glad to know you’re keeping it!
Kristi recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Made Me Want More Like Them
I haven’t been buried yet! Knock on wood. Wait for it. xD I think part of the problem is working in a library, so it’s hard not to want to read all the books that come in lol. So glad to hear you liked it! I clearly made the right choice with that one.
I can’t say I know any of these books except The Summoner (that I unhauled because I just wasn’t picking it up). But I know the feeling of having this tower of books on goodreads that I know I also would still like to read but then I find a book in there and I’m like ‘Eh where did I find you?’
Annemieke recently posted…The Bone Shard Daughter | ARC Review
I still think I either need to develop super speed reading skills or I need more time in the day for reading. Because ugh, this is slow haha. I do sometimes enjoy finding little surprises that I didn’t remember and get excited about all over again, though.
[…] Books I Don’t Remember Adding to My Goodreads TBR — The Bookwyrm’s Den […]
In my recent move away from print and eBooks to audiobooks, my Goodreads TBR shelf has had a dramatic cull. It’s very cathartic. I haven’t read any of the books you’ve listed, Sammie, so can’t be much help, I’m afraid. I hope you enjoy the ones you’ve decided to keep though. (When you eventually get around to reading them! Lol!)
Flora recently posted…River Of No Return (Twenty-Sided Sorceress #9) by Annie Bellet @TantorAudio #2021AudiobookChallenge
Nothing is as cathartic as a good old-fashioned cull! … of books. *cough* I definitely meant books.