Down the TBR Hole (1 of 24+)

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

1. Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
4. Read the synopses of the books.
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
6. Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

I’ll probably be tackling 5 of these at a time, but this time I’m going for 10 because the first 3 are in one series, and it seems like cheating to have the first 3 of 5 to be answered together. I’ll probably slow down in the future.

(Click on the cover for an official site or with more info about the book)

	The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi My Thoughts: This is the sequel to Old Man’s War which was plenty of fun, but after I read it I couldn’t quickly get my hands on the sequel (although I could’ve gotten 3 & 4), and then I got distracted and…well, here I am 8 years later. Verdict: Yeah, I’ll have to re-read Old Man’s War first, but that should be a good time anyway.
	The Last Colony by John Scalzi My Thoughts: See above. Verdict:
	Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi My Thoughts: See above. Verdict:
	The Naming of the Beasts by Mike Carey My Thoughts: Similarly, I’ve read the first two of this series 3+ times, and the second two once, but couldn’t get my hands easily on this one (and it’s the only one not in my library system, how horrible is that?). Felix Castor was such a fun character, I really should get to this one—even if it means I have to spend a little money. Verdict:
	This Dog for Hire by Carol Lea Benjamin My Thoughts: A P.I. Novel with a Canine sidekick. This should be a slam-dunk for me. But when I read the blurb, something fails to grab me. Don’t ask me what. Just don’t think I’m going to get around to it. Possibly my loss. Verdict:
	To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine Blurb: The first mystery in Paul Levine’s best-selling series, To Speak for the Dead, introduces trial lawyer and ex-Miami Dolphins linebacker Jake Lassiter, who has an uncanny knack for digging up the truth – and the danger that comes with it. My Thoughts: About 15 years ago, I gobbled up Levine’s Solomon vs. Lord series and probably should’ve jumped on this one at the time. I didn’t and have kicked myself for it frequently since. Maybe it’s the football thing? Odds are these are just as fun as the Andy Carpenter books. Verdict: I don’t know when I’ll get around to it, but I can’t bring myself to cut this.
	Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley Blurb: Set in the late 1940s, in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles, Devil in a Blue Dress follows Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend’s bar, wondering how he’ll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Monet, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs. My Thoughts: In casual conversation, I’d tell you I’ve read this. But a quick look at the blurb tells me that I haven’t. It’s more than a little unthinkable, really. I need to change this. Verdict:
	Pelham Fell Here by Ed Lynskey My Thoughts: I have no idea how this one ended up on my radar in April ’12, but it did (the author’s name rings a bell for some reason…maybe people on a Nero Wolfe discussion group have mentioned him?). The blurb is semi-interesting, but a couple of the quotations on Goodreads make me leary. Verdict: No idea what drew me to the book, leary quotations = time to go.
	A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton Blurb: Other than the bullet lodged near his heart, former Detroit cop Alex McKnight thought he had put the nightmare of his partner’s death and his own near-fatal injury behind him. After all, the man convicted of the crimes has been locked away for years. But in the small town of Paradise, Michigan, where McKnight has traded his badge for a cabin in the woods, a murderer with the same unmistakable trademarks appears to be back. McKnight can’t understand who else would know the intimate details of the old murders. And it seems like it’ll be a frozen day in Hell before McKnight can unravel truth from deception in a town that’s anything but Paradise. My Thoughts: I remember reading that Hamilton has come back to this series after a while away. That blurb, my impression of Hamilton from his Nick Mason books, and the fact that Hamilton has been drawn back to the books make this a no-brainer. Verdict: If anything, I need to prioritize this.
	Detective by Parnell Hall Blurb: Stanley Hastings, the world’s most unlikely private eye, a struggling actor/writer trying to support his wife and kid in New York City, who chases ambulances for a negligence lawyer and carries a camera instead of a gun and photographs accident victims and the cracks in the sidewalk that tripped them, tackles his first real case, tracking down the murderers of a client he could not save because he wasn’t a real detective. My Thoughts: Like the Lynskey book, I have no idea how this ended up on my radar. Verdict: I dunno, just not feeling this.

Books Removed in this Post: 3 / 10
Total Books Removed: 3 / 240

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)