Down the TBR Hole (12 of 24+)

Just taking a quick glance at the authors for this batch let me know I wasn’t going to be cutting a whole lot. Annnnnd, I didn’t.

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:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books.
Decide: keep it or should it go?
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?

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

	The List by Patricia Forde Blurb: “In the city of Ark, speech is constrained to five hundred sanctioned words. Speak outside the approved lexicon and face banishment. The exceptions are the Wordsmith and his apprentice Letta, the keepers and archivists of all language in their post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval world.On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith, charged with collecting and saving words. But when she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob Ark’s citizens of their power of speech, she realizes that it’s up to her to save not only words, but culture itself.” My Thoughts: I remember thinking this MG dystopian fantasy looked great, but was still about to cut it until I read the synopsis…and, I just can’t. Verdict:
	The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty Blurb: The first in McKinty’s mystery series set during The Troubles. My Thoughts: I’ve never heart anything but praise for this series. Also, I have a friend who has threatened me if I don’t read it. Verdict:
	Redemption Street by Reed Farrel Coleman Blurb: “Ex-NYPD officer and freshly minted PI Moe Prager travels up to a decaying Boscht Belt hotel to uncover the truth behind a decades old fire that killed seventeen people, including his high school crush. Away from his beloved Brooklyn and out of his element, Moe finds that the locals aren’t as eager to dredge up the painful past or to stir up the embers of that long dead fire as he seems to be.” Verdict: It’s Coleman. Duh.
	Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman My Thoughts: I’m sure there’s a good reason that I haven’t read Gaiman’s retelling of Norse myths…okay, that’s a lie. Such a reason couldn’t exist. Verdict:
	Deathstroke, Vol. 1: The Professional by Christopher J. Priest, Mark Morales, Joe Bennett, Jason Paz, Carlo Pagulayan, Belardino Brabo Blurb: Confronted by his own troubled past and challenged to reinvent himself before he loses everything and everyone in his life, Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, finds himself and those he values most in the crosshairs—stalked by an unseen enemy. My Thoughts: Been a fan of Wilson for forever, how do I not read this? (especially because my library has it?) Verdict:
	Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World by Rob Sheffield Blurb: “Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up?” Verdict:
	The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton Blurb: “Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it’s a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight-hundred pound safe … he can open them all. It’s an unforgivable talent. A talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever close to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long.” My Thoughts: Great hook, Hamilton’s writing. How can it not be a heckuva ride? Verdict:
	Drifting in the Push by Daniel Garrison Blurb: “…a fast-paced, comical romp that takes the reader on a journey through the unintentional adventures of one man’s reality. From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, from Mexico to Alaska, missteps, stubborn obstacles, and fate are his constant companions, along with an offbeat assortment of entertaining characters.” Verdict:
	The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein Blurb: “Joel Byram, our smartass protagonist, is an everyday twenty-second century guy. He spends his days training artificial intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980’s new wave—an extremely obscure genre, and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems—until he’s accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.” My Thoughts: I have no memory at all of this book. Which is a shame, I should have read it. Verdict:
	The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece by John Pfordresher Blurb: “In this perceptive book, John Pfordresher shares the enthralling story of how Charlotte Brontë wrote her masterpiece and why she tried so vehemently to disown it. What few people knew then—and even fewer know today—was that as she tended her invalid father and held the family together, Brontë was re-imagining her experiences as a governess, her fears for her dissolute brother and her devastating passion for a married man into an immersive, brilliant novel. By aligning the details of Brontë’s life with the timeless characters and plot of Jane Eyre, Pfordresher reveals the remarkable parallels between one of literature’s most beloved heroines and its vulnerable and deeply human creator and why Brontë didn’t want those parallels exposed.” My Thoughts: You have to ask? Verdict: