Down the TBR Hole (25 of 29+)

Down the TBR Hole
Okay, I’ve pulled another batch of 50 off the list to start culling from (part of me was hoping it’d be 60, giving me a nice, round 300 as a total). These are all books that I added in the last 14 months, which I think should make me more inclined to want to read them all (unlike something from 8 years ago, my interests/tastes haven’t changed that much). But I cut the majority of this entry’s batch.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s things like that which keep my interest in this project.

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)

	Living by God’s Promises by Joel R. Beeke, James A. La Belle Blurb: The authors “draw from stellar Puritan treatises on divine promises by Andrew Gray, Edward Leigh, and William Spurstowe, and offer them in contemporary language for today’s readers. [I]t will help you treasure the promises that God establishes in Christ and conveys in His covenant love to comfort you in sorrow and strengthen your faith.” My Thoughts: Good idea for a book, the Table of Contents appeals to me. But I’ve been underwhelmed with the last few books I’ve picked up by Joel Beeke. Now, Beeke has been of tremendous help to me in the past, and it feels wrong to not want to read a book from him. But I think I’d better wait for something from him that I feel compelled to read, if that makes sense. Verdict:
	Red Noise by John P.Murphy Blurb: “Red Noise is the story of an asteroid miner who just wants to be left alone. But when she arrives at Station 35 to sell off her cargo, she finds the place a disaster area, run into the ground by competing gangs and crooked cops who are happy to cheat her out of every last credit too…It has sword fights and cheap booze and grenades and cranky old guys throwing insults and very few nuclear weapons.” My Thoughts: A Western/Japanese Samurai movie set in space. How do you say no? Verdict:
	A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White Blurb: “A washed-up treasure hunter, a hotshot racer, and a deadly secret society…on a race against time to hunt down the greatest warship ever built. Some think the ship is lost forever, some think it’s been destroyed, and some think it’s only a legend, but one thing’s for certain: whoever finds it will hold the fate of the universe in their hands.” My Thoughts: I don’t remember what podcast I heard someone talk about this book on. Nor do I remember who was talking about the book, or really what they said. What I do remember, very distinctly, is the impression that I had to read it. The description sounds like something I might like. If for no other reason than to maybe see what it was that I responded to from my first exposure, I need to get this. Verdict:
	The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins Blurb: Prequel to The Hunger Games, you may have heard of it. My Thoughts: I ordered this weeks (months?) before it came out, because I have a finely-honed instinct to do that with anything involving The Hunger Games. And it’s been sitting on my shelf since it arrived. I have absolutely no motivation to open it up. I think I’m done with Panem, I really don’t give a rip about Snow–I assumed I would (and I’m probably right) once I got a few chapters into it. I’m not saying I won’t get around to it one day, but for now, it’s gone. Verdict:
	The Wild by Owen Laukkanen Blurb: “Dawn isn’t a bad person–she’s just made some bad choices: wrong guy, wrong friends, wrong everything. But she wasn’t expecting her parents to pay a boatload of money to ship her off to OUT OF THE WILD, a wilderness boot camp with a bunch of other messed up kids to learn important “life lessons.” It’s true that Dawn and the other cubs will learn a lot–but it’s not what any of them expect. Because what happens in the woods isn’t what their parents planned. Sometimes plans go very wrong. And this is one of those times.” My Thoughts: If Owen Laukkanen it will be compelling, it will be tense, taught, and well-executed. But…nothing about this grabs me. Similar to his book about a disaster at sea (or something along those lines). Verdict:
	Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas, Alison Layland (Translator) Blurb: “For hyper-particular publishing heir Jonathan Grief, the day starts like any other—…all it takes to put a crimp in his routine is one small annoyance. Someone has left a leather-bound day planner with the handwritten title Your Perfect Year in his spot on his mountain bike at his fitness course! Determined to discover its owner, Jonathan opens the calendar to find that someone known only as “H.” has filled it in with suggestions, tasks, and affirmative actions for each day. The more he devotes himself to locating the elusive H., the deeper Jonathan is drawn into someone else’s rich and generous narrative—and into an attitude adjustment he desperately needs.” My Thoughts: It feels very Fredrik Backman meets Dash & Lily. Or something like that. I saw this referenced somewhere last year and picked it up. Just need to get around to it. Verdict:
	Burn by Patrick Ness Blurb: Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum My Thoughts: It’s Patrick Ness, so it’s going to be good. Also, there’s a dragon. But something about description leaves me apathetic. Convince me I’m wrong about this one, readers. Verdict:
	The Faith Machine by Tone Milazzo Blurb: The team goes “to Africa to retrieve the Faith Machine. Built by the Soviets to turn prayers into suffering, the psychotronic device fell into the hands of a demented warlord. Tragically, the mission fails and the madman slaughters hundreds of innocents while the machine burns…While spy agencies from around the world want retribution for the catastrophe in Africa. Park’s team outplays enemies left and right, while uncovering the true threat. There’s another Faith Machine, one destined to bring hell on earth.” My Thoughts: This is another that I wish I could peg down what introduced me to the book. I can see the appeal–psychic Specical Agents. But the premise of this particular novel isn’t going to be something I enjoy. Verdict:
	Broken Genius by Drew Murray Blurb: “In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, Will pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division. Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic-Con event in the Midwest, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO…Will discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web—and the bidding is still live.” My Thoughts: I remember linking to a post by Murray last year about the use of tech in thrillers in a Saturday Miscellany. I liked what he had to say about that and want to see how he applies it. Verdict:
	The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad by Mike Birbiglia, J. Hope Stein My Thoughts: There’s probably some pretty funny stuff in this collection of Birbiglia’s stories of parenting a young child mixed with his wife’s poems about the same events. But my gut tells me the balance of this book is going to be something I’m not satisfied with. Verdict: