Down the TBR Hole #1

Down the TBR Hole was originally created over at Lost in a Story.

Most of you probably know this feeling, you’re Goodreads TBR pile keeps growing and growing and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep adding, but you add more than you actually read. And then when you’re scrolling through your list, you realize that you have no idea what half the books are about and why you added them. Well that’s going to change!

It works like this:

  • 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!

Current “to-read” shelf: 934 titles
An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science – Edward J. Larson
Published: May 31, 2011
On TBR Since: April 7, 2011

I’ve mentioned my fascination with the Heroic Age of Exploration before, and this has been on my TBR a long, long time. When I was in New York in January, I visited the Strand and purchased a very nice copy for myself.

Stay or Go? Stay

Remarkable Creatures – Tracy Chevalier
Published: August 24, 2009
On TBR Since: May 4, 2011

Early 19th-century lady fossil-hunter. Yes, please.

Stay or Go? Stay

The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths – Michael Shermer
Published: May 15, 2011
On TBR Since: May 24, 2011

As much as I like reading about the brain and how it does the things it does, there are newer books I’m more excited about.

Stay or Go? Go

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker – Kevin D. Mitnick
Published: August 15, 2011
On TBR Since: May 24, 2011

This sounded like an interesting Internet History/True Crime/Memoir blend, but I’m just not that interested in it anymore.

Stay or Go? Go

The Story of Charlotte’s Web: E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic – Michael Sims
Published: January 1, 2011
On TBR Since: June 1, 2011

I’ve mentioned that I’m a Children’s Librarian, right? I’m a little annoyed at myself that this got buried on the list.

Stay or Go? Stay

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie – Wendy McClure
Published: April 1, 2011
On TBR Since: June 1, 2011

I want to read this more because I enjoy McClure’s writing than because of the particular subject

Stay or Go? Stay

A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos – Dava Sobel
Published: October 4, 2011
On TBR Since: September 8, 2011

I wanted to read this because I enjoyed Galileo’s Daughter (which I seem to have neglected to put into my GoodReads), but I don’t think I’m going to get to this one.

Stay or Go? Go

Knitting Lessons – Lela Nargi
Published: April 14, 2003
On TBR Since: September 23, 2011

A book of knitting essays that I completely forgot about? I’m interested to see how this compares to Clara Parkes’ Knitlandia.

Stay or Go? Stay

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void – Mary Roach
Published:: August 2, 2010
On TBR Since:: September 23, 2011

Space travel + Mary Roach = Why haven’t I read this yet??

Stay or Go? Stay

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream – Tanya Lee Stone
Published: February 24, 2009
On TBR Since: September 23, 2011

The 2010 Sibert Award winner, women’s history, and the space program. Another one that just got buried on the list!

Stay or Go? Stay

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