Down the TBR Hole #14

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

Most of you probably know this feeling, your 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!

Visit my to-read shelf to see how very far I still have to go!

Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World’s Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us About the Future of Entertainment by Rob Salkowitz

Published: May 17, 2012
On TBR Since: August 22, 2012

This is more of an academic business book than popular non-fiction, which is not what I’m looking for.

Stay or Go: Go

Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall

Published: August 6, 2012
On TBR Since: August 23, 2012

There are several books on sleep hanging out on my TBR, so I can let this one go.

Stay or Go: Go

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Published: September 1, 2005
On TBR Since: August 28, 2012

Not to be confused with David Grann’s The White Darkness, which comes out this month. And which is also on my TBR. One word: Antarctica.

Stay or Go: Stay

Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature by Philip Nel

Published: January 1, 2012
On TBR Since: August 28, 2012

This one falls under Professional Reading.

Stay or Go: Stay

Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room by David Weinberger

Published: January 1, 2012
On TBR Since: August 31, 2012

“Now that the facts aren’t the facts”… and this book is from 2012. Still feels important.

Stay or Go: Stay

The Well at the World’s End: The Epic True Story of One Man’s Search for the Secret to Eternal Youth by A.J. Mackinnon

Published: July 28, 2010
On TBR Since: September 12, 2012

I might come back to this one eventually, but it goes for now.

Stay or Go: Go

The Story of Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published by David Skinner

Published: October 9, 2012
On TBR Since: September 26, 2012

This book got a mention on the Dictionary War episode of the Annotated podcast. I went to add it to my TBR and discovered it was already there.

Stay or Go: Stay

Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans by David Niose

Published: July 17, 2012
On TBR Since: September 26, 2012

I think too much time has passed on this particular one.

Stay or Go: Go

The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings

Published: August 7, 2012
On TBR Since: September 26, 2012

Another stunt memoir that I’ve kind of lost interest in since I put it on the list.

Stay or Go: Go

The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin W. Sandler

Published: February 14, 2012
On TBR Since: September 27, 2012

Hey, an 1890s Artic expedition sneaked into the list!

Stay or Go: Stay

Half and half – five going and five staying – this week.