The most recent installment of my TBR List Declutter, in which I reconsider a decade worth of titles I added to Goodreads thinking that I would one day read all of them.
Wondering what this is all about? Check out the introductory post.
Titles 111-120:
#111: The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life by Jasmin Darznik
Date added: 02/08/2011
Why is it on my TBR? I heard an interview with the author on the radio while I was waiting in a car in a parking lot in Florida. I can’t remember why I was waiting (probably something kid-related), but I remember the interview.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. This sounds just as interesting to me now as it did while I was waiting outside that condo in February 2011.
Project list: none.
#112: 1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments by Harry Leslie Smith
Date added: 03/02/2011
Why is it on my TBR? I have no memory of this book.
Do I own it?
Verdict: Keep. I don’t like all memoirs, only the very good ones. By almost all accounts, this is a very good memoir.
Project list: none
#113: Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin
Date added: 03/02/2011
Why is it on my TBR? Not a clue.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. This “autobiographical novella” doesn’t interest me.
Project list: n/a
#114: So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
Date added: 03/02/2011
Why is it on my TBR? 1) Lionel Shriver; 2) National Book Award Finalist
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. Based on: 1) My negative experience with the most recent Lionel Shriver novel I attempted to read, and 2) The sections of the novel quoted in reviews.
Project list: n/a
#115: Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams
Date added: 03/04/2011
Why is it on my TBR? No clue. Did I add a bunch that I saw on Firstreads on Goodreads?
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. I have no idea why this was on the TBR in the first place. I’m even pickier about YA than I am about memoir, and this one doesn’t seem like great YA.
Project list: n/a
#116: The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
Date added: 03/09/2011
Why is it on my TBR? Maybe my WordPress Reader or Facebook, maybe? Did Kristin have a blog before the book, because I feel like I’ve read a blog about this.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. I came across this title during a time when I was quite interested in urban homesteading, and I found the idea of making the city-mouse-to-country-mouse transition intriguing. When I saw this title in the list today, I assumed that I would no longer find the subject interesting, having moved away and gotten older, but I find that the synopsis and the reviews still make me want to read this one.
Project list: none.
#117: Where the Roots Reach for Water: A Personal and Natural History of Melancholia by Jeffery Smith
Date added: 03/23/2011
Why is it on my TBR? No idea.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Go. This doesn’t seem like the right memoir for me at this time in my life. I trust that if I need to read it, I’ll find it again.
Project list: n/a
#118: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Date added: 03/25/2011
Why is it on my TBR? I’m not sure why I added it in 2011, but I love Hemingway’s writing, and perhaps that’s the reason I would add it at any time.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep.
Project list: Cavalcade of Classics
#119: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Date added: 03/25/2011
Why is it on my TBR? Somehow, I made it through junior high, high school, and an undergraduate English degree without ever reading this novel. I’m pretty sure that’s why I added it.
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. I suspect it will be an antidote to all of the YA I’ve been reading to keep up with my kids. Also, my daughter read it recently—or read part of it and then decided not to read any more, which is unusual for her—and I really want to see what she was reading.
Project list: Cavalcade of Classics
#120: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Date added: 03/25/2011
Why is it on my TBR? Another classic I have trouble believing I got through all of my schooling without reading. (Horrible sentence structure there, but I’m not going back and fixing it.)
Do I own it? No.
Verdict: Keep. Ellison’s picture shows up on the standby screen of our old Kindle, and my 8yo asks me what I know about him. Aside from the title of this novel, I know practically nothing. I figure if I read this book, perhaps I’ll have a little more to say to him about Ellison (I doubt I’ll give him a detailed account, but I can speak with more authority about general themes).
Project list: Cavalcade of Classics
Four more titles off the list for a total of 32 out of 120 titles crossed off (4.3% of the original TBR). And I have a few more for my revamped Cavalcade of Classics!
Are there any of these that I kept that you would have jettisoned? (Or any that I jettisoned that you recommend I keep, even though that wouldn’t help whittle my TBR list down?)
Imperfect Happiness 