Hello, friends!
In an effort to clear out the one hundred and twenty-three unread books taunting me from my shelves (yes, you read that right), I’ve put myself under a book buying ban and randomized by TBR with a jar full of titles. Several years of buying books just slightly faster than I’ve been reading them combined with constantly grabbing whichever book is shiny and new has left me with loads of books lying around for a frankly embarrassing amount of time without being touched. Oops.
So I’m letting The Jar decide what comes next, no exceptions, and if I’m hating a book a hundred or so pages into it, it’s gotta go. Time to clean out these shelves or I’ll never buy a new book again.
The Book Jar has spoken, and next up on my TBR…
Swear on This Life, by Renee Carlino. This is one that my book club read before I joined, and after months of listening to the other girls talk about books I haven’t read, I’ve made it a goal to go back through the ones that I missed on my own.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. I feel like I’m the only one who never read this in high school. Am I wrong? I took a lit class once where the class was split in half and we got separate book assignments, and the other half got this one. I’ve been left with some weird sense of obligation towards it ever since.
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, by Nadia Hashimi. This was another book club pick before I joined.
Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami. I’m honestly dreading this one and it may end up donated before the month is through. I tried to start it once before and I don’t remember how far I got into it, but I could not get into it. Maybe I’ll make it further this time. People seem to love this book, and I really want to get what they see in it.
I’m also listening to these audio books for this month:
Strange The Dreamer, by Laini Taylor. YA is not normally my thing, but I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and I had to see what the hype was about. And fantasy is very much my thing, so I’m thinking I’ll like this one. I’m just a couple of chapters into it now, but I have high hopes.
Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. I’m a Hamilton geek. Enough said.
I’ll end on this, my current read:
This is How it Always Is, by Laurie Frankel, a story about a trans child and her family, which is still using male pronouns 100 pages in, when it is crystal clear at this point that this child views herself as and wants to be treated as a girl. I don’t know if this choice is a product of the author or of the characters she’s writing not being sure how to deal with the transition, but it just strikes me as an odd narrative choice, and it’s beginning to irritate me. The parents are still chugging along, calling her by a female name and male pronouns. I’m struggling to decide how I feel about this book, but I guess I’ll wait and see. So far, I have very mixed feelings.
What are you reading this month? Have you read the books referenced here? Please feel free to share your thoughts on them in the comments or to link to your own TBR posts. 🙂 Happy reading!
I also put myself on a book buying ban and downloaded 100 books from my Kindle cloud to my device. I bought 13 books last month….they were used, except for three. But still. 13 is way more than I usually have been buying.
I got four ARC’s from Netgalley and about 10 library books too so I will be busy for awhile lol.
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I keep telling myself new Kindle books don’t count against the ban, which is ridiculous, but I guess because they don’t physically pile up in my house it’s easy to say that’s different. lol
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Oh they totally count for me. Netgalley books, library books and free books are ok.
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P.S. let me know how Strange the Dreamer is!! I have that on my Kindle too.
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Wow that’s a lot of books- but a great way to tackle the problem! Hope you enjoy Strange the Dreamer. And I love the songs from Hamilton- I hope the book is good!
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I read A Separate Peace in high school and thought it was enjoyable. I totally understand feeling out of the loop when it seems like everyone else has read it. I hope you enjoy all of your reads and get through your massive TBR shelf!
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I love battle royale can’t wait to hear what you think of it! But yes I can understand the book buying ban, it can get overwhelming sometimes.
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Oh, the stress of having a huge number of unread books! I hope you’re able to make your way through many of them soon.
I loved Swear on this Life. It’s one of my favorites. And I was one who read A Separate Peace in high school. 😂
Have a great month!
-Ashley
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Glad to hear you like Swear on this Life, since I haven’t heard much about that one. It’s up next when I finish my current read.
Thanks. 😀
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I hope you enjoy it!
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I like the idea of s book buying ban until I get more caught up! Great post!👍🏻
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I find great comfort in having large numbers of unread books, just in case I get housebound, or Donald Trump bans all books he hasn’t written. .. I currently have in excess of 600 books, mostly unread, not counting the 922 currently on my Kindle. I don’t feel safe unless I have a pile of books to choose from on my bedside table. And no, I don’t think that I have got a problem. . . 😎
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Your idea of a book jar is terrific! Like you, I have a stack of books purchased and unread. The book jar would make it easy to choose one to read while I am also pursuing other books!
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I created a Book Jar a while back but haven’t actually started using it yet. Guess there is no time like the present 🙂
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