As I mentioned in my May Goals post, my TBR has just spiraled out of control! I was searching for a way to cut it down, or at least rein it in a bit.

Enter Destiny, from Howling Libraries.

She does this awesome series of posts called “Down the TBR Hole,” which I’ve been eagerly reading, and studying, for a while. She uses her Goodreads account to cut down her list.

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Since I don’t use Goodreads as religiously, here’s my plan.

I’m going to take my wild list and reorder it, similar to Destiny’s standing TBR, where books are ordered alphabetically. Let’s see what happens.

Here’s the link to my most recent TBR recap, which was published on April 10th:

• Getting Personal #115: Sixth TBR Recap

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My original TBR, as of April 2018, had approximately 186 books.

YIKES!

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First, I decided to tackle the “Remove” list.

Removing from Laura Beth’s TBR:

1. The Language of Silence, Tiffany Truitt
2. Black Rabbit Hall, Eve Chase
3. Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
4. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
5. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
6. New Boy, Julian Houston
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
8. Hollow City, Ransom Riggs
9. Library of Souls, Ransom Riggs
10. Tales of the Peculiar, Ransom Riggs
11. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling
12. Quidditch Through the Ages, J.K. Rowling
13. Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, Emma Straub
14. Modern Lovers, Emma Straub
15. In the Unlikely Event, Judy Blume
16. You Will Know Me, Megan Abbott
17. Dare Me, Megan Abbott
18. The Fever: A Novel, Megan Abbott
19. Give Me Your Hand, Megan Abbott
20. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
21. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand
22. Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
23. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
24. Loving Day, Mat Johnson
25. The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future, Gretchen Bakke
26. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance
27. A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression, Jane Ziegelman and Andy Coe
28. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney
29. Bright, Precious Days, Jay McInerney
30. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters
31. A Good Month for Murder: The Inside Story of a Homicide Squad, Del Quentin Wilber
32. Teardrops of the Innocent: The White Diamond Story (True Colors – Volume 1), Allie Marie
33. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
34. Caraval, Stephanie Garber
35. Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
36. Autumn Street, Lois Lowry
37. The Giver, Lois Lowry
38. Gathering Blue, Lois Lowry
39. Messenger, Lois Lowry
40. Son, Lois Lowry
41. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
42. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
43. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
44. Emma, Jane Austen
45. Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
46. Persuasion, Jane Austen
47. The List, Patricia Forde
48. Hello Me, It’s You, Anonymous; edited by Hannah Todd
49. Use The Force: A Jedi’s Guide to the Law of Attraction, Joshua P. Warren
50. Digital Fortress: A Thriller, Dan Brown
51. Deception Point, Dan Brown
52. Inferno, Dan Brown
53. Origin: A Novel, Dan Brown
54. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
55. Camino Island, John Grisham
56. The Rooster Bar, John Grisham
57. Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self, Manoush Zomorodi
58. Lost Laysen, Margaret Mitchell
59. Before Scarlett: Girlhood Writings of Margaret Mitchell, Margaret Mitchell; edited by Jane Eskridge
60. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane
61. Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
62. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld
63. Pretties, Scott Westerfeld
64. Specials, Scott Westerfeld
65. Extras, Scott Westerfeld
66. Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, Robert Kolker
67. Into the Water, Paula Hawkins
68. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
69. In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O’Brien
70. July, July, Tim O’Brien
71. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
72. P.S. I Still Love You, Jenny Han
73. Always and Forever, Lara Jean, Jenny Han
74. Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn
75. Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
76. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
77. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
78. The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
79. Half Broke Horses, Jeanette Walls
80. The Silver Star, Jeanette Walls
81. Because You Exist (Light in the Dark Series) (Volume 1), Tiffany Truitt
82. The Goldfish Boy, Lisa Thompson
83. Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher
84. Shockaholic, Carrie Fisher
85. Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
86. The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher
87. In A Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware
88. We Can Be Mended, Veronica Roth
89. Carve The Mark, Veronica Roth
90. Sing, Vivi Greene
91. West End Quartet, Ariadne Apostolou
92. Defining Sexism in the U.S. (Sexism in the United States) (Volume 1), Elizabeth Hall Magill
93. Sexism and U.S. History (Sexism in the United States) (Volume 2), Elizabeth Hall Magill
94. What Yo Mama Said, Elizabeth Hall Magill
95. Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy, Seymour Reit
96. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
97. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli
98. The Upside of Unrequited, Becky Albertalli
99. Mary Jane’s Ghost: The Legacy of a Murder in Small Town America, Ted Gregory
100. The Dark Lake, Sarah Bailey
101. The Innocence Treatment, Ari Goelman
102. Haunting the Deep, Ariana Mather
103. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford
104. Jesus’ Son: Stories, Denis Johnson
105. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson
106. The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories, Denis Johnson
107. The Secret, Bryon Priess
108. Warcross, Marie Lu
109. Nothing But Sky, Amy Trueblood
110. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee
111. The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert
112. Husband in Hiding (The Unde(a)feted Detective Series), Karina Bartow
113. With Malice, Eileen Cook
114. The Year They Burned The Books, Nancy Garden
115. Last Night, Kerry Wilkinson
116. Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser
117. The Life of Jesus, Ernest Renan
118. A Doll’s House, Heinrik Ibsen
119. Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
120. The Old Wives’ Tale, Arnold Bennett
121. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
122. The Red and the Black, Stendahl
123. Victory, Joseph Conrad
124. The Revolt of the Angels, Anatole France
125. Sanctuary, William Faulkner
126. Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust
127. Within a Budding Grove, Marcel Proust
128. The Guermantes Way, Marcel Proust
129. South Wind, Norman Douglas
130. The Garden Party, Katherine Mansfield
131. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
132. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
133. The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
134. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
135. We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
136. The Dinner, Herman Koch
137. The Time-Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
138. Green, Sam Graham-Felsen

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Whew! That’s so much better! I feel so much lighter.

At least 50 of these books have been on my TBR since I started my TBR recap posts in January 2017. Yeesh.

Removal Rate: 138/186 = 74%

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Keep & Re-Classify – Laura Beth’s Updated TBR

1. Bader, Bonnie, and Connie Porter, The Underground Railroad (American Girl: Real Stories from My Time)
2. Bader, Bonnie, A Girl Named Helen: The True Story of Helen Keller (American Girl: A Girl Named)
3. Banks, Patrice, Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide
4. Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker, The War I Finally Won
5. Calonita, Jen, The Real Z (American Girl: Z Yang, Book 1)
6. Calonita, Jen, Z On Location (American Girl: Z Yang, Book 2)
7. Carlson Berne, Emma, The Titanic (American Girl: Real Stories from My Time)
8. Casanova, Mary, Menace at Mammoth Cave: A Kit Mystery
9. Choi, Mary H.K., Emergency Contact
10. Crowley, Cath, Words in Deep Blue
11. Desmond, Matthew, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
12. Ehrenreich, Barbara, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
13. Falligant, Erin, The Legend of the Shark Goddess: A Nanea Mystery
14. Garrison, Margaret, Prez: A Story of Love
15. Gaskell, Elizabeth, North and South
16. Gilbert. Kelly Loy, Picture Us in the Light
17. Green, John, Turtles All the Way Down
18. Haddix, Margaret Peterson, Among The Hidden (Shadow Children #1)
19. Hite, Sid, My Name is America: The Journal of Rufus Rowe, Witness to the Battle of Fredericksburg
20. King, Stephen, 11/22/63
21. Lehr, Dick, Trell
22. Lyons, Kelly Starling, A Girl Named Misty: The True Story of Misty Copeland (American Girl: A Girl Named)
23. McNamara, Michelle, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
24. Miranda, Megan, All The Missing Girls
25. McKinney, Ruth Ann, Reading Like a Lawyer: Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law Like an Expert
26. Murphy, Jim, My Name is America: The Journal of James Edmond Pease, A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863
27. Myers, Walter Dean, My Name is America: The Journal of Joshua Loper, A Black Cowboy
28. Nijkamp, Marieke, Before I Let Go
29. Paley, Rebecca, The Boston Tea Party (American Girl: Real Stories from My Time)
30. Paley, Rebecca, A Girl Named Hillary: The True Story of Hillary Clinton (American Girl: A Girl Named)
31. Patrick, Denis Lewis, A Girl Named Rosa: The True Story of Rosa Parks (American Girl: A Girl Named)
32. Prose, Francine, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.)
33. Ritter, Krysten, Bonfire
34. Rowling, J.K., The Casual Vacancy
35. Shetterly, Margot Lee, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
36. Skloot, Rebecca, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
37. Swanson, Jennifer, Pearl Harbor (American Girl: Real Stories from My Time)
38. Teagan, Erin, Luciana
39. Teagan, Erin, Luciana: Braving the Deep
40. Teagan, Erin, Luciana: Out of This World
41. Toobin, Jeffrey, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst
42. Toobin, Jeffrey, The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson
43. Tripp, Valerie, Read All About It: A Kit Classic Volume 1
44. Tripp, Valerie, Turning Things Around: A Kit Classic Volume 2
45. Tripp, Valerie, Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit
46. Yee, Lisa, Lea Dives In
47. Yee, Lisa, Lea Leads the Way
48. Yee, Lisa, and Kellen Hertz, Lea and Camila

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This is so much better! I don’t feel like I’m drowning in books anymore!

Plus, with a more manageable list, I don’t feel so overwhelmed now. With so many books on the list for a long time, it was getting overwhelming to just a pick a new book after finishing one.

I love reading – I don’t want a long list to detract me from doing something that I normally love.

Keep Rate: 48/186 = 26%

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Thanks for the inspiration, Destiny!

My original TBR posts, which I publish every quarter, will likely follow this format going forward.

I’m excited to tackle more reading!

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Do you have a TBR?

Have you gone through your list and done a Keep and/or Remove exercise?

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Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂