Taming the TBR thread

[bibliomania]

Some of us in the 50 book thread are ruefully contemplating the piles of books we mean to read someday, but have never quite got round to. This is a proposal for a one-week experiment in pruning the pile:

• It can apply to books in any form (physical, e-books, audio)
• You choose seven books: each day during week, read the first 10 pages of one of them (and/or page 67 - a tip from the ever-wise PepeLePew on the 50 book thread) or equivalent, adjusting for format. If you're intrigued and keen to continue, keep the book. If you're not, then you let it go. Donate to charity, delete from your Kindle, sell online.
• It doesn't have to be 7 - set yourself whatever goal works for you.

Anyone fancy a go, starting from this coming Monday, 20th March?

My reading isn’t very high brow. Think Karin slaughter and David eddings alongside proper Chick lit queen Sophie kinsella 😂 but I welcome any suggestions x

I like Karin Slaughter too. I’ve read some great Aussie crime novels not a million miles away from hers - Jane Harper and Chris Hammer are both worth a look. And if you like Sophie Kinsella try Marian Keyes and Mhairi McFarlane (if you haven’t already).
I haven’t read any David Eddings- will have to give him a go!

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain I realise this isn't in the spirit of reducing the TBR pile, but if you enjoy Zenda (and it's a lot of fun), can I highly recommend Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles, which retells the story from the pov of Jasper Detchard (one of the henchmen), and is hilarious.

I second the recommendations for Marian Keyes and Mhairi McFarlane.

Thanks. I really like the Zenda books, they're so...Victorian...but in an entertaining way. Virtue wins out over vice in the end and a decent, clean living British hero showing Johnny Foreigner the way to do it after plenty of violence and the deaths of the ungodly (i.e the ones who aren't British).

Prisoner was a decent film, as well. I'm surprised that hasn't been remade.

Oh that’s fab. Thank you. I’ll check them out.

sarra manning is another guilty pleasure too. Even more chick lit than Sophie kinsella and very basic formula (girl meets boy, girl falls out with boy, girl gets back together with boy) but I just love how she writes and probably the closest thing I’ve found to Sophie Kinsella

Thank you. I also love Sarra Manning who’s quite similar to Sophie kinsella (a bit sexier but not massively so) so I’ll check these out for sure

@BaruFisher

Shining Girls was good, but the reason why these girls in particular shone was not properly explained I thought

Oh sorry - I love David Eddings - they are more of the magic/sorcery/gods/good v evil/going on a big quest type of fantasy (I know good fantasy for one person is another’s idea of hell) but I love the characters and have read them countless times. Xx

id also recommend Terry brooks “the word and the void” trilogy. Totally different thing to “Shannara” and seems to get overlooked.

Today's chuck is Smoke And Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Keeping 3 different Patrick Ness books I have yet to read

Book 6 (Non-Fiction) - The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War by Peter Hennessy I picked this up as Peter Hennessy was one of my tutors at university and I always found his lectures and seminars really interesting, despite the fact I was more of a medievalist than a modern historian. I must admit I expected that this would be one I got rid of, but the first few pages of this book, which focuses on the plans should Britain be subjected to a nuclear strike, were really interesting. It’s a KEEP.

Book 6 (Fiction) - Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I’ve had this for years and just never got round to reading it. The first 10 pages were enough for me to want to give it a few more pages at least. It's a KEEP, for now anyway.

So I've done a charity shop haul today and I've got rid of the paperbacks mentioned earlier plus:

Daughter Of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Master And Margarita and Crime And Punishment (have both in other formats)
Roots by Alex Haley
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
That Summer by Andrew Grieg
The Clan Of The Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Wolf Winter by Cynthia Eckback
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Happy to leave the rest of my physical TBR alone for a while and just work on Kindle now

The Clan of The Cave Bear brings back teen nostalgia memories! I really liked Wolf Winter when we did it for book club a few years back but it's a slow burner so probably wouldn't pass the first 10 pages test.

I've also got The Shining Girls on my Kindle. I think the author lives near me and is a friend of a friend so I want to make the effort with this one.

@Wellillsayitifnoonelsewill Robin Hobb is my favorite fantasy author if you're looking for something. She's a bit grittier than David Eddings but really good once you get into her world.

I have lost count now but keeping The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts - a hunt for the pianos taken into exile with them by 19c political exiles. I did start it but think it deserves another try, mostly because it's such an unlikely obsession for anyone to have.

Yesterday's is a keeper - Under Pressure: Rescuing our Children from the Cult of Over-Parenting, by Carl Honore which still looks relevant, even if the opening parenting quote from Bill Cosby hasn't aged well.

Today's is a keeper, The Tunnel through Time, by Gillian Tindall..

I dropped a pile of books into a charity shop yesterday and am feeling positive about the one-week experiment. Thanks for joining me!

It’s been great biblio. Thanks for setting it up. I might keep going until the end of the month to try and cut out more nonsense. I’ve kept both of today’s Field Grey by Philip Kerr (a Bernie Gunther thriller set in post war Germany) and Beneath Devil’s Bridge by Loreth Anne White (True crime podcasters start poking into a cold case)

Two Stef Penney books today. I enjoyed The Tenderness of Wolves and must have bought two more by her accordingly.
At first glance they seem very different.

The Invisible Ones is a missing person story and starts with a private investigator waking up in a hospital bed without a clear memory of what’s happened.
Unfortunately it’s in the present tense .. which I detest. Not sure I can be bothered.

Under a Pole Star looks more promising. A man and a woman leading rival expeditions to cross the Arctic Circle in the late 19th century. A keeper I think.

Yes, thanks from me to biblio . I've got a pile to go to the charity shop, & two books to read next weekend when we're away for a break.

I might try the first 10 pages / p67 trick on some of my Dad's kindle library when I next need something to read.

I'm another one who is going to keep this up until I have tamed my list some more.

Book 7 (Non-Fiction) - The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves Empowering Our Children by Shefali Tsabary I’m by no means a perfect parent, like all of us I’m doing my best and hopefully getting it right more than I’m getting it wrong. However this book is mostly focused on areas where I think I’m doing ok, such as nurturing your child’s spirit, not trying to mould them to your desires and expectations, but might have been more helpful if I’d read it years ago when I bought it. CHUCK

Book 7 (Fiction) - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar I’m going to KEEP this one for now.

Are you stopping here @bibliomania I was maybe going to keep it up for a month

I'm taking a break from it, Eine. Might come back to it after Easter.

I’ve been crap at starting this but I’ve identified 2 piles of books that I’ve had for a long time but never feel tempted to pick up. This is pile one that I’m going to work my way through over the next few days.

DP has a copy of Birdcage Walk, & I've never been tempted to pick it up either! We have quite different tastes in fiction though, so at least I don't feel obliged to try his books

I got 20% of the way through Birdcage Walk a could of years back but wasn't really enjoying it. Maybe it's one to delete. Loved Exposure and z the Betrayal by the same author though. Also read the Updike a few years back and found it rather misogynistic. It'll be good to hear you're thoughts.

I've got a Hollinghurst to try next The Stranger's Child, also White Noise by Don De Lillo. Neither is filling me with enthusiasm which I guess is why they're on the TBR pile.

Birdcage Walk has been consigned to the get rid pile already. I also loved Exposure, liked The Siege and was indifferent to A Spell of Winter and this felt like it might be ok, but just ok.