Read What You Own Challenge

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I’m going to start a Read What You Own Challenge on the 1st of July to try and reduce down my ridiculously huge TBR both physical and kindle.
My rules for me are-

• No buying any new books after midday on July 1st
• Unsubscribe from the kindle daily deals email
• I am allowed to break it for the Booker Prize longlist when it’s announced, but must check my library for the books first.
• Keep going until August 21st as my first goal. (Maybe until 2026 in total)

These rules are specific to me and anyone who wants to join me is free to make their own set of rules for their challenge. I’m going to log each book I read here to keep me accountable. Anyone else up for it? I know some 50 Bookers are considering it…

I really enjoy the* *Slow Horses books but I’d say if you didn’t like the first, you won’t like the rest.

@Rowena191 I've used this partly as an exercise to delete. In most cases there's a reason why books have lingered on the TBR.
I have deleted all the Slow Horses series as I tried and failed twice with the first one.
I've got my kindle tbr down to 35. There's a few Rosamund Pilcher's on there I don't even remember buying, donkeys years old. I may try one and if, as expected, I hate it, I will delete the rest.
My main challenge is the paperback pile. I just don't like reading paper books. I'm going on holiday in September so might pack a couple so I can leave them behind.

Me too!

Huge Slow Horses fan here. Unusually, I think its because I watched the show before I read the books and Jackson Lamb is just as Gary Oldman portrays him.

I finished The Last Witch of Scotland by Philip Paris. Do not recommend. Review on 50 bookers thread.

I checked my Kindle books and the longest I have is from January 2022, which is a huge improvement this year. I have 13 kindle books in total TBR. 1 from 2022, 2 from 2023, 3 from 2024 and 7 from 2025. So I will prioritise the 2022/2023/2024 books going forward.

Thanks all. I was a bit disappointed about Slow Horses. It had such great reviews. I might try and watch the series and then decide. I do feel guilty for some reason deleting kindle books (charity shopping physical books is fine).

I’ve just found this thread. I’d like to join.
I’ve got 300 on my kindle and I can’t count how many actual books (three walls full) TBR.
I will make an exception for book group (in 2)
However I can suggest books I’ve already got.
I try and buy from Waterstones as that’s local , and I don’t want them to close down.

I loved this series.

It took me a while to give myself permission to delete my Kindle books. I think I made a concerted effort to get down from around100 books, which was just ridiculous. I had a real problem in DNFing books, but now I'm over it. If books arent grabbing me then I'm just not finishing them. I did feel guilty about the cost, because even 100 books at 99p is a LOT of money. So I've really cut down on buying Kindle books and being more mindful. In 2024, I went bonkers and bought 68 Kindles. In 2023, I only bought 20. This year so far, I've bought 23, but I have really thought and considered the books that I have bought.

Welcome @notatinydancer I was also a big fan of Shardlake. Do you have a good library nearby? We found a huge variation in the 50 bookers thread. I am very lucky in that I have a great library and there is no charge for reservations.

I don’t use the local library. I’m not sure how good it is.
I use Borrow Box sometimes to listen to in the car.

@CutFlowers i have a DNF folder where I put things on my kindle that I think I will probably delete but haven’t quite decided, going back to the folder a month or two later somehow makes it easier to bin them!

I also had a bad 2024 - just realised I bought 204 kindle books 😱.

The Book of Lost Things: John Connolly.
Review on the 50-Bookers thread.

I blame the 50 Bookers 😂😂😂But now, I just reserve the books at the library, unless there is something that I really fancy for 99p.

Started "A month in the country" by J L Carr

Haven’t read anything since Burnt Sugar, having a real slump

I am also a fan of Shardlake and Slow Horses. The Slow Horses TV series is excellent but I'm not so sure about the Shardlake one. A very good point that 100 books at 99p is a lot of money, I will try and remind myself of that to slow down my buying!

Shardlake has been cancelled after the first series. Not enough views unfortunately. I tried to add a link from Radio Times, but Mumsnet didnt like it!

I really enjoyed the shardlake tv series and liked the books, too.
I'm not sure the casting was brilliant (Sean bean as thomas Cromwell!?)

I liked the Shardlake books and have watched part of the tv series.

Just finished One Lost Soul by JM Dalgliesh

@swampwitch0 - I actually really liked Sean Bean as Cromwell. Obvs Cromwell wouldnt have had a Yorkshire accent, but he was working class, wasnt his father a blacksmith? And he was a mercenary in his early days, so I think Sean Bean is a more likely Cromwell than the lovely Mark Rylance.

I've just finished Excellent Women by Barbara Pym which has been lingering on my bookshelf for at least 2 years.

Don't know if I said, but I had a Facebook memory which was a TBR pile. So I'm working my way through that small TBR. I've moved onto The Shadow Man by Helen Fields. I have no recollection of buying this book. Its not new, so I must have picked it up at a charity shop. It's not the type of book that I would usually buy, which makes it even more odd. Anyway, turns out it's set in Edinburgh and I always enjoy an Edinburgh based book.

Cromwell was a very edu aged man, who spoke a few languages.
He was a gifted diplomat and statesman.
He was also from Putney ;)

I'm not a fan of MR, but his performance of TC was incredibly nuanced

Is Putney posh? I have no idea lol. I think in the early Shardlake books you get the feeling that everyone is terrified of Cromwell. I'm not sure I'd be terrified of MR's Cromwell, but I would be of SB's.

Now, I dont know if you've read The Thursday Murder Club, but I think Pierce Brosnan was a huge mistake in casting. I was gobsmacking when the cast was released. I thought the others were great and Jonathan Pryce and Daniel Mays in the smaller parts were excellent! But a huge no to Pierce and his wandering accent.

Finished 3 more- The War of the Worlds (good fun) The Grapes of Wrath (bleak) and The Mysterious Affair at Styles (better than I expected). Almost finished another Leonard and Hungry Paul (a hug of a book so far)