Down The TBR Hole #2

And here we go with the second Down The TBR Hole! It’s a meme created by Lia @Lost in A Story and it basically consists of going through your TBR Pile on Goodreads and see whether the books on there are good to stay or not. I loved doing this the first time and I think I’ll go this time around with even more books so that I can go through them a bit faster. Yes, I’m impatient! 😂 I have a list of 1100+ books and it keeps growing. Some books were added three or even four years ago!

I will soon post a discussion about A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas that I finished yesterday. I’m sorry I’m not posting regularly but May is just full of exams and now is just the time to get ready for them. 😔 Still, somehow I can’t help myself but keep reading. 😂 For those of you who have read it, I’d love to know your opinions, whether you’ve loved it or not at all. Personally, I’ve noticed lots of problematic things about it, it almost got me in a slump  That’s a topic for another day though :p

Now, what you need to do for the Down The TBR Hole, just as intructed on the blog:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Now, let’s get down to it!

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A LONG WAY GONE by Ishmael Beah

SYNOPSIS: In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

VERDICT: Now this definitely sounds interesting even though I don’t really read lots of non-fiction. KEEP.

WHY LIBERTY by Tom G. Palmer

SYNOPSIS: “We are seeing an explosion among college students committed to the ideas of liberty — there’s no other word to describe it,” says Palmer. “And today’s students are not only interested in discussing these ideas, they want to do something about it. That’s why this new book so strongly represents the voices of today’s student leaders, some very impressive young people who have developed their own vision for freedom, one that transcends old political divides, and who know how to get organized and to do something constructive to make their vision happen.” Dr. Palmer will be traveling the U.S. and internationally for book events and is available for interview upon request. As with previous editions in the same series, the books are not only recommended reading for students, many think tanks and business organizations host book events attracting politicos, professionals, academics, and journalists to discuss the ideas in the book.

VERDICT: Doesn’t really sound like something I’d read to be honest. Self help books are not for me. Well, not now. NOT KEEP.

LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel

SYNOPSIS: Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

VERDICT: I have to admit that the synopsis doesn’t seem interesting to me at all but I’ve heard so much about the book and I’ve been putting off watching the movie for the sole purpose of reading the book first so KEEP. Hopefully, I’ll end up reading it some time soon.

CINDER by Marissa Meyer

SYNOPSIS: Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder’s brain interference has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it “a matter of national security,” but Cinder suspects it’s more serious than he’s letting on.
Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder’s intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that’s been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter’s illness, Cinder’s stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an “honor” that no one has survived. But it doesn’t take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.

VERDICT: KEEP, duh!

STEPPENWOLF by Hermann Hesse

SYNOPSIS: Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse’s searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope. Yet this novel can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of the intellectual hypocrisy of the period. As Hesse himself remarked, “Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other”.

VERDICT: I’ve heard so many great things about this book so definitely KEEP.

SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi

SYNOPSIS: Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

VERDICT: I still have read nothing by Tahereh Mafi and I’m very curious about her. There are lots of people who recommend this series so I might give it a chance later on. I just hope the first book won’t be as disappointing as ACOTAR (I know they have nothing in common but they’re both extremely hyped). So, KEEP.

I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson

SYNOPSIS: Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

VERDICT: I seriously can’t believe I’d added this book on Goodreads in 2014 and still haven’t read it, lol. I heard so many great things about it. I do usually like stories about family. Especially twins! KEEP.

THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold

SYNOPSIS: The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder — a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family’s need for peace and closure.

The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished.

VERDICT: Mystery, Crime… Those are things I love. I haven’t heard much about this book but if I can lay my hands on it, I’ll definitely give it a try. KEEP.

NO AND ME by Delphine de Vigan

SYNOPSIS: Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life—and that of her parents—all because of a school project about homeless teens. While doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No’s presence forces Lou’s family to come to terms with a secret tragedy. But can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together when No’s own past comes back to haunt her?

VERDICT: I have already read a book by Delphine de Vigan but in French. If I’m gonna read this book, I’ll probably do it in French too. The synopsis is really interesting and I’m very curious about how the author pictures the friendship developing. And the “secret tragedy” is making me curious too. KEEP.

DRINKING AND DATING by Brandi Glanville

SYNOPSIS: Drinking and Dating chronicles Glanville’s misadventures stumbling through today’s dating world. From social media blunders to bedroom escapades, Brandi withholds nothing. Each chapter is inspired by a relationship encounter she has had since her sensational divorce from actor Eddie Cibrian. Hilarious, surprising, vulnerable, and outspoken, Glanville’s unexpected take on dating after heartbreak – and life in general – is as unique as she is. Just like Brandi herself, Drinking and Dating is sexy, funny, and eyebrow-raising.

VERDICT: Okay to be honest I don’t even know what I was thinking when I added this book to my TBR. NOT KEEP.

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I’m really bad at this, haha. But you know, it doesn’t feel right to just throw away a book even if I don’t physically own them all. If I physically owned them, it would be way harder.

Let me know if you have read any of those and if you thought I made the right decision about them!