I’ve noticed this meme being used here and there on WordPress and saw mentions of it on Twitter as well, and the name intrigued me initially. But I didn’t actually click on any of the posts at first (I’m not sure why). When I did click though, I’m so glad that I did, because I think that the idea behind this meme is an amazing one. A lot of us bookworms have issues with controlling our TBR piles/lists, and this meme really I think has helped a lot of people really consider what is on the list, and what they want to keep, or not keep. Let’s see how I do with the first 5 books on my Goodreads TBR list, shall we?
For those of you hearing about this meme for the first time, here’s some more info from the blog of the creator, Lia @ Lost in a Story:
Down The TBR Hole is a meme that revolves around cleansing your TBR of all those books you’re never going to read and sort through it all to know what’s actually on there.
Most of you probably know this feeling, your Goodreads TBR pile keeps growing and growing and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep adding, but you add more than you actually read. And then when you’re scrolling through your list, you realize that you have no idea what half the books are about and why you added them. Well that’s going to change!
It works like this:
- Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) 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?
Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus
I have only heard good things about this one, and I saw that many people were talking about it around the time when Caraval by Stephanie Garber came out (which I really enjoyed). So, this book will definitely be
Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass
I own the box set for this trilogy, and I’ve seen the movie a number of times and loved it. So, if the books are anything like the film adaptation, I will likely love it. I will get to it at some point, I’m sure. So, this book is definitely
Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes
This one’s been on my TBR since last year, and I promise that I will get to it at some point! I read a sneak peek back before it came out, and really liked the writing and atmosphere, so I have a feeling that I will enjoy this book and the series as a whole. It’s definintely
Brent Weeks’ The Way of Shadows
I forget who told me about this book, and the series in general, but I think that I trust whoever it was haha. Plus I’m still intrigued by the synopsis, and tend to like assassin stories. So it’ll be
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility
I love Jane Austen, and the Regency Period and the Victorian Era, so I have no doubt that I will enjoy this book of Austen’s. So A. it’s an Austen novel, and B. it’s a story about sisters! Being a sister myself, I tend to usually enjoy, and really click plots involving sisters. Absolutely 100%
The Night Circus has been on my TBR since I started talking about books on the internet. Omg I REALLY need to get to that one soon… I recently picked up An Ember In the Ashes and really liked it. Sadly the second book really let me down but book 1 is great!
I should host a readalong for The Night Circus bahahaha it seems to be the only way that I read certain TBR books these days hahaha
Lol you totally should! It’d be a good way for me to get that book off my TBR
Noted 😉
The golden compass is a lot lot better than the movie.
Ohhh that’s good to know! Thank you! 🙂
I have a hard time getting rid of any on my TBR also. I haven’t read these but I might add them to my TBR.
Hahaha I’m sorry that you’re adding to your TBR because of me
Glad to see you’re giving this meme a try. I find it very liberating. The Night Circus isn’t really much like Caraval. It’s much, much better (okay, I hated Caraval), but very different. I hope you enjoy it though because it’s really beautiful.
Yes! I hope that I’ll actually clear out some books in the next post 😛
And awe I’m sorry to hear about Caraval! But I could see why you hated it. I’m super glad to hear that The Night Circus is so much better though 😉
The Night Circus is one of my all time favourite books!!
The Way Of Shadows has been on my TBR for almost 2 years now….. I need to get to it soon too!
Ahhh that’s so awesome to hear! I think that I will have to host a readalong for it. to kind of pressure myself to read it. Not because I don’t think I’ll like it, but because that seems to be about the only way that I can tackle my backlist at all 😛
And I’m glad I’m not the only one who has had The Way of Shadows on their TBR but hasn’t read it yet, hahaha.
Im making my goal this year to read more books from my physical TBR instead of buying more. I need to knock down this backlist!
Yup. Bought the bind up of the entire Brent Weeks trilogy and still haven’t touched it! I got it at chapters for about 18$ so no regrets! But I really do need to read it!
Haha that was my goal this year too…and I failed…HARD. The only backlist books that I read were the ones that I used for readalongs lmao.
And oooo $18 is a good deal! I hope that we both get to that series soon lmao
Lol!! That’s too funny!!
Good luck with weeding through your TBR list! I myself do 30 books with each post; it was the only way to actually make it through all of the books.
Oh, in friendly helper mode for a moment…this post starts off with your ARCstravaganza opening paragraph. 🙂
Thank you! It sure isn’t easy. And woa 30 books….that’s quite amazing. I don’t have that kind of patience lol
And oh my gosh why do I keep doing this?! Thanks so much for pointing that out! I could have sword I’d changed it though…….maybe WordPress didn’t save…..
Well my TBR started with over 800 books on it, so I knew doing only 5 or 10 books with each post would take me way too long to get through. And I didn’t have the patience to write up that many purge posts, lol.
Ohhhh gotcha. Good call then. Haha
OMG YOU HAVEN’T READ AN EMBER IN THE ASHES OR THE NIGHT CIRCUS???!!! THOSE ARE TWO OF MY FAVORITES! But seriously they’re amazing, I bet you’ll end up loving them once you get around to reading them 😀
Ahhhhh I know I’m so ashamed! And ooo I didn’t know that! I was thinking of hosting a readalong for The Night Circus haha since that’s the only way I’ve been reading anything off my backlist hah
You definitely should!
Eeeeek! I also keep seeing this meme around the blogosphere but I am still way too intimidated to even look at my GR TBR shelf cause it’s over 1K! *for shame* lol! I actually want to read The Golden Compass now that the newest book in the world has captured my attention but I have’t added it to my TBR on GR cause it’s getting out of control haha! PLEASE read The Night Circus & Brent Weeks is also on my tbr, I’ve heard AMAZING things about this series. Maybe one day I’ll gather the courage to go through mine *covers eyes* 🙂
Oh boyyy yeah I would be intimidated too! But you could do 10 or 15 books per post, and then really sort through them that way! I’m having fun with it 🙂 And I hope that we both get to read these books soon!
I had seen this meme around a lot too! Now that I see how it works I may just join in too
It’s definitely a good idea, right?! 😀
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