Tag: downtheTBRhole

This meme was created by Lia at Lost in a Story as a way to tackle the gargantuan To-Read shelves a lot of us have on Goodreads.

The rules are simple:

1. Go to your Goodreads To-Read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
6. Repeat every week until the entire list has been filtered (hmm, quite a few weeks then!)

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Here are ten more books on my To-Read shelf who need to fight for bookish survival.

The Essex Serpent by Essie Fox (added 29th June 2016)

London 1893. When Cora Seaborne’s husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one, and she never suited the role of society wife. Accompanied by her son Francis – a curious, obsessive boy – she leaves town for Essex, where she hopes fresh air and open space will provide the refuge they need.

When they take lodgings in Colchester, rumours reach them from further up the estuary that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming human lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist with no patience for religion or superstition, is immediately enthralled, convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a previously undiscovered species.

As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter’s vicar. Like Cora, Will is deeply suspicious of the rumours, but he thinks they are founded on moral panic, a flight from real faith. As he tries to calm his parishioners, he and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart, eventually changing each other’s lives in ways entirely unexpected.

Verdict: Keep – I love the cover (although I’ve only got an ecopy which doesn’t really do it justice), I still like the sound of this plus I’m hoping to use it for a reading challenge (a book with a mythical creature in its title). 

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton (added 5^th July 2016)

It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.

Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history.

Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war. A war that will begin with a single bullet. But can a single bullet truly corrupt an entire century? And, if so, could another single bullet save it?

Verdict: Keep – Time travel wouldn’t be something I’d usually go for in a book but the WW1 setting and the alternate history element means I’m still interested in reading this. It has great reviews as well.

Firedrake’s Eye by Patricia Finney (added 6th July 2016)

In the autumn of 1583, in the fetid alleyways of Whitefrairs, the loyal courtier Simon Ames is viciously beaten. The random prey of footpads – or victim of a subtly treasonous act? A nonsense poem written by the lunatic Tom O’Bedlam has become a favourite of London’s ballad-sellers. Who has taken the wild meanderings of a madman so seriously – and why?

Following a trail of murder, treason and terror, Ames and his dubious friend Becket set out to uncover the truth. But as they dig deep into the human midden that is Elizabethan London, puzzle becomes enigma, then riddle. What is the secret at the heart of the pageantry to be paraded before the Queen at the Accession Day tilts? Who is Tom and what does his ballad mean?

Verdict: Dump – Based on the blurb alone I really like the sound of this. However it’s written in ‘language eerily reminiscent of sixteenth-century England’. Having looked at the opening pages, I think this might make it hard work so on the pile for the charity shop it goes.  

The Pale Horseman (The Last Kingdom #2) by Bernard Cornwell (added 24th July 2016)

At the end of The Last Kingdom, The Danes had been defeated at Cynuit, but the triumph of the English is not fated to last long. The Danish Vikings quickly invade and occupy three of England’s four kingdoms – and all that remains of the once proud country is a small piece of marshland, where Alfred and his family live with a few soldiers and retainers, including Uhtred, the dispossessed English nobleman who was raised by the Danes. Uhtred has always been a Dane at heart, and has always believed that given the chance, he would fight for the men who raised him and taught him the Viking ways. But when Iseult, a powerful sorceress, enters Uhtred’s life, he is forced to consider feelings he’s never confronted before – and Uhtred discovers, in his moment of greatest peril, a new-found loyalty and love for his native country and ruler.

Verdict: Dump – Although I didn’t remember until I just checked, I have actually read the first book in this series. Although I’m not averse to some action in my historical fiction I feel as if I’ve read too many similar books in the meantime. Plus there are now thirteen books in this series and I can’t see me making my way through that lot. 

The Shadow Hour by Kate Riordan (added 8^th August 2016)

It was in the shadow hours of deepest night that this tapestry of lies fell to rags…

Harriet Jenner is just twenty-one when she walks through the gates of Fenix House. Reeling from a personal tragedy, she doesn’t expect her new life as a governess to be easy. But she certainly does not foresee the spell Fenix House will cast.

Almost fifty years later, Harriet’s granddaughter Grace follows in her footsteps. For Grace, raised on Harriet’s spellbinding stories, Fenix House is a fairy tale; a magical place suspended in time.But the now-faded grandeur of the mansion soon begins to reveal the holes in Harriet’s story and Grace finds herself in a place of secrets and shadows. For Fenix House hides truths about her family, and everything that she once knew is about to change.

Verdict: Keep – I’m in two minds about this one. On the one hand I find the book description quite appealing and it’s had good reviews. On the other hand I’ve been disappointed by a few dual time books recently and this sounds reminiscent of other books I’ve read.  A reprieve for now, I think.

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett (added 4th September 2016)

What if you had said yes? The moments that change everything… 

A man is walking down a country lane. A woman, cycling towards him, swerves to avoid a dog. On that moment, their future hinges. There are three possible outcomes, three small decisions that could determine the rest of their life.

Eva and Jim are nineteen and students at Cambridge when their paths first cross in 1958. And then there is David, Eva’s then-lover, an ambitious actor who loves Eva deeply. The Versions of Us follows the three different courses their lives could take following this first meeting. Lives filled with love, betrayal, ambition but through it all is a deep connection that endures whatever fate might throw at them.

Verdict: Keep – Described as One Day meets Sliding Doors, this sounds an intriguing premise although judging from the reviews it has divided opinion. I think I’m sufficiently interested to keep it for now.

Daffodils by Alex Martin (added 7th September 2016)

Katy, a maidservant at Cheadle Manor, longs to escape her narrow life but events unfold slowly in her rural village. Jem Phipps has always loved Katy. His proposal of marriage rescues her from scandal but after tragedy strikes, Jem becomes a reluctant soldier on the battlefields of The First World War, leaving Katy behind, restless and alone.

Lionel White, the local curate, has just returned from India bringing a dash of colour to the small village and offers Katy a window on the wider world. Only when Katy joins up as a WAAC girl does she finally break free from the stifling class-ridden hierarchies that bind her but the brutality of 20th-century global war brings home the price she has paid for her search. Through the horrors of WW1, she discovers only love brings freedom.

Verdict: Dump – This has some really positive reviews and it’s set in WW1 which is one of my favourite periods for historical fiction. However, again it sounds similar to other books I’ve read and it doesn’t appeal quite as much as other books in my TBR pile. The cover is not really calling to me either.

Defiant Unto Death (Master of War #2) by David Gilman (added 8th September 2016)

France, 1356. Ten years ago, the greatest army in Christendom was slaughtered at Crécy when Thomas Blackstone and his fellow archers stood their ground and rained death on the steel-clad might of French chivalry. Blackstone left that squalid field a knight. Now, Blackstone commands a war band and has carved out a small fiefdom in northern France. But the wounds of war still bleed and a traitor has given the King of France the means to destroy first his family, and then the English knight himself.

As the traitor’s net tightens, so the French King’s army draws in. Blackstone will stand and fight – in pitched battle and in single combat. He will defy his friends, his family and his king. He may yet defy death, but he can’t defy his destiny.

Verdict: Keep – Another one where I’m in a quandary. I’ve really enjoyed other books by the author and I have read the first book in the series, although it was a long time ago. On the other hand there are five more books in the series after this one. On balance, since I know the author writes brilliantly, this one stays. 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (added 17th September 2016)

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly – thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Verdict: Keep – Okay, this is an easy one because this book has had so many glowing reviews, although I’m aware there are a minority who didn’t get on with it at all. 

Conclave by Robert Harris (added 19th September 2016)

The Pope is dead.

Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.

Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.

Verdict: Keep – This one is a no-brainer because I’m a huge Robert Harris fan.

The Result – 7 kept, 3 dumped. Why is it so difficult to get rid of books you’ve had for over 5 years and still haven’t read? Would you have made different choices? 

This meme was created by Lia at Lost in a Story as a way to tackle the gargantuan To-Read shelves a lot of us have on Goodreads.

The rules are simple:

1. Go to your Goodreads To-Read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?
6. Repeat every week until the entire list has been filtered (hmm, quite a few weeks then!)

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I didn’t do too well with my last attempt at this exercise, removing only two books from my To-Read shelf. Yes, I know, pathetic. Let’s see if I can do better this time.

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee (added 13th April 2016)

Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch – ‘Scout’ – returns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt.

Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in a painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past – a journey that can be guided only by one’s conscience.

Verdict: Keep – I’m aware this book got mixed reactions when it was published but I’m still keen to read it. Plus my hardback copy was a charity shop bargain. 

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave (added 17^th April 2016)

London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war – until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is – bewilderingly – made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary.

And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams.

Set in London during the years of 1939–1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grandparents.

Verdict: Keep – I’m a sucker for a book set in WW2 and I like that it’s inspired by a real story. 

Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne (added 27th April 2016)

Fourteen-year-old John Jacob Turnstile has gotten into trouble with the police on one too many occasions and is on his way to prison when an offer is put to him – a ship has been refitted over the last few months and is about to set sail with an important mission. The boy who was expected to serve as the captain’s personal valet has been injured and a replacement must be found immediately. The deal is struck and Turnstile finds himself onboard, meeting the captain, just as the ship sets sail. The ship is the HMS Bounty, the captain is William Bligh, and their destination is Tahiti.

Mutiny on the Bounty is the first novel to explore all the events relating to the Bounty’s voyage, from their long journey across the ocean to their adventures on the island of Tahiti and the subsequent forty-eight-day expedition towards Timor. A vivid recreation of the famous mutiny, the story is packed with humour, violence, and historical detail, presenting a very different portrait of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian than has been shown before.

Verdict: Keep – Given the reputation of the author and the fact I really like the sound of the storyline, this one stays.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (added 27th April 2016)

In the 1600s Sara de Vos loses her young daughter suddenly to illness. In her grief, she secretly begins painting a dark landscape of a girl watching a group of ice skaters from the edge of a wood.

In 1950s New York, Martijn de Groot has At the Edge of a Wood hanging above his bed. Though it is a dark, peculiar painting, he holds it dear and when it is stolen, he is bereft. In Brooklyn, struggling art student Ellie Shipley accepts a commission to paint an intricate forgery of the painting, not realising that her decision will come to haunt her successful academic career.

Verdict: Dump – I like to read as many books as I can that have been longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. This appeared on the longlist in 2017 but didn’t make it to the shortlist and I’m not sure about the dual timeline structure so I’m going to cull it.

This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell (added 18^th May 2016)

Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex–film star given to pulling a gun on anyone who ventures up their driveway. Claudette was once the most glamorous and infamous woman in cinema before she staged her own disappearance and retreated to blissful seclusion in an Irish farmhouse.

But the life Daniel and Claudette have so carefully constructed is about to be disrupted by an unexpected discovery about a woman Daniel lost touch with twenty years ago. This revelation will send him off-course, far away from wife, children and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?

Verdict: Dump – I must have been one of the few people on the planet who didn’t love Hamnet and, although this book has tons of positive reviews, it’s just not calling to me. 

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (added 20th May 2016)

Major Ernest Pettigrew is perfectly content to lead a quiet life in the sleepy village of Edgecombe St Mary, away from the meddling of the locals and his overbearing son. But when his brother dies, the Major finds himself seeking companionship with the village shopkeeper, Mrs Ali. Drawn together by a love of books and the loss of their partners, they are soon forced to contend with irate relatives and gossiping villagers. The perfect gentleman, but the most unlikely hero, the Major must ask himself what matters most: family obligation, tradition or love?

Funny, comforting and heart-warming, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand proves that sometimes, against all odds, life does give you a second chance.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson (added 20th May 2016)

East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England’s brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha’s husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won’t come to anything. And Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master.

When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more freethinking – and attractive – than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father, who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing.

But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha’s reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.

Verdict: Dump/Keep – No, you’re not seeing double. Something must have prompted me to add both these books at the same time. I’ve made myself choose just one so Major Pettigrew goes and this one stays because I like the period in which it’s set. 

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (added 23rd May  2016)

At St Oswald’s, a long-established boys’ grammar school in the north of England, a new year has just begun. For the staff and boys of the school, a wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork and Information Technology rule the world; and Roy Straitley, the eccentric veteran Latin master, is finally – reluctantly – contemplating retirement.

But beneath the little rivalries, petty disputes and everyday crises of the school, a darker undercurrent stirs. And a bitter grudge, hidden and carefully nurtured for thirteen years, is about to erupt.

Different Class by Joanne Harris (added 23rd May  2016)

After thirty years at St Oswald’s Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go – the clowns, the rebels, the underdogs, and those he calls his Brodie boys. But every so often there’s a boy who doesn’t fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy capable of twisting everything around him. A boy with hidden shadows inside.

With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new broom has arrived at the venerable school, bringing Powerpoint, sharp suits and even sixth form girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist this march to the future, a shadow from his past is stirring. A boy who even twenty years on haunts his teacher’s dreams. A boy capable of bad things.

Verdict: Dump/Dump – These are number one and two in a series but neither of them really appeal now even more so as both are over 500 pages each. 

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (added 22nd June 2016)

Capturing the violence, tragedy, history, and drama of the French Revolution, this novel focuses on the families and loves of three men who led the Revolution–Danton, the charismatic leader and orator; Robespierre, the cold rationalist; and Desmoulins, the rabble-rouser.

Verdict: Dump – It seems Hilary Mantel doesn’t know how to write a short book. This one is nearly 900 pages. I remember starting it many years ago and putting it aside because I just couldn’t get on with it. I don’t really feel inclined to give it another try so it’s going on the pile for the charity shop. 

The Result – 4 kept, 6 dumped. I think I’m getting the hang of this. Would you have made different choices?