I made my GoodReads account about a year ago now (add me!) and have recently taken up reading again. Plowing through the Harry Potter books in less than three weeks made me realize how much I can enjoy it and even on my worst mental health days, making progress in a book is always a good feeling.
With that, I went through my to be read books and either binned or kept them. With the books I kept, I sorted them by high or medium priority and if they can be rented digitally from my home library in Arizona or from the Brighton library. The lists below are just a sample of the books, it would take ages to type them all out!
Let’s get into it…
Kept, low priority
- The Lovely Bones by Alive Sebold
- It, Carrie and Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King: I really enjoyed Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges 1), so I will probably tackle those first.
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- I am Legend by Richard Matheson
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Jurassic Park books by Michael Crichton
- Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: I cannot watch horror movies, but they are some of my favorite books.
Kept, medium priority
- The God Instinct by Jesse Bering
- The Man in the High Castle by Phillip Dick
- The Exorcist by William Blatty
- Ready Player One by Ernest Kline
- A Brief History of Everyone Who Has Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
- Room by Emma Donoghue: I loved this movie and have it reserved at the library to read next. Thursday, come quick!
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Steig Larsson
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie: I actually haven’t read any of her books yet, so this should be interesting!
Kept, high priority
- Dominion: The Power of Man… by Matthew Scully: the topic of religion and the way we treat animals has greatly interested me since my Environmental Ethics class in my undergraduate degree, I hope to get this one under my belt soon.
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: I have heard nothing but good things about this book and I love me a popular science book. I have it reserved from the library for early next month.
- Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult: Although I binned some books on my TBR list by her, this one seems sweet.
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: I love WWII historical fiction.
- The Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien
- In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park: I bought this at Waterstones the other day and can’t wait to dive in soon.
- Roadmap: The Get-It-Together Guide for Figuring Out What to Do with Your Life: Lord knows I need it.
Binned
- Sperm Wars by Robin Baker: I read something similar by Jared Diamond and thought it was just okay. Interesting, but I don’t need to read another book on the topic.
- House Rules and Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult: She has written probably my favorite book of all time, The Storyteller, and a few others I enjoyed. However, one of the last books I read by her (The Pact) really let me down and a lot of these plots sound kind of same-same. When you read her books enough, you can see what kind of twist is coming.
- Some feminist books e.g. The Second Sex (thought Bad Feminist was just okay)
- Lies She Told by Kate Holahan
- Into the Water by Paula Hawkins: I thought The Girl on the Train was just okay, it was like Gone Girl for wussies.
- Some popular science books e.g. Bottlemania
- Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon: It just sounds cringey.
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: Because my dad didn’t like it and I trust his taste
- Vox by Christina Dalcher
Are there any books I should un-bin? Move up in priority? Forget about? Let me know if you see one of your favorite books!
Photo by Florencia Viadana.
Such a great list! Jenny Han’s books are amazing! I was not a fan of the Lovely Bones. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is incredible! If you like WWII books I highly recommend that one! <3
Author
Was a tad let down by The Nightingale. A good book, but not as incredible as my aunt said it would be.
I definitely think you should un-bin Vox, I listened to the audiobook last week and thought it was incredible, I couldn’t stop listening.
I had to drop Everything, Everything from my TBR, I tried to read it twice and just couldn’t get in to it.
I need to clear out my Goodreads shelves too haha.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Author
Hm, okay will do! Thanks!
All the Harry Potter books in three weeks?!?! Impressive! I read The Lovely Bones for A-Levels and actually really enjoyed it, despite having to pick it apart and analyse everything!! Love To All The Boy I’ve Loved Before as well!
I’m dying to read the Tattooist of Aushwitcz but it must be popular because the wait list is a mile long at my local library. Currently reading The Immortalists which is excellent so far.
Wow, what an awesome post – so many of these books are ones which I have been wanted to read for ages, Jenny Han’s especially after watching the film version! Just want to say as well your blog design is absolutely gorgeous!
Imogen x https://imogenchloe.co.uk
Author
That book isn’t what I usually go for but I’ve heard so many good things! Thanks, darling x
Oh lordy, I need to clean up my Goodreads to read list as well… Great idea! I don’t know why I never thought of that since my list is sooo big and it takes some time to scroll through to see what I want to attempt to read. I love your idea of low and high priority.
I would say move The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks up to priority! I loved that book and it was soooo interesting to see how modern medicine came to be by her.