Every now and then when my TBR gets over 250 books and I realise it’s become way too unwieldy, I go through and remove books that have been on there for a long time and I’m not too bothered about reading any more.
In my recent cull, these were some of the books that I took off the list.
Most of these books I’ve lost interest in reading and wanted to make room for more diverse novels on my TBR, but there were a few that I had different reasons for taking off my list.
The Art of Being Normal: I was really excited to read this book, because it’s about a transgender main character, but I’ve seen a lot of reviews stating that there’s deadnaming and unchallenged transphobia in this book. The author is CIS, and a number of trans readers have called into questions the sensitivity of the representation, so I’ve decided to removed it from my TBR. I’d rather read own voices books that offer trans rep from the perspective of trans authors.
The Edge of Everything: I’ve read a number of reviews about this book stating that the mental health representation is really poor and there are ableist slurs that go unchallenged. The book also apparently features intense animal cruelty that I’m not on board with. Ever.
Do you ever have to unhaul books from your TBR when it gets too unwieldy? What are your main reasons for removing books from your to-read list? Let me know in the comments!
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I am sad that you unhauled Illuminae & The Girl With All The Gifts!!! I loved Illuminae & just finished the audio for Gifts, really, thoroughly enjoyed! Maybe they can come back in future! ❤ Culling your Goodreads TBR feels so good though.
Aww, it doesn’t mean they have to stay off my TBR forever though! I might read some amazing reviews in a few months time and decide to add them back on, but for now I have piles of other books to read, and I knew I wasn’t going to get to them. 😉 Yeah, taking some books off definitely made my TBR feel more manageable (at least for now!).
Yes I definitely understand culling and prioritising, that’s what 2018 is going to be for me! Owning 250+ unread books has definitely made me realise I’ve gotta do something. XD
Wow, that’s a lot of unread books! I probably own about 100 unread, but I’m hoping that by cutting down my TBR, I’ll eventually get to them!
The fact that Illuminae made it to this list makes me sad but I can understand that it’s not a book for everyone, same goes for Red Rising. I heard the same thing about the poor representation of mental health in The Edge of Everything so I removed it from my tbr as well.
Well it doesn’t have to mean I’ll never read it! I may add it back to my TBR in 6 months time if I’m really feeling excited about it, but for now I just know I’ve got lots of other books I want to pick up instead. 😉 Yeah, I’m not too unhappy about removing TEOE to be honest, I’d rather read books with positive mental health rep!
I tend to remove books from my “to-read” shelf on Goodreads every few months. Mostly the number gets too high and it starts bothering me and there are always books there that I have lost interest in. 🙂 I just like keeping it organized and having books that I’m really interested on there!
Yeah, I think that’s a good system! I definitely add books in the pre-release hype and excitement, then go back a few months later, read the synopsis again, and realise I’m not actually that interested!
I moved my wishlist to pre-2017-wishlist because man that is gonna be a chore to sort through
Haha yeah, I think I should try and organise or chunk down my TBR more, but if I did that I’d probably end up wanting to switch things up and read book that I’d planned for later in the year!