Down the TBR Hole #8

It’s been two weeks since my last DTH. These past two weeks have been super hectic between school and work. I ended up taking a break from social media so I could work on catching up on assignments. It was much needed, but I definitely missed Bookstagram. Anyhow, let’s get into this.

The Rules

•  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 synopsis of the books.
•  5. Time to Decide: keep it or should it go

Goodreads Synopsis: When a crash kills their father and leaves them orphaned, Zel knows she needs to protect her sister, Dyl. But before Zel has a plan, Dyl is taken by strangers using bizarre sensory weapons, and Zel finds herself in a safe house for teens who aren’t like any she’s ever seen before—teens who shouldn’t even exist. Using broken-down technology, her new friends’ peculiar gifts, and her own grit, Zel must find a way to get her sister back from the kidnappers who think a powerful secret is encoded in Dyl’s DNA.

Set in 2150—in a world of automatic cars, nightclubs with auditory ecstasy drugs, and guys with four arms—this is about the human genetic “mistakes” that society wants to forget, and the way that outcasts can turn out to be heroes.

I remember Control getting a lot of hype when it first came out. The synopsis sounds interesting enough, but the reviews are making me seriously doubt this one.

Verdit: Let it go

Goodreads Synopsis: From the remarkable imagination of acclaimed artist Jim Di Bartolo and the exquisite pen of bestselling author Kiersten White comes a spellbinding story of love, mystery, and dark conspiracy, told in an alternating narrative of words and pictures.

Cora and Minnie are sisters living in a small, stifling town where strange and mysterious things occur. Their mother runs the local boarding house. Their father is gone. The woman up the hill may or may not be a witch.

Thomas and Charles are brothers who’ve been exiled to the boarding house so Thomas can tame his ways and Charles can fight an illness that is killing him with increasing speed. Their family history is one of sorrow and guilt. They think they can escape from it . . . but they can’t. 

I had really wanted to read something by Kiersten White at the time. This was also before I realized that YA is more than fantasy and romance. All this to say, my tastes have changed.

Verdict: Unhaul

Goodreads Synopsis: Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.

She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more. 

Yes, I know. I somehow never read this, not even during my childhood days. After reading the synopsis, my interest is peaked. Then again, will I actually read it? This is the conundrum of a book blogger.

Verdict: Tentatively keepin’

Goodreads Synopsis: The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

Here’s another confession. I got a copy of Fahrenheit 451 freshman year of high school and starting reading it on the bus to youth camp. I was loving it, but then I lost the book somehow while halfway through it. Sooo… I’ve read half of it, just never finished it.

Verdict: Still searching for my lost copy (Keep)

Goodreads Synopsis: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story is of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his new love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

I’ve read other stories by Fitzgerald, just not this one. I never had one of those English classes where I had to read The Great Gatsby in high school, so I just never read it. Now that I’m an English major though, I’ll probably get to it eventually, just not of my own accord.

Verdict: Unhaul

So, I unhauled three and kept two books this week. I definitely missed this cathartic experience last week. Much love to everyone and if you have your own Down the TBR posts, make sure to link it below.

How was your week?

What are you most excited for October?

How do you decide what to keep?

Let me know in the comments, let’s chat!

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