Tackling My TBR – Part 2 [Backlist Books]

If you’re looking to find out more about why I am doing these posts, check out last week’s original Tackling My TBR.

Each week I am going to choose a selection of older books from my TBR pile and read the first chapter(ish) and see if it grabs me. I will then allocate the book into one of the following four categories:

Read – I’ll read it immediately or within the next couple of weeks
Shelve – I’ll come back to it within the next six months (To be avoided!)
Finish – I’ll finish the partially read book
Rehome/DNF – I’ll decide not to read the book or not to finish it, and the copy will be given away.

Ideally, all the books must either be Read/Finish/DNF – I will only shelve it if I have a justifiable reason to do so. As you can tell, I’ll only be doing a small number of books at a time to keep this managable. These could be physical books or ebooks, and may be review copies or my own purchases.

[Note: I sometimes receive unsolicited review copies, so I have books on my TBR that I would not have necessarily requested, please bear that in mind when reading my posts]

Here we go, round one…!

This book cover is done in a painting style. The background is bright blue. The title and author name are in white. The main image is a penguin, with the words 'How far would you travel to become a writer?' on the front of the penguin.

Title: Bleaker House

Author: Nell Stevens

Format: Hardback, my own

Assessment: This was a book sent to me as part of a subscription service and I have to admit I never would’ve picked it out for myself. What I can’t get my head around with this, is that it is part memoir and part fiction – so some of the stories are not real and feature characters. Along with my dislike of the overall style, I decided this book is not for me.

Verdict: Rehome

Title: The Penelopiad

Author: Margaret Atwood

Format: Paperback, review copy

Assessment: Cover your eyes and ears, Atwood fans. I was sent this by Canongate (unsolicited) which is very kind of them but here’s the thing – *whispers* I don’t think Atwood is a very good writer. I have tried to read The Handmaid’s Tale several times and found it dull and unfinishable.

I gave The Penelopiad a go but as predicted, it’s not for me.

Verdict: Rehome

This book cover has a deep blue background with the words "After the flood" in large, block capitals. There is a sketch image of a boat, waves, butterflies and flowers. The author's name is at the bottom of the book - Kassandra Montag.

Title: After The Flood

Author: Kassandra Montag

Format: Paperback, review copy

Assessment: I only read the two page prologue of this book and I have so many questions! I’m sold but I’m going to be realistic – it’s a big book and I’m not in a position to pick it up yet.

Verdict: Shelve

This book cover has a plain white background with the title, subheading, and author's name in black and red (alternating). It reads "Catherine A. Sanderson, The Bystander Effect, The psychology of courage and inaction".

Title: The Bystander Effect

Author: Catherine A. Sanderson

Format: eBook, review copy

Assessment: I got 25% through this book and quite frankly, totally forgot I’d been reading it. I picked it up again and read a few pages but didn’t feel inclined to keep reading. It doesn’t introduce any new research, it just summarises studies by other people and honestly, for me, that’s not very interesting.

Verdict: DNF

That leaves me with one read, two rehome, and one DNF. What do you think of my verdicts? Are there any you loved or loathed? Let me know in the comments below!

Wishing you a bookish week,

One thought on “Tackling My TBR – Part 2 [Backlist Books]”

Jules_Writes says:

July 30, 2020 at 9:51 am

I ended up loving After the flood when I read it last year but I do remember it being a rather chunky read.

Good luck with tackling that TBR pile!

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