Hello readers! It’s time for another Down the TBR Hole post. Now that I’m starting a new round, I decided to do a little sidequest. I’ll be going back through the posts from the last round, removing more books from them, and showing you guys some stats.
I’m also going to be moving this series to Tuesdays instead of Mondays. I’ve recently discovered a new weekly meme that I’d like to participate in that takes place on Mondays.
First, I will be going over each post, telling you how many I kept, removed, and removed later, then I’ll tell you if I’m going to remove anything else. At the bottom of this post, I’ll give you guys some stats for the entire previous round and an updated number for my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads.
Before starting the audit, I have 258 books on my Goodreads Want to Read shelf, which is almost 100 higher than the first post of Down the TBR Hole in 2024.
If you’ve never heard of Down the TBR Hole before, you go through 5 to 10 books per post on your Want to Read shelf on Goodreads and purge all the ones you know you won’t be getting to anytime soon. If you want to see a more detailed version of how this works, check out Jody’s post.
Post 1| Down the TBR Hole 2024 Edition
I started the first Down the TBR Hole post with 161 books on my Goodreads Want to Read shelf.
Kept: 6
Removed: 2
Removed Later: 2
Of the books left, I am still excited to read all four! They’ve been on my TBR too long, and one of them is a book I own. Should I do some sort of reading challenge where I read the oldest books on my Want to Read shelf?
Post 2| Down the TBR Hole #2
In the 2nd post, I had 163 books on my Want to Read shelf, two more than the previous post.
Kept: 8
Removed: 0
Removed Later: 1
Both of these books are ones that I was excited to read whenever I added them. I even own a copy of Wolf by Wolf.
However, I never think about these books, and I never gravitate toward them. I can’t see myself reading either of these in the near future, so I might as well remove them.
Post 3| Down the TBR Hole #3
In one, I started with 163 on the shelf, the same as in the previous post. This is most likely because I would commonly write 2 at the same time and schedule them in advance.
Kept: 7
Removed: 1
Removed Later: 3
Post 4| Down the TBR Hole 4
In the 4th installment of Down the TBR Hole, I started with 161 books on my Want to Read shelf, 2 fewer than the previous post.
Kept: 6
Removed: 2
Removed Later: 1
While doing this audit of the previous edition of this series, I kept thinking about whether I ever thought about the books on the list.
Both of these have sat on my Want to Read shelf for 5 years, and I haven’t read them.
I just don’t see myself prioritizing either of these books in the near future, so I’ll be removing them. Who knows, they might come back to me one day.
Post 5| Down the TBR Hole 5
This was a shorter post. I only went over 5 books compared to the previous editions having 8. I had 164 books on my Want to Read shelf in this one.
Kept: 4
Removed: 1
Removed Later: 3
Post 6| Down the TBR Hole 6
I seemed to have forgotten to mention how many books were on my Want to Read shelf at this point. However, we are back up to sifting through 8 books.
Kept:4
Removed: 4
Removed Later: 1
Codename Charming is the sequel to Battle Royal. I read Battle Royal as an ARC before it came out. I just don’t think I am that interested in a sequel. I really liked Battle Royal, especially the love interest being clearly inspired by Paul Hollywood and a little bit of Gordon Ramsay.
However, I don’t really have a pull toward Codename Charming. It’s been on this Want to Read shelf for nearly 5 years. This is just showing me I need to read books when I am most interested in them, so my interest doesn’t get overshadowed by other books.
Post 7| Down the TBR Hole 7
In this post, I started with 165 books on my Want to Read shelf.
Kept: 5
Removed: 3
Removed Later: 3
Post 8| Down the TBR Hole 8
I took a 6-month break between 7 and 8 of the Down the TBR Hole series. In that time, my Want to Read shelf jumped up 81 books to 246. I believe that in the summer of 2024, I started massively entering into giveaways on Goodreads, and that is the reason the shelf’s number of books climbed so much.
Kept: 4
Removed: 4
Removed Later: 1
I am currently reading Mr. Lemoncello’s Very First Game, which was mentioned in this post. So, I’m going to count it as removed from the list.
Post 9| Down the TBR Hole 9
I’ve done this series differently over the years, and at this point, I switched strategies. I started separating the kept and removed books, and I wasn’t giving the reasoning for keeping or removing. I would typically keep going until one section hit 6 books.
In this post, I started with 241 books on my Want to Read shelf, 4 less than the previous post.
Kept: 6
Removed: 1
Removed Later: 0
Alechia Dow is an author I have read a few books by, and I’ve enjoyed them. But she never comes to mind when I’m thinking of books to read.
I’m also removing a third one called Sweet Stakes, which I added in 2022, and hasn’t even had a release date announcement or a cover, either.
I could maybe see myself going for Just a Pinch of Magic one day because it’s middle-grade, but I have plenty of other books higher than this one on my priority list.
Post 10| Down the TBR Hole 10
In this one, I started with 240 books on my Want to Read shelf, one fewer than the previous post.
Kept: 6
Removed: 2
Removed Later: 2
Post 11| Down the TBR Hole 11
In post 11, we started at 250 books, which is 10 higher than the previous post.
Kept: 6
Removed: 4
Removed Later: 0
I genuinely do not remember what Hungry Ghost is about, so I decided to just remove it.
Fr Every Time You Go Away, I had added two books around the same time that centered on wheelchair users. I decided to look a little closer at both of them. This one has lower ratings overall, but the deciding factor for me to remove this one over the other one is that it really centers on romance.
I do still occasionally really enjoy YA books, but I know I’m not going to enjoy a y able that centers on romance. There was romance in the other one, but it wasn’t the center of the story.
Post 12| Down the TBR Hole 12
I started the last Down the TBR Hole post of 2024 with 246 books on the Want to Read shelf.
Kept: 5
Removed: 6
Removed Later: 2
When It All Syncs Up is another book that I rarely think about. So, I am removing it.
I’ve decided to remove the graphic novel of The Librarian of Auschwitz because I’ve already read the novel. I always think I’ll read a graphic novelization of a book, and I never do.
This is an absolutely important story, and everyone should read it! Dita Kraus actually died late last year at 96 years old.
Post 13| Down the TBR Hole 13
The first Down the TBR hole post of 2025 was a bit different than the others. In this post, I went back through the last 12 posts and removed books I was previously unsure about. I did this the first time I did Down the TBR Hole in 2 posts during Blogmas 2021. The posts were called Down the TBR Hole: Winter Edition.
We started with 263 books in this post, and removed 13 more books. This means I have only removed an additional 6 books before this post I’m writing now.
Post 14| Down the TBR Hole 14
In post 14 of Down the TBR Hole, I started at 249 books. At this point, I noticed how much my TBR had soared, so I decided to go through at least 10 books in each post.
Kept: 8
Removed: 2
Removed Later: 1
Both of these books are just not calling to me anymore. I was initially excited for House of Roots and Ruin because it is a sequel to a book I enjoyed.
But it’s been a really long time since I read book one. I’d probably need to reread it at this point and I don’t feel like doing that.
Post 15| Down the TBR Hole 15
In post 15, I started with 260 books, 11 more than in the previous post.
Kept: 6
Removed: 4
Removed Later: 1
Structural Support is a sequel to this why choose romance book. I did enjoy book one, but I didn’t love it. I think if the book had been out when I read book one, I would have immediately read this, but I’m really just no longer interested.
I just really find all the dialogue in BDSM scenes annoying. I know the reasoning for it and why people like it, but it is just not for me.
Post 16| Down the TBR Hole 16
In this Down the TBR Hole post, I started with 255 books.
Kept: 7
Removed: 5
Removed Later: 0
I actually have no idea what The Secrets of Jane Forgotten is even about. Looking at it on Goodreads, I may have just added it because someone recommended it to me, and it’s a fantasy romance. At the time, I think I may have been on BookTok.
However, it’s a dark romance, and I will not be reading anything like that. I do not like dark romance, rarely ever, so I don’t want to take the chance.
I’ve read a few thrillers by Joshilyn Jackson that I liked. I just haven’t read many the past few years, so I’m not currently interested in this one. If I read a thriller, it will most likely be by John Marrs or Lisa Jewell over anyone else.
Post 17| Down the TBR Hole 17
In this post, my Want to Read shelf jumped to 272, which is nearly 20 higher than the previous one. There was also a month’s gap between this post and the previous one.
Kept: 5
Removed: 4
Removed Later: 0
Post 18| Down the TBR Hole #18
In this post, I started with 271 books on my Want to Read shelf.
Kept: 6
Removed: 6
Removed Later: 0
I do not remember what Womb City is about, and it has really terrible ratings on Goodreads. I think it’s a scifi book of some sort, but I’m going to remove it.
I read another book by Yangsze Choo that I really enjoyed, but I never think about The Fox Wife. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to reading it, so I’m removing it for now.
Post 19| Down the TBR Hole #19
In this post, I started with 266 books on my Want to Read shelf.
Kept: 5
Removed: 2
Removed Later: 1
Post 20| Down the TBR Hole 20
In this post, I started with 267. At this point in the series, I started going through books I had added in 2024, so a lot of them were purged. This is because of the giveaways I mentioned earlier on.
Kept: 3
Removed: 7
Removed Later: 1
Post 21| Down the TBR Hole 21
In the 21st edition of Down the TBR Hole, I started with 271 books.
Kept: 3
Removed: 8
Removed Later: 0
Post 22| Down the TBR Hole 22
In this post, I started with 263 books.
Kept: 1
Removed: 5
Removed Later: 0
Post 23| Down the TBR Hole 23
Kept: 2
Removed: 8
Removed Later: 0
This one is a Christmas-centered romance, which is probably why I added it. I have some others I’m more interested in than this one, so I decided to remove it. It also had pretty bad ratings on Goodreads.
Post 24| Down the TBR Hole 24
Kept: 4
Removed: 6
Removed Later: 0
Post 25| Down the TBR Hole 25
Kept: 3
Removed: 8
Removed Later: 1
Juniper’s Christmas was one that I actually started last year, and it just wasn’t catching my attention. I meant to remove it back then, but I never got around to it. I might go ahead and check out the movie later this year instead.
Down the TBR Hole Stats:
In all 25 posts, I went over 222 books! I kept 12o of those books and removed 102 in these posts. Nearly half and half of the books I sorted through.
After the posts were published, I removed 20 books, and I also removed 20 in this post. That leaves me at 80 of the 222 books that I sorted through in the last edition of this series.
Meaning I kept about 46% of all the books I went through in the last edition of this Down the TBR Hole.
That leaves me at 238 books for the Down the TBR Hole 2, which should be posted next Tuesday. I am going to go through the books on the Want to Read shelf in the next one based on authors. I think it could be fun to do a theme each time instead of just going in order, so let me know if you have any ideas!
Happy blogging and bookish adventures! 📚🦒✨
Allison Wolfe created this post for www.allithebookgiraffe.com and is not permitted to be posted anywhere else.
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