I don’t know why, but one of my favorite types of blog posts to read are ones dedicated to taking books off your to-be-read pile or Goodreads want-to-read shelf. Goodreads is really the only way that I’ve tracked books on my TBR. Yes, I always live in fear of the books on my shelf mysteriously being deleted, but I’ve never been good about keeping track of the books I want to read in another way.

I do not care about how many books are on my Goodreads TBR – I accepted a long time ago that my TBR list will probably never break 80 books (let’s be even more honest, 100) because I’m always adding books on to my list. However, on Sunday morning when I was putting books on hold from the library and using Goodreads to do so, I realized that 95% of the time when I go to check out books from the library, I’m scrolling all the way down to the books I’ve most recently added…and not the books that have been on my TBR for months or even years! While yes, we all know that we tend to get more excited about new releases or books that have recently gotten rave reviews from friends, I am someone who will read books I’ve had on my TBR for quite some time. 

But this Sunday I realized that no matter for how long I’ve convinced myself, there are just some books on my TBR I’m never going to get to. Maybe someday I will, but I want to get rid of the sense of pressure I feel when I see them on my list. For today’s post, I’ll be sharing some of the books I removed from my TBR. I didn’t include all of the books I removed , but I took about 15 off!

The One We Fell in Love With by Paige Toon – Paige Toon’s The One We Fell in Love With had been on my TBR since October 2016. At some point, this book was a Zoella Book Club pick, and I want to say that’s how it ended up on my TBR. However, since Paige Toon is a British author, her books are difficult to find in the US both bookstore and library wise. I’m also not the biggest fan of the ‘two-to-three women find out they’ve been dating or in love with the same guy’ trope. 

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan – If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you’ll know that Rick Riordan’s The Sword of Summer has been on so many of my ‘ I’ll read this eventually lists.’ I always felt pressured to read this one because so many people love Rick Riordan, and I actually have a personalized copy generously gifted from a friend. However, I’ve really begun to realize that I am just not a middle grade fan (if I do pick up a MG, its synopsis absolutely has to grab my interest), and I’ve never been super in love with Rick Riordan’s books. It’s definitely a ‘it’s not the book, it’s me’ thing, being that again I’m not a hue MG reader, not super into mythology, and I wish I had read Percy Jackson for the first time when I was younger vs. checking them out for the first time in high school largely because of BookTube. 

When We Caught Fire by Anna Godbersen – I added When We Caught Fire on to my TBR originally because I was absolutely obsessed with Anna Godbersen’s Luxe and Bright Young Things series when I was in middle school.  There are definitely other series from my childhood I want to reread more, but I actually want to reread The Luxe series and see how they hold up? This huge sense of nostalgia overtook me when I saw two years ago that she was coming out with a new book, When We Caught Fire.

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao – I totally admit I feel a little guilty taking Our Wayward Fate off my TBR, because I love college YA book and I thought Gloria Chao’s American Panda was super cute, but the synopsis of Our Wayward Fate sounds sort’ve similar and a few of my blogging friends weren’t super into this one. 

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby and  The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howell – I feel like I added Moonglass and  The Summer of Skinny Dipping to my TBR when I was again in a nostalgic mood, wanting a summer contemporary that reminded me of Sarah Dessen. 

The Betrothed by Kiera Cass – Who remembers when I read The Selection trilogy earlier in 2020 partially because I really wanted to read The Betrothed? I’m all for fluff books like The Selection, as well as reading books with mixed reviews, but I’m really not too interested in reading The Betrothed any longer. Maybe I’ll change my mind if people seem to like the other books in the series? 

Do you try to clean up your TBR or Goodreads TBR often? How do you keep track of your TBR? Have you read any of the books I mentioned? Share in the comments!