Down the TBR Hole was the brain child of Lost In A Story. The idea is to reduce the length of your Goodreads TBR.

How it works:

• Go to your Goodreads want to read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added
• Take the first 5 or 10 books.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go

Hello everyone!

It is that time again where I try and clear up my TBR list on Goodreads. I will see how it goes because Goodreads has gone a bit crazy on me recently marking certain books as read instead of to read and also messing up the order on TBR list. Has anybody else had this problem recently?

To visit my previous posts please click on the links below.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |

1. Ninety- Three by Victor Hugo

Ninety-three, the last of Victor Hugo’s novels, is regarded by many including such diverse critics as Robert Louis Stevenson and André Maurois as his greatest work.

1793, Year Two of the Republic, saw the establishment of the National Convention, the execution of Louis XVI, the Terror, and the monarchist revolt in the Vendée, brutally suppressed by the Republic. Hugo’s epic follows three protagonists through this tumultuous year: the noble royalist de Lantenac; Gauvain, who embodies a benevolent and romantic vision of the Republic; and Cimourdain, whose principles are altogether more robespierrean.The conflict of values culminates in a dramatic climax on the scaffold.

This will definitely stay on the list as I aim to read all of Victor Hugo’s books.

KEEP.

2. Patriot Games by Tom Clancy

It is fall. Years before the defection of a Soviet submarine will send him hurtling into confrontation with the Soviets, historian, ex-Marine and CIA analyst Jack Ryan is vacationing in London with his wife and young daughter, when a terrorist attack takes place before his eyes. Instinctively, he dives forward to break it up, and is shot. It is not until he wakes up in the hospital that he learns whose lives he has saved — the Prince and Princess of Wales and their new young son — and which enemies he has made — the Ulster Liberation Army, an ultra-left-wing splinter of the IRA.

By his impulsive act, he has gained both the gratitude of a nation and then enmity of hits most dangerous men — men who do not sit on their hate. And in the weeks and months to come, it is Jack Ryan, and his family, who will become the targets of that hate.

I have owned this book for years because I love the film adaptation. I must admit I tried to read the book but gave up in the end but this was when I was at University and trying to write quite a few essays. I will give the book one more try.

KEEP

3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Anonymous

A sensational story of murder and pie-making, Sweeney Todd is a classic of British horror writing, widely adapted in print and on stage, most famously by Stephen Sondheim, whose unlikely “musical thriller” won eight Tony awards. This edition offers the original story with all its atmospheric Victorian trimmings. The story of Todd’s murderous partnership with pie-maker Margery Lovett–at once inconceivably unpalatable and undeniably compelling–has subsequently set the table for a seemingly endless series of successful dramatic adaptations, popular songs and ballads, novellas, radio plays, graphic novels, ballets, films, and musicals. Both gleeful and ghoulish, the original tale of Sweeney Todd, first published under the title The String of Pearls, combines the story of Todd’s grisly method of robbing and dispatching his victims–by way of Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies–with a romantic sub-plot involving deception, disguise, and detective work, set against the backdrop of London’s dark and unsavory streets. Editor Robert Mack ‘fleshes’ out the story with a fascinating introduction touching on the origins of the tale, the growth of the legend, and a history of its many retellings. Mack also includes explanatory notes that point out interesting aspects, plus a full chronology of the many versions of Sweeney Todd.
Since Sweeney Todd first entered the public imagination in the mid-nineteenth-century, his exploits have chilled and fascinated audiences around the world. This new edition allows modern readers to savor the ghastly original in all its gruesome glory.

To be honest horror is not really my cup of tea and I’m not sure I would have the stomach to read this. I think I added it because I had watched the film but I think now I will remove it from the list as I can’t see myself reading it.

GO

4. Labyrinth (Languedoc #1) by Kate Mosse

In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

I am ashamed to say I have owned this book since it came out and I also own most of the series but I have not read any of them. This I intend to change, so the book will definitely stay on the list.

KEEP

5. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield is the story of a young man’s adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend James Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble, yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora Spenlow; and the magnificently impecunious Wilkins Micawber, one of literature’s great comic creations. In David Copperfield – the novel he described as his ‘favourite child’ – Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of the most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure. This edition uses the text of the first volume publication of 1850, and includes updated suggestions for further reading, original illustrations by ‘Phiz’, a revised chronology and expanded notes. In his new introduction, Jeremy Tambling discusses the novel’s autobiographical elements, and its central themes of memory and identity.

It is a Dickens novel it stays!

KEEP

6. The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth

Best-selling Tolkien expert Brian Sibley (The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy and The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide) presents a slipcased collection of four full-color, large-format maps of Tolkien’s imaginary realm illustrated by John Howe, a conceptual designer for the blockbuster films directed by Peter Jackson. The set includes a hardcover book describing in detail the importance and evolution of geography within Tolkien’s epic fiction and four color maps presented with minimal folds, including two (Beleriand and Númenor) never before published in this country.

I do love all things Tolkien but I prefer the books by Tolkien so I doubt I will read this. I might do one day but for now it can come off the list.

GO

7. The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

Jo, Bessie and Fanny move to the country and find an Enchanted Wood right on their doorstep. In the magic Faraway Tree live the magical characters that soon become their new friends – Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, and Saucepan Man. Together they visit the strange lands (the Roundabout Land, the Land of Ice and Snow, Toyland and the Land of Take What You Want) atop the tree and have the most exciting adventures – and narrow escapes.

Oh the memories! I remember being at primary school sat on the carpet and the headmistress reading this book to us all. This definitely stays on the list because I would love to read it and relive some memories.

KEEP

8. The Vicomte De Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas

The Vicomte de Bragelonne opens an epic adventure which continues with Louise de La Valliere and reaches its climax in The Man in the Iron Mask. This new edition of the classic translation presents a key episode in the Musketeers saga, fully annotated and with an introduction by a leading Dumas scholar.

I love Dumas and I have read The Three Musketeers so many times my copy fell apart. This will definitely stay on the list as I would love to read all the books in the series.

KEEP

9. Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas

Released to coincide with the new Miramac film starring Isabelle Adjani, this is the classic novel unavailable for over 25 years. Massacres, conspiracies, clandestine trysts, secret alliances, daring escapes, sumptuous feasts, and duels of wit propel the action in this delightful story of French royalty during the 16th century. 

Another Dumas, need I say more?

KEEP

10. Louise De La Valliere by Alexandre Dumas

It is early summer, 1661, and the royal court of France is in turmoil. Can it be true that the King is in love with the Duchess d’Orleans? Or has his eye been caught by the sweet and gentle Louise de la Valliere? No one is more anxious to know the answer than Raoul, son of Athos, who loves Louise more than life itself. Behind the scenes, dark intrigues are afoot. Louis XIV is intent on making himself absolute master of France. Imminent crisis shakes the now ageing Musketeers and d’Artagnan out of their complacent retirement, but is the cause just?

KEEP

So that is another 10 books sorted and I have only got rid of 2! The list is now down to 471, I will get there eventually. 

If you have read any of these books please drop me a comment of what your thoughts are.

Happy Reading.