August 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up

Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my August 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. I wonder if this will help me reduce the number of books on my TBR. Who am I kidding? I’m a reader; of course, I’ll always add books. In July 2025, I had 607 books. Today, I have 613. The reason for the increase is that I added a few recent additions. Will my August 2025 Goodreads TBR shelf clean-up help drop that number?

I saw this Goodreads TBR Clean-Up post at Megan’s Book Stacks and knew I had to try it. Megan found it over at MegaBunnyReads.

Click the titles to go to Goodreads.

How It Works:

• Go to your Goodreads want-to-read shelf.
• Use a random number generator to pick a number between 1 and however many books are on the list.
• Go to that book and look at the four after it for a total of 5.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or delete it?
• Discuss here.

Books To Be Read: 613

Starting Number: 229. It appears that I’m reviewing the books I added in December 2021.

Shelf Sorted: Date Added

Let’s get this August 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!

Amanda’s Wedding by Jenny Colgan

Amanda’s old school friends, Mel and Fran, are shocked when the social-climbing queen of mean announces her engagement to a laird (Scottish lord). It doesn’t matter that Fraser McConnel has worn the same pair of Converse sneakers for the last three years and that his castle is a pile of rubble with one gas heater—she’ll be the wife of an actual laird! But Mel and Fran can’t just sit back and let the sweet and gentle Fraser marry Amanda, especially since Mel had a huge crush on him back in University. Something must be done!

Joining forces with Fraser’s adorable younger brother, Angus, they set out to sabotage this mismatch of the century. So between fighting off the attentions of a love-crazed accountant, keeping Fran’s deadly maneuvers’ with the opposite sex under control and trying to win her own war of love with her aspiring rock-star beau, Mel finds herself preparing for a wedding that’s everything you’d wish on your worst enemy.

My Thoughts

I’ve enjoyed most of Jenny Colgan’s books, and this feels like a fun read. Bonus, I own a copy.

KEEP

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.

One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events, thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.

My Thoughts

I was introduced to this book through a Top Ten Tuesday post. It sounds like a fun read! The biggest issue is finding a copy. But I’m not going to give up!

KEEP

Under the Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee

Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.

As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured―especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?

My Thoughts

I am curious about this look at history. Many historical fiction books are centered on war. This is a look at a different time period.

KEEP

When We Were Young & Brave by Hazel Gaynor

China, December 1941. Having left an unhappy life in England for a teaching post at a missionary school in northern China, Elspeth Kent is now anxious to return home to help the war effort. But as she prepares to leave China, a terrible twist of fate determines a different path for Elspeth and those in her charge.

Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School, protected by her British status. But when Japan declares war on Britain and America, Japanese forces take control of the school, and the security and comforts Nancy and her friends are used to are replaced by privation, uncertainty, and fear. Now, the enemy, and separated from their parents, the children look to their teachers – to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol, especially – to provide a sense of unity and safety.

Faced with the relentless challenges of oppression, the school community must rely on their courage, faith, and friendships as they pray for liberation – but worse is to come when they are sent to a distant internment camp where even greater uncertainty and danger await . . .

My Thoughts

Although I am somewhat burned out on war-centric books, this one has a few things going for it. One, it’s inspired by actual events. Two, it’s not focused on the war in Europe. Three, I’ve read and enjoyed another book by Hazel Gaynor.

KEEP

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle’s alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa-WHO IS A LION-to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don’t any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!?!

From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, Lindy combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones-the stories we’ve long been telling ourselves about who we are. At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, “How does this movie hold up?”, all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook.

Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they’re one and the same.

My Thoughts

Ironically, I added this book to my TBR as a reminder to get it for my husband. While I enjoy watching movies, I’m not as big a movie fan as my husband. Interestingly, I often forget about this book until I conduct random TBR checks.

DELETE

Wrap Up

That is my August 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It appears to have had little effect on my shelf, as I’m keeping four books. LOL!

This was fun. I may do it now and then to help keep my shelf realistic. In the past, I had added books without giving them much thought. Will I stop doing that? Of course not! What kind of animal do you think I am?

What do you think? Have you tried something like this to manage your TBR?

Are you looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.