Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my April 2024 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 will forever add books. In March 2024, I had 604 books. Today, I have 613. Will my April 2024 Goodreads TBR shelf clean-up help that number drop?
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 the Goodreads page for the book, and the image will take you to Amazon.
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: 146, it looks like I’m going through the books I added in the July of 2021
Shelf Sorted: Date Added
Let’s get this April 2024 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!
All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it’s a lie. In reality, Hubert’s days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul.
Until he receives some good news — good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. The news that his daughter is coming for a visit.
Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.
Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship, and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .
Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows, will he ever get to live the life he’s pretended to have for so long?
My Thoughts
This book is said to compare to A Man Called Ove. I love Ove, he’s probably one of my favorite characters of all time. I also own a physical copy of this book.
KEEP
What’s a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie
M.J., her partner Gilley, and their client, the wealthy, de-lish Dr. Steven Sable, are at his family’s lodge, where his grandfather allegedly jumped to his death from the roof-although Sable says it was foul play. But the patriarch’s isn’t the only ghost around. The place is lousy with souls, all with something to get off their ghoulish chests. Now M.J. will have to to quell the clamor-and listen for a voice with the answers…
My Thoughts
I love a good cozy mystery. And one with ghosts? How can I say no?
KEEP
The Bookseller’s Secret by Michelle Gable
In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.
Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.
Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…
My Thoughts
I’m intrigued by the premise. but I’m a bit worried because the rating on Goodreads is a 3.2. I know the rating isn’t an accurate reflection on the book. Also, I’ve read another book by this author and rated it a 3.
KEEP
Beyond the Tides by Liz Johnson
When Meg Whitaker’s father decides to sell the family’s lobster-fishing business to her high school nemesis, she sets out to prove she should inherit it instead. Though she’s never had any interest in running the small fleet–or even getting on a boat due to her persistent seasickness–she can’t stand to see Oliver Ross take over. Not when he ruined her dreams for a science scholarship and an Ivy League education ten years ago.
Oliver isn’t proud of what he did back then. Angry and broken by his father walking out on his family, he lashed out at Meg–an innocent bystander. But owning a respected fishing fleet on Prince Edward Island is the opportunity of a lifetime, and he’s not about to walk away just because Meg wants him to.
Meg’s father has the perfect solution: Oliver and Meg must work the business together, and at the end of the season, he’ll decide who gets it. Along the way, they may discover that their stories are more similar than they thought . . . and their dreams aren’t what they expected.
My Thoughts
This sounds like an interesting read. Is it a romance? Or is it a family saga? Either way, I’m always curious to read books set in Canada.
KEEP
Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz
A British agent floats in the waters of the French Riviera, murdered by an unknown hand.
Determined to uncover the truth, James Bond enters a world of fast cars, grand casinos and luxury yachts. But beneath the glamour, he soon encounters a dangerous network of organised crime.
It’s time for Bond to earn his licence to kill. He must find those responsible and unravel their devastating plan – before he becomes their next victim…
My Thoughts
This has been on my TBR since July 2021, and I have no idea why I haven’t read it.
KEEP
Wrap Up
And that is my April 2024 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It doesn’t look like I cleaned my shelf much! Out of the five books, I’m keeping five of them.
This was fun. I may do it now and then to help keep my shelf realistic. In the past, I just added books without really thinking about it. Will I stop doing that? Of course not! What kind of animal do you think I am?
What do you think? Have you tried doing something like this to see if you can get your TBR under control?
Are you looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.
It occurred to me recently that I should clear my GR want to read shelf in one fell swoop and start fresh! I’m highly tempted! I also discovered that GR will automatically add a book you’re simply checking reviews on to your want to read shelf. That is not helpful! By the way, the Gable book is meh from what I remember.
The first one sounds fun–I’ll look for it. I have 2000+ on my Goodreads list NOT that I have any intention (or enough years left!!!) to read them all–I just can’t remember a title when I need an audio book!!
I have two of these, Gable and Gayle on my TBR as well. So many books, so little time.
What’s a Ghoul to Do? sounds like a really fun cozy mystery. I’m interested in reading that one, too!