Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my April 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 March 2025, I had 605 books. Today, I have 607. It’s not too shabby, as I’ve added a few books to my TBR in the past month. Will my April 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: 607
Starting Number: 56. It looks like I’m going through the books I added in December 2020 and January 2021.
Shelf Sorted: Date Added
Let’s get this April 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein
Before Verity . . . there was Julie.
When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly what she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.
Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveler boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she witnesses firsthand some of the prejudices they’ve grown used to-a stark contrast to her own upbringing-and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation.
Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travelers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.
My Thoughts
I added this book once I realized it existed. Why? Because Code Name Verity is a book I still can’t get out of my mind. I also have a copy of this book sitting on my bookshelf. Thinking it’s time to give it a read!
KEEP
The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
A German soldier risks his life to drop off the sought-after Enigma Machine to British Intelligence, hiding it in a pub in a small town in northeast Scotland, and unwittingly bringing together four very different people who decide to keep it to themselves. Louisa Adair, a young teen girl hired to look after the pub owner’s elderly, German-born aunt, Jane Warner, finds it but doesn’t report it. Flight-Lieutenant Jamie Beaufort-Stuart intercepts a signal but can’t figure it out. Ellen McEwen, a volunteer at the local airfield, acts as the go-between and messenger after Louisa involves Jane in translating. The planes under Jamie’s command seem charmed, as Jamie knows where exactly to go, while other squadrons suffer, and the four are loathe to give up the machine, even after Elisabeth Lind from British Intelligence arrives, even after the Germans start bombing the tiny town.
My Thoughts
How can I not read every book written by Wein? I mean, seriously, the two I have read, I have loved. Why would this be any different?
KEEP
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Precious Ramotswe has only just set up shop as Botswana’s No.1 (and only) lady detective when she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. However, the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witch doctors.
My Thoughts
This book was recommended to me because of my love of cozy mysteries and Agatha Christie. I managed to find a copy, so why haven’t I read it yet?
KEEP
Bright Young Dead by Jessica Fellowes
Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home.
The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl’s name… all while the real killer may only be steps away.
My Thoughts
Another cozy mystery, but this time it’s a historical mystery. It sounds like an interesting read, and I have a copy on my bookshelf. So why haven’t I read it? Could it be that it’s the second book in the series?
KEEP
The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Judy Batalion
Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland—some still in their teens—helped transform the Jewish youth groups into resistance cells to fight the Nazis. With courage, guile, and nerves of steel, these “ghetto girls” paid off Gestapo guards, hid revolvers in loaves of bread and jars of marmalade, and helped build systems of underground bunkers. They flirted with German soldiers, bribed them with wine, whiskey, and home cooking, used their Aryan looks to seduce them, and shot and killed them. They bombed German train lines and blew up a town’s water supply. They also nursed the sick and taught children.
Yet the exploits of these courageous resistance fighters have remained virtually unknown.
My Thoughts
I have tried reading this book. But I had to return it to the library before I could become invested. Later, I found a copy of it on CDs and picked it up. Sadly, I’m not sure where I put the CDs. But this sounds like a story that needs to be told, and read by all.
KEEP
Wrap Up
That is my April 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It doesn’t look like it has affected my shelf much, because I’m keeping all five books. LOL!
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 manage your TBR?
Are you looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.
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My sister loves Elizabeth Wein’s books, and I trust her taste, so I’m thinking I may have to give them a try!
The two I’ve read (Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire) are both powerful and will stay with you long after you finish. They tell stories of WWII from the women’s POV.
Pam