Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my September 2026 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 August 2026, I had 590 books. Today, I have 592. Will my September 2026 Goodreads TBR shelf clean-up help bring that number down further?
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 next four for a total of 5.
- Read the synopses of the books.
- Decide: keep it or delete it?
- Discuss here.
Books To Be Read: 592
Starting Number: 442. It appears that I’m reviewing the books I added in Spring 2025.
Shelf Sorted: Date Added
Let’s get this August 2026 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane
When Roisin and Joe join their friends for a weekend at a country house, it’s a triple celebration–a birthday, an engagement, and the launch of Joe’s shiny new TV show. But as the weekend unfolds, tensions come to light in the group and Roisin begins to question her own relationship. And as they watch the first episode of Joe’s drama, she realizes that the private things she told him–which should have stayed between them–are right there on the screen.
With her friend group in chaos and her messy love life on display for the whole world to see, Roisin returns home to avoid the unwanted attention and help run her family’s pub. But drama still follows, in the form of her dysfunctional family and the looming question: what other parts of her now-ex’s show are inspired by real events? Lies? Infidelity? Every week, as a new episode airs, she wonders what other secrets will be revealed.
Yet the most unexpected twist of all is an old friend who is suddenly there for Roisin in ways she never knew she needed…
My Thoughts
I picked this book up at a book fair. Even better, it was a blind date with a book. I was excited to get it, because I’ve been wanting to give McFarlane a try. Why? Because I’ve heard great things about her books.
KEEP
The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour
From a unique and singular voice comes the incredible true story of the last surviving undercover British female operative in WW2. Pippa Latour parachuted into occupied France in 1944 to conduct sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Selling soap to German soldiers and hiding codes on a piece of ribbon, she sent back crucial information about troop positions in the lead-up to D-Day, and continued her work until Paris was liberated. From her childhood as an orphan in South Africa to her years as an undercover agent, Pippa’s story is that of a woman determined to honor her principles and risk her life to fight against the greatest evil of the 20th century.
My Thoughts
I don’t remember where I heard of this book, but after looking at it again, I know that I want to read it. Why? Because it’s a memoir that was published after Latour’s death. And I love learning how women fought throughout history.
KEEP
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Dido and Harry are part of the cast of eccentric, utterly lovable characters, all transplants from elsewhere, who form an unlikely group at the station. Their loves and longings, their rivalries and entanglements, the stories of their pasts and what brought each of them to the North, form the centre. One summer, on a canoe trip four of them make into the Arctic wilderness (following in the steps of the legendary Englishman John Hornby, who, along with his small party, starved to death in the barrens in 1927), they find the balance of love shifting, much as the balance of power in the North is being changed by the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, which threatens to displace Native people from their land.
On the shortest night of the year, a golden evening without end, Dido climbed the wooden steps to Pilot’s Monument on top of the great Rock that formed the heart of old Yellowknife. In the Netherlands the light was long and gradual too, but more meadowy, more watery, or else hazier, depending on where you were… Here, it was subarctic desert, virtually unpopulated, and the light was uniformly clear.
On the road below, a small man in a black beret was bending over his tripod just as her father used to bend over his tape recorder. Her father’s voice had become the wallpaper inside her skull; he’d made a home for himself there as improvised and unexpected as these little houses on the side of the Rock — houses with histories of instability, of changing from gambling den to barber shop to sheet metal shop to private home, and of being moved from one part of town to another since they had no foundations.
My Thoughts
I added this book to my TBR while compiling a list of books set in Canada. I was fortunate enough to find a copy in my local thrift store, so I know it’s meant to be.
KEEP
The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie
What is The Secret of Chimneys? A young drifter finds out when a favor for a friend pulls him into the heart of a deadly conspiracy in this captivating classic from Agatha Christie. Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has placed him in serious danger. As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret.
My Thoughts
This is a no-brainer for me! I’m just surprised I haven’t read it yet.
KEEP
N or M? by Agatha Christie
World War II is raging, and while the RAF struggles to keep the Luftwaffe at bay, Britain faces a sinister threat from “the enemy within”—Nazis posing as ordinary citizens.
With pressure mounting, the intelligence service appoints two improbable spies, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Their mission: to seek out a man and a woman from among the colorful guests at Sans Souci, a seaside hotel. But this assignment is far from an easy stroll along the promenade—N and M have just murdered Britain’s finest agent, and no one can be trusted…
My Thoughts
Again, this is a no-brainer! I’ve read three of the five Tommy and Tuppence novels. I need to read the last two, and hope to do that soon.
KEEP
That is my September 2026 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It seems to have had little effect on my shelf, since 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 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.
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This is a good idea!
I, painstakingly, went through the books one by one over the course of a few months. I told myself I would not add any more books until I got my TBR down.
That was a lie.
I feel like all readers lie to themselves about not adding books to their TBR. While I didn’t remove anything this time, I find it’s nice to focus on only a handful of books at a time.