I saw this tag over on Marie’s blog @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books, and it looks like so much fun. It was created by Jamieson @ Jamishelves!

While I do purchase books pretty often with absolutely no basis other than the usual title/cover/summary intrigue, there are quite a few that I’ve been on the fence about for a while. Books that I’m pretty sure I’ll like, but I’m also not 100% convinced, so they just keep sitting there forever and a day on my TBR.

This list will not feature books that I’m definitely not going to read, but instead, ones that I’d really like to get to someday, but might need a little push to get there.

A book that you feel you need to read
because everyone talks about it

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed is literally all over my Instagram feed all the time. It sounds really cute and interesting, and I’m sure that I would absolutely love it, but a political romance is a lot on top of the current state of the world, which would honestly probably end up being a source of stress relief for me, I just have to convince myself that reading this during the presidential primary right now is a good idea. And that just kind of sounds daunting.

A book that’s really long

I never ever buy trilogies combined into one book because it drives me crazy, but high school Mary did, and I’ve had The Dragon King trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead on my shelves forever and a day. Every time I purge books, I keep it because it sounds really interesting, but it’s also a 1000+ page tome with all three books combined, so it stresses me out anytime I think about reading it. Someday, though, I’d really like to tackle this!

A book you’ve owned / had on your TBR for too long

I’m not going to put any of my Austens or Brontës on here since I’m actively trying to read them all this year, and so the oldest book on my owned list is Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. It was added to my Goodreads when I joined in 2012, so I’m not actually sure how long I’ve owned this book. At least as long as I’ve loved Inkheart, which came out in 2003, so now I’m feeling pretty shamed by this, haha. Actually? This might just be the oldest book on my shelf. Excuse me while I go read it right away not.

A book that is ‘required’ reading (eg, school text, really popular classic – something you feel obligated to read!)

Brianna @ Pages Unbound had this whole conversation recently about how classics by female authors were often not being assigned in school, so while I was never actually assigned anything by Austen or the Brontë sisters, I do feel obligated to read them. They’re staples in the world of classic literature, and I felt like I was missing out on something that thousands of people loved dearly.

Thus, last year, I started working my way through the Austens, and this year, I’m tackling the rest & the Brontës, so here is my current list of unread:

1. Mansfield Park (reading this month!)
2. Persuasion
3. Jane Eyre
4. Villette & Shirley (possibly)
5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
6. Agnes Grey (possibly)

There are some I’m not 100% that I’ll end up reading, but those are the ones I’m looking to potentially tackle.

A book that intimidates you

This is so silly, but Stephen King scares the ever living hell out of me, and I get so nervous anytime I think about reading The Shining. I read Carrie last year in an effort to try more King books since I love Joe Hill so much, and yet, this book is still just sitting on my shelf staring at me. I can handle horror movies, although King ones still get me sometimes, but books are just so different for me, and I’m definitely intimidated by anything by him.

A book that you think might be slow

I was gifted Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes a couple years ago, and while I’m very interested in it, and I’ve heard a lot of great things about it, I’ve also heard it’s super dense. It’s a pretty thick mass market paperback, and it’s also kind of dated looking, and I just? Bleh. I’m going to read it someday, but it’s also going to be one of those books I’m going to have to force myself to start.

A book you need to be in the right mood for

I’m never going to be in the right mood for the Dalai Lama’s autobiography, Freedom in Exile, so one of these days I’m just going to force myself to read it and bawl my eyes out for a week. This is, hands down, going to be one of the hardest books I’ve ever read, and I don’t know how to get in the mood for that.

A book you’re unsure if you will like

Here’s the thing. Hype gets to readers, right? We buy books because we see everyone talking about them & everyone posting about them, and the covers are so pretty, and there’s this serious case of FOMO that starts going around, and suddenly, you have the book and you’re not actually sure if you’re going to like it.

Well. This also happens in reverse. There is so much hype around Jay Kristoff’s The Nevernight Chronicle series. Like, way more hype than I’ve ever seen about a book. And while I originally had it on my TBR, it’s no longer on there. I just got so turned off by the warnings of insanely graphic violence in the books that I kept seeing repeated everywhere that I didn’t think it would be for me anymore. And hey, maybe I’m wrong, maybe someday I’ll actually pick it up and find that I like it. But, for now, I’m under the impression I won’t.

This was a weird tag for me. I’m both feeling a little called out, and also like I need to purge some books.