On TBR books that intimidate me #2

As I’ve stated before, my TBR list is out of control and probably beyond help. Probably partly due to this, my relationship with it is….complicated and full of mixed emotions. Yeah, I love reading and if I had my way, I’d easily devour every book that comes within 20 feet of me. But life isn’t that simple and I’ve had to pick some TBR books to read before others. Here are a few that I’m holding off on - for all the wrong reasons.

-The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections On the Quest for Faith by Terry L. Givens & Fiona Givens - I’m a pretty religious person, but for some reason or other, religious books are a struggle for me. I recently finished The Infinite Atonement by Tadd R. Callister after THREE YEARS of struggling through it a few pages at a time. I enjoyed it, I loved it, I learned a lot, but I crawled on my belly through most of it, slowly dragging myself from page to page. It was rough and I’m not ready to put myself through that again. I’m also hoping that if I wait a bit longer, maybe I’ll suddenly become incredibly mature and be able to get through these sort of books at a halfway reasonable speed.

-The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt - I dated a guy in college who LOVED this book and talked about it all the time. We were both studying psychology, so it made sense that he thought I’d be into it. But after things ended between us (on less than good terms), I was torn about what to do with this book. A part of me refused to take it off the TBR - I couldn’t let a mere man have that sort of power over me! Another part of me argued that I only put it on the list since said man had loved it so much. I still haven’t made up my mind and there it sits, waiting for my verdict.

-Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie - I recently read another Rushdie book and I….didn’t get it. I can acknowledge that it was well-written and obviously well thought out, but I just didn’t connect with the book at all. I’m sure Midnight’s Children will be different, but if I couldn’t handle a different Rushdie book, I’m not sure how I’ll do with this one. Also, this is a classic and a must-read and those always intimidate me more than they reasonably should.

On TBR books that intimidate me #1

My TBR list is huge and gets bigger by the day. I desperately want to work through it, but there always seems to be a reason not to - my public library doesn’t have the book, I’m not in the mood for that sort of book just then, a different book catches my eye and MUST be read before I try anything else, I’ve been sent yet another ARC that I feel obligated to finish quickly, the list could go on and on. However, every now and then, I find that I have a really irrational reason for not reading a book on my TBR. Sometimes, I take these books off my list, but sometimes, I still want to read them - I just need to learn to overcome my fear. Below are a few books that I’m absolutely terrified to get around to. Please judge me.

-Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns - My mum adores this book. She owns at least a couple copies of it and has tried to force it upon me more times than I can count. Having read many of the type of books she tends to like (she only reads mysteries and small-town feel-good novels), I feel like I know exactly what I’m going to get myself into with this one. And I can’t handle that.I want a little more suspense and intrigue than I feel like this book will bring me. This book seems like it's for lazy summer evenings in a hammock when I have nothing better to do, not when I'm feverishly trying to read everything ever written as quickly as possible. It'll be too slow to hold my interest and then what?!

-Treasure Island!!! By Sara Levine - I was browsing some Buzzfeed list of “200 books every 20-something should read” or something like that when I happened upon this and it looked somewhat interesting. I added it to my TBR. It’s been a few years since then and I CAN’T FIND THIS BOOK. I mean, my search has been limited to two different public libraries, browsing random bookstores, and looking for free pdfs online, but still - it hasn’t been the easiest book to find. I can’t even remember what this book is supposed to be about and I don’t know if I’ll even like it, but it’s still on my TBR list because I have too much pride to take it down before I have a chance to thumb through it a bit. Also, I’m beginning to doubt its existence and I’ve decided I NEED to find it (as long as I can find a really cheap/free copy). I just don’t know what I’ll do when I actually have it.

-A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - Several people and online lists have stated that this is a must read. I was pretty excited to get ahold of it until I found it at my public library and….it’s HUGE. I immediately put it down and went to find something at least half as long because I do not have a long attention span for huge non-fiction books and my TBR shelf at home is much too large for me to take a break to read a book that massive. Someday, when I’ve finally made it through all my TBR that I actually own, maybe I’ll give this another try. Maybe.