Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I’m Avoiding Reading and Why

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I honestly don’t have much to say in the introduction to this post this week, so let’s jump straight into my list.

Title and Author: Networking for People who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected by Devora Jack
What It’s About: The title says it all.
Why I’m Avoiding It: Most of the reason why I haven’t read this book yet is because there’s a long list for it at the library. I’m also a little worried about it being one of those “just pretend like you’re not an introvert and magically don’t get nervous!” sort of books.

Title and Author: Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw
What It’s About: Two women falling in love in the 1950s in a rural British town.
Why I’m Avoiding It: I had major issues with certain plot twists in the film. I don’t know if the book followed the same path, so I’m a little hesitant to give it a try.

Title and Author: The Ministry of Truth: the Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 by Dorian Lynskey
What It’s About: Why George Orwell wrote the famous novel, 1984.
Why I’m Avoiding It: I’m trying to take a long break from the dystopian genre as a whole. I know I’m going to enjoy this book once I’m in the right frame of mind for it. Right now, I need lighter, fluffier tales.

Title and Author: Haben: The DeafBlind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
What It’s About: The title explains it all.
Why I’m Avoiding It: As I said earlier, these days I’m more into short, fluffy reads. I’m saving this book for when I’m ready for something serious and thought-provoking again.

Title and Author: Suzanna by Irene I. Blea
What It’s About: Child marriage, desperate loneliness, and what I think may turn out to be an emotionally abusive relationship.
Why I’m Avoiding It: This book sounds like a powerful read, but I don’t think I can handle such heavy themes at the moment.

Title and Author: Wilder Girls by Rory Power
What It’s About: A F/F romance, a deadly disease raging through an isolated school, and the mystery of what might lie beyond the fence the students have been forbidden from walking past.
Why I’m Avoiding It: Just about everyone loves it. I’m simultaneously excited to read it and worried that it won’t live up to the hype for me.

If you’ve read any of these books, please do share your thoughts on them.

121 Comments

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121 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I’m Avoiding Reading and Why

  1. I hadn’t heard of The Ministry of Truth: the Biography of George Orwell’s 1984. Will need to gift that one to my husband, he’s an Orwellian fan and used to teach 1984 every year. Ironically, I think I’m avoiding it because I’ve never read it. I should be shunned honestly, but like you am going through an anti-dystopian phase myself.

  2. Hyped books are on many lists this week — and yeah, when the hype reaches a certain level, I know I’m in trouble and probably won’t get to it.

  3. Wilder Girls is on my TBR. It looks so good. I haven’t read 1984 and thought about putting it on my list.

  4. I read Wilder Girls! I did enjoy it, but there are definitely a few things I would’ve liked to have seen differently. It is always hard to read a book when it’s so hyped!

  5. Totally understand on the heavy themes, I’m the same.

  6. Great list! Thanks for bringing The Ministry of Truth to my attention – it sounds really interesting. I’ve been hesitant to pick up Wilder Girls, too – it sounds so good (and that cover is gorgeous) but I’ve seen enough 3 star reviews to make me nervous that it won’t live up to the hype.

  7. I’ve heard so much about Tell it To the Bees that I’m so intrigued! I never saw the movie, though. Maybe I should start there!

    • There were a ton of things I loved about Tell It to the Bees. You should give it a try for sure. I’ve heard that the parts of it I was not a fan with weren’t the same as in the book, too.

  8. You do have a lot of heavy reads on this list! Hopefully, the networking book actually has some useful advice. Pretending to be an extrovert doesn’t help the bone-crushing anxiety that comes with social / networking events.

    • Yeah, for sure.

      And thank you. Networking is something I need to get better at, so I’m hoping that book will be a good fit for introverts who can be socially anxious. 🙂 Because, yeah, pretending to be a non-anxious extrovert in that situation really doesn’t work.

  9. I have to agree with Wilder Girls. Some popular books disappoint me this year, hopefully it won’t happen to Wilder Girls

  10. Haven’t read any of these- but I’ve seen varying reviews on Wilder Girls. It actually put me off for a bit. Great list!

  11. I get so worried about overly hyped books, too, because usually I’m left underwhelmed after reading them. I want to read Wilder Girls but am avoiding it for now for the same reason.

    • I hear you there. Some hype is good, but when there’s too much of it that can be a less than great thing.

      Good luck with your decision on when/whether to read The Wilder Girls.

  12. Wilder Girls does have a lot of hype surrounding it and I was interested in it when I first heard about it but I don’t know if I’ll actually read it or not.

  13. I want to read Wilder Girls but honestly am waiting for the hype to die down. I’ve been burned by hype too many times to be comfortable with it.

  14. Great list, Lydia! I’m honestly also a little worried about Wilder Girls because a lot of people have loved it but a lot of people also really didn’t like it. I’m hoping that I do love it but maybe I’ll wait a bit (just a little bit) longer to give it a go! Lol also, that networking book sounds like it was made for me 😂

    My TTT post

    • Heh, thanks. If you read that networking book, I hope you’ll like it. I think my copy from the library will be available sometime this autumn.

      And I like your plan for Wilder Girls. It’s a good one that I’m going to borrow from you. Ha!

  15. I totally hear you with the networking book! I’m always a little hesitant when it comes to any sort of self-help/tip book like that, because a lot of times I find it’s obvious things like … stop caring so much about other things, prioritize what you want, just start going out more. And it’s like … if I didn’t have trouble doing those things, I wouldn’t be here, but yes, thank you for pointing out the obvious. xD

    The Ministry of Truth sounds really interesting! But also, it’s easy to get burned out on a genre. Totally understandable. I’ve got the same reservations as you about Wilder Girls, too!

    • Glad to hear that! Yeah, self-help books can be obvious and, well, un-helpful sometimes. I hope this one will break that mold.

      I hope you like Wilder Girls and The Ministry of Truth if or when you read them.

  16. I recently realised I can only ready dystopian books for small bouts at a time. The book about 1984 sounds interesting though!

    Thanks for dropping by my TTT 🙂

  17. I loved Wilder Girls, but it’s been getting quite a few negative reviews now, too. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

  18. Haben sounds really interesting. I don’t know about the Networking book. I’m an introvert… thank God for Twitter and blogs.

  19. I haven’t read any of these, so I should not give my opinion about whether you should read them or not. I think your reasons for not reading them yet are quite good, and I think you should wait and read them when you are ready. I want to read some lighter books right now, too.

  20. I have heard so many great things about Wilder Girls and I too would like to read it but I am so scared that I wont like it. I always feel really disappointed over really hyped books.

  21. I totally understand wanting to read lighter, fluffier fare right now. I feel that way at the moment, too.

  22. Bev

    Haven’t heard of any of these but several look interesting.

  23. I’ve seen “Wilder Girls” around the booktube community a LOT, or at least it was when the book first released. Hope when you read it, you enjoy it – and all of these, Lydia!! Happy reading – and thanks for visiting Finding Wonderland.

  24. Great list Lydia!!! I’m avoiding wilder girls too because I think it might terrify me lol :))

  25. Louise @ Foxes and Fairy Tales

    I feel the same about Wilder Girls. I’m hoping I’ll read it before Halloween though.

  26. Good work! I’m tired of being told I just need to turn into an extrovert. Why can’t extroverts be still and listen, lol?

  27. Great list. I haven’t read any of these, but I totally relate to not wanting to read a lot of heavy material right now. I go through waves where all I want is something dense that I have to dig through, and then I need to take a step back and read lighter, airier reads.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

  28. Great list! Wilder Girls is on my tbr too, but there is so much hype around it. I hope it does live up to it!

  29. I agree with you on Wilder Girls – I’ve had my eye on it for a while (partly because I think the cover is just amazing) but I’m not sure it will meet my expectations! Great list 😊

  30. Oh nice! Those are all new to me ones! I hope you get around to reading them soon and love them all!

    Thanks for visiting my TTT post!

  31. I’m so not tempted by Wilder Girls but I feel alone in my hole lol

  32. I have Wilder Girls to read too and I’m hoping it lives up to the hype! *crosses fingers* !!!

  33. Suzanna sounds like it could be a powerful read but I would definitely have to be in the right mood for it. With such heavy themes it could definitely weigh me down.

  34. You’ve got an interesting list but I haven’t read any of them. The 1984 book sounds really interesting, and so does the Harvard Law one. A great law school read, and not super heavy, is Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir. I seem to be reading a lot of books about lawyers lately!

  35. Oh trust me, not everyone ends up loving Wilder Girls, and I think that’s my hesitation to read it! This is a good list <3

  36. I tried to read Wilder Girls recently and ended up having it as a DNF as it just was to me a boring read. I was disappointed as it had been on my list to read for a while. Glad I got the library copy out, so I didn’t pay for it. Thanks for stopping by The Phantom Paragrapher

  37. I just finished up Wilder Girls – it was pretty great. 🙂

  38. That’s funny you said that about Wilder Girls because I’m nervous because the reviews are so mixed now haha Great list

    http://www.tbrandbeyond.com

  39. I’ve heard both good and bad things about Wilder Girls (especially the ending) and now I’m not sure I want to read it. UGH.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog to comment!

  40. Hopefully Wilder Girls will live up to the hype for you. If it makes you feel better, I did read a couple of just good not great reviews of it.

  41. I haven’t read any of these, but they look interesting. I might add some to my list. 😀

  42. I’m totally with you on wanting short, fluffy reads! I can appreciate and even enjoy deeper, heavier reads, but I’m not often in the right frame of mind for them 🙂

  43. AbyssalLibrarian

    I’m on the fence about Wilder Girls. I kind of want to see what all the hype is about, but I’ve also heard it’s quite gory so I’m not sure I’d really like it.

  44. There have been so many times, when I am so excited about a book, and I put my name on the library list, and by the time it’s available, my interest has waned. So, I can relate to that as a reason for not reading a book

  45. Cam

    I feel the same way about Wilder Girls. If a book is too hyped out the door I am hesitant to pick it up. I’ll usually wait a bit for the hype to die down unless I know for sure that I’m going to enjoy it

  46. “Just pretend like you’re not an introvert and magically don’t get nervous!” sort of books are the worst types of self-help books. The condescending and talk-down-to-you books are up there too. Being a mood reading sucks! I wish you luck on your journey to eventually getting to these books 🙂

  47. Been our of town for a few days, sorry for being late. I’m glad that through these lists that others who might never have heard of Irene are coming to know what a wonderful person and writer she is.

  48. As an introvert, just pretending you’re not, or “putting yourself out there!” isn’t the answer we are looking for, haha. Hopefully that one is helpful for you and not just another book that tells you not to be “shy”.

  49. I gave in to the hype on Wilder Girls and ended up somewhat disappointed so I feel you on that one.

  50. Wilder Girls did not live up to the hype for me and I was incredibly disappointed so I completely understand your hesitation to read it!

  51. I have the same exact fears about Wilder Girls. Whenever everyone loves something I get super nervous.

  52. I can definitely see why you’d be avoiding Wilder Girls. It gets a bit daunting because taste is so subjective. I started reading it recently and it’s not 100% there for me yet. I didn’t read far but I wasn’t all that impressed so I’m hopeful it picks up the further I go!

  53. I’ve been debating whether I should read Wilder Girls or not. Everybody says it’s really good, but I don’t know if it’s my kind of book.

  54. I had Wilder Girls since it came out but like you, I feel quite the same. But I finally decided that I must read it this month.

  55. RS

    I like your formatting this week! Lots of really interesting reasons. And that networking book sounds…surprisingly useful if I ever try the terrifying process of looking for a new job again.

  56. Wilder Girls sounds so good but I’m worried I won’t like it too.

  57. Wilder Girls has been on my radar since it was published. I heard that it was inspired from a classic. Not sure which one, though.

  58. There’s so much I agree with in this post – especially not wanting to read a certain book because everyone else seems to love it and I worry I will hate it and wonder what everyone sees that I don’t. I hope it is exactly what you want it to be when you get around to it.

  59. I really liked Wilder Girls, but I totally understand being wary of the hype monster! And for whatever reason, I have never been tired of the dystopian genre, though I definitely get the need for lighter fare these days!

  60. I feel that hype for WILDER GIRLS, but I did love it! So good luck! You can do it!

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