Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) - Down the TBR Hole #40

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I'm going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time. 


1.   Taken by Erin Bowman:

There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?
 

My thoughts:
I know I've read others by this author that I liked, but don't know if I'll get to this one? 

Verdict:  Toss


2.  Must've Done Something Good by Cheryl Cory:

If you love "The Sound of Music" and "Pride and Prejudice," prepare to be enchanted by "Must've Done Something Good!"

Sylvie O'Rourke, "The Sound of Music" devotee and born procrastinator, is about to die. Well, she thinks she is, anyway, and so attempts a last-ditch bargain with God for her life.

"You guys are my witnesses," she tells her sisters somewhere over Connecticut. "If we get out of this plane alive, I promise to do something good with my life."

Back on firm ground, Kate and Meg won't let their sister forget her promise, and with their years of practice hitting just the right chords of guilt ("What kind of person lies to God?" Meg wants to know), Sylvie finally caves.

A teaching position at the broken-down St. Matthew's High School appears to be Sylvie's perfect opportunity to do some good. That is, until she's snubbed by a fellow teacher on the first day of school.

Whether she's becoming a bit too invested in the students' fall fundraiser or directing the school's sure-fire musical disaster, Sylvie's charmingly irreverent style gets her called down to the principal more often than her students. Can Sylvie keep her promise and make it through the year, dignity and sanity intact?

My thoughts: 
Not sure exactly why I added this one.  Not one I care so much about now.

Verdict: Toss 



3.  A Call to Creativity:  Writing, Reading, and Inspiring Students in the Age of Standardization by Luke Reynolds:

In this age of standardization, many English teachers are unsure about how to incorporate creative writing and thinking into their classroom. In a fresh new voice, Luke Reynolds emphasizes that “creativity in our lives as teachers and in the lives of our students is one of our most vital needs in the 21st century.”

Based on his own journey as an English teacher, A Call to Creativity is a practical guide that shows teachers how they can encourage and support students’ creativity in the English/language arts classroom. The book offers both the inspiration and practical steps teachers need to engage their students through a variety of hands-on projects and worksheets that can be used immediately to insert creativity into any standards-based curriculum.

Book Features:

--Adaptable projects tested in diverse school environments.
--Guiding questions at the end of each chapter.
--Lesson plans for creative writing assignments.
--Over 30 pages of worksheets and sample assignments.

Luke Reynolds has taught 7th- through 12th-grade English in Massachusetts and Connecticut public schools, as well as composition at Northern Arizona University. He is co-editor of the bestselling book Burned In: Fueling the Fire to Teach.

 

My thoughts:  
I'm not an English teacher anymore, only did that for one year.  And while I'm sure this has some good stuff in it, it doesn't fit my current career.

Verdict: Toss



4.  Wicked Jealous by Robin Palmer:

Simone never saw herself as the “cute girl”—she was always the chunky, band tee wearing, France-obsessed smart girl. But now that Simone’s a few pounds lighter and sporting a new retro style, things have gotten, well, weird. Her crush Jason seems to actually know she exists. And when Simone’s soon-to-be stepmonster Hillary stops ignoring her, Simone knows something is up. When Simone’s brother offers to let her move in with him and his six roommates on the beach for the summer, Simone jumps at the chance. But living with seven very different college boys isn’t exactly helping her land her very own happily ever after.

My thoughts:  
This one actually sounds kind of good, I don't remember adding it, but I kind of want to read it still!

Verdict:  Keep

5.   Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins:

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

My thoughts:
So, I do love this author. But while I think I might still want to read this some day, I don't think I need to keep it on my Goodreads TBR, because it is a pretty popular one I'll remember.  Plus we have it on our shelves at my library.

Verdict:  Toss



6.  Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones:

Sophomore Year Was Never Supposed to be This Complicated

Ten years ago, Lorelei McAlister's parents disappeared without a trace, and she is finally beginning to accept the fact that they're never coming back. Life must go on. She's got her grandparents and the support of her best friends, and high school is not quite as painful as she thought it would be.

But This is What Happens When You Fall for the Angel of Death.
 
Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside her house in the dark, tough, sexy Jared Kovach - comes to school. Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other, and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity.

Life as She Knows it is About to Change Forever.
 
What does Jared know about her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real? Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Death and the Girl Next Door proves Darynda Jones is a force to be reckoned with.


My thoughts:
This doesn't sound that original. But I feel like maybe I should read this author at some point?  I don't know.  Probably won't read this anytime soon.

Verdict: Toss



7.  Lucci-The No Smoochie Poochie by Donna L. Sadd:

Imagine adopting a dog to find out that he doesn’t give smoochies, kisses, lickies-nothing. Well, one family adopted a brother and sister pair of Dachshunds to find out just that; little Lucci (pronounced-loochy) was a no smoochie Poochie! Smile and giggle reading how this family, along with 2 other rather unique resident pups, tries everything to the point of exhaustion and still never gives up to get Lucci to give smoochies. Folks say that LUCCI is a perfect bedtime read for young children.

My thoughts:  
As adorable as this sounds, I have no idea why in the world I added it?

Verdict:  Toss


 8.  Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan:

Can you save someone from something that’s already happened?

Daniel’s expectations for his forced vacation with his father at the Leisure World Holiday Complex are low. He hates sports, and his father is mostly lost in drink and depression. But then he sees a strange girl swimming in the fake lake, and everything changes. Lexi has a smart mouth and a killer swim stroke, but dark secrets swirl around her. She’s got bruises and cuts that seem to be getting worse instead of better. She’s always alone. And her watch is ticking backwards. When a dark figure begins to stalk Lexi and Daniel, the truth must come out. This gripping ghost story will raise goose bumps and questions: does a traumatic past mean the future is a foregone conclusion?
 
My thoughts:
Doesn't sound that great to me.  Ghost story or not.

Verdict:  Toss


9.  Altar of Eden by James Rollins:

Baghdad falls . . . and armed men are seen looting the city zoo. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground lab is ransacked--and something horrific is set loose upon the world.

Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk investigates an abandoned shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying exotic caged animals, part of a black market smuggling ring. But there is something disturbingly wrong with these beasts--each an unsettling mutation of the natural order, all sharing one uncanny trait: incredibly heightened intelligence.

Joining forces with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jack Menard--a man who shares with her a dark and bloody past--Lorna sets out to uncover the truth about this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses. Because a beast escaped the shipwreck and is running amok--and what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden could threaten not only the future of the world but the very foundation of what it means to be human.
 
My thoughts:
I love James Rollins, but haven't been in the mood to read this type of book in a while.  Plus, I don't know that I need to keep his books on here, he's popular enough I can always just look up books by him and see what I haven't read if I decide to try again.

Verdict: Toss



10-11.  The Know it All:  One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World  and The Year of Living Biblically:  One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs:

Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z.

33,000 Pages
44 Million Words
10 Billion Years Of History
1 Obsessed Man

To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced.

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and the paralyzing fear that attends his first real-life responsibility -- the impending birth of his first child.

The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.

From the bestselling author of "The Know-It-All" comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire "Encyclopedia Britannica" for "The Know-It-All." His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.

Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, "The Year of Living Biblically" is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down. 

My thoughts:
I know that at some time I want to read all the books by this author, I loved the one I did read, Drop Dead Healthy.  But I will just keep one of these on my Goodreads list, so I will at least have his name remembered.

Verdict:  Keep one - Toss one



Final Thoughts:
So I actually did 11 off my list this week, and I'm only keeping 2 of them, so that is good.

Once again you can see that I may have dropped some, but you can also see how many I've added during the week as well because I'm also pointing out how many books are on my Want to Read list on Goodreads each week.  This week, after taking these 8 off, I have 3,142 books listed now, and last week I ended with 3,147.  So I improved!  A tiny bit.

Have you read any of these?  Would you suggest I keep any I'm tossing?  And if you're inspired to do this on your blog, please feel free to join in and share a link in the comments, since it will also get you an extra entry into my giveaway at the bottom of this post.      
 

Giveaway:
Once again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  You get to pick any two books from the pictures below, as long as they don't get traded away, or picked by last week's winner, and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice.  As I mentioned above, unpacking is finding a lot of books to get rid of, so you have even more to pick from this week!  Here are your choices:   

2018 ARCs:

2017 ARCs:

I'm continuing to add in my early 2019 ARCs now.  You can pick one of your two choices from the picture below, the other book you pick needs to come from the pictures above.  

And here are the older ones I've cleaned out as I unpack:

2010-2014 ARCs:

2015-2016 ARCs:

Once again I'm going to let you pick two, along with me throwing in a surprise third book!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below.   Disclaimer:  Unfortunately, while I've only had it happen once, I'm going to have to make a statement like other giveaways I've seen on blogs that I am not responsible for lost mail.


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Cleaning Up My TBR: Down the TBR Hole #7 with Giveaway

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I'm going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time.


1.  Many Bloody Returns by Charlaine Harris and others:

Never-before-published vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and many others. 

Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again. 

In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present. 

New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love. 

In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year-but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt. 

Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.
 
My thoughts:  Now, really I only want to read the story by Charlaine Harris, to get the Sookie Stackhouse story.  So I probably don't need to have this book on my list.

Verdict: Toss


2.  Lily Dale:  The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead by Christine Wicker:

In Lily Dale, New York, the dead don't die. 

Instead, spirits flit among the elms and stroll along the streets, sometimes dressed in garb more common 120 years ago, when Lily Dale was founded and suffragette Susan B. Anthony was a frequent guest. 

According to Spiritualists who have ruled this Victorian hamlet for five generations, the dead don't go away and they stay anything but quiet. Every summer twenty thousand guests come to consult the town's mediums, who can hang out a shingle only after passing a test that confirms their connection to the spirit world. 

On the hot June day when reporter Christine Wicker comes to the world's oldest and largest Spiritualist community, she is determined to understand the secret forces -- human or otherwise -- that keep Lily Dale alive. She follows three visitors: a newly bereaved widow; a mother whose son killed himself; and a beautiful, happily married wife whose first visit to Lily Dale brings an ominous warning. 

Are the mediums cold-hearted charlatans, as Sinclair Lewis wrote of them? Or are they conduits for a hidden world that longs to bring peace and healing to the living, as psychologist William James and muckraker Upton Sinclair once hoped to prove? 

Investigating a movement that attracted millions of Americans in the 1800s and now barely survives, Wicker moves beyond the mediums' front parlors and into the lives that tourists never see. She follows the mediums to a place where what we know and how we know it is the greatest mystery of all.

My thoughts:  So, this is something that I've been interested, probably since I first saw this book at the bookstore where I work.  Not sure if I need to keep this specific book on my TBR list.  I mean, I can always just do some research online through databases, etc.

Verdict:  Toss

3.  Believing (Lily Dale #2) by Wendy Corsi Staub: 

After her tumultuous summer in Lily Dale, Calla has decided to stay, hoping to unearth more about her mother’s untimely death.  As she starts school at Lily Dale High and begins to explore her relationships with Jacy and Blue, her visions begin to occur with greater urgency. There may be a killer on the loose, and he may be after Calla for her role in solving his first victim’s disappearance.  Now that Calla believes in her ability, can she learn to use it properly before it leads her into more danger? 

In this thrilling sequel to Lily Dale: Awakening, readers will find an even larger dose of mystery, suspense, and romance that will keep them coming back to Lily Dale.

My thoughts:  Now, unlike the NF book listed above, this is a series that I've read the first book, and do want to read on.  I feel it isn't that well-known, so I'll probably forget if I don't keep it on the list.

Verdict: Keep

 

4.  Max (Maximum Ride #5) by James Patterson:

Maximum Ride and the rest of the Flock have barely recovered from their last arctic adventure when they are confronted by their most frightening challenge yet.
Someone-or something-is decimating ships and sea life off Hawaii's coast, and Max and her flock find themselves sucked into the Navy's top-secret investigation of the catastrophe. Their objective: Rescue Max's activist mom from a wicked subterranean enemy. The hitch: They must dive deep into dark waters, where gruesome evil dwells . . . and for high-flying Maximum Ride, could there be anything more terrifying than being trapped in the great abyss? 
With high-flying thrills, this soaring adventure takes Maximum Ride and the Flock into terrifying new territory-fans, hold your breath!     

My thoughts:  Well, this is a well-known series, and while I feel like maybe some day I'll want to finish it, I don't think I need to keep this on my TBR list.  You know what, I feel like this would be a good tv show.  Someone tell someone who can get that going.

Verdict: Toss  


5.  The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory:

Three Women Who Share One Fate: The Boleyn Inheritance

Anne of Cleves 
She runs from her tiny country, her hateful mother, and her abusive brother to a throne whose last three occupants are dead. King Henry VIII, her new husband, instantly dislikes her. Without friends, family, or even an understanding of the language being spoken around her, she must literally save her neck in a court ruled by a deadly game of politics and the terror of an unpredictable and vengeful king. Her Boleyn Inheritance: accusations and false witnesses.

Katherine Howard
She catches the king's eye within moments of arriving at court, setting in motion the dreadful machine of politics, intrigue, and treason that she does not understand. She only knows that she is beautiful, that men desire her, that she is young and in love -- but not with the diseased old man who made her queen, beds her night after night, and killed her cousin Anne. Her Boleyn Inheritance: the threat of the axe.

Jane Rochford
She is the Boleyn girl whose testimony sent her husband and sister-in-law to their deaths. She is the trusted friend of two threatened queens, the perfectly loyal spy for her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, and a canny survivor in the murderous court of a most dangerous king. Throughout Europe, her name is a byword for malice, jealousy, and twisted lust. Her Boleyn Inheritance: a fortune and a title, in exchange for her soul.

The Boleyn Inheritance is a novel drawn tight as a lute string about a court ruled by the gallows and three women whose positions brought them wealth, admiration, and power as well as deceit, betrayal, and terror. Once again, Philippa Gregory has brought a vanished world to life - the whisper of a silk skirt on a stone stair, the yellow glow of candlelight illuminating a hastily written note, the murmurs of the crowd gathering on Tower Green below the newly built scaffold. In The Boleyn Inheritance, Gregory is at her intelligent and page-turning best.  

My thoughts:  I became more interested in all of this story when the movie came out based on the book before this by this author, The Other Boleyn Girl.  I read that book and then saw the movie and loved them both.  This is another popular author.  So it is hard for me to decide if I should keep this on my list or not.  Hmmm.

Verdict:  Toss 


6.  Drink, Play, F@#k:  One Man's Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand by Andrew Gottlieb:

In Drink, Play, F@#k Bob Sullivan, a jilted husband, sets off to explore the world, experience a meaningful connection with the divine, and rediscover his passion. 
His travels lead him from his home in New York City to a drinking bender across Ireland, through the glitz and glamour that is Las Vegas, and to the hedonistic pleasure palaces of Thailand. 
After a lifetime of playing it safe, Mr. Sullivan finally follows his heart and lives out everyone's deepest fantasies. For who among us hasn't dreamed of standing stark naked, head upturned, and mouth agape beneath a cascading torrent of Guinness Stout? 
What could be more exhilarating than losing every penny you have because Charlie Weiss went for a meaningless last-second field goal? And what sensate creature could ever doubt that the greatest pleasure known to man can be found in a leaky bamboo shack filled with glassy-eyed, bruised Asian hookers? 
Bob Sullivan has a lot to teach us about life. Let's just pray we have the wisdom to put aside our preconceptions and listen. Because what Bob Sullivan finds isn't at all what he expected.  

My thoughts:  I'm sure I added this based on reading and enjoying the book this title is a play off of, Eat, Pray, Love.  However, I'm pretty sure now that I have no desire to read this.

Verdict:  Toss 


7-8.  The Judas Strain  and The Last Oracle (Sigma Force #4 and #5) by James Rollins:

New York Times bestselling author James Rollins returns with a terrifying story of an ancient menace reborn to plague the modern world . . . and of an impossible hope that lies hidden in the most shocking place imaginable: within the language of angels.

ju·das strain, n. A scientific term for an organism that drives an entire species to extinction.

From the depths of the Indian Ocean, a horrific plague has arisen to devastate humankind--a disease that's unknown, unstoppable . . . and deadly. But it is merely a harbinger of the doom that is to follow. Aboard a cruise liner transformed into a makeshift hospital, Dr. Lisa Cummings and Monk Kokkalis--operatives of SIGMA Force--search for answers to the bizarre affliction. But there are others with far less altruistic intentions. In a savage and sudden coup, terrorists hijack the vessel, turning a mercy ship into a floating bio-weapons lab.

A world away, SIGMA's Commander Gray Pierce thwarts the murderous schemes of a beautiful would-be killer who holds the first clue to the discovery of a possible cure. Pierce joins forces with the woman who wanted him dead, and together they embark upon an astonishing quest following the trail of the most fabled explorer in history: Marco Polo. But time is an enemy as a worldwide pandemic grows rapidly out of control. As a relentless madman dogs their every step, Gray and his unlikely ally are being pulled into an astonishing mystery buried deep in antiquity and in humanity's genetic code. And as the seconds tick closer to doomsday, Gray Pierce will realize he can truly trust no one, for any one of them could be . . . a Judas.

In Washington, D.C., a homeless man dies in Commander Gray Pierce's arms, shot by an assassin's bullet. But the death leaves behind a greater mystery: a bloody coin found clutched in the dead man's hand, an ancient relic that can be traced back to the Greek Oracle of Delphi. As ruthless hunters search for the stolen artifact, Gray Pierce discovers that the coin is the key to unlocking a plot that dates back to the Cold War and threatens the very foundation of humanity.

An international think tank of scientists known as the Jasons has discovered a way to bioengineer autistic children who show savant talents -- mathematical geniuses, statistical masterminds, brilliant conceptual artists -- into something far greater and far more "frightening," in hopes of creating a world prophet for the new millennium, one to be manipulated to create a new era of global peace... a peace on their own terms.

Halfway around the world, a man wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is, knowing only that he's a prisoner in a subterranean research facility. With the help of three unusual children, he makes his escape across a mountainous and radioactive countryside, pursued by savage hunters bred in the same laboratory. But his goal is not escape, nor even survival. In order to thwart a plot to wipe out a quarter of the world's population, he must sacrifice all, even the children who rescued him.

From ancient Greek temples to glittering mausoleums, from the slums of India to the toxic ruins of Russia, two men must race against time to solve a mystery that dates back to the first famous oracle of history -- the Greek Oracle of Delphi.

But one question remains: "Will the past be enough to save the future?"

 My thoughts:  So, James Rollins used to be an auto-buy author for me.  I devoured all of his books.  I did like the first three in this series.  However, I have since gotten to where I have trouble getting through this type of story.  Some day, I may be in the mood to try these again.  However, I don't think I need to keep them on my TBR list, I'll always know he's one of my favorite authors.

Verdict:  Toss both



9.  The Last Single Woman in America by Cindy Guidry:

The funniest, freshest essayist since David Sedaris, Cindy Guidry examines American culture and present-day gender relations in all their confusing, heartbreaking, and hilarious glory. 

After losing both her job and a potential husband, Cindy sets off to figure out why on earth she's so happy and soon must combat an onslaught of unsolicited advice from her mother, her 'have it all' friends, and a Yoda-like waxing lady, and the guy next door. Making pit stops along the way to ponder everything from the satanic origins of the Internet to her disturbing discovery that men are the new women, Cindy ultimately finds inspiration in her CD collection and renewed hope via a love letter from an Indian gas station attendant. 

Cindy Guidry is a self-aware woman with a razor-sharp wit, and in The Last Single Woman in America she takes us on an outrageously funny romp through her own unique mind, uncovering universal truths along the way.  

My thoughts:  Well, I don't remember this one, but as I feel like it's closer and closer to me being the last single woman, I feel that this may still be one I want to read.

Verdict:  Keep 



10.  Thanks for Coming:  One Young Woman's Quest for an Orgasm by Mara Altman:

By turns uproarious and touching, the memoir of a young woman's search for an orgasm—and for the elusive connections between sex and love

Twenty-six-year-old Mara Altman wanted to know what all the screaming was about. She'd lost her virginity at seventeen; grown up in southern California with sexually free parents; had lovers in India, Burma, and Peru; and spent a year in Bangkok observing all manner of depravity. And yet she was an attractive, successful, single woman in New York who'd never had an orgasm.

And so she embarked on a wildly funny, emotionally resonant odyssey—a journey both inside and outside herself—only to discover that, for Mara, orgasm was connected to a part of her that no vibrator could reach. Thanks for Coming is one woman's look at our obsession with and anxiety over the female orgasm. Her quest to get her own yields poignant results that will surprise even the sexually awakened among us. From sex shows to sex conventions, from a therapist's couch to her own couch, from the bedroom to the bar, Mara Altman proves to be a guide as hilarious as she is investigative.  
My thoughts:  Okay, so the next few books you'll probably see on my lists will be a similar subject.  I think I was reading something like this and searched for similar titles.  This one still sounds like I might want to read it some day.  Might even be helpful with the romance novels I've been writing.

Verdict:  Keep 



I did pretty well this week, only keeping 3!  Have you read any of the books above?   

Now, to help with my physical TBR shelf, check out the giveaway below!

Giveaway:
Once again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  Just as with the past weeks, you get to pick any book from the pictures below, as long as they don't get traded away, or picked by last week's winner, and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice.  Here are your choices:  

Above are the 2018 ARCs I have for trade.

These are my 2017 ARCs.

The books in the picture above are from 2013-2016.

There are your choices!  Just fill in the Rafflecopter below to enter!

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