Decluttering my Goodreads TBR #2

This was started by Lia @ Lost in a Story and is a good way to go through your Goodreads to-read list!

It works like this:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added. (I didn’t do this the first couple of times, sorry!)
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Since the last one was such a failure, here’s round 2!

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Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

Date added: January 30, 2013
I love Neil Gaiman, so this is a pretty obvious keep for me.
Verdict: keep

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The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

In Homer’s account in The Odyssey, Penelope—wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy—is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumors, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay, simultaneously. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters, and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and—curiously—twelve of her maids.

Date added: October 5, 2017
I just recently added this, so I’m keeping it! I’ve heard mixed things about it, but I want to read more Atwood and form my own opinion.
Verdict: keep

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The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

The face on the milk carton looks like an ordinary little girl: hair in tight pigtails, a dress with a narrow white collar, a three-year-old who was kidnapped more than twelve years ago from a shopping mall in New Jersey.

As fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson stares at the milk carton, she feels overcome with shock. She knows that little girl is she. But how could it be true?

Janie can’t believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, until she begins to piece together clues that don’t make sense. Why are there no pictures of Janie before she was four? Her parents have always said they didn’t have a camera. Now that explanation sounds feeble. Something is terribly wrong, and Janie is afraid to find out what happened more than twelve years ago.

In this gripping page-turner, the reader will unravel — as Janie does — the twisted events that changed the lives of two families forever.

Date added: January 5, 2012
Okay this is sounds fantastic, or at least interesting. I added it to my top TBR list recently.
Verdict: keep

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The Painter From Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Pan Yuliang was a girl with no dreams. Her parents were taken from her at a young age, then her uncle sold her into prostitution; it was enough for many years just to cope and survive. One day, fate places a kind gentleman in her path, and she begins to discover the city outside the brothel and the world beyond China’s borders. As a larger canvas of life emerges, Pan realizes that she has something of value to say — and a talent through which she can express herself. From Shanghai to Paris, Pan is challenged by the harsh realities in politics, art, and love, and must rely on her own strength to develop her talent. In so doing, she takes a relatively ordinary life and makes it extraordinary.

A work of fiction — but based on the life and work of a real artist — The Painter from Shanghai transports readers to early-20th-century China, a culture marked by oppression. Epstein has proven herself a shining talent in this first novel, tackling such weighty questions as: How does a talented artist blossom, even under repressive conditions? What is art, and what is love? What makes a life well lived? The answers form a mesmerizing portrait of one young woman’s journey to find herself and to nourish her creative talents despite appreciable odds.

Date added: April 18, 2017
This still sounds like something I’d want to read! And I just recently added it so I’m keeping it.
Verdict: keep

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The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

This eerie tale of psychological horror sees the real inhabitants of turn-of-the-century Princeton fall under the influence of a supernatural power. New Jersey, 1905: soon-to-be commander-in-chief Woodrow Wilson is president of Princeton University. On a nearby farm, Socialist author Upton Sinclair, enjoying the success of his novel ‘The Jungle’, has taken up residence with his family. This is a quiet, bookish community – elite, intellectual and indisputably privileged. But when a savage lynching in a nearby town is hushed up, a horrifying chain of events is initiated – until it becomes apparent that the families of Princeton have been beset by a powerful curse. The Devil has come to this little town and not a soul will be spared. ‘The Accursed’ marks new territory for the masterful Joyce Carol Oates – narrated with her unmistakable psychological insight, it combines beautifully transporting historical detail with chilling fantastical elements to stunning effect.

Date added: February 27, 2013
AHHHH It sounds so interesting!!
Verdict: keep

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Total

Keep: 5
Delete: 0

Total kept: 10
Total deleted: 0

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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Maybe I have separation issues? These all sound so interesting! Why are there so many good books to read??

Let me know which ones I should prioritize! Thanks for reading! xx