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

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about the books on our TBR’s that we’ve been avoiding. As much as I love to read, I definitely have quite a few that fit into this category.

Recently I decided to catalogue all my physical books into an app because it was getting to the point where I couldn’t remember which books I owned. I kept buying multiple copies of the same one or not buying others thinking I had them when I didn’t. I’m about two thirds of the way through scanning them and at last count I was somewhere around 450 books. So, yeah, I’ve got a lot of books.

(My mother reads my blog and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I probably have a couple hundred more in storage at my parents’ house in California.)

When it comes to how many of those books on my shelves I’ve actually read, though? Well, that’s another matter entirely. So finding books I’ve been putting off for various reasons wasn’t too hard. I literally have hundreds to choose from.

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My mother bought us this as one of our housewarming presents when we purchased our first house last year (yay!). She knew I was converting one of the rooms into a home library and thought this would be a beautiful addition. She wasn’t wrong, but its beauty is mostly why I’m afraid to touch it. It’s also pretty long! I think I’ll probably have to read an e-book version because I’m insanely clumsy and most the books I read end up battered because of it.

A Valentine’s gift my husband gave me a few years ago. Every year I say, “THIS is the year I will read Ulysses!” but we all know I’m lying. I mean, has James Joyce even read it?!

Another gift from my husband. We went to see Hamilton on the West End for our anniversary last year and to say I’m obsessed with the musical would be a massive understatement. Afterward, he bought me the book that inspired it and even though I’m dying to read it, its length is seriously daunting.

Honestly, I just don’t want this series to end so I’ve been putting off reading the third and final book. Funny enough, it’s next to the Miss Peregrine books and I’m avoiding the third book in that series for the same reason.

After reading the incredible The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, I decided I wanted to read more about Alaska. This seemed like the obvious choice so I downloaded the e-book from my library without realizing how long it was. After a couple hours I checked my progress and realized I had barely even made a dent. So I looked up the page count online (the above edition has 1200+ pages) and decided there was no way I could finish reading it in 3 weeks. I returned it and ended up buying a used copy to read at my own pace. Apparently that pace is “still sitting unread on the bookcase.”

This was an impulse buy at a flea market. I actually have no real desire to read it despite being told that it’s really good and completely different from the movie. I think I just bought it to have it if I’m honest. I’m not sure I’ll ever read it.

I WILL LEARN LATIN ONE OF THESE DAYS, JUST NOT THIS DAY.

A book I feel like I really should have read cover to cover by now but I’m a little intimidated by it.

A classic I was determined to read last year but I never actually managed to take it off the shelf. It’s a classic, a book everyone is supposed to have read but… I dunno. It seems like a lot of work just to read about an old dude’s obsession.

One I don’t own but felt I should mention. I have attempted to read this so many times, but I can’t get more than a few pages in before I feel my chest tighten and my vision get blurry. I know what’s coming and I’m not sure I can bring myself to read it. It’s an important book, but I’m fairly certain it’s also an utterly soul destroying book.

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Did any of these make it to your TTT this week? Which books are you avoiding and why? Let me know in the comments!

*Yes, some of my shelves are colour coded.