Analyzing February 2018’s TBR

I’m throwing a little #throwbackthursday post up here today. Recently, I saw someone comment on a February TBR post from 2018. I was surprised someone went back a year to see what I was reading and commented on the post. Wow! However, I also noticed something intriguing about the post; my TBR.

Looking back at older posts and seeing the goals you’ve set out for yourself is like a truth bomb splitting open in front of your eyes. I couldn’t step away from that post without analyzing the books I posted, if I’ve read them, and how I feel a year later.

So I decided (as content for this blog, why not) to analyze that TBR and see how a year can change your reading life. Let’s take a look at the books I had on my TBR last year:

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
• The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
• Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
• Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer
• Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
• The Journals of Sylvia Plath edited by Ted Hughes
• The Universe of Us by Lang Leav
• The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
• Hot Mess by Emily Belden
• London Belongs To Me by Jacquelyn Middleton

Looking at this list, I can already tell you the books I’ve decided not to read. I can tell you the books I’ve finally read and the books that are still stuck on my TBR. It’s funny how a year can change you even when it comes to your reading life.

I think at some point in 2018 I decided I wanted to read Sylvia Plath again and I wanted to read poems. I added The Universe of Us because it seemed less daunting. Poetry is great and I love Sylvia Plath’s work, but if a year has gone by and I haven’t read either then there might be something here it’s telling me. For example, the fact that I don’t read poetry.

But I also see some nonfiction on here that I haven’t touched. I didn’t read Text Me When You Get Home or Theft by Finding. I know nonfiction was something I wanted to read more of, but perhaps it wasn’t an earnest try back in 2018. I’m definitely changing that this year and dedicating at least one book every month to a nonfiction novel.

Out of all these books, I’ve only read four of these books. Three out of the four I luckily finished before the end of 2018, but we all know I just read Dark Matter last month. However, there are a ton of books on here that I decided I wouldn’t read. My reading life has changed and with that, I wouldn’t be reading some of the literary fiction books I planned on reading.

The craziest part is that I’ve had House of the Spirits on my TBR for years and have been meaning to read anything by Isabel Allende for a while now. I just checked my Amazon account and I bought a copy back in January 2018. So adding it to my February 2018 TBR makes me think I wanted to read this right away. Funny how the world works. I’ve made it just one of my 2019 reading goals to read something by her. Perhaps it’s finally time to pick her up.

Eventually I’ll read The Cruel Prince especially since The Wicked King just released. Maybe it’ll be for March. Who knows at this point.

Have you ever looked at your TBR from years before? What did you make of those lists?