You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

This challenge is inspired by my Toppler read on the weekend which I literally have no idea why on earth I bought it about 15 years ago.

Do you ever look at a book on your bookshelf, your kindle, your audiobook library, and go, what on earth is that book? Why is it there? How did it get there? What was I thinking?

This month, I want you to go firstly to your owned libraries and have a look at what's on the shelves/lists. What I want you to do for this challenge is look at those books that you have no idea why they are there or where they came from, and choose one of them to read.

When I say why they are there, I don’t necessarily mean you don’t remember buying/finding them (no judgement), but you cannot remember a reason why you bought it or why it appealed to you. And therefore, it's just sat there.

Not a chronic book buyer/gatherer/hoarder/collector? That’s okay. After you have had a look through your owned libraries and established there are no options, then you can move to your TBR list and find a book that is on there that you are equally bewildered by and read that. Up to you how you do that (in the spirit of the challenge I would suggest your library instead of buying it, but you do you!).
But please only move to your TBR once you have made sure there are no mystery books lurking in your audio/ebook/physical libraries.

Importantly, there is no judgement here about anything that may be on your shelf that fits this category. This is a chance for us to clear out those random books that appear and then linger as we cannot for the life of us remember the reason for why they did! And obviously, to make room for another one… or six…

Reporting:

- WOF name
- What you chose to read
- Why did you choose to read it? Which library/list was it lurking in? How long do you think it was on there? Any inklings now why you got it? If you went the TBR option, let me know you exhausted other options and answer the above with a TBR jist instead.
- What did you think of it? Give us a couple of sentences so we can see if we want to snaffle this on to our own lists. "I liked it" will not count.

General Rules:

1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be combined with the Year Long Challenge and the Group Themed Read.
3. The book must be started and read between May 1 - 31, 2025 (based on your local time zone).
4. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose but you need only report one.
5. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read.
In the case of ebooks & audiobooks, the ebook edition must be at least 200 pages and the audiobook must be a minimum of 6 hours long.

Oh, I do this all the time. lol I'm sure I will be able to find plenty of options. I have books on my Kindle, in Audible, and on my physical shelves that are over a decade old. (I might have a problem.) I'm sure there are quite a few that I don't know why they are there.

I've started culling my wishlist lately for just this reason. I have no idea why I put some things on there. If I already can't remember why I wanted them, then I probably shouldn't bother getting them.

I have books everywhere that I've wondered "huh?" I will start with my kindle and see what pops up since I will be taking it in May while traveling.

Update: I am going to read The Lady by Judy Higgins. It has been on my kindle since 2013. I have no idea why. Did I need a book with a typewriter on the cover at some point?

I am going to read Just Evil byVickie McKeehan. I purchased the book in 2014 but didn’t even have it on my TBR list. I don’t know why I bought it. Hollywood is not usually a setting I care about reading. This book has met several challenges in the past but I keep putting it off as I have no interest in it. So…we will see.

I've found a few options. This has been really fun to gopher for. I keep trying to figure out why some books have landed in my library. A couple I can guess that it was due to the author or I vaguely recall that it might have just been on sale, etc, but there are some that I just don't know at all.

I own one that is the third in a series, by an author I don't recall ever hearing of, and it is not even on my TBR. Why would I grab the third book, but not the first or second? No idea. lol

I recently read a book from my tbr that would have fit the challenge. I'm sure there are more. Off to gopher.

I just saw someone post about loving a book and when I went to look at it I realized that I own all 3 books the author has written, but never read one. I have no idea why I keep buying her books. They must appeal to me somehow. lol

This is a great challenge for me. I’m suspecting I’m having an alter ego (as in multiple personality) who is secretly in the habit of buying rolled oats (I found 11 packages when I last cleaned my pantry) as well as these piping bags you use for cupcakes (5 of them) and I never even made cupcakes.
I am very sure that I have a nice stock of books that I don’t remember they existed and why…

lol, Alexandra.

I definitely have a few books that fit into this category. I pick up a lot of non-fiction so I might look there first.

I don't have any owned books where I say "Why are they there?" so will do that with my want to read shelf on GR because there are plenty of books on there that fit the bill! I'll see what I can find with a woman author since I'm doing that list right now, plus what fits with other GR stuff--it won't be hard since even after moving books to a dedicated Delete shelf I have 820 books there (not as many as some people, but still too many for my liking.)

I have two options I just put a hold on with my library network to read one of them. The Blue Bottle Club or Love Comes Softly. I don't remember putting either of them on the list. Usually if I don't remember why I didn't put something on the list I can see why I added it because it's a nonfiction topic of interest.

I did a bit of a dig through my owned books today. I'm great at remembering where I got things but no idea why I bring them home:

Last Drinks - when I worked at the small research Centre some visiting academic left this in their office after they went home after a few weeks. I just took it home

Mislaid - I just bought this from a bookshop randomly about 10 years ago. I think it was in a bargain bin.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods - I think this was one of those Book Depository sales where they had a book for a couple of dollars for an hour every hour. The first one I got really trigger happy.

The Troika Dolls - bought from my second hand book dealer. No idea why.

Red-rose Chain - was left as free take me in my office tearoom 5 years ago. So I did.

Edgware Road - got from the massive bookfair two years ago I think. No idea.

Snowdrops - same bookfair. No idea.

I found an ebook that I own - Unwanted. I don't remember buying it or why I bought it. I need a "U" title for my annual challenge. Looking at my challenge spreadsheet, I have The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep slated for that task. It dawned on me that I don't remember buying it either, nor do I remember why. Now I'm undecided about which book to read.

We need a reporting thread pretty please.

Yes you do! There you go :)

I found a book on my shelf and I have no idea why it's there. Maybe I was looking for a book with an animal clearly visible on the cover? The real puzzle is that it is the 5th book in the series but I have never started the series and the other books from 1- 4 aren't on my bookshelf just this random book 5. Why is that there? What was I thinking? Should I start at book 5 in the series? Why not, it is all very random!

It's Gregor and the Code of Claw

There are too many of those books on my shelf but I don't want to read them lol. Going to give Assistant to the Villain a try. It came in a book box and I am not a fantasy reader. It will fit with the yearly challenge so might as well...

I just noticed the book I was going to read for this challenge has only been on my TBR for about 7 months. After pondering about it and doing some digging I think I figured out why it was there. I apparently just have a short memory. I have picked something else that has been there longer.

Pragya wrote: "There are too many of those books on my shelf but I don't want to read them lol. Going to give Assistant to the Villain a try. It came in a book box and I am not a fantasy reader. ..."

Only problem with this is that you know why it's on your shelf. It came in a book box. I have a lot of those too, but didn't think they fit because I know the reason they are on my shelf is because they came in a subscription, even if it is something I wouldn't normally read.