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Hand on heart: is your TBR pile too big?


emelee

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Also, I just want to say this is incredible.

Thanks :blush2:

 

My shelves have some books to be read; they amount to forty, give or take. However, I buy books frequently, so this figure will only grow. I intend to read all of them, but I'm not stressing about it. When I want to read one, I look around me and choose one. I want to have evergrowing choice possibilites. I'm not as worried about reading them as I am about not preserving them right. I live in a country with plenty of bugs, especially in summer, and the books attract some undesired paper-eating, page-dirting hosts. In winter the room hummidifies a lot, so that's even worse for books. I guess that's why I keep a lot of decoy-books in the back of the shelves and the good books are spread throughout the shelves extremities and the desk. I should buy a bat.

:giggle2:

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Another thing I've recently started doing is making a small list of five books I plan to read through within the next few weeks. This way I don't get distracted by the next new book on the bestseller lists.

 

I do this as well, when I am feeling overwhelmed with too many choices. I'm working through a current plan now (more than 5 books, I think it's about 10), and did it a few times last year too. :smile:

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  • 2 months later...

I don't really have a  TBR.  I don't buy fiction unless its to collect them (as I'm doing with the Rebus series).  I have a list of books I'd like to read, but as I'm restricted to what my local library holds I know there's some on there I won't get to read.  I usually have about 10 fiction books out of the library at a time, or I don't get them read before they're due.  I read those before anything else usually, so I guess they're the closest I've got to a TBR.  I do have a lot of non fiction books that I own, but some of those I won't get round to reading, and others are more reference type ones.  I'm slowly making my way through the ones I want to read, but it doesn't bother me if I don't get to them all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lack of space in our house has come to my rescue with my TBR pile, which is now largely virtual. Ruth has co-opted our bookcase for our DVD collection, so other than reference and cook books there are very few "actual" books on there. No room means that physical books have a tendancy to be read and passed on to charity shops or friends. For the most part I'm happy with that arrangment, although I have salted away a few favourites here and there. Then some genius invented e-books and my problems were solved!

 

Having said all that, if someone gave me a new bookcase (and somewhere to put in in our house), I would happily fill it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

My TBR is too big I feel. I haven't counted it for a while and I have a few that I have bought and not added to the list on here. It's mainly too big for the reason I don't have the physical space for them in my place, so they are overflowing from the shelves and creating a nuisance to orderly living.

Even if I don't buy any more, I have enough for 3 years at least. That is bordering on a bit ridiculous if looked at objectively. But there are at least two other ways to look at this.

If looked at from a comfort point of view it's not too many, it's nice to have extra books around the same way it's nice to have some extra tinned food in the pantry.

If looked at from an economic point of view I spend very little as the majority of my books are second hand , and finding a great book for pennies is a great simple pleasure, and the buying is not out of control. 

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My Kindle wish list has about 90 items on it - some have been there for longer than others and some are not even published yet. Some I am waiting to appear as paperbacks so that the price will come down. I guess the list is a bit long (it would take me at least a year to read them all), but they are all there for a reason.

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I worked really hard on getting my TBR down to zero a couple of years ago, and although it did creep up for a while, it's around the 20 mark most of the time, and I'm happy with that.  I do have some challenges which I already own books for, or have downloaded free ebooks for them, and I've excluded these, which would take me up around the 50ish mark, but even that doesn't feel too bad.  At the end of last year my TBR was lower than at the start of the year, so again, I'm happy with that.

 

So the answer to the question is no! :D

 

I added all my challenge books into the TBR pile again when I made my book jar, and it's now sitting at 45, but it has started to feel a bit too big again now.  I've gone off piste and bought separate books for holidays, borrowed some books from the library and just impulse bought a book at the local bookshop last week, so I feel like the TBR list isn't going down at the moment, and it's started to feel like a weight around my neck.

 

Will really need to make an effort to try and stick to it over the summer and see if I can make a bigger dent in it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My book pile keeps going up and up, as I mentioned in another post I have books that I like to keep as well as reading books that I download to my ereader or phone.

I try to put aside some time during each day to relax with a good book but not always possible.

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Between Kindle and Paperback, I've bought about 30 books just this past month. In that time, I've read 1.

 

I read a lot normally, but with writing for two different websites, I've slowed down considerably it would seem.

 

I've also got a range of books on Kindle especially from cheap sales across the course of the last year.

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Yes, we were let down by a guy running a dog charity, he agreed to pick up a load of books from us, then on the day he said he will be there at 7pm, then he texted at 530pm to say he had no room at charity shop to take any stuff. Anyway other charities including Oxfam and RSPCA duly benefitted.

Edited by itsmeagain
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Yes, we were let down by a guy running a dog charity, he agreed to pick up a load of books from us, then on the day he said he will be there at 7pm, then he texted at 530pm to say he had no room at charity shop to take any stuff. Anyway other charities including Oxfam and RSPCA duly benefitted.

 

Awww, I love it that you were opting for a dog charity at first! :wub: Do you have dogs? (And if you do, can I please ask that you post in the Pets thread :wub:  We love pictures and stories!)

 

Good thing that you got other charities to take the books :) 

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We don't have a dog;both of us being of the view that people working 8 hours daily can't adequately attend to a dog's need for company. When we retire we will get a dog, perhaps two.

 

Ah, I understand :yes: Definitely something to look forward to once you retire!! :D (Besides getting to some serious reducing of the TBR by reading, of course!!) 

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In answer to the original question...yes, my TBR pile is too big.

I'll probably die before I read everything. :blush2:

 

Also, I have started to go through my pile and donate books that don't interest me as much as others to charity.

With the amount I want to read (and many I want to re-read), I just can't waste time on the books that I'm not that sure on.

I'm in my mid 40s, and the clock's a'ticking. ;)

Edited by alicedrinkwater
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I no longer have a physical TBR pile as I'd never have enough room in our house!

 

I do however have what I feel is massive to me a Kindle/Goodreads TBR list, 176 are waiting to be read.

 

Sadly I've only managed to read 8 so far! I somehow have to fit in 44 more by the end of the year.

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I've got four bookcases stuffed full and I probably have about 70 books still waiting to be read. All good, but no time.

 

I mostly read on my Kindle now as it's easier to take it around with me. I long for long train journeys so I get a chance to immerse myself in my latest. I haven't counted how many are loaded onto it, but there's probably about 40 to 50 still waiting for me to start. And then...! Grr... Despite saying I wouldn't download any more until I'd reduced the TBRs, I saw a post on here about an author that I keep hearing is good and so I found a book of hers on Amazon and downloaded it and that is the one I am reading now! So no reduction in the TBRs.

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My to-read list is now reaching four-hundred books which is getting a bit ridiculous I think. It only started reaching extortionate levels when I started using Goodreads - it's just so easy to add books to your 'to-read shelf!' Plus I tend to expose myself to new books all the time; I read through a lot of book forums and always check out books on prize lists etc. I want to experience all the different writing styles there are and enter every persons mind to learn how they see the world - quite a big ask. I've now divided my to-read list into smaller categories to make it more manageable i.e. mental health books, medical books, fantasy books etc. 

 

Another thing I've recently started doing is making a small list of five books I plan to read through within the next few weeks. This way I don't get distracted by the next new book on the bestseller lists. I have this awful habit of stopping a book half-way through, and I'm hoping that by breaking down my list into digestible chunks I can enjoy a book in its entirety instead of having my to-read lists looming behind me!

 

 

Also, I just want to say this is incredible.

 

Angury, Exactly my dream, too -- to have read one of each kind of book or author that is out there, just to know and enjoy what the field of literature has been. Meanwhile, I settle for a library that probably has a couple hundred years of reading in it, and simply ignore the fact that I'll never get around to all of it.  I just wish I had a list of the books I have actually read in my lifetime -- at about 50 a year when I am really going -- but even if I had that, it would not be very long.  It's all just too sobering. :(

 

On the other hand, I think it is the joy of buying that is even greater than the joy of reading! :D  And that is accomplished once the book is in hand.  One doesn't even have to read it, just fondle it and put it on the shelf.

 

So I'm content.

A little bit crazy,

But content :)

Paul

Edited by Paul
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My biggest downfall is the charity shops. I can't pass one without nipping in for a quick scan.

 

Unfortunately the main route into/out of town is lined with 9 of them! I'm doomed, folks, doomed!

 

I've just failed to resist 6 Trudi Canavan novels (in great condition, too) for only a couple of pounds each.

 

The stress, the stress!

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The stress, the stress!

 

Books are lovely, reading is wonderful. No stress allowed.  :smile:

 

I won't count the unread books on my shelves, and I actively ignore any numbers that appear on my kindle. As I so rarely regret a purchase I refuse to be worried by the numbers. I can with certainty say that I am unlikely in my lifetime to run out of something to read.  :D

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I've just failed to resist 6 Trudi Canavan novels (in great condition, too) for only a couple of pounds each.

Well, maybe on a positive note, I've read 7 books by Trudi Canavan and I liked them all :).

 

It can be hard to resist a good deal, though!

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