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Hand on heart: is your TBR pile too big?


emelee

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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.

 

This has started happening to me over the past year. As I have started buying more books through bookshops rather than on my kindle, I have become more attuned to their presence and how relaxing they can appear. I'm so tempted to try and find the collected works of all the authors I love - unfortunately I've discovered that a lot of these collected works are rather expensive!

My dream is to have a library in my own house someday which is teeming with ancient books and collected works - I want to be able to step into my library and be transported across time. I don't think I ever appreciated the beauty of a book sitting on a shelf until I noticed some of the gorgeous illustrations portrayed on the front covers of a lot of classics.

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This has started happening to me over the past year. As I have started buying more books through bookshops rather than on my kindle, I have become more attuned to their presence and how relaxing they can appear. I'm so tempted to try and find the collected works of all the authors I love - unfortunately I've discovered that a lot of these collected works are rather expensive

 

 

Very much agreed, Angury! An e-reader just can't produce that feeling of contact with an old friend experienced by picking up an actual book. I couldn't have a home without a few around me, at least.

As for the costs of collecting, I'll suggest the local charity shops for a browse. Some of their stock is actually new, and even most of the pre-used ones are in good condition. Many people are emptying their bookshelves nowadays in favour of a Kindle etc - there's some great cut price buys out there!

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I'm another sucker for the charity book shops. I've bought some amazing books which I shall probably never get round to reading. I have a set of beautifully bound books about sailing ships. I love all those sails and the wind and the sea...ah me hearties. Wonderful illustrations of the the Mayflower setting sail and so on. I have several other treasured sets from the charity shops, all non-fiction, and I tell myself that if I don't get round to reading them then maybe my children  will, or their children, or their children's children, or... - I just hope someone will!

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I used to have a to-be-read list, but I've refused to do a recount in the last couple of years. With buying new books every year, I think it's probably unlikely I'll ever get through everything I want to read, but you never know. I'm still young, and I still have a lot of books I'm probably never going to read, that I could get rid of (charity shops, friends, etc.)

 

I've started worrying about it less though. It's good to know I have the freedom to pick through a massive selection of books every time I'm looking for a new read. I'll get to what I can--I don't want to feel pressured into thinking "I should read this, or this many books in any given time..." *shrugs*

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I have lots of tbr piles!  Occasionally I do sift through and put some aside for the charity shop, but I rarely give books away, especially if they're part of a series.  I've also stopped counting how many I've got to read....I'd love a room for my own library but sadly at the moment most of them are on the floor.

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Further to my earlier topic, it's probably about 300, and I have a shorter version listed on Library Thing of about 70.  I also, like a couple of others on here, have a current mental list of around 5 or 6 books, which should cover a couple of months' reading at a time, and I've found this to be fairly manageable.  But sometimes if I'm having a sort out and come across some books by an author who I've lost interest in (eg Patricia Cornwell) then I will have a bit of a clearout and send them either to a charity shop, or to friends who have a charity which is helping to restore an old local property, which is nice as a) I can see exactly where the money goes, and b) it's local so it benefits the local area with open days, community events like concerts and occasional plays in the grounds, and education days for local schools, as well as painting days, archaeology days (there's usually a dig of some sort going on) etc. 

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My pile is (just about) manageable.  I have 72 in my TBR.  The problem is, I keep adding to it!  I don't believe that I will ever clear the pile, because books are too irresistible.  And don't start me on the re-reads that I'd really love to get to again.  There's a whole other pile of those.  Aieee!

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I only found out, OB, because I was alerted to one of my books (I'm a writer) being on their tbr list. I took a look at the list and nearly fell off my chair! The chance of them ever reading my book is pretty slim, or even none at all!

 

It's nobody on here, of course. We're all far too sane.  :smile:

Edited by Anna Faversham
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I have quiet a few on my to read list but heavens not that many.  What I find as well is that when you buy new books or download them to phone the old ones get pushed aside.

 

Trying to get through some of my Christmas stories at the moment, some of them that I got last year.  I think I need more time to read.

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I haven't counted them for ages, but I have around 65 on my "mental" list, and goodness knows how many others dotted around, usually from book series which I need to catch up on.

 

So yes way too many!

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I'm starting to think I have too many. :doh: At my current rate it will take about 6 years to clear down my pile (that's with no additions, which isn't likely to happen). I have so many that I have owned for years, and just never felt in the mood to read them. I must start making headway with my older books (and I have read a few 'oldies' this year) because it is just getting ridiculous. I'm almost dreading the annual Kindle Book sales that Amazon do. :thud:

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I have so many that I have owned for years, and just never felt in the mood to read them. I must start making headway with my older books (and I have read a few 'oldies' this year) because it is just getting ridiculous. 

 

I feel this.  In fact, it was only just this year that I finally got around to reading a few of the books on my shelf that had been sat there for over 20 years!  And they were fantastic, too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm expecting my TBR pile to reach 2,000 by mid February. :o

How do you decide which book to read next out of your pile?

 

My TBR list is getting so big now that I am beginning to have this problem.

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I'm expecting my TBR pile to reach 2,000 by mid February. :o

 

Good lord. Mine would probably be a couple hundred if I didn't shave off some excess each year but wow. Even if you read 100 books a year and acquired no new books it would take you 20 years :thud:

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Good lord. Mine would probably be a couple hundred if I didn't shave off some excess each year but wow. Even if you read 100 books a year and acquired no new books it would take you 20 years :thud:

 

If you have books still to read you can never die. Kylie will be immortal.

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