Working Through My TBR
My unread books-owned list has tipped from a comfortably happy list (“Yay! Look how many books I have in front of me to read!”) into a suffocating list (“Oh no! Look how many books I have in front of me to read!”). And yet, I know I will add more to my list this month. An e-book pops up for sale, and I think about how if I don’t grab it now, I won’t be able to read it later because it’s not in the library system or I will be paying full price. Or an author puts out a new book, and I want to own it, not borrow it. So the list grows.
I have a tendency if I own the book to wait to read it. Even if it was top of my TBR before the purchase. I guess my reasoning is that if I own it, I can read it any time. And if I’m borrowing it, I have it for three weeks. And once the library’s license is gone, the opportunity to read it is gone. So I keep bypassing what I own in favour of what I don’t.
I decided to make an effort and read books I own for 15 minutes in the morning. I started with Andrew Sean Greer’s Less. I own it in paper and in e-book form, but I put off reading it for years because I knew I would like it once I read it, and I always wanted it in front of me rather than behind. Probably not the best way to approach my TBR. But now I’m reading it and enjoying it, and I can see myself continuing this trend now that I’ve broken the seal. Hopefully I will at least be able to keep a balance of new books in and old books out.
4 comments
Ha! I’m the same with books I own – I have received or purchased several books, which just sit as I order more books from the library. I did make an effort to read them, so now I’m down to just 1. Not counting all the ones I downloaded from Amazon…
My book club friends and I have often talked about how buying/owning books and actually reading books seem to be two separate (though interrelated) hobbies. Ha!
My TBR is constantly out of control: I read a lot (about 100 books a year), and yet I always have so many books that I am interested in reading that it would take me years to get through them all. (I currently have 525 books on my Want to Read list and add new titles often.)
As for actual physical copies of books, like you, I am always enthusiastic about a book when I buy it, and yet it often sits unread, sometimes for years. Not quite sure why that is. . . . And don’t even get me started on Kindle e-books! I only download them if they are deeply discounted or free, and yet I have lots that I haven’t read yet!
My MIL assured me a few years ago that retirement will do wonders to whittle down my TBR pile. I hope she’s right, and I hope I live long enough to find out firsthand. 😉
My bookshelves, both real and virtual/e-book, are groaning with unread books, and my “want to read” list on Goodreads is heading towards the 600-book mark. Realistically, I know I will never read all the books I have or want to read (especially at age 61 and the pace of my reading in recent years…!). But it’s fun to try. 😉 And yes, the pile does still keep growing…!
Yeah I have way too many unread books at the moment and just feel overwhelmed by it all! And there are always so many new books out there.