Back in January I posted about my goal to tackle my physical TBR pile. It’s been growing since I attended my first BEA (book Expo) in 2011.Over the past few years I’ve managed to wrangle my Kindle books, ARC’s and Netgalley under control but this pile – not so much. It just keeps getting bigger.
This is the before pic of ALL of my books laid out in my kitchen. Total of 139 books.
To be honest, I have not been doing a great job working my way through them because I am such a mood reader!
I know! 139 books and nothing I want to read but it’s true! I had only read about 10 books of these books since January despite averaging 20-ish reads per month.
But starting in September I really started to focus on this pile. I sorted, went through Goodreads reviews and passed on books that no longer interested me and cracked down on the reading.
Here’s the after!
I’m down to 85 books (I read several more after taking this shot). My goal is to get down to 50 but I don’t think this is too bad. It’s progress and I feel like such a HUGE weight has been lifted off me.
Most of these books were from book cons I attended over the years and I was far less picky and thought I could read ALL the books. Even though I wasn’t necessarily obligated to read them all – I felt like broke a code or something. The arc’s were given out for the intent to review or give publicity to said arc’s.
I feel actual joy about reading again. I can’t even believe how much it changed my attitude about both reading and blogging – just having that pressure removed.
So all in all – I want to get this down more but I’m VERY happy with my progress so far!
Nice progress made.
ReplyDeleteI wish it was better but it is going in the right direction so I'm happy.
DeleteWow Karen, that's brilliant! It's really overwhelming with a large TBR and you're doing so well, are they books you'll be reviewing Karen or just the good ones?
ReplyDeleteI have been reviewing most of them. I worked my way through the more recent arc's first and now what's left is the older books (going back to 2011 BEA). I don't plan on reviewing ALL of them but if I have something to say then yeah.
DeleteAll those children's books from Friday were from this pile.
That's an awesome progress Karen. Hope at the end of this year you could wipe half of them :) I'm working on my pile too, but in my kindle hehe.
ReplyDeletexx
Vanessa @ Blushing Geek
I read so much this year. If I had concentrated on JUST this pile it would be done lol
DeleteThat BEA spoiled you LOL. But also ruined your appetite! Glad you're making progress.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to complain about something so amazing and wonderful but yeah...too many books lol
DeleteLesson. Learned.
Great work!! I'm overwhelmed by all the books I want to read, but it's not fun when you feel like you have to read. This is great!!
ReplyDeleteI got to the point where I don't even look at what's coming out anymore. It's all to stressful.
DeleteIt's nice to be back on a more even keel and choose what I WANT to read.
Like you, when I first went to a couple of ALA events I grabbed up a lot of books, not being as picky of a reader, and I got a pile of books I'll never end up reading. It's a bummer, but I've learned my lesson. I'm pickier about what I commit to reading. You've made great progress, Karen! :)
ReplyDeleteIt never, ever occurred to me that there would be too many books or that I wouldn't' at least like most of them. I used to read 100's of books per year and loved almost everything. Instead I just got overwhelmed and panicked lol I couldn't even choose 1 book.
DeleteI am loving seeing your progress here!! I love wittling down those TBR books to read. I have quite a few I have on my shelf that I have grabbed from book fairs, costco, or half price books. I think next year I am going to focus on that more and do less of ARC.
ReplyDeleteIt's still high but manageable. I don't feel as stressed or pressured anymore.
DeleteAwesome work!
ReplyDeleteWhoop whoop!!
DeleteYou're doing great!!!
ReplyDeleteI think so too!
DeleteOh nice! Anything that gets the pressure off is good. Looks like you are really working it. I'll never tell how many ebooks I have yet to read. Nope, not telling. :D
ReplyDeleteThe e-books were tackled last year lol
DeleteI think I have less than 50 which is fine for me.
Great job - and I'm glad that you're not under a ton of reading pressure. I'm doing fairly well with keeping e-books down and I'm slowly but surely getting through my physical ARCs, so I don't have too much pressure either which is always nice.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I just wanted it at more manageable levels and while I would like it down to 50 - this is good.
DeleteYou are not alone with an unmanageable physical TBR, mine is a little embarrassing, I'm scared to count the number. It's actually my Kindle shelf I'm most ashamed of, it's in the three figures and starts with a 2. Oops?
ReplyDeleteI think the number you've cut down by and your goal is brilliant. I think this is something most bloggers need to regularly otherwise we are at risk of being swamped with more books than we can ever hope to read. Next year I want to get serious about my TBR and I will try and follow your example first and actually laying my books out there to see and then I can try and tackle getting rid of a few.
I worked on my Kindle books the past 2 years. Mine was way up there too. Then my physical arc's and now this is the last big pile. It was over 200 last year so I want to do better but I'm happy where I'm at.
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ReplyDeleteYeah for slowly reading all those books :) I'm proud of you
ReplyDeleteThat's not bad at all! I'm glad you've found your happy reading place again. It is nice when you eliminate that pressure. I still do requests/add to my pile but it's incredibly limited compared to what it used to be. Much much better :) Happy reading this month!
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