This post is part of the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight and Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction.
Oh, the To Be Read (TBR) List. To give you an idea about my TBR list, I currently have 716 books on my “Want to Read” list on Goodreads. I have 471 unread titles on my Kindle. I also have a Nook Color, which I don’t use much anymore, but on it (and the Nook app) I have 194 unread titles. On the iBook app, I have 12 unread titles. I have no clue how many physical books. What I do know is that I have several unread books on my bookshelf, on my nightstand, by my bed, and (shame on me) in a large pull out drawer in my kitchen. It’s exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. Exciting because who knows what great book is waiting for me in all this? Overwhelming because how will I find it?
If I’m honest, I will admit that I have a book buying problem. Granted, many of the eBooks I have were received free from various services, like Bookbub or offered through various authors’ newsletters. I also subscribe to many “discounted” eBook newsletters which provide daily deals on big name eBooks, so I often purchase through those newsletters. As for physical books, I get many of those free through our local Little Free Libraries or from the Free Table from our local library. I also get many books at dirt cheap prices from a local thrift store.
A big problem I notice is that when it comes time to actually pick my next read, I more often than not find myself wandering the aisles at the local library or browsing Hoopla or Kindle Unlimited (which I recently signed up for at a limited time discounted price). So, I’m really not making much of a dent in my TBR pile, unless I am picking a title on my Goodreads TBR list (which I often don’t). The lure of an undiscovered book or a fresh off the presses title often seems to trump the books I already own.
So what’s a reader to do?
To try to help the feeling of overwhelm, I decided I was going to delete title of my TBR list on Goodreads. This ended up being much more difficult that I thought. It took me forever to figure out how to do this, and I then realized it would only delete a few titles at a time. Has anyone else had experience with this?
I’ve also thought about deleting books off of Kindle/Nook/iTunes, starting with Kindle. The only thing about this is, how do I choose which to delete? I think what I may do is go through and just delete ones that instinctively don’t appeal to me anymore. I know I have several romance novels that were free downloads that just don’t appeal to me anymore. It’s a start anyways.
What about you? How do you organize your TBR list? Do you delete titles without reading them?
6 comments:
You have so much self control. I know I have like 2000 ebooks plus all the unread books lining my walls. My TBR on GR is not really what I will read, but rather, books I wish I had or wish to read. I commit to my TBR one week at a time. I find it's easier for me to stick to, and I am really only selecting 4 -5 books at a time. My audiobooks are wildcards, though. I will browse Hoopla or my eLibrary and download on a whim.
That's a great idea to take your TBR list one week at a time. It would help me a lot if I only selected 4-5 books at a time. I agree that my TBR list on GR is not always what I want to read right now, but it is more a list of books I would eventually like to read at some point or that I read/heard about that struck my interest. I use Hoopla all the time! I too find that I pick audiobooks randomly on Hoopla. Thanks for stopping by my blog:)
I don't have a system, but when I'm trying to pick a read off my TBR I hop on Amazon and look at the reviews. That usually helps me to narrow it down because after reading reviews I find that some titles just aren't that appealing to me anymore. (Or others sound REALLY good and they shoot to the top of my list!)
I completely agree, Elsie! It's amazing how a title I found appealing enough at one point to add to my TBR list will no longer appeal to me. I'm kinda a "mood reader"...I will want to read various genres depending on my mood at the time. I think reviews are so helpful. I like to read reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.
I think so many of us do this---we own a million books, and yet we keep acquiring them and then we read books that aren't even the ones we own. I wish I had a good solution for you ... but I don't. :-)
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Nicole, you are so right! I feel like I keep acquiring books- whether through purchasing them or getting them for free- and I haven't read the huge literal and virtual stack I already have! Guess that is the book lover life, though!
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