Dear TBR Shelves,
Why do you insist on growing faster than I can read? You seem to have a way of collecting more and more books and I am never sure what to read next, is there a system? Or do I need to cull some of you? I’ve noticed that you get me reading new releases and classic but what happens to all the books in the middle? Sooner or later those new releases will just be lost in the void forever, I don’t know what kind of black magic this is but I need answers.
While I’m still talking to you can you tell me how I manage to be excited about books that I want to read but never get around to reading? You know those books, they get put onto your shelves with excitement and desire but you work some kind of voodoo and I never read them. It’s not like the desire to read them is just gone, you have me distracted with a shiny new book. You don’t believe me? Here is a quick list;
- Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
- Ask the Dust by John Fante
- Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
- Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
- The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster
- The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne
- The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
You can’t claim you have nothing to do with me not reading these books; I do try really hard to fight your evil ways but you are just too powerful. Always adding more books and distracting me with the shiny new ones. You are just too powerful and I’m losing the battle but rest assured that I will keep looking for ways to defeat you, there must be a way and if there is I will find it.
With all my love
Michael @ Literary Exploration
Lol! Every few months I look at my tbr list and if some books don’t appeal to me as strongly as before, I just delete them 🙂 I make sure to keep my list under 100 books!
I don’t think I can do that, I want to but most or there for a reason
Mine is doing the same thing. As a matter of fact, your last post highlighting the 5 Sci-Fi novels made me want to rearrange (once again) my TBR pile. And last night I watched a show on the historical sights of the British Isles and I moved one of my TBR books up to NEXT (Sarum by Edward Rutherford), and if I talk to some of my friends or pop into the library, it’ll be added to and rearranged again!! I want to clone me and have my clone be my worker so I can just READ! 🙂
Wow that sounds like a lot of work. I don’t order my pile; I like to read on a whim, so just pick what ever
Haha!! Well said Michael…I think you have said that perfectly on behalf of all of us 😉
Thanks Brenda
Haha, love this! You have some GREAT books on that list!
Excellent, which ones do you recommend?
Strange and Norrell, Bring up the Bodies, and Middlesex were all super. I think The Orphan Master’s Son was EXCELLENT. 😉
All on my TBR bookshelf, will have to make sure I get to them soon 🙂
Haha I love this post 🙂
It’s a never ending battle with the TBR list, isn’t it? I’ve tried to reduce my TBR on shelf this year to 50. I said to myself at the beginning of the year that I wasn’t going to buy any physical books or request ARC but I’ve failed. I’ve bought & requested a total of 8 books. It has been better then previous years but nonetheless it’s still a fail.
So I’ve changed my tactic going forward. I’m still going to be firm with myself about buying physical book but read a least 4 books on my shelf per month. Keep my books on my e-reader to a maximum of 6, and look for those books that I don’t own on Audio.
Audio books are great when you don’t have time to sit down with a book and are another/good way to reduce your TBR list.
I’m on a book buying ban to reduce my TBR but it’s not working
Oh! those book buying bans are so tough.
Goodness Michael I’ve no clue what the answer is or if my
system will work. You might have to make a plan or buy a bigger house 😛
Bigger house sounds like a good plan