TBR? Like many, my TBR is a little insane. I won’t embarrass myself by putting the actual number, but trust me, it is a lot. It also grows weekly, sometimes daily! I have seen many readers on BookTok listing their monthly TBRs at the start of each month. I thought about doing that myself to help me get through my endless piles of books. But each time I make a list, by the time I get to a particular book, I don’t feel like reading that book anymore. Should I push through and read it anyway? Should I just read what I want? Even if reading what I want to leaves some books behind for months if not weeks?
I also worry that if I force myself to read a book that I am not in the mood for, I will end up hating it simply because I was in a weird mood when I read it. For example, I wouldn’t suggest reading a super cute romance when you go through a bad breakup, right?
How do you choose your next read? Do you make a list? Do you read whatever you are in the mood for? Do you grab what is closest to you at the moment? Do you have a TBR jar?
I will admit those are darling! I want to try to make one. Should I put titles on each of the little pages or just a genre? I mentioned in a different post that I should have e-books and audiobooks on my TBR to help me get through those as well. My digital TBR is almost criminal!
Do you stare at your shelves until something catches your eye? Do you read the first page or chapter to see if it fits your mood? Do you start multiple books until you find ‘the one’ and set the others aside?
What about a digital spinning wheel?
These are also neat. I like that they won’t take up space in my home, that I can’t lose or break them, and that they are easy to add titles to. I could list titles, genres, or even formats. But this might fall into the “out of sight, out of mind” pile. I could see myself forgetting about this or forgetting to update the titles.
I have also seen people cover their books and make a ‘blind date with a book’ adventure. I like the look of this on a shelf. It would highlight the books you haven’t read. But I also feel like I would unwrap a book and still not read it. I would open a corner, peek inside to see the cover, and then quickly tape it back up!
I also don’t think I have time to cover each book. That is too much for me! That would be too big of a project.
Reading Challenge? I have seen many reading challenges that could help you get through a good chunk of books. Read a book that you have had for over a year, an author you haven’t read before, a book set in a different country from where you live, etc.
My biggest issue is that I work in a library! I am surrounded by books every day! I have so many books at home, yet I find myself gathering up a bunch of books from work all the time! Even worse, my library (school library) is having a Scholastic book fair this week. A book fair? You have to buy a few books! I mean, it raises money for the school. I’m helping my school! Well, that’s what I tell myself.
I know the logical answer is to stop buying books until I have read what I have, but that is not going to happen.
Wish me luck with this book fair. Hopefully, I won’t buy too many new books!
Literary Coffee 