The To Be Read Tag
I signed up for a great TBR-related swap on swap-bot. I have a whole lot of To Be Read books that need attention. And though I do not think I have time to participate in the great Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon going on this month, I think I thought this tag would be fun.
I'm currently working on cataloging all of my TBR this month (thanks to my great friends who spent an entire day going through about 50-60 of my boxes and playing with spreadsheets). The project is on hold until after my recovery from hip surgery, but I got pretty darn far. My Mt. TBR is less a mountain and more of a mountain range right now, though.
- How do you keep track of your TBR pile?
Badly. No, LOL, really, until recently, I kept track of my TBRs merely by putting them on special bookcases. In the case of TBRs that I know will become part of my permanent collection, I will sometimes mingle those with my permanent collection. But usually I put all the books I haven't read yet specifically on their own bookcases. I have one bookcase just for BookCrossing TBR so that BookCrossing-registered books don't get lost amidst the other mountains in Mt. TBR.
Three of my four dedicated TBR bookcases, organizing still in progress
I tried putting together a Pinterest board of my TBR, but I got tired of doing so and I couldn't find covers for all my books. So I've recently started keeping track using a spreadsheet. There are columns for title, author, BookCrossing registered, multiple copies, and notes (such as if it's signed or not). I'm in love with my spreadsheet right now, though it is still incomplete. And I could have kept going, keeping track of where I acquired the book and when, but that's more than I needed from the spreadsheet. Luckily, the spreadsheet has helped me find over a dozen repeats in my TBR that I didn't have to keep on my shelves! So already it's helping me get my collection down. - Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?
It's almost exclusively print. I have hundreds of print books and only about a dozen ebooks I haven't read. I do probably have about 50 audiobooks on Mt. TBR also. - How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?
Sometimes I read something because it fits a challenge or swap. I usually read something off my TBR because I feel drawn to it. It catches my eye as I pass the book on the shelf or I just feel like reading something. They call to me. I just feel in the mood for something in particular and pluck it off. I wish I had more discipline and could choose something because it's been waiting for so long, but it doesn't usually work that way. Sometimes the newest books on the mountain are the most attractive and call the loudest. - A book that's been in your TBR the longest.
I am really not sure which one's been there for the longest. The one that springs to mind is A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter has been on my TBR shelf half-read for about 22 years now. I got a defective copy with the beginning pages repeating in the middle of the book, my mother returned it to the bookstore (it had been an Easter present), but I never picked it back up to finish it. When I finally get to it again, I suspect I will start from the beginning again. - A book you recently added to your TBR.
On the Edge by Richard Hammond was a RABCK (Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness) sent to me from the UK. I received it in July and haven't read it yet, though I'm eager to do so. It now sits on my BookCrossing TBR bookcase, of course. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/8337244/ I love the TV show, Top Gear (aka "That show with the cars" when I couldn't think of the name a few weekends ago), and this is one of the stars. I don't many memoirs, but I usually enjoy the ones I do read, so I am excited to have a chance to read this one. The show is more popular in the UK and it's hard to find anything here in the US related to it, so the RABCK was especially sweet and helpful! - A book in your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover.
The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip. The cover art on both the front and back is a piece of art by Kinuko Y. Craft, who I've met at a convention. Her art is gorgeous, and this cover is no exception. I've had it on my TBR shelf for years, but I probably will never read it.
See? Look how beautiful it is! - A book in your TBR that you never plan on reading.
The Devouring Fungus by Karla Jenning. I picked this up some time in college (I was a computer science major). I still hold onto it, thinking I might read it. But, deep down, I'm pretty sure I never will.
- An unpublished book in your TBR that you're excited for.
I don't put unpublished books in my TBR. Those go into my "Future TBR" list. My TBR is only books I physically have in my possession that need to be read, not books I haven't yet acquired. I have a number of wishlists. One at BookCrossing, one on Amazon.com, and one on Pinterest of books I want to acquire to read. But as far as unpublished books go, certainly I'm excited for whatever Diana Gabaldon publishes next, and same for John Green. I look forward to Cassandra Clare's new series, The Dark Artifices, because it it's a fresh start to Shadowhunter stories and it's got Holly Black's stamp on it as well.
- A book in your TBR that everyone recommends to you.
Dewy: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, Bret Witter. Two of my best friends gave me this book for my birthday and I still haven't read it. I've only heard good things from everyone who has read it. I love cats. I love libraries. Sounds like a perfect fit for me. I look forward to getting to it one day soon!
- Number of books in your TBR.
This is the only question I can't really answer exactly. Two weekends ago, my friends helped me start cataloging my Mt. TBR collection. I kept going through boxes after they left. But I still have another 6 or 7 boxes to catalog. I'm unable to walk up and down stairs right now after surgery, and my books are downstairs in my home library or in the storage area. So the cataloging project is on hold temporarily and unfinished. But I've been through about 65 boxes and only have about 6 left. So the majority is done. Every book in my TBR will soon be listed in a exspreadsheet. And currently that says I own 1,385 books I haven't yet read. Probably there are another 300 or so left, but I don't know for sure. So at least 1,385 :-)