Wednesday, February 4, 2015

To TBR or Not to TBR

Something that I need to do in the near future is go through my Goodreads TBR list and delete the titles I'm no longer interested in reading. I remember when I first joined Goodreads and added everything to my TBR. Vampires? Add. Medieval-type fantasy? Add. Character has the same name as a character I loved in a different book? Add. Ah, those were the days, when almost every book Goodreads recommended went on the TBR.

Since I began blogging, though, I definitely think I've become more selective about what makes the TBR list. If I see a book that's consistently receiving meh reviews, I'm likely to skip it, even if the premise sounds like something I'd be interested in. You guys rock at helping me decided what to read in the future!

Past hit-or-miss experiences with dystopians and contemporaries make me give synopses for those genres a little extra scrutiny. On the flip side, if I see that a favorite author has a new book coming out, I'm clicking the add button faster than you can say, "Gimme!" No plot summary needed. In general, though, I've been trying to keep my TBR somewhat manageable and adding only when I'm almost certain I'm actually going to pick up a book and read it. I used to do a lot of adds just to keep them in mind, and I could create a separate shelf for that, but I feel like it would just turn into an extension of my TBR shelf. The latter just hit 700, which I know I'll never get through unless I get turned into a vampire or something, so I'm looking to focus on shaving down that number to a more semi-realistic figure.

Do you periodically go through your TBR list and weed out books you no longer wish to read? Do you ever feel intimidated by the number of books on your TBR? Are there any authors whose books are auto-adds for you?

10 comments:

  1. I definitely cull my GR shelves regularly. I just did one, since my TBR had somehow gotten over 1,000! Now it's under, although not by much.

    I had thought about a maybe shelf, but like you said, it'll just become an extension of the to-read which isn't very helpful at all!

    Angie @ Pinkindle

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    1. I don't have the self-discipline to maintain a maybe shelf, lol. I have been trying to keep my TBR a little leaner, but it's just that there are SO many books that I really do want to read!

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  2. Oh yes! Which reminds me I need to review mine again. I am more selective now although I think I can still do better. I'm a work in progress, my addiction to one-click needs a little more work.

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    1. Haha- mine too! I haven't even been looking at my GR recs much lately because I figure that I already have enough books that I need to read!

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  3. haha! I remember those good old pre-blogging Goodreads days too. I think I added any book that could have been remotely my thing. Those GR recs used to be my favorite thing ever. And like you, since I started blogging, I've become a bit more picky about what I'll actually pick up and read. I guide myself by fellow bloggers and bookish friends on GR, ratings...etc. Oh and I ignore the GR recs now because seriously, there are enough books to choose from without that LOL I've actually cleaned up my tbr shelf pretty regularly (like once a year) BUT I still have like 630 books on there >.< I constantly find myself wishing for a Time-Turner or TARDIS so I could read ALL the books on there but sadly, my wish hasn't come true. Yet...

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    1. A Time-Turner or TARDIS is most definitely needed, LOL! I need them not just to read all the books I want to, but also so I get more real life stuff done too. XD

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  4. OMG, you just made turning into a vampire something wonderful - oh to have the time to read all the books! :) I totally agree with your thoughts here - it's important to be more selective because it's so overwhelming to see how many books you want/kinda want to read. And when I first started, I would add lots of books indiscriminately, but I find I can focus better on my TBR list if I really keep it to what I absolutely want to read.

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    1. That's what I've been trying to do with my TBR- keep it to what I really,really want to read. It's not easy when I want to read practically everything, lol, but I think overall, I have become choosier about the books I do decide to try because my reading time has become quite limited.

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  5. I seriously need to do the as well. Whittle down the TBR the problem is so many of them are ones I own, and I am not inclined to get rid of hence that means they stay on my GR account because that is how I keep track of books I actually own. I think I need to move them to the "consider reading" shelf I have instead tho. I think I'll try to do that.

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    1. I also like tracking books I own through GR. I've thought about doing a spreadsheet for that but GR is just more convenient, plus I'd totally forget to update a spreadsheet whenever I added new books, lol.

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