Thursday, February 26, 2015

TBR Piles (And Goodreads Shelves)

In my experience, readers usually have two stances on TBR piles: There is the reader who wants a small pile, and one who wants a never-ending one.

The first type would rather purchase books and read them immediately. They might want a few unread books lying around, but these unread books feel like an obligation. Hundreds of books would be terribly stressful to them. It's difficult enough to realize that there are so many books in the world they will never get around to -- but adding those books to a TBR shelf on Goodreads and having a visual? Actually keeping those books around their home? No way.

The second type just wants to be surrounded by books. They are possibilities, worlds not yet discovered. Knowing that they will never read all the books provides a comfort -- what would they do if someday, there was nothing left to read? A library full of unread books sits very well with this person. So what if they never read every story on their shelves?

I have to say, I'm the first type. When I first discovered Goodreads, I added and added to my TBR. Even if a book didn't seem great, I might want to read it some day. If I didn't add it to the shelf, I would probably forget about it completely.

But after awhile, this constant adding of books turned to constant removing of books. I'm happy with that, especially recently.

Here's something I've found: For me, it's so much more exciting to pick up a book right away. I have never been one to purchase too many books in advance -- I usually buy them when I'm ready to read. But when I first hear about a book's release and can pick it up right away, that's when I'm happiest with my reading.

With a large TBR, I don't feel I can do that. There are so many other books that have been out a long time, that I've been meaning to read forever, and that I should definitely get to first! But since I narrowed down just my Goodreads shelf (Why was I ever letting a list on a website run my reading life?), I feel more freedom in what I read.

It's really all a change in perspective. I think I started out as the second type of reader -- I didn't know about many books, so I had to keep them all where I could find them. But now I know I will never run out of things to read. Between Goodreads and blogging, I am always hearing about new books. Only now, I'm beginning to realize that I don't have to read every one of them.

I would love to hear your opinions in the comments -- which type of reader are you? Do you relate to either of my options, or do you have a different perspective that I didn't think of?

7 comments:

  1. I think I'm a bit of a mix of the two. On the one hand, I love having an enormous TBR shelf on Goodreads. It makes me feel like I will never be out of options, and I have so many choices from so many different topics all at my fingertips.
    On the other hand, I'd hate to own all those books - because, like you said in your description, it feels like an obligation. I only buy books that I intend to read really soon (most often right away).
    Interesting discussion!

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    1. That makes complete sense! I don't buy books unless I'm ready to read them either, unless there's a good sale or something. Even then I'll usually wait.

      I guess I feel overwhelmed even by my Goodreads shelf, if it gets too large. What's helped is having a tbr and then a 'long tbr' so I can separate what I will read very soon, and what I might read sometime, but am not rushing to :D

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  2. With me, I have numerous books on on my TBR list, but I don't want numerous books on my TBR list. I just can't help adding books BECAUSE THEY ALL SOUND SO GOOD! Now, when I buy books, that's a whole different story. I want to own all of the books, but I don;t like owning a whole ton of unread books. My issue: I have an addition to cheap booksales. So, I often end up with books I don't really want to read right away. When I buy books full price, yeah, I want to read them right away, but can't because I'm also addicted to putting new releases on hold at the library! The bigger issue: I WANT TO READ ALL OF THE BOOKS!! The idea of a book on my TBR going unread drives me nuts!

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    1. I can definitely relate here! It's this constant struggle between reading the books you own, or buying more, or reading a review copy, or requesting another one ... And then there are free ebooks and classics and such. Too many options, LOL

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  3. I am also the first one. I added so many books on GR in the beginning, but now my tbr shelf has roughly 180 books. Which is really small compared to some shelves I've seen with thousands of books to be read! I find that number incredibly daunting and feel very comfortable with the number that I have. I like to have a few books lying around, waiting to be read, but just a small number. Just enough to know I won't run out of books soon. I also avoid reading about new releases for this reason because I'll want ALL THE BOOKS and that's just not how I read.

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    1. I used to just let it grow, then all of a sudden it was 800 books long! Right now I think I have about 90, when I combine my 'long tbr' and my 'to-read' shelves.

      I've been more picky about new releases lately, just because I'm realizing there's no possible way to read everything that comes out each year!

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  4. Hmm, I think I am a little bit of both. I use a private wish list on Amazon to keep track of my TBR . . . at least the books I haven't bought yet. Sometimes I get anxious because of all the books on it, but also I like that I have so many options. I don't want to run out of things to read. :)

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