Sunday, September 20, 2015

Back To My Blogging Roots & Tracking my TBR

A couple of weeks ago, Lisa over at Bookshelf Fantasies wrote a post Counting Up the Books that really struck a chord with me. She basically did a culling and inventory of her collection, followed by tallying up a master Book Count of what she still wants to read. This reminded me so much of my early days of blogging -- you know, back when I chose to call this little corner of the internet Buckling Bookshelves because my shelves were literally overflowing. I wanted to read more and buy less and in my very first post, I fessed up to my number of unread books. Back then, I thought 230 was a lot (excuse me while I have a good laugh at my former self.)

I had a hard time committing to less book buying though and eventually deleted the page I used to keep track of my number because it kept increasing instead of decreasing. Even as I did read some of the titles on my shelves, I just couldn't keep up! Getting more involved in the book blogging community was wonderful, but it didn't help this *problem* one bit -- I just kept hearing about new books! I even fell into the ARC trap for a while and things got way out of hand.

If I am perfectly honest, things are still out of hand. For the first few months of 2015, I did really well on the Show Your Shelves Some Love (A No Book Buying Challenge) I joined. I was also focused on my son's upcoming arrival and during the early days of new motherhood, I had no interest in learning about or acquiring new books. But as I came out of the fog a little bit (and was stuck in the house a lot) I discovered BookOutlet.com and went on quite a binge. And since I'd already "cheated" on my goals, I started checking my other usual book sites and stores again and was back to my old habits in no time -- buying more than I could possibly read and neglecting the books I already have.

The majority of my collection

Lisa's final Book Count ended up being 478. I'm pretty diligent about inventorying my collection on Goodreads, so a quick glance shows that my own TBR** number stands at 580 (give or take a few errors or accidental omissions). I've tried to not let it bother me, but it is time to admit that it does. I spent time and money acquiring my collection and I haven't been enjoying it as much as I could be. I am so extremely fortunate to be able to own books and I feel like I am taking them for granted. I am the last person to tell anyone else how they should feel about their unread books, but I don't feel great about my ballooning number. I want to appreciate what I already have and I'm ready to hold myself accountable again.

So, I'm following Lisa's lead and putting my TBR number on my sidebar (beneath my "currently reading" widget) instead of hiding it on a separate page like I used to. Right here, right now, I'm admitting to a starting number of 580. I will be trying my best to keep that number going in the right direction (down!) I'm officially returning to my blogging roots and refocusing on what I already have. I can't say I won't ever buy new books, but I don't want them to be my main focus. I want any new books I do buy to really earn their spot on my shelves. I will still borrow library books (print & audio), but I want to make a conscious effort to stop neglecting what I already have.

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** TBR is different for everyone, but for me they are the books I have in my home (any format) that I still want to read. I don't include books I want to read, but don't have a copy of. I do count any of my husband's or kid's books I plan to read -- the kid books on my TBR mostly include some larger treasuries and holiday books that we haven't gotten to yet.

20 comments:

  1. My list is 1,115 books long!! I consider it a wouldn't it be pretty to think so list. :)

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    1. OK, that makes me feel a tiny bit better :) I hope you get to some of them at least!

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  2. My TBR is usually between 50 and 60 and never ever ever changes. I know it may not seem like a lot, but it's all relative. I've tried to stop accepting as many to review, but then I just buy more!

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    1. I'm sure there was a time I had a more reasonable TBR number and I will admit I am completely jealous of yours because it just seems so do-able. I'm sure the never ever changing has to to with reading some and gaining some new ones! Maybe if I cull some more, I can attempt to veer back into do-able territory...one can dream right?

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  3. If you include ARCs, physical books, and e-books etc. that I own and haven't read I think I am at about 80. Which is quite a bit for me since I do get a majority of my books from the library since I work at two. lol I wish you good luck! At least you have a beautiful collection! :) I do my TBR on goodreads (books I want to read in general, not just ones I own) is getting a little overwhelming at 395 and I want to clean that out. I also at some point want to take stock of all my books and add a shelf for that on goodreads. Hopefully some day.

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    1. 80 sounds like such a reasonable number -- I think I'm a bit jealous :) My want to read (books I don't own) shelf is also waayyy out of control. I even did a huge cull recently and the list is super long. Why do ALL THE BOOKS have to sound so good?!

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  4. I was about to say, I think you might have a few more floating on a shelf in Virginia. But then I realized that you've read all of those so far. :-D

    Comparing your TBR shelf to my shelves on Goodreads, there are so many books that I want to tell you to read first. (And one that I want to tell you to not bother with, but we've discussed that already.) But I will say that the Sherlock Holmes books are very fast reads. Also, please read Robert Galbraith soon. Everyone else in the family has read it! lol

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    1. Galbraith is currently out on a family loan, but those two will definitely be on the shortlist of what to read soon. Sherlock really should be my next classic -- I've been meaning to read more of those stories forever and I think fall is the perfect season for detective stories :)

      Also, I remember the book you told me not to bother with and it is now on my giveaway/donate pile. I forgot about a few audiobooks I have that were not on my TBR, so I added them and made myself cull a few more titles, so I didn't have to mess with my starting number -- hey, at least it got a few more I will likely never read on their way!

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  5. I did a little book inventory recently and I'm comfortable with the books on my TBR in terms of number count, but I do know that some of the books on my TBR have been sitting there for quite some time. I've never really made use of tracking my TBR on Goodreads, but I'm literally about to add my books there today!

    I'm actually currently on a book buying ban in order to save for a big purchase, and I'm hoping to have made a good dent in my TBR by time my timeframe comes to an end.

    Good luck with getting back to your original roots and working through your shelves. But remember, don't beat yourself up about it if you do 'cheat' in future!

    Also, I count my TBR the same as you - books that I currently own and are unread on my shelves. It confuses me so much when people include books that are on their wishlist in the TBR. Just one of those pet peeves of mine!

    All Things Bookish – Jade Louise

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    1. Thanks for your kind words Jade, especially about not beating myself up :) I think it is always a good idea to make goals and strive to be better, but overall if I shift my mindset about my collection, I think it will be for the best and an occasional "cheat" should be OK :)

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  6. Good luck with the cull. I used to have thousands of books but had to get ruthless with them and now have less than 500 - I use the library extensively and hardly buy any books at all now! And it is working for me. Cheers from CArole's Chatter

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    1. Wow, that was quite a cull! I find it easier to get rid of books I've already read, so then I wonder why I buy so many in the first place? It's definitely something I need to work on. Glad you found what works for you :)

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  7. Great post, and thanks for the nice mention! I like your thought that any new books need to earn their spot on your shelves. That seems like a really worthy goal -- I know I'll never entirely swear off buying more books, but I should at least be a little more intentional about the ones I do buy. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks and you're welcome! Even though it sounds like a very reasonable goal, I think I will need all the luck I can get :)

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  8. I "only" own about 100 books I haven't read, but I struggle to keep my TBR list on Goodreads under 1000.

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    1. I guess it's all relative, right? It's time for me to do something about it :)

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  9. I like the idea of putting your TBR number on your sidebar. Good way to stay accountable. I may do that myself, once I finally get the courage to actually count how books I own that I haven't read...

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    1. It does take a bit of courage! Even with regularly updating on GoodReads, it was a little shocking to really think about my total once I decided I needed to do something about it. Books are definitely our weaknesses! :)

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  10. Last month I went through a culled my physical TBR pile and my electronic one. It felt good to admit that some books didn't interest me any more.

    Terri M., the Director
    Second Run Reviews

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    1. It does feel good! When I was preparing this post I did a good purge of the free ebooks I had acquired -- it was time to admit I was never going to read them!

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I'd love to hear what you think :)