A portrait of Mt TBR

[calissa]

 

My very first post to this blog mentions that Mt TBR was reaching perilous new heights after I became involved with the book blogging community. The post sounds naive to me now, particularly as I wrote it before I started accepting review books. I thought Mt TBR was high back then, but it has grown steadily ever since. Even though my reading pace has increased, Mt TBR is at a personal best (or is it worst?) of 232 books as I write this.

The reactions I get when I tell people my Mt TBR number tend to fall into two categories. Some (almost invariably book bloggers) will nod in recognition; a select few even consider me a lightweight (and rightly so. I’ve seen the number of books the award judges have to get through!). Some–particularly casual readers–boggle at the number. Where do I manage to keep all those books?

Behold the physical incarnation of Mt TBR:

I know it goes against instinct, but ignore the bookshelf. Mt TBR is in the boxes next to the bookshelf. It’s not exactly a mountain, but keeping it boxed up does make it fairly manageable. Especially with Aurelius keeping guard on top.

Of course, the books those boxes contain aren’t the entirety of Mt TBR. There are some additional books that have already made themselves a home on my various bookshelves, despite their unread status. My Kindle tells me that it hosts 39 unread e-books, with a few more still needing to be loaded.

However, when I think of Mt TBR, this is mostly what I picture:

What does your Mt TBR look like? Is it an intimidating alpine range or a manageable molehill?

 

Mirrored from Earl Grey Editing.

Comments

[forestofglory]

My TBR is mostly my goodreads to-read list which currently sits at 176, down from almost 300 a few years ago.

Then I have one shelf of physical to-read books. This has been growing the last couple months as I've had less time to read but it still pretty contained (about 20 books)

I also have some unread books on my ereader, which I tend to save for travel.

And finally I have book marks folder of to-read online short fiction. (Currently at 35ish)

[calissa]

Impressive! Did you read your way down from 300 or was there some culling involved? Any tips you'd like to share? :D

I find it interesting to hear you save up your e-books. Do you travel a lot?

Honestly, I'm struggling to figure out where I can fit in my growing list of short online fiction and fanfic. I've been so dreadful at even keeping up with my reading here on DW.

[forestofglory]

There was quite a bit of culling. There was bunch of stuff I decided I wasn't excited about reading anymore. Also I think finishing grad school up the reading rate while I became less likely to find out about academic history books that I want to read.

I don't travel that much, but I tend to forget about my ereader when I'm at home. It isn't as right there as the hard copies and library books.

[lark_ascends]

I'm not doing too bad, mostly because I haven't been buying books for the last however many years because I couldn't afford them. So at the moment, I think mine is about 8 books.

Doing the reread of all the Isobelle Carmody, so that I can finally read the last two books in the series first!

[calissa]

Eight books seems like a nice, manageable size. Although, I'm surprised the local libraries haven't sucked you in. They have quite a good collection (for genre, at least).

I'd love to hear what you think of Carmody's last two books. I stopped reading the series at least a decade ago and have been debating whether to give it another shot now that it is finished.

[lark_ascends]

I really enjoyed the entire series, now it's finished. The last two books were great. Last one maybe got bogged a little bit in one section, but then it picked up again.

I had tears rolling down my face for the last 30-40 pages of the last book. I would suggest trying the entire series again. I think it is worth it.

[calissa]

I shall add it to my wishlist, then. Thanks for the rec!