As
many of you already know, I have recently begun to get a wee bit “obsessive”
about my “to be read” (TBR) book list.
Obviously, I love reading - and have a wide range of tastes - so it’s
not hard for me to add books to my list, to my Kindle, etc. And the reading group I started on Facebook
some months ago has only “exacerbated” my “problem” – full of other bibliophiles,
we are constantly suggesting books, gifting/swapping books, etc.
While,
on the one hand, I love having a large variety of books loaded on my Kindle,
and on my TBR list, knowing that I’ll always have a nice range of choices for
my next read, on the other hand – and for reasons no doubt due mostly to my own
personal neuroses – I was also starting to get a little “panicked.” How could I possibly “survive” without being
able to read all these awesome books?
What would I do if my TBR list and/or Kindle queue became so long that I
finally became paralyzed over what to read next or – heaven forbid – became so
overwhelmed, I just stopped reading completely? (okay, fat chance!)
Luckily,
my recent, extended “vacation” time has allowed me to do some serious
reading. In the past 7 weeks, I’ve
managed to read 9 books. And quite a
range, too, from alt-historical-fiction to fantasy, to young adult, to
classics, to non-fiction, etc. etc. etc.
I’d gotten my TBR list “down” to 153 books and my Kindle queue down to
36 (that is, after adding about 3-4 more books to the latter and about the same
number to the former while reading those 9 books just mentioned).
Then
my mom sent me an Amazon gift certificate for my birthday. Sigh. But
I decided I would ONLY get books that were on sale, and that were currently on
my TBR list – so while my Kindle queue would grow larger, my TBR list would
shrink by the same number. “Progress!” J
I
was able to take seven books off my TBR list and transfer them to my Kindle
queue. Patting myself on the back, I was
also a little “proud” of the variety – until I realized it was that “breadth of
taste” I have that contributes to the length of my TBR list. Oh well.
To demonstrate, the seven books I added were: Slaughterhouse Five,
Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Pete Hautman’s Mr. Was, Nancy Farmer’s The House of
the Scorpion, Neil Gaman’s American Gods, Frances Fyfield’s Staring at the
Light, and Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow.
As
I went through my TBR list – searching one by one for a sale so I could get as
many as possible, I noticed that some of the books on my TBR list had
relatively “low” cumulative reviews/ratings.
While my friend Mark scoffs at this herd mentality, my experience has
taught me that – almost no matter what the genre – if a book has a good number
of reviews, and is still able to score a cumulative rating of at least 4 stars
(out of 5), odds are I’m going to like it; unless, of course, it just happens
to be one of those few genres/types I simply am not drawn to (e.g., a Harlequin
Romance).
I
decided right then – for my own sanity – that I would drop any books that did
not have at least a cumulative rating of 4 stars. UNLESS (there always has to be an unless), it’s
by a favorite author, or is ranked a bit lower due to “love it/hate it” and I
can glean from the summary that I would fall in the former camp, or was highly
recommended by someone I know/trust. I
felt safe in doing this because I know I have books on my TBR list that have
been there for YEARS – and many of them from a time when I’d “carelessly” add a
book to the list based on one good review from a particular magazine I used to
subscribe to.
So,
even though it took quite some time to go through my long TBR list (seriously,
go to Amazon and type in 150+ books, one by one, check out the reviews, and
decided if you’d like it or not), I did it just to “combat” my
admittedly-somewhat-childish obsession with my TBR list.
Of
course, the problem was I’d come across books that were on the “cusp” and read
the summary and think, “Oooh, I want to read that now!” J Alternately, I’d come across books that
were “only” rated 3.5 stars, notice it was a first novel, and then see books by
the same author underneath, with a 4 star or higher rating, and then I’d read
about THAT book, and simply swap out the title and keep the author on my
list. Sigh. (Just as a suggested reading for friends, the
one that struck me most was swapping out Tom Rachman’s “The Imperfectionists”
for his later “The Rise & Fall of Great Powers: A Novel” Seriously, folks – go check it out! J
) Finally, what also made it difficult
was many of the books were on sale/cheap on Kindle and it was a MAJOR battle to
keep me from going ahead and getting it and putting it on my Kindle. But as I am currently not drawing a salary,
it wasn’t too hard to fight down
those purchase urges! J
At
the end of the day, while my Kindle queue grew to 43 books (thanks to mom’s
gift certificate), my TBR list shrank to…………drumroll please………129. Just having it under the “130” mark adds a
bit to my psychological health! My new
goal is to keep my total TBR/Kindle queue to under 150 – which will require a
great deal of discipline and/or more intensive reading, as right now I’m at
173. But I can do it! Now back to “Terrorists of Irustan.”
I
was all excited about this until I realized at least a dozen of those titles on
my list are “trilogies” or the like.
Sigh. Just shoot me now.
No comments:
Post a Comment