How do you handle your TBR pile?

If you are friends with me on Goodreads or follow me on social media such as instagram, you’ll know that like most writers and authors, I LOVE to buy books!!

I love a good 99p (or less) deal on Kindle, but my favourite thing to do is buy books from charity shops. As a result I always have a VERY large TBR (‘to be read’) pile. Though I have the odd romance, YA or literary fiction novel in there, the vast majority are crime/mystery – mostly psychological thriller, though also police procedural and dystopian/apocalyptic.

Whilst I’ve written before about reducing your TBR pile, now I’m wondering how OTHERS tackle theirs. So, without further ado, here’s mine:

Route A: I’m very specific about what I like, which is *generally*:

High concept stories
Female protagonists preferred
Diverse casts preferred
As many new authors as possible

That’s not to say I don’t read books outside my above remit, but the ones on my TBR list like the above get preferential treatment, ie. ‘bumped up’ the list quicker.

Route B: If everyone is talking about a book (ie. on Twitter, via my friends in  Goodreads, or in groups like THE Book Club on Facebook, or it has a big presence online, trains stations etc), then I’ll read it too. This means new books often get read before older ones.

Route C: If I’m friendly online with an author and/or meet one in real life and/or hear him/her speak at an event, I’ll read their book. I also like to try and read other Devonian authors. I try and read as widely as possible, so even if I think someone’s book may not be my ‘cup of tea’, I will still give it a go.

Over to you, now:

Do you have a system, or do you pick books at random?
If you have a system, what’s yours?