Chicks On Lit discussion
List OCD
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Gloria Clark
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Feb 16, 2009 11:08AM
Am the only one that has created a truly excssive list of books to read. Not that one shouldn't have goals, but sometimes it seems a wee bit rediculous, I think. It just seems absurd to me, sometimes, but, then a lost of things i do seem absurd, even to me.
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I have 309 books on my "to-read" list. Every time I read about or hear about a book I think I'd like to read I add it. I am not sure I will ever get to read them all, but I will give it my best shot!! LOL
That's how I feel too, but some weird little part of me feels like this is ssome goal I NEED too accomplish. Which is really kind of self defeating and undermines the whole "reading for enjoyment" thing. But I guess I am having fun, so thats all that really matters I suppose.
I have 300+ on my own to-read list. Whenever I find a book that I want to read, I put it on the list. Even though I might never get to it, at least I have it in one place if I need it. I'll put every little thing on there myself. It keeps me from checking out/taking home/buying every little book if I know that I put it on my list, and can find it again later. I was to the point where I had almost 100 items checked out on my card because I couldn't keep track of what I had. (I work in the library. Every time I shelve books, I find at least one that looks interesting enough to read.) I don't think it's accessive. Maybe someday you can go back and "prune" your list, but it's something that is very good to have.
Thats true. And I have been doing better with not buying or check out so amny at once. And I for SURE like to have the working list of books that I can keep and have access too. It s nice t have acategorized, searchable list of books easily at hand.
I have 654 on mine and yes that's excessive but I like knowing I have a place to store the "master list" of all the books I would like to read. Doesn't mean I have to read them all....but at least its there if I want to pick one from it to start on next.
I am going to have to move out of my house soon, the books need their own place.............
I like having a good long to read listing so there are books to look forward to and won't have to wonder what to read next so much.
I just counted my "list" and I have 153 on it. It seems to stay at about that because I always try to read the Book of the month in my other group(s) I belong to and now I joined this group and of course The Heretic Daughter wasn't on my list to begin with, so I'm just wrapping that one up. So, it is a never ending list, but I LOVE it!!! I'm in the OCD category about it too though, it is something I feel I must do. :)
I like having a note book by my computer and so when I hear about a must read book I put it there. But for the last couple of years I pick about 10 books that keep showing up on my list and I make that my must reads for the year. It keeps it manageable for me at least if I do indeed try to get to those books each year. Now if I could just stick to reading the books I own that would help so much. Meg, I don't want to make an addition for my books just yet! ha
My to read list is very important to me. i never want to lose track of a book I want to read but I might not own right now. I keep things manageable that way. (KrisT - I also do the notebook thing at my work computer)I find my challenge is to make sure books that come in my house stay foremost in my mind and that I go to those to read before I buy more. I am really bad about buying a book(s) that I really want to read and because I "own" it taking my time to get to it. Perfect example is Alias Grace. Bought the book when it first came out....Love Margaret Atwood, but because I own it and figure I'll get to it eventually it continues to gather dust on a shelf.
The other thing that kind of gripes me is that I often let the "hot discussion" or a new review dictate to me what I choose to read....I'll just clear my table off and go and buy another book with hardly a thought to the absolutely dead-on
good reads that I had planned on tackling next. Makes me kind of feel like a book slut.
Mod
I love having the TBR list to keep track of books. Even though I may never read all of them or my taste may change or whatever, I feel better knowing they are all there. Before I had lists in notebooks, papers, etc. all over the place! I just like having them all organized. When I find myself trying to add one that is already there, well it's time to read it!! :)
My to-read list would be ridiculously long if I actually included all my to-read books that I have at home. I use my to-read list here as books that come as recommendations or books that I find intriguing somewhere online. Then I include it to this list so I don't forget them.
I may also put books that I started but didn't finish on this list, too. Only because I had already added it before.
My "to-read" list isn't too bad. That's only because I haven't gotten around to putting all the books I own and have yet to read on there. It's seriously out of control.
My TBR list is...far and beyond just out of control. It is madness! I'm trying to make sense of it by seperating what I own and have yet to read, what I want to own, and what I want to just get from the library.
I wonder why. I mean I guess most people have their "thing," something that they sort of obsess over or compulsivly collect. I don't own a lot of clothes, or jewelry, or shoes or anyhitng like that, but I have thousands of dollar invested in books. My boks, sum totalled, are probably worth more than my car. Now, a lot of that has to do with the fact that i have a few "collectors," type books that are rare enough to ahve some value.Why books, though I wonder. I realise that I am able to justify buying books, based on the fact that they are books, even if I don' ever get around to reading them, which I inevitably feel guilty about, then I sublimate my guilt with more books. YAY patterns!
My book compulsion is not adding tons to my TBR list, but rather in going to the library to return a book and returning with 2 or 3. Oddly, I have my goodreads TBR list and then I have the mental one in my head, and neither is getting any shorter!I think we allow ourselves books because for 1- they're relatively cheap. I can go to the store and buy a brand new hard cover book for less than a pair of jeans (and if I buy used...!!) For 2- reading is "good." I never got in trouble for reading, and it was highly encouraged in me when I was a kid. I'd like to hear what others think.
Jenniffer-I think that the conditioning from our chcildhood is deffinitely at least ONE of the reasons why it's easy to rationalize the purchase of a book.
Meg, mine need at least their own room, or two. Perhaps we (Hubb's & I) need to move into the living room & give our books our room! They can they make the smaller books sleep in the spare room, lol!
Good point, Gloria. Especially about reading and books being "good." My mom has always encouraged my love of reading. She used to buy me whatever books I wanted and took me to the library at least once a week. I'd actually go so far as to call my parents book enablers. I lived with my parents until I got married last March. When my books started to outgrow my bedroom, my mom cleared out space in her sewing room and my dad built several shelves that ran the entire length of the longest wall. I've moved some to my home, but there are at least three times that many still at my parents' house. They're very gracious in insisting that there's no hurry to get them out.
Katie,I was/am the same way. I lived with my parents for quite a while (until I was about 24) and in all that time, the only furniture I ever personally bought and owned were two six-foot bookcases, which were both filled by the time I moved out. That was not counting the bookcase I had in the hall or the books I had stored in other bookcases throughout the house. My parents too were “book enablers,” I’ve been the same for my nieces. Now in college, I read now sociological/linguistic-anthropological studies about correlation between school performance and things like bed-time stories and dinner conversations about what books the child is reading, and its like my mom read the studies too and modeled her parenting after it. Now I have some distinct opinions about how “school,” is inclined to reflect the cultural standards of the people it was designed for, but that’s a story for another day. Anyway, my point is that for me and many other people too, apparently, “book culture” is as engrained in us as many of the other more widely recognized value systems in our greater culture. My it’s early for this sort of thinking…
I'm reading on a Sony Reader, so I have a lot of copyright free books loaded up, as well as modern books loaded up. My total is 46 books loaded up on my Reader, and I have another 6-13 pbooks on my shelf to read. I'm getting to the point where I finish one book, I panic about what to start next.
Speaking of book list OCD, I spent several hours yesterday researching on fantasticfiction.com and compiling a GoogleDoc spreadsheet for each of my favorite series. I listed the titles out in order and then noted if I already have each book, if my library has the book and if my library has the audio. It was tedious, but really quite fun. Now I'm starting on to the series I've heard about and want to read, too.
Kelly JoI DO tend ot want have a book with me unless im stuck somehwere and have to wait. What a terrible thing to waste that 15 minutes in the Dr.'s office waiting, when I could be READING.
KATIE
Yeah, I do that kind of stuff. I spreadsheet my grades day-one of class. I spread shet book lists, song-lists.....not really makng myself look any beter am I? *L*
Thanks Katie for the link; I'll be sure and check it out.
Oh yeah Katie you have got LIst OCD. I love to do that when I find a good site like that. I tend to make it all nice and neat then never get to those. I find new lists of authors and series and the madness continues! ha :)
Oh yes. I'm already having that happen. I started out with the series and authors I already read. Well, at the bottom of the page it gives you a list of similar authors so of course I had to click on all of those and got interested in many more series that way. So many books, so little time. LOLKrisT wrote: "Oh yeah Katie you have got LIst OCD. I love to do that when I find a good site like that. I tend to make it all nice and neat then never get to those. I find new lists of authors and series and the..."
I know it. And don't forget when you are reading a book and you read the book flap or back and other authors that you have heard of or not, are saying what they think of the book soooooo you think well maybe I better try one of their books. It just goes on and on and on. :0
I'm so glad to know I'm not alone!! My wish list is getting out of control. I keep an excel spreadsheet and an Amazon wish list. There is over 350 books on it. That is not counting the many, many books I own that are to be read. My spreadsheet also has all the books I own to be read and the books I've read also.
I really need to go through my wish list and get it better organized. I'm obsessed!!!
I really need to go through my wish list and get it better organized. I'm obsessed!!!
I've found that the "Creat a New Shelf" feature is good for that too. It lets you seperate the books ou further and have them more intensly organised.
