2025 Reading Challenge discussion

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ARCHIVE: General > Approaches to the TBR List

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message 1: by Fr. Andrew (new)

Fr. Andrew (nitesead) First off, I'm assuming "TBR" means "To be read," which indicates where a book lands when you mark it as "want to read" here on Good Reads.

My list is around the 2,000 books mark at this point. I don't use that list as a "do this before I die" sort of thing, but rather as a big huge box to put things so I can forget them in my brain while knowing they'll be somewhere. I have a rather small library (compared to what I used to have anyway...I would guess I have about 13 shelves full. I have a giant Kindle library though! Mostly freebies.

So I guess my goal is not to make the "TBR" list smaller (I see that mentioned a lot here and there), but rather just a source for future reference, things to look for later (or things I already have) when I get the notion. This is better psychologically for me.

Do others use it similarly? Or am I an oddball? :)


message 2: by Scott (new)

Scott Flicker | 1191 comments I use it in a similar manner. You can also create other exclusive bookshelves. An exclusive bookshelf is one like read, currently-reading or to-read where a book can only be in exclusive shelf. I created a shelf called on-deck where I put books I plan on reading in the next few months.


message 3: by Scott (last edited Jun 11, 2015 06:55AM) (new)

Scott Ivlow (scottinwinterhaven) I do want to read every book in my to be read list. If I no longer have an interest in a book I'll remove it. There is no point in keeping a book in a TBR if you know your are not going to buy it or read it. What you have is pure clutter. You also make it impossible for others to join you in the the pick it for me buddy read or a buddy read group in general in they have choose a book from your TBR. You make smartphones viewing your list all impossible to get through it. The further you get down the list it resets back to the beginning. Sean has 800 books on his TBR abd my android won't view it all, it resets it at certain points when I hit the green button.


message 4: by Fr. Andrew (new)

Fr. Andrew (nitesead) Haha...good point...I don't really use my phone for that very much, and I've never done a buddy challenge. I guess if I did such a challenge I would do as other Scott says and make an on-deck type of shelf for that.


message 5: by Scott (new)

Scott Flicker | 1191 comments Just use compare books to find common books for a buddy read. I guess if if you never have any intention of reading then no sense but I prefer to have a bunch of books on my TBR that I might read in the future.


message 6: by Fr. Andrew (new)

Fr. Andrew (nitesead) I do want to read them, but of course there are too many on there. As my moods change rapidly it's good to have tons in there for future reference.


message 7: by Cassandra (new)

Cassandra | 5832 comments My TBR list is pretty long (900 books) and they're all books that I would want to read at some point. That doesn't meant that they all will get read, because there are just too many good books! Basically, I use my TBR list as a list to choose from - if a book doesn't make it on the list it'll never get read.

That said, I did recently go through my TBR list and remove about 200 books that I couldn't remember why I put them there in the first place or which didn't sound interesting anymore based on the description or reviews. I think I'll continue to go in and clean it out every so often, but I'm comfortable with putting more books on the list than I will feasibly read.


message 8: by Blagica , Challenges (new)

Blagica  | 12941 comments My TBR list seems to be getting bigger instead of smaller. I find myself skimming it and randomly picking titles from it just to take a break from all the challenges I have joined. I find myself trying to join more challenges so that I can read more from my TBR list and joining this group has actually broken me out of my comfort zone and I am trying authors I would usually not.


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

I use my list as a way of means to remember what books I do want to read. Not all are available in Sweden and this I will have to order them from Amazon. Yet for me the TBR is exactly that. A list of books to be read at some point.


message 10: by Sandra (new)

Sandra (sandravb79) | 25 comments My TBR list is at 2000+ and only gets bigger and bigger. Each tiem I am on goodreads or in the book store, I see more books that I want to read. So many books, so little time...

However, I try to add new TBR books to other shelves too. That way, when I need a new book to read, I can narrow my huge list down to a genre or so.

Lately, I have been marathon-reading certain authors. I am now finished with Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner, and a bit at a loss as to what to read next.
Problem is that I do a lot of reading in bed, and therefor my kindle is the handiest, but I also have a lot of "real" books.

Ah, first world problems, lol!


message 11: by Marina (new)

Marina (sonnenbarke) In my TBR list I only put books I actually own, whether as physical books or on my Kindle. For the books I wish to read/buy at some point in time I have created a "wishlist" exclusive shelf, which I find very handy. As Cassandra, I too will "clean" it from time to time, removing the books I no longer wish to read and/or buy.


message 12: by Caro (new)

Caro (karopi) | 995 comments I do not have such a log TBR but what i also did is create a shelf that is for books that I own and want to read before buying more books (does not work pretty well since I still buy crazy amounts of books. I live overseas and at my parents house I have around 500 that I own. Sometimes I go back home and select soe to donate, but others.... Impossible. I also like to go over from time to time and clean it from books that I do not longer plan to read because I lost interest or does not seem as interesting as before..... But I find it very useful


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