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How do you not feel overwhelmed with all the books that exist in the universe?
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In response to the title question, I think it helps to know that I don't necessarily want to read all the books that exist, or even all the books that will exist. It helps ease my anxiety over my ever-growing TBR when I remember that I have genres, authors, and stories I won't read.
It also helps to remember that as a reader my tastes are always growing and changing; I went through my TBR on Goodreads a few months ago and weeded out a bunch of books I'd had on my TBR since I joined in 2014 -- books that no longer sounded interesting to me.
As far as organization, I have a few methods. Here on GR, I have my full TBR. I've also created an "owned books" shelf to keep track of the books I actually own, whether it's a physical copy or an ebook (and of course you can always create separate shelves if you want to keep track of it that way).
I also keep spreadsheets through Google Sheets (love it, it's the free version of Microsoft Excel) so I know what I've read in a year, what I'm currently reading, and what I'm planning to read each month.
That fact just makes me happy to know there will never be a shortage of books that I need to read. Sometimes what book I want to read causes me stress with all the lists I have, but I’m just happy I know there’s a lot to choose from. But I understand your feeling lol.
I feel you. There are sooo many amazing books out there and sometimes I'm afraid I won't be able to read even half of them. But I think we should be grateful for every single one we do get to read (and own!) :)
I feel overwhelmed just looking at my TBR shelf. That's enough for me. I can't think about all of the books in the universe just yet. lol
I have a physical TBR of over 600 books (which is not even half the books I own, even though Goodreads doesn't know of quite a number of them) - and the only time I'm overwhelmed now and again is when I just finished a book that was truly amazing and now need to pick a next one. I monitor these with goodreads, and bookcatalogue, and booktracker - the last one being two apps I can recommend very much. And I've found recently that it helps me to structure my reading by setting myself monthly themes to pull books for from my TBR.
As for all the books in the universe, or even the world, or my country, I have a relaxed attitude: I know I would never even want to read them all. Just look at all the romance and kitsch novels being published! I know I'd never even touch those if I weren't selling them *laugh* But that's personal taste, of course...
But being a bookseller by profession, I know that the German bookmarket alone turns up about 100000 new publications (including paperback editions of hardcovers, not including self-publishers) every year. Which is about 274 books per day, 11 books per hour.
Knowing this, what else to do than relax and let most books pass unread and hope that you won't miss too many of the ones wort reading? ;-)
I don't get overwhelmed by all the books in the universe, because I try to remind myself that I don't want to read them all.I do, however, sometimes get overwhelmed by how many books are on my (physical) shelves, and how many of them I have yet to read - and yet I keep buying more. It's the despair of all book lovers, I'm afraid, we tend to horde books like no tomorrow. :P
Here on GR my want to read list is forever growing! I know I will never get to all the books i'd like to get to, but I figure the books i'm ment to get to, I will. I also have many shelves including "own" "own but not yet read" "own-kindle" "own-physical" "kindle tbr" and "physical tbr". I know that seems like a lot but it really helps me. Anything I want to know about what I have I can just check goodreads, it's truly a lifesaver! I've done monthly tbrs but will probably only do that for the rest of this year (since I have books I need to get to). After that I think i'll figure "ok, what have I read this year? what do I feel like reading now (genre etc.)?" and then take a look at my shelves. I won't be able to think too much about it or i'll never choose, just pick the first thing that stands out to me. If I get stuck I could use random.org, put in 1 to max # of books I have in a shelf (say "own but not yet read" "kindle tbr" or "physical tbr" if I specifically want a kindle or physical book), sort said shelf on here, click random.org for a random # and go to that book and read it.
It may be overwhelming but it's also wonderful to know I will never run out of things to read!
I think you're taking a completely wrong attitude towards this. Just tea by mood and be happy that you'll never run out! However, if you feel the need for organization, just put them all in goodreads shelves.
o my god all the time!!! even here on goodreads I see how many I want to read and how many come out every year and wonder if il ever manage to get them on time???
i used to be stressed out A LITTLE bc my tbr list was so much longer than my read list on here but recently i went through the first half of my tbr and deleted about 200 books that no longer sounded that good. so now it's a bit lower than my read list, which helps my personal stress for some weird reason. but i feel you, i'm starting to hate series just because i don't have time to stop and read 8 random books to catch up on one because then i'll miss having time for 8 new publications and it just goes on and on. i'm gonna try to catch up on old series in january as a sort of new year's resolution thing though.
@Devann I feel the same about series. I like them but sometimes I'll get mad that a book I initially thought was a standalone turns out to be first in a series, especially if the rest of the series hasn't been published yet. Resulting in me having read so many first books of series I'll probably never continue because 2 years later I can't remember what every single book was about..!
@Anni i actually don't mind series that are just starting because then i can just read ONE book every year or so as they come out. it's whenever i find a series that is still publishing yearly but also has like 8 books already published that really stressed me out, because then i'm already so far behind it's like how can i start it now, but also the longer i put off starting it the more behind i'm going to be lol but almost EVERYTHING is a series now so it's hard to get away from. and series are great when they're good but it's just so overwhelming if you didn't hear about them when they first started
I only focus on the books I want to read now. Though I'll always be changing as a person, which means my taste in books will, too, I find it pointless to stress out about ALL the books out there since I probably won't want to read all of them. Also it gives me comfort that I'll never run out of books to read, so there's that.
Sigh. I have the same problem. The most I've been able to do is have the state of mind to abandon reading a book once I've decided I don't like it. Otherwise, the TBR list grows like some strange species of lichen.
on the bright side it ensures that there will always be a great one waiting for you if you hit a reading slump!
I like to have the choice. When I finish a good book, I can stand in front of my bookshelf and can choose from many different genres and authors. I just take what I feel like at that moment and leave the others for another time. And by they: No one can ever have enough books in his house :-)
It is impossible not to feel overwhelmed. I feel like I will never finish all of the books on my to read shelf before I die because I keep adding more
I used to keep a TBR list, but it stresses me out. (In fact, I have one on here that I need to go through and "weed," as Devann said she did hers.) So I don't pay any mind to it any more, unless I'm really at sea over what to read, and then I will go browse it to see if something connects. Otherwise, I read randomly. I have about a dozen favorite authors whose new books I watch out for, and manage to fit those in, but otherwise, I just go to the shelves at the library and browse until something strikes me as appealing, and that's what I read. Serendipity can be a friend!
I don't know how to manage the list and create a solid list that I will actually read. Most of the books I write down or add to my Goodreads list I probably won't get to for years to come.
I'm sorry, I know people have bigger problems than this :l