Aussie Readers discussion
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Help me weed down my Maybe shelf into TBR or Not To Read

Yes, I have two; Maybe One Day (so I can pretend I am culling my TBR) and Shelved (includes both DNF and a few books I genuinely want to get back to one day, such as library books that had to be returned before I finished).
For my Shelved books, I wanted to be able to retain my reading progress details, so this was a better option for me than putting them back on my TBR.

Do you still use Shelfari Jazzy? I also use LibraryThing, but mostly because I prefer using their widgets for my blog than the ones available on GR. I think it's great how we all manage our TBR shelves in slightly different ways. Whatever works best, right?

For my Shelved books, I wanted to be able to retain my reading progress details, so this was a better option for me than putting them back on my TBR. ..."
Thanks for sharing your shelving methods Andrea, it's a different way again of organising your books. You're right in that there can be a difference between a DNF and a 'putting it aside for a while' bookshelf, so this is a great idea.

Great idea of a “set aside” shelf. My problem is that if I set a book aside for too long (2 wks?) I forget the important plot details & have to start reading at the beginning all over again.


Jazzy wrote: "I cannot use Shelfari because they merged with goodreads some years ago and as of 2 years ago they no longer exist. *sniffle.* It was much prettier. The bookcovers were larger so you could actually..."
I have my books on shelves of my own choosing and when I want to look hard at a cover, I just click to enlarge :)
I have my books on shelves of my own choosing and when I want to look hard at a cover, I just click to enlarge :)

ah yeah, but I'm not going back and putting all those books into shelves now. And I did like seeing the covers at a glance instead of a row of smudges. Sucks to be old and glasses not working :)
I'm stuck in bed for a few days, got the flu and sprained my ankle - the NHS (National Health Service) gave me a present of a pair of crutches! Very good these things happen because you get used to being well and you get used to walking and then you remember what a joy it all was - and will be again!

Feel free to send me a friend request on LibraryThing if you like Kerri, I can't seem to find you there.

Sorry to hear you're in the wars Jazzy, and hope you're on the mend soon. In the meantime, hopefully you have some good books to read :-)

oh yes! I was too ill to read yesterday but have finished my second Phryne Fisher book today. Many thanks for your well-wishes! Hope you're getting your lists sorted out :)

Ok, I am trying to work out how to do that Tracey!

Here's a link to my profile over there: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...
Hopefully you can find me from there.

Thanks for your feedback Jen :-)

It is a classic, written in the 1950s I think, and I read it as a teenager many decades ago. I loved it and have never forgotten it. It is a fairly short book and uses the prose style of its generation. I've often thought I should re-read it now, to see if it still stands up. Certainly it was a highly regarded novel back in its heyday.

I really enjoyed.....
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I'm looking forward to reading...
Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood
The Magpies by Mark Edwards
Hope this helps! =o)

That sounds good! I read The Princes in the Tower some years back.

I’ve read this as well. A couple of times I think. It is different to the normal detective story, but I enjoyed it and would recommend it. Actually I wouldn’t mind reading it again, if it wasn’t for my self imposed ban on re-reads!

It is a classic, written in the 1950s I think, and I read it as a teenager many decades ago. I loved it and have never forgotten it. It is a fairly short book and uses the prose style of its generation. I've often thought I should re-read it now, to see if it still stands up. Certainly it was a highly regarded novel back in its heyday...."
Thanks Mary, you convinced me to take another look at this one and I've decided to convert it to my TBR. I didn't realise it was so short and so popular. Done!

Thanks Kerri, you helped convince me to add The Daughter of Time to my TBR, along with MaryG2E.

I really enjoyed.....
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I'm looking forward to reading...Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood and The Magpies by Mark Edwards
Hope this helps! =o) ..."
Thanks so much for your feedback Li'l Owl, you've convinced me to read Jar of Hearts!


Thanks Anne, I loved The Silent Companions too. This one is a Maybe because I’ve requested a review copy and it won’t be available until around October/November. I don’t always get all the review copies I ask for, so until they arrive, they stay as a Maybe. Unless I’m 100% sure I’ll read it, review copy or not.

And me too - sounds different/good

I've added it to my TBR list as well.

And you've added it too Diana! How wonderful is that? I wonder who will get to it first. My bet is that it won't be me, but I'm looking forward to it just the same. Thanks again to MaryG2E and Kerri_M for convincing us to add The Daughter of Time to our TBRs.

Thanks C..."
I've been inspired by you to do a bit of weeding myself and have removed over 400 books from my tbr - that's two years of reading for me!
I need to keep going as I want to reduce my tbr from 1700 to <1000 books, but it's getting slower as I started with the lowest rated books and am now up to the 4+★ books.
Carolyn wrote: "Tracey Allen wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "Tracey Allen wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "A Maybe shelf is a good idea. My tbr shelf is humungous, even after a regular weeding it's more than I could read in my lif..."
Wow!! How did you remove that many? Obviously not owned books?
Wow!! How did you remove that many? Obviously not owned books?

I've been weeding my 'want to read' shelf today. I reduced it from over 400 to just over 200. That doesn't include many of the op shopped books I have at home. ☺️

I also went through all my books and gave away so many, both read and unread. And now when I read books I give them away to someone else right away - a homeless person if it's small and portable, or someone down the pub, or back to the Amnesty Bookshop.

Easy so far Brenda. Just asked myself if I was ever going to read them when I have so many other good books. Many had been there for 4-5y so I was probably never going to get to them!
I'm not going to weed the owned-tbr shelf (as long as they fit on the kindle) as they're useful for challenges.

Well done Diana! It's a good feeling!
Carolyn wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "Tracey Allen wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "Tracey Allen wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "A Maybe shelf is a good idea. My tbr shelf is humungous, even after a regular weeding it's m..."
Good for you!!! It would make you feel so much better :)
Good for you!!! It would make you feel so much better :)

Wow Carolyn, that's incredible! Weeding out 400 books from your TBR is an amazing effort, now you're inspiring me! Good luck getting your TBR down to <1000 books, and let us know if you want any 'help' from us, although it seems like you're on a roll now. Good for you :-)

Well done Diana, you've been 'at it' too :-) getting rid of 200 books from your GR shelf is an impressive bit of sorting and decision making. Did you feel good afterwards?

I also went through all my books and gave away so many, both read and unread. And now when I read books I give them away to someone else right away - a homeless person if it's small and portable, or someone down the pub, or back to the Amnesty Bookshop. ..."
Jazzy, you're blowing my mind here. You deleted your TBR shelf? The whole thing? Do you have a new system in place? You've gotta have some sort of TBR don't you? Tell us more.

Well done Diana, ..."
Yep felt great. There are still books on the list that I think will be hard to find in Australia, much less op shops (my main source of books) so I'll probably weed again in another 3 months or so and try and get the figure down to around 100.

I've been inspired by you to do a bit of weeding myself and have removed over 400 books from my tbr - that's two years of reading for me! .."
Carolyn, did you find a way to bulk delete or just one by one?

Thanks Tracy! I'm down to 999 books on my tbr now! Still 600 to go through so should go even lower. Definitely on a roll now!
(Apologies for highjacking your thread but you inspired me to take this on!)

I've been inspired by you to do a bit of weeding myself and have removed over 400 books from my tbr - that's two years of reading for me! .."
Carolyn, did you find a way to bulk d..."
One by One Ace!
I listed them inititially by ranking so it was easy to start with and getting harder now I'm up into the 4+★. I'm also classifying them onto shelves according to topic/genre as I go so I can search more easily for specific challenge books.

Wow, getting down to 999 books is amazing, well done! I just had a look and wouldn't bother with Let the Right One In.
And I don't think you've highjacked this thread at all, I love hearing everybody's progress. Sounds like many of us want to do some weeding from time to time. And just think, every time you remove something from your TBR shelf, you've just saved yourself between 8-12+ hours of reading time :-)

Absolutely!! And the hope that the ones we add from now on are better quality than the ones we just deleted. I think it takes self discipline and self restraint ;-)

Wow that's equally inspiring, well done Ace!

Great! That's another one gone! It's a lot to ask anyone to look though my tbr list but if you do notice any others I shouldn't bother with let me know!
Of course the trick now is to not add too many more. I tend to use my tbr to restrict the number of books I buy - if I tbr them I can buy them later - so I've got much better at not adding to my owned tbr (still over 600!). I use both my owned-tbr and tbr shelves when searching for challenge books so they are really good resources for that.
We're all different with how we use them aren't we. The only books on my TBR that I don't own are my "wish list" titles....
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Also I hate having a lot of TBR books. I'm always culling them. There are 8 at the moment but that's because two of them have titles so short I'd have to look through thousands of books to find them again so I never take those off. That leaves 6. Two more are books I plan to start this and next month. That leaves 4. And those four? Well i can't find the bloody things anywhere for any sort of affordable price!
That's it.
PS. I culled it down to 3. The end of the month it will be one. Unless I read it!