Fantasy Book Club discussion
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Too much to read and too little time ?
My friends and I often joke that if we stopped buying books today, we still would need years to catch up on our to-read list. Part of the problem comes from the door stop sized epics. However, for me, the real reason is that I've been introduced to so many great authors through Goodreads, I just have too many favorites! Since I joined, the number of authors whose books I would buy the day they were released has gone from 2 or 3, to well over a dozen.Patrick Rothfuss
Brandon Sanderson
Cherie Priest
Joe Abercrombie
Lois McMaster Bujold
John Scalzi
Paolo Bacigalupi
Neil Gaiman
Michael Sullivan
Janny Wurts
Tad Williams
Robin Hobb
Scott Lynch
David Weber
George R R Martin
Brian Ruckley
Shirley Jackson
A Lee Martinez
Peter Beagle
Richard Morgan
Ted Chiang
There are probably a few more that I'm forgetting. I follow the blogs of about 10 of the above authors as well. Goodreads has turned a bookworm into a hard core addict, but I'm okay with that ;)
I'm with you on that Laurel! I quite often say to friends that I wish people would stop writing books for a few years, just to give me some time to catch up! Goodreads, again, has been quite a significant contributor to this.My TR pile has been growing for the past year or three, but I'm trying to stop buying any more until I've made at least a bit of a dent in it. Unfortunately, this likely means that when I do start buying books again, I'll have so many I want that I'll just be right back where I started!
I tend to read quite quickly, so I don't mind the epic proportions of some books, and when I'm at uni with less spare time it means I don't have to take as many with me :)
No, I can't keep up lol. I buy much more books than I have time to read. I have over 70 books in my "TBR" pile. That is frightening. And I know there are some in that pile that I bought years ago. I always wish I could read faster, but it's just not a possibility, so the books just sit there. It also doesn't help that when a new book from one of my favorite authors comes out, I have to move it to the front of the line. I have several series I've started, a lot of them I've even only read the first book. I like the idea of series in theory, but I really don't like having to keep up with them. That's why if I go to the bookstore and I'm not looking for anything in particular, I always pick up a standalone novel over series.I also have a bad habit of wanting to try all these different new authors out there, rather than sticking to the old ones.
On the bright side, I think having a huge TBR pile may be a good thing because if I become unable to buy more books, I'll still have a good stockpile to go through. At my reading rate, I think I have 2 or 3 years of reading time with the amount of unread books I have.
I blogged about this recently. I'm an obsessive record keeper, so I have the numbers to prove that my "to read" pile is growing faster than my "read" pile, to the tune of about 9,000 pages a year. This is even after I stopped impulse book buys. I also stopped myself from pre-ordering favorite authors... not that this really worked, I just created an 8,000 page backlog to order (Christmas is coming!). I asked my friends for suggestions and I turned up with a couple good ideas.One friend suggested going through and getting rid of older "to reads" which seem to get consistently displaced by newer books. If I haven't found time in 4 years to read it, it's time to face reality. Another friend suggested that I box up my unread books, give them to a friend, and then "order" them when I was ready. After a year or so, my box-holding friend could (gently!) suggest that the rest be donated.
I'm still trying to decide, but I think the first step was admitting that I need to do something. And the next step is to stop reading Star Wars books!
I just checked and my to read list on LibraryThing holds 120 books. That's not counting the pile of library books on the coffee table. Oh dear. And I am currently unemployed and have been for about a year, so I've got plenty of time to read, but the list is still growing, not diminishing. I don't think I'm ready to face reality yet. I do agree that part of the problem is those epic fantasy that weigh in well over 500 pages. I'm finally finishing up a series where every book was at least 700 pages. It was pretty good, but by this point it just feels like a chore and I'll be glad to be done. Hm, and having no money to buy books isn't doing the trick with the library just down the street.
I volunteer at a library one day a week. That and joining Goodreads, has been at the root of my growing to read pile. I am an impulse buyer of books also. I do think that there are more fantasy and young adult books out there than there were when I was a young adult!! I have not found a solution as yet. I have been putting the brakes on checking anymore books out of the library until I read the books I have purchased. My 23 year old daughter is moving in with me this winter, and I am going to put her to work organizing all my books better. I need to make room for those new books I have bought over the last 2 years. I know that there are some I will not give up, but I have to find homes for many of the books that I have read. I am a bit happy to find that I am not alone with this reading virus!! LOL
It's kinda of funny, because I was starting to feel anxious about my to-read list not too long ago - but I have much fewer 'to-read' books than most people seem to. There were only 60-70 at the time, and I've recently halved that (by creating a "may-read" shelf, which listened to feeling of burden about the whole thing).I don't have that many physical books on my to-read list, because I always feel guilty buying new books when I have a few waiting for me at home already. I don't have the money to be throwing away on buying books I'll never read. I did get a bit out-of-hand recently, 'cause of sales and the like, but, even then, I only had about 10 physical books waiting on me.
But even with 60-70 books, and more coming out all the time, I do feel like I'll never get to, well, at least half of them.
Of course, I think my... particular tastes help me in this regard. I am rather selective about what I want to read, precisely because I know there's not enough time, and I'd rather not even start a book that doesn't look all that great to me, because, once I start, I have a hard time not finishing.
Oh.. well I'm worse than all of you put together apparently.. I have 815 on my to read lost. :oI do have a lot of time to read though, I'm 16 and homeschooled, but still, I don't think I'll ever catch up.
16 is FAR too young for a defeatist attitude. You could easily polish all of those off before you hit my age (34) with books to spare! Happy reading!
Haha thanks for the vote of confidence. :) I meant with the rate I add more books to my to-read list though. I add many more than I read. But yes, I won't give up, and I'll enjoy every minute of my obsessive reading & adding of books. :D
You're both young whippersnappers, from my angle. And yes, you'll probably finish off all those books, then lots more. By the time you hit my age, you might even have the next GRRM novel on the shelves.
I know a lot of people who say they won't start a new series until all of the books are complete. However, The Way of Kings has me excited about fantasy in a way I hadn't felt before. I came across Wheel of Time a few years ago, and as a result, don't feel like I'm a part of if, in the way that many of my friends do. I was late to the party, and missed out on some of the comraderie that was built up in the community as each new novel was released. For example, how many of us bond/joke about Martin's series ever being completed. I feel like, with the Way of Kings, that I've finally arrived at the party on time. It's going to be my epic series, and I was there from the beginning.
One thing to note about Sanderson, so far at least. He is consistent. We won't have to wait years and years for each book to come out, unless he drastically changes his work habits.
Amanda wrote: "Oh.. well I'm worse than all of you put together apparently.. I have 815 on my to read lost. :o
I do have a lot of time to read though, I'm 16 and homeschooled, but still, I don't think I'll ever ..."
815 books to read and are they on your shelves at home ? Or is this from the book 1000 novels to read before you die and you have read 185 of them already :)
There was a guy in my state who designed his house with bookshelves as the room dividers (wall partitions) and then purchased at a charity sale over 20,000 novels at around 20c each.
I do have a lot of time to read though, I'm 16 and homeschooled, but still, I don't think I'll ever ..."
815 books to read and are they on your shelves at home ? Or is this from the book 1000 novels to read before you die and you have read 185 of them already :)
There was a guy in my state who designed his house with bookshelves as the room dividers (wall partitions) and then purchased at a charity sale over 20,000 novels at around 20c each.
I think Colleen "Blackrose" may have a solution for me and my ever growing to-read pile. I need to make another category, the "may read" category. I've already put a moratorium on buying books for the rest of the year. Having a Kindle has made it WAY too easy for me to buy books and when I last looked I had around 100 books on it to read. So I'm not going to buy anymore this year, although it will probably take me 3 years to get through the 100 books on it. That and I found free books on Amazon that I thought looked good so I technically wasn't buying them....*sigh* My name is Julie and I have a problem......
I have heard many people with Kindles or similar say the same thing. It's one, of many reasons, why I'm hesitant to go the e-reader route.
I wouldn't let that stop you from getting a Kindle, I have family members that actually do it right, buy one book read it on the Kindle and then when they are finished buy another one. I guess it's called self control which I apparently don't have when it comes to reading. Must have missed the gene when they were handing them out. Having said that I buy more books, I also read more books with the Kindle AND I can read them anywhere. I wouldn't want it any other way! *grin*
Chris wrote: "By the time you hit my age, you might even have the next GRRM novel on the shelves"But don't bet on it. LOL
Julie wrote: "I wouldn't let that stop you from getting a Kindle, I have family members that actually do it right, buy one book read it on the Kindle and then when they are finished buy another one. I guess it'..."I love my Kindle. But I still want to buy certain books in hard-back form - even though my wrists are so weak that I can't hold a thick 600-800+ page hard back. So the Kindle really comes in handy here. I have this fantasy that one day they will package a code for the eReader version of a book along with the hardback version.
JJ wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Oh.. well I'm worse than all of you put together apparently.. I have 815 on my to read lost. :oI do have a lot of time to read though, I'm 16 and homeschooled, but still, I don't..."
Well, some I have at home, but they're mostly just books I see and want to buy or check out from the library. I add them mostly to keep track of books I'd like to read. I don't even add most of the ones I have at home haha.
Oh my goodness, that's amazing. I'm definitely building my house that way! once I get out of high school, get a job, and get married. I've got some time to plan. :) Whoaa, that's a lot of book buying. I check most of my books out of the library, then buy them later if I wanna reread.
I have hundred of books at home waiting to be read and literally thousands on my TBR list here on GR. And lately I've been lucky if I have time to read one a week! I'll never catch up...
I have books at home that I want to read, but I don't really do a TBR list/pile. It doesn't work for me. I see books every day that interest me and if I kept adding them up, well, I don't think that there would be a point.Even with my list at home, I'm reading a book that I just got two weeks ago from the book store. Makes no sense to make a list I'll never be able to finish.
I used to be the same way, pick out a book, buy it and read it someday. But now I make a list because there are so many books out there that I want to read. New Authors, New Genres, things that just catch my eye. If I didn't write them down or list them somewhere I may not get back to them and that would be a shame.
I'm kinda the same, Julie. I have a list so that I can remember all the books that catch my eye so I don't forget about them (even if I sometimes change my mind when I finally get around to buying some of them), but don't really read books I get in any particular order. I bought The Hunger Games on a whim and read it immediately, yet I'm sure there are books I've had lying around for a couple of years I just haven't gotten around to reading yet.
I only add books to my TBR here on Goodreads if I own themI only add book to my tbr list here if if I don't own them. This is how I keep track of them. I figure I can see the ones I own so I won't forget those.
Yes, He says Fall 2012 but based on his past writing schedules etc. he seems to be more on track than others that write Epic Fantasies.
Nicola wrote: "I like that when I finish a book or a series, I can look up at my towering shelves and go "What next?" with such a huge range of possibility in the answer..."I love that feeling!
On long series, my personal criterion has always been: quality. The time taken will be irrelevant, in the long view.Tolkein took 17 years to finish his signature trilogy. Nobody talks about that - only the legacy of the written work (like it or not, it's what stands, today).
I admire timeliness in a writer - but schedule is not the only perspective. A series written over the course of an author's career will be accomplished THROUGH the changes of maturity, against the demands of family and life, and will move and deepen in accord with those changes in perspective.
By the time one has produced THOUSANDS of pages - and may be faced with say - the tenth bar scene or battle or whatever bit of script, take your choice - relating the story with a fresh take - building suspense that surprises from scene to scene - takes on a new form of challenge.
I admire the author who can bring the work home - and deliver the astonishment over volumes - not how long it took to get the words down.
The challenge of originality is constant - and any writer with the courage to begin a huge multi volume work has the courage of a lion, because guaranteed, when that last book gets written, everything will have changed.
As to time constraints and my own reading - I have to choose extremely selectively, and this has not changed - I often read authors who are not necessarily to my taste, just to have a sense of what is happening in the field. For reads that fall into my zone - I have all the time in the world/fewer books of that nature than I could wish for. I will often read later titles by an author I disliked, at first, to see how they've grown, or to see if what they were doing just didn't fall in step with what pleased me at the time.
Libraries are helpful for such experiments. I only keep books I intend to re-read/or that are signed.
For writers I admire, I will usually read everything they've done, and buy the books on their release.
Good lord, I can't see how Sanderson would have the next book before 2012 at the earliest. It does take time to write these TOMES. At 1000 pages per book, he has his work cut out for him.The only time I mind length in a book is if it isn't good. If it's good, I want it to go on forever. And if I start a series and there are lots of books to read and I'm loving it, so much the better. I'm always sad when I reach the end of a really good series.
But reading is what I do. When I'm not at work, doing necessaries like groceries and cleaning and laundry, I'm reading. And if it's an audiobook I can continue even while doing those. My kids are grown, I'm semi retired, why not read? It's delicious.
I have the opposite problem... I only get one book at a time. When I am done with said book, I have to get back on GR/bookstore and begin the hunt again. I must have some fear about stacks of unread books -- I don't know what my problem is. Need to master this because the lull between books is dull indeed.
Wow! I don't think I know anyone who enjoy reading who does that, Wendy. Do you have a tiny apartment?
Okay Sandra, now I not only like you from the discussions we've been involved in together but also envy you immensely: with a new (and intensely busy) job to learn this fall and a 9-month-old child... I'm not really looking for new books to read, I'm looking for time to read the ones I already know I want to read.
I have a few boxes of books sitting around that are "unread" (what I call 'em). The most likely ones are on two shelves near the bed. Some of them are definitely fiction but the overwhelming majority are nonfiction of some sort. I just don't read nonfiction as fast or want to read a new nonfiction book as often. Actually I don't read "unread" books every day, although I read constantly, because way more of my reading is rereading old favorites than anything else. I keep only books I like enough to reread multiple times, and I have a LOT of bookcases. My main motivation actually for joining Goodreads was to track my progress at reading new books - I'd kind of got out of the habit of it due to demanding jobs followed by a few years of very demanding animal rescue volunteer work. This does not mean new books coming out by current authors I'm following - those I read immediately, sometimes before night falls on the day of buying. The ones I'd got out of the habit of reading were the same ol' several boxes of unread, ALL of which are from used bookstores. I tend to buy things from the used stores that I think I ought to read or MIGHT like, because of the cheap prices! Goodreads is helping some with this but it has radically increased my to-be-bought list as well.
John wrote: "Okay Sandra, now I not only like you from the discussions we've been involved in together but also envy you immensely: with a new (and intensely busy) job to learn this fall and a 9-month-old child..."Well you have to realize that this enviable state also requires being old :D.
Hey, at least you're making old age sound good!
Miriam wrote: "Hey, at least you're making old age sound good!":D Good. It's not bad at all.
Miriam wrote: "Wow! I don't think I know anyone who enjoy reading who does that, Wendy. Do you have a tiny apartment?"Ha! Actually I have a house with plenty of book-storing room. I'm pretty new to the joys of reading - perhaps I don't want to risk overhwelming or scaring off this newfound love. :-)
@Wendy Whatever your decision, cough - get more books, your friends at Goodreads support you!
I own books that I've owned for YEARS that I still haven't read. "Too much to read and too little time" pretty much defines me as a reader. I buy books knowing I'll read them "someday", but who knows when. I probably own more books than I'd be able to read in my lifetime, unless I suddenly figure out how to read faster.
I apparently have the same problem as everyone in here. I have way more books to read than I have time. And of course I keep buying more! haha it is a painful process. Then running a book club I have to read those books and find little time to read things I want to read. Between taking care of my kids, working, taking care of the house, animals, training horses, practicing for horse shows..hahah im pretty spent and have only an hour or two a day that I actually get to read. As my young children grow I know this free time will increase and I will be able to read much more again!
Same here. Way to many books, and not enough time. Through Goodreads i have found so many books to read. But i choose my books on wich i find most interresting at the time im ordering books, and look at reviews etc from other ppl. I also use challanges to sometimes choose abit, wich is good cuz it introduces me to books i normally wouldnt buy first.
I do have a "problem" aswell tho when it comes to buying books. I cant go into a bookshop and not come out with books even tho i have many to be read at home. Also when i buy online its cheaper to buymore book than one at the time because of the shipping costs... So I do tend to alsobuy to many "first book" in series, and so i end up with alot of series to keep up with at the same time..guess thats a big weakness with me ;p
I do have a "problem" aswell tho when it comes to buying books. I cant go into a bookshop and not come out with books even tho i have many to be read at home. Also when i buy online its cheaper to buymore book than one at the time because of the shipping costs... So I do tend to alsobuy to many "first book" in series, and so i end up with alot of series to keep up with at the same time..guess thats a big weakness with me ;p
I think my virtual TBR list is up to 800 or so. I don't buy books but I do get them from work (library) and in addition to my virtual list I have a stack at home.I'll never catch up. I'm like a virtual book hoarder.
The thing that has really increased my list is I now buy speculative fiction for work. As I flip through journals and newspapers everything looks good and it immediately gets added to the list so I don't forget the title.
I have only about 10 books on my shelves that I've committed to read, of which my "to-read" shelf is comprised, along with a few more library books. The rest are shelved under two seperate categories: may-read and library-things. I'm generally very strict about not getting too much to read. It's so much easier to keep track of what I read when it's only a couple of books at a time. I don't have to struggle with what to read next or worry how I'll ever get to read every single book that's on my shelf.
But it is, I have to admit, so much fun to buy books that I can definitely understand how we all could get tempted, and often do.
Sarah wrote: "I have only about 10 books on my shelves that I've committed to read, of which my "to-read" shelf is comprised, along with a few more library books. The rest are shelved under two seperate categori..."Well, Sarah! You're just too self disciplined for words, lol!
I've stopped counting. I have so many books of my own that I want "to get to", it's depressing, and I keep running across new books I want to read. There is an irony in this also. The books I believe I'll like the best (because I know the author or the synopsis has "drawn me in" or whatever) I buy. The ones that I wonder about, or don't think I'll read over or like quite as much I try to borrow from the library. This means I'm constantly putting the books I "really want to read" on hold so I can get through the ones I've borrowed from the library and get them back!
This means I'm constantly putting the books I "really want to read" on hold so I can get through the ones I've borrowed from the library and get them back! Mike, I have the exact same problem!
I just buy all mine and I don't have to worry about returning them, lol. 'Course it's harder on my pocketbook. But I canceled my cable recently so don't have TV, just internet and books, so that's how I justify it. If I read a good book, I want to have it handy to read again or look things up. Of course, some of them I just foist off on other readers. I rarely throw them away. Have donated some to the library.
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I am unsure if it is due to my slow reading pace or just that fantasy and other novels tend to have many more pages than they did back in the seventies when book size usually was around 220 pages. Many new series novels having close to a 1000 pages in small print and then knowing that there will be many more books in the series ie. The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson which has just started off with The Way of Kings.
Is it possible to read as much as we would like to now or should we be much more selective in the titles we do choose to read? I know there are many books I would be interested to read but know it is not possible time wise. We seem to become more and more flooded with new titles each month, which is a great thing for having a wider variety of selection of fantasy compared to the seventies, but it is finding which of these new authors you will enjoy reading.
The computer and word processor has been the tool for all this greatly increased output in comparison to the typewritter age. Maybe it is the fast readers who can enjoy larger series best.
Are you able to keep up with all your readings or is your 'To Read' stack building ?