I’m tired of looking at my TBR stack. When I first started Literary Escapism, I had maybe 5 books waiting for me to read. That was on a good week. I can’t say that anymore. This is what I am currently dealing with:
I’m not liking it. There are just too many great authors out there and just not enough time. I keep adding to my stack without actually reading much off of it. So I’m changing that. I’m challenging myself to not buy one more book (aside from Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre – I can’t wait for more Jax & March) until my stack is down to at most 5 books. However, I hoping to wipe it clean. Now, notice I said “buy”. I’ll still be accepting books for review, but aside from the one book I have on hold at the library (Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry), I won’t be picking any more up. Plus, this will also help me save for christmas. Always a plus.
So does anyone else want to join in with me? This is a personal challenge for me, but I can’t be the only one with this problem. Here’s the details. If you’re going to join in, leave a comment and then link back with a post showing off your Monster TBR Stack.
You’ll notice I haven’t really set an ending date. That’s because there’s 62 books on that stack and I have no clue how long it’s going to take me. Plus, there are some books I need to get still in order to read some of the books on my shelf (for example: I have The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong up there, but not The Summoning). So I’m telling myself that the challenge goes until I have 5 books on my stack. If you’re joining me, you can pick either an end date or a number of books like I did. Your choice.
Other than that, that’s my challenge for the rest of the year. That probably means all of my other challenges will get left behind, but I can tell you that I have quite a few new authors up there as well, so maybe not all the challenges will suffer.
Wow… mines about 150… but I can’t stop buying its an addiction and I am always planning for a rainy day where I might not be able to buy books. Good luck on your challenge.
I’m in. I’ve been trying to get my TBr under 5 all year. I remember a few years ago it was just 2 – what I was reading and a new one to read next.
It’s kinda hard to feel bad for you when you have so many great-sounding books in your pile! :D
I have about 23 on my TBR pile, which is quite a lot (at least to me) but I know I’ll manage to read them eventually. It’s not as big as yours which, admittedly it’s huge!
Wow, that’S a great challenge you’re giving yourself!
Sadly I won’t be joining you : I have close to 200 books on my TBR pile, which will require at least 2 or 3 years to get through… and I do NOT have the self control it would require of me to not buy books for that long! But I do try to buy less than I read, so that it will at some point diminish…. hmmm…
Wow, that is a big stack…I think I have a similar problem. I wish you luck with your personal challenge.
Wendy, I’m not looking for sympathy, I’m looking for time. There are just too many great novels out there.
Kay, I don’t have great self control either, hence the stack. :)
Thanks guys!
This is like divine intervention! My boyfriend and I had a bit of a back and forth this weekend about my book shopping addiction. So I made a promise that I wouldn’t buy any more books until I read all the ones I had in my TBR pile. I tried crossing my finger behind my back but he caught me so I actually have to stick to it. The crazy thing is I don’t even know how many I have that need to be read. So count me in on this challenge!
*nods wisely* I totally feel your pain.
I did something similar recently – promised myself I wouldn’t buy any new books until I’d read 12 from my TBR pile. I made it to 8 before I cracked under the pressure! *g* I picked 12 because I was only reading a book a week at that stage, so I thought 3 months might be manageable without new book-buying. Heh. Obviously not. I read the 8 books in about 5 weeks, I think (so I read faster!), and then had to buy a couple of new ones.
Anyway! Good luck! I am going to try reading another 6 books or so before buying anything else new. Maybe you should try that? Like, allow yourself one new book for every 6 you read. Something like that… :)
(I have about 50 books on my TBR pile…)
Sigh. I SHOULD join with you. But…but…
well….I’d like to join but I currently have 1390(no that’s not a typo lol) books in my tbr, and that’s only print books. I have a few hundred ebooks. lol It would take me a realllllly long time to get that pile down.
I tried doing this last month when I went a little out of control on a book buying spree…and I didn’t even last a month!! I have about 450 books in my TBR pile.
I do like Karen Mahoney’s suggestion about reading a certain number before buying one book. I think I might do that…read 5 books then I can buy 1.
Oh, good luck… I do quite badly when I join challenges. One of two things would happen with this one:
1. I would never read again.
2. I would go completely crazy and triple the size of my TBR piles and files. (most likely outcome)
Good luck with your challenge! I’ve been involved in a personal TBR challenge since the start of this year: I want to get the stack down to 100 volumes or less. I started with 171 and currently have 135. That’s a terrible net loss, but I’m still hoping to polish it off before December 31st.
My TBR Stack is not the same as my TBR list. The stack has, what did I say, 62 books on it. My TBR list has 771 books on it.
So does anyone else want to join in with me?
BWHAHAHAHAHAno. I know myself better than that…and I’ve pre-ordered some books that aren’t coming out until February 2010. If I committed, I know I’d find myself scrabbling at the doors of random stores in the wee hours, demanding they sell me more books. Though lately, I have been trying not to force myself to finish books I’m not enjoying. That helps a little.
I wish you good luck with it! Only 62, really? That’s not so bad.
Signed,
Another Bookaholic
My TBR pile is probably around the 600 mark…no joke. That’s not including the review books I have, and thats about 40. Review books are first priority for me, so I haven’t been able to read my own books lately. I rarely buy books though, because I swap mine all the time on swapping sites..or with friends that read the same kinds of books that I read. I’ve also gained a couple through contests.
Good luck. I think I’ll start my own challenge in January, and see how many of them I can get rid of before 2011.