TBR Pile

Some of the TBR Pile on my bookshelves. Picture doesn’t give true indication of the kindle’s weight, under which the shelf began to slightly buckle

I've been getting anxious about my TBR pile as we move into the summer months. It's accumulated over the past two years, and I don't seem to be making any headway with it. So I thought the best way to deal with it was to sit down and write a blog post; that’ll sort it out.

Of course, first I went for a walk to let the relevant points I wanted to make filter through my consciousness, in the hope that an answer would reveal itself. It's not a major problem in my life but I do continually wonder why I amass so many books if I'm not going to read them.

TBR List

I have joined a TBR challenge to help but so far there's been mixed results. It has been a bit like shovelling snow in a blizzard. Books are now in vertical piles in front of those stacked horizontally and my Kindle is getting so heavy I can hardly lift it.

I think a challenge is a good idea to help you work your way through a backlog. I have an interest in a variety of non-fiction titles, and joining a non-fiction challenge has allowed me to read and enjoy a variety of books that I just couldn’t get around to reading. I find myself more motivated to work my way through them now, discovering new subjects of interest along the way.

The only books I buy are those for book club (usually Kindle, or library loans if I have time) and those that arrive monthly by post. I'm in a marketing survey that pays in vouchers, so there's always one new title that I want each month. I can resist beautiful new hardbacks in the same way a retriever can resist a thrown stick.

And as I said here, I like to shake things up occasionally. I have added all of my unread titles to online wheel, which I spin when I want a new book. Back in '22 I had 46 books to tackle. A quick check for the purposes of this post suggests that I now have around 50 on the wheel, so not a huge jump but I've obviously made no progress.

Bibliophile

Like I said earlier, the first-world problems of a bibliophile. I notice other people on bookstagram etc with the same problem, and it's a bit of craic to talk about how many books you plan to read but never get around to. But still, I wanted to go a bit deeper and see if I could find a strategy for tackling the TBR pile.

I was writing another post about focus and attention, becoming interested in the topic after reading Johann Hari’s' book, when I came across an article by Oliver Burkeman, about treating your TBR list like a river, not a bucket.

I've said a few times that I need to 'filter' the books that I have, to sort the wheat from the chaff - dump those I don't want to read. Sounds good, except it doesn't work because it was me me, not someone else, who chose those books. I'm a fairly discerning reader, I know what I like, so I bought these books with the intention of reading them.

Bucket and River

Burke suggests it's not a process of filtering or rearranging, but rather an acceptance that you won't get to read all the books. There are lots of things we want to do in life in terms of exploring our passions - if all we are doing is reading books (which will continue to stack up) some other part of our lives will suffer neglect. Such as writing blog posts and book reviews.

And this is where the analogy of the bucket and the river comes in. Forget about trying to 'empty' the bucket (read all the books) - the bucket will never be empty and there will always be shiny new hardbacks, word-of-mouth titles that must be read. New authors that you just have to get to because everyone else is raving about them.

Instead, treat the TBR pile like a river, (or in my mind, a sushi conveyor belt). Tasty treats slide past, and you have to pick one. Sure, there are tough choices to be made, but it will force me to think about what I'm in the mood for, and which genre takes my fancy. We have a finite time on this blue orb spinning through space, so what would I like to read before getting off?

Summary

I'm going to keep my wheels of books. When I can't choose, it'll be like closing my eyes when the sushi belt goes by - I like the randomness of it. But going forward, I'm generally going to be more considered in my choices. Those tasty hardbacks won't eat, sorry read themselves.

But I think ‘mood reading’ is going to be something that I do a lot more of. I deliberately try not to know too much about a book before I start - just the genre and the briefest synopsis. I enjoy being surprised by a book.

But I think there are times when I know I need to be swept away by a thriller, or immersed in a lengthy work of literary fiction. I also have discovered the joy’s of non-fiction, and I’ve read some cracking memoirs recently. So I’m going to look at my bookshelf or kindle, think about what I’m in the mood for, and pick a book.

So I think the best way to tackle the TBR pile is to join challenges, create a random list, and read according to your mood. And if you have any suggestions, let me know below.

And my next title is….

I had to choose a title last week, and I based it on the fact that I've been threatening to read this book for a few years, but always manage to come up with an excuse. The weather is good, and I have some time off work, so I thought, yup.

Time for 'A little life' by Hanya Yanagihara. All 720 pages of it, and a nice gentle summer read as well. Good choice I reckon, with a review to follow sometime in, ooh, September?