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Sunday, September 07, 2008

Sandi Shilhanek | TBR

I have to say I love the Internet! I learn such interesting things, and things I never knew I was truly interested in until someone either in one of my Yahoo groups mentions it, or I see it posted on a bulletin board at one of the websites I like to visit.

This week what is grabbing my attention is To Be Read piles, from here on out to be known as TBR’s. TBR’s are mentioned a lot as I visit different places, and they provoke a slew of different emotions from people.

Some people I’ve noticed are proud of their TBR’s and will gladly tell you all about how they have it organized, how much time they spend perusing it, and how it’s taken over their homes. Others are aghast that people allow books to have free range over their homes and lives, preferring to limit themselves to a small number.

Me? Well, my TBR is vast and definitely has overtaken the space in my small home. I unfortunately don’t have it organized well at all, and when I see or read about people who have alphabetized or arranged by publisher, or by size their TBR piles I want to say, “Hey don’t you realize that takes time, and you could be reading instead?” Then when I get over that I want to say, “Would you like to come organize my pile?”

I’m curious do you have a TBR? How old do you think the oldest book in the pile is? How often do you cull it? Is it a pile or more like a mountain range? Are your friends amazed by it? Have they given you a wish list based on it?

I will share that I don’t think I could read my TBR in my lifetime. I plan on it being my children’s inheritance. I’m sure that there’s a book or two, or even maybe a hundred that might be worth something on the open market. I will not ever admit to how many actual books the TBR contains, because isn’t it already enough to have admitted that it’s not in any way organized?

So now that you know something about my TBR I have some questions about yours.
I’m curious do you have a TBR? How old do you think the oldest book in the pile is? How often do you cull it? Is it a pile or more like a mountain range? Are your friends amazed by it? Have they given you a wish list based on it?

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2 Comments:

At September 07, 2008 12:16 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At September 07, 2008 12:19 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Sandi -

Yes I have a TBR or I guess I should use the plural here as I keep borrowed books separate from my own collection to avoid losing them.

The longest a book has been there would be something over a year I think at least for the fiction, non-fic probably quite a bit longer.

Cull the TBR's - never. I expect to read all the fiction ones eventually just don't know when.

Pile, mountain range? - More like shelves. I finally separated them by TBR and read/reference material as well as fic & non when I got tired of tripping over the boxes on the floor. And yes each section is alphabetized by author/editor/publisher depending on which is listed - makes it easy to find what I want if looking for a specific book. I still have two boxes on the floor but limit it to that and stack any others on the shelves which seem to expand exponentially. The boxes are books to be read for reviews and borrowed books as I try to prioritize the ones I am committed to reading by dates and the borrowed ones are separated so I cna return them when done and not have them buried with my other "just because" reading.

No wish lists from my friends yet though I do ocassionally lend out books - some books anyway. So many of my friends are also readers so they are not amazed by the TBR phenom around here as some have their own if not physical then virtual (as in lists in their head). Many of my books are listed in my Shelfari and Goodreads profiles and I update them ocassionally to add new books so my friends could always look there.

Well it looks like my answers are quite a long bit of babbling - LOL. Had to rewrite this and delete the first as I goofed and posted it before it was complete.

Melissa

 

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