Sunday, December 22, 2019

Reducing My "To Be Read" Books

I have been on a mission since August to reduce my "to be read" or "TBR" books.  I have made a few offhand remarks about it, but those remarks must not have been clear enough for readers to realize what I was doing.  As I made comments about struggling through books that I was reading, I received unwanted advice and implied criticism that really bothered me.  It's nobody's business why I am reading a certain book when I remark that I am struggling to read it.  I must have some reason.

Here are my responses to the advice I was given. 

1. You have been purchasing the wrong books.

My tastes have changed in the last decade.  I purchased some books in the late 2000s that I had never gotten around to reading.  The books no longer interest me.  The purchasing decisions were not bad at that time, but I am not the same person now.

2. You should not read books that do not interest you.

See above.  I am reducing my TBR pile.  I purchased books more than 10 years ago that I have never read.  I must try each book to see if it interests me now.  If I struggle too much, then the book goes in the "to sell" pile.

Also, I sometimes greatly enjoy books, like the entire Rick Brant series, that I never ever thought I would enjoy.  For that reason, I must try to read each book before I get rid of it.  I don't want to miss out on a hidden gem.

3.  You should use the library instead of buying books.

I read vintage series books that are 30 to 100+ years old.  The library does not have those books available

I looked for articles about working on TBR piles, just to see if I what I was doing matched the advice offered online.  I found the following article.

10 Reading Hacks For Finally Getting Through Your Overstacked TBR Pile

Interesting... My process does include steps from the article.  Below, I have copied and italicized the relevant steps from the article.  My additional remarks are below each step.

1. Step one: whittle it down.

This is self-explanatory and is what I have been doing.  I have tried reading the books and have removed many of them.

3.  Make sure it's an actual, you know, PILE.

This means to have the books together.  Most of my TBR books have been shelved together for years.  I moved more of them together in August.

4.  Organize by date.

The pile should be organized by longest in the pile to most recent.  I have been working on reading them or tossing them in the "to sell" pile by going straight across the shelf.  I try to read each book in the order that the books are on the shelf.  If I like the book enough, I will read it and keep it.  Otherwise, the book goes in the "to sell" pile.

10.  Make your TBR pile a priority.

And that I did beginning in August, which has caused me to spend time partially reading books that do not interest me, which then caused those books to go in the "to sell" pile.

I have cleared around six feet in shelf space.

I have been very aggressive in this endeavor.  If the books put up for sale do not sell in the first month, I reduce the prices.  If the books still do not sell, I reduce them again.  This is a fire sale, and I want these books gone now.

My entire set of Grace Harlowe books were put up for sale.  The set is gone except for one lone book that I had in duplicate.

The Grace Harlowe books were followed by my Shirley Flight books, since I will never read them.  Four books have sold, and I just did the first price reduction on the remaining 12 books.

My Dorothy Dale books were listed.  I lowered the prices, and all of the books have sold.  My Motor Girls and Bob Dexter books were put up for sale.  Some have sold, and some remain.  Prices have been reduced.

I put some of my Chalet School books up for sale.  I just did the first reduction on those.  If I can get some from the first group to sell, then I will put others up for sale.

The most recent books that were added to my TBR pile are the Sweet Dreams books.  I read some earlier in the year and have now resumed reading them.  Most of the books that I have already read or tried to read have been put up for sale.  I won't be reading them again.

As I have read through my TBR pile, I have also removed some international editions and variants from my collection that are no longer important to me.  My collection should be a reflection of what I like now, not what I liked 15 years ago.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

2 comments:

Do Act Mysterious said...

I've definitely been told the "you've been purchasing the wrong books" line before. Very seldom do I arbitrarily buy a book. I bought it because SOMETHING about it interested me. It's always very annoying when people assume I just get any old book.

I've tried to dwindle down my TBR as well, and I've found that BooksandLala's book unhaul challenge guidelines have helped me:

• a book you rated low
• a book you changed your mind about
• a series you won't be completing
• a book you DNF'd (did not finish)
• a book you have multiple copies of
• a book you'll never actually get to
• a book you bought because of the hype
• a book you bought because of the cover
• a book you don't know anything about
• a book you didn't buy

They seem like basic concepts, but they're really easy to overlook. It's helped me get rid of some duplicate editions of books, books given to me that I know I won't like but kept due to obligation/guilt, etc. Hopefully this doesn't count as unwanted advice! Since you looked up ways to dwindle your TBR, I thought hearing a way that's really helped me might be useful. Good luck! Dwindling TBR's is a very grueling and difficult task (that I am still struggling with).

Jennifer White said...

Your comment is good and not offensive at all! The comments that come across as judgmental where they think they know better than me (You're reading/buying the wrong books) are the ones that offend me.

Some of the books that I decided to sell (Shirley Flight, Chalet School) are ones that fall into the guidelines that you listed. I didn't try to read them. I simply do not like the style of Shirley Flight, will never complete the Chalet School set, and will never read either set ever no matter how many years go by.

I also sold my Boy Ranchers books months ago without reading them for similar reasons, mainly that I can no longer stand cowboy dialect.