Taking stock - 2

    Four dangerously tall and unstable TBR piles have become six smaller, more easily viewed ones. Trouble is, that's only the half of it. Where to put the rest?

Edited to add: it's time for a cull, and I shall have to be ruthless!

Comments

[Sue]

Well that makes my tbr pile look very silly. By the way, I have just finished The Blackhouse by Peter May. I read your review and agree wholeheartedly. I'd forgotten about the epigraphs and I thank you for bringing them to my attention again.

[Cornflower]

Glad you enjoyed The Blackhouse, Sue.
Re. the piles, I should have said that the 'half' I've reorganised is half of what's accumulated this year - there is a great deal more ....

[Freda]

I'm intrigued Cornflower, that you stack your books horizontally - great for readability of the titles but not so much for accessibility!! Nice stacks though.

[Christine Harding]

Most of my TBRs are on three shelves... trouble is there is no room on the other shelves when I've read them, so they gravitate o the floor...

[Cornflower]

It's the only way to fit them all in! Once read they are in theory shelved in the conventional manner - I say 'in theory' as our shelves are overflowing.

[Cornflower]

Same here.

[Sue]

Oh my

[Georgina]

You can't possibly read or keep all those. Time to open your very own bookshop or recruit a team of readers.

[Anji]

Oh my! I understand completely your dilemma and I agree your tbr pile certainly makes mine look silly. It is an interesting problem to have. At the moment however, I am trying to pack, clearing the shelves ready for our next move and I have run out of boxes. It has been a nice way to spend an afternoon discovering treasures that I had forgotten about. Of course browsing isn't getting the packing done.

[Dark Puss]

"it's time for a cull, and I shall have to be ruthless!"

I was so pleased to read this! However may I suggest that you randomly cull as I suspect that you might spend a great deal of precious time and only come up with a small number of "easy wins" (and those I suspect may not have made it into the tbr anyway).

Just a thought; do let us know what percentage you managed to remove in practice.

[Rebecca]

I have my own mini-TBR pile and I am very excited, especially as I have to work quite hard to assemble one, being without a local book store in my easy reach! It's been a mad fall and I finally have time to read again--last weekend (we had an extra day off in the US) I finished three books; last night I finished a fourth, and I have Marian Keyes's Mystery of Mercy Close, Ann Shayne's Bowling Avenue, and Michelle Cooper's The FitzOsbornes in Exile luring me from the coffee table. What richness! Best of luck with the winnowing!

[Cornflower]

My own bookshop - what a lovely idea, Georgina!

[Cornflower]

Yes, isn't it just the way that in having a sort out you get sidetracked, and find good reasons to keep things you might have thought you'd part with?

[Cornflower]

"Randomly cull" - you mean I might end up getting rid of books I really want to read? No!

[Cornflower]

Knowing you have those treats waiting is part of the joy, isn't it?

[Dark Puss]

Yes that's exactly what I mean! Surely these are (mainly) already "books you want to read" or you wouldn't have them in a tbr pile. Now if you can go through these piles very quickly then clealry random culling isn't optimum.

Didn't think you'd take my advice on such matters :-)

[Cornflower]

In this case, TBR=(almost exclusively)HBS, that is "have been sent". Some are, shall we say, less to my taste than others, but there is a great number that I would like to read if I can.
However, you are right to suggest that whatever culling method I use it should be a quick one.
Onwards and upwards!

[Anji]

I do cull my collection quite ruthlessly, usually when I am packing. You have a time table and the packing has to be done so you don't have the time hesitate and get totally sidetracked, as lovely as that is.

As I go through my collection I ask myself was it a good read and then I ask myself if I am going to read this book again? If it's a yes it goes into the box and a no means it's put into the donations pile. Sometimes it is hard as there are some books that really are keepers.

I am known by the movers as 'the lady with the books' and I have seen grown men shudder upon hearing that phrase! Funny even my children are finding excuses to be busy on moving day!! I shall have to find a really good bribe to entice them.

[Margaret Powling]

The trouble is, when I cull my books (or weed them I prefer to say), I always end up parting with several un-read ones that someone (Cornflower, for example!) then reviews and makes sounds so interesting that I want them back again ... but it's too late!!!

[Mary]

I found Amazon trade-in helps to focus to the mind, ie do you want the money or the book that still hasn't been read after however many years? But as you get paid in Amazon vouchers, it doesn't really solve the problem.

[LizF]

Since I am apparently spectacularly good at acquiring books and very bad at getting round to reading them, my TBR mountain range is actually beyond a joke!
Up to now it has been residing in senior daughter's bedroom which is fine since she lives and works in London but since she will be back for Christmas, I now have to work out where on earth I can move them to!
Some will clearly have to go but I am currently trying not to think about it!

[Alison P]

Keep them. All of them. Think of them as a pension or insurance policy in case there comes a time when you cannot afford the luxury of new books and your TBR pile will then come into it's own. That's what I do anyway and, goodness me, am I going to be busy in my retirement/redundancy! My TBR pile would reassure you no end...!!

[Cornflower]

"The lady with the books" - that's a good epithet!

[Cornflower]

It's not easy!

[Cornflower]

I suspect it would then be my CD collection which would grow ...

[Cornflower]

Perhaps there's a part of the house which needs a little extra insulation?!

[Cornflower]

Now you've got me thinking, Alison!