Bookaholic, voracious reader, obsessed with books. All of these terms get tossed around when books and me come up in the same conversation. I will admit, I can’t say no to a good book. Or even a substandard book that I am willing to give a chance. What this means is that my to-read list on Goodreads is at a cool 1187 books, not to mention the few hundred ebooks and physical books that I have waiting for my attention as well. It starts to feel a little bit daunting when I think about just how many books are waiting. So, you can use these 5 tips to reduce your to-read list!
I think that a lot of us readers try to justify to ourselves that hoarding books isn’t in fact hoarding, but it is. Do you have 500+ books in your home, waiting to be read? You may very well be a book hoarder. Welcome to our club 🙂 This summer I’m on a mission to slim down my to-read list and give myself some book freedom!
1. Edit Your To-Read List
Sometimes the only way to get your list under control is to take the knife to it and trim it down. I will look at it and think, “I could read 1100 books”. Then I do the math and realise that at roughly 60 books a year, it would take me over 18 years to read only the books on that list (not allowing for anything new) and I realise that I probably don’t actually want to read every single one of those books. So, I take 15 or 20 minutes every few days and take a second look at books on the list to decide if I had to put down the book that I’m reading to read it right now, would I? If the answer is no, it goes! (It’s always there if you want to find it again.)
2. Give Away Your Books
Now, before you threaten me with pitchforks and fire, hear me out! Many of us readers have more physical books than we know what to do with. We are guilty of using stacks of books as shelves, “decorations” and simply as something taking up space because of the fear that we may want to read it again. Well, factor in your above-mentioned to-read list, and the fact that you can’t re-read every book you’ve already read, and you need to slim your collection. What, if you have to move, are you going to pay to move 2,000 lbs of books? No, probably not.
Go through your books and be realistic on which books you absolutely need to keep. And then, give your books away! Give them as a present with a note explaining why you think that person would enjoy that particular book. Donate them to charity booksales and shops! (Our local children’s hospital hosts a charity booksale three times a year, and it’s a wonderful cause to donate to.) Invite your friends over and let them choose which books they would enjoy! Leave them in random places with a note to pass it on when you finish it, for a stranger to continue the chain. The possibilities are endless for someone else to benefit from your books!
3. Stop and Think Before Buying
If you are anything like me, you see a book that mildly interests you for a decent price, and before you know it, it’s come home with you. After a while, those “good deal” books do add up, you’ve lost a lot of space in your home, and your to-read list is a monster. Get in the habit of writing the name and author of a book down and researching it when you have a few moments, not when it happens to be on sale. (If it is on sale once, it will go on sale again. Trust me on this one.) Speaking as someone who has literally purchased hundreds of books for this very reason, step back and take your time.
Also, stop to see if you can get it from the library for free! You would still get to read it, but save yourself the money and loss of space. The worst thing that happens if you don’t read a book from the library is that you return it unread. And if your library is like mine, they offer ebooks and audiobooks through multiple apps, if you don’t have time to physically go to the library. A heads up: if you are getting it from the library, try and put it on hold. When I am going to find a book myself, I inevitably find myself bringing home 10+ books, only adding to my situation!
Although a Christmas themed cozy should be up my alley, I’ve never read it 🙁
4. Try Audiobooks
As evidenced by my post on the best audiobook apps, I love audiobooks. And I love them because they give me a lot more reading time than I would otherwise have. Normally, you can’t read while you are working out, or when you are doing the dishes, or when you are driving to work. Buuuuuuut you can listen to an audiobook! Everyone has to figure out what kind of narrators they like, what kind of genres they like to listen to, and what speed they like to listen at. (I listen at 1.4-1.6x, normally.) Play around and see what works for you and your ears. But getting hooked on audiobooks is a fantastic way to make a dent in that ever growing to-read list, and you can certainly find audiobooks for free or close to free if you are creative!
5. Make Time to Read
Making time to actually read is probably the biggest way to reduce to your to-read list, because you will actually be reading through it! Make reading a habit in your day. Maybe you read before bed. Maybe you listen to an audiobook while you run. Or maybe you read while you drink your morning coffee. In any case, work it into you daily schedule and start reading through your to-read list. Also, when you finish one book and are moving onto the next, look through your to-read list before looking through Amazon or the library catalogue. See what you already have (or have easy access to) and give it a try. You might not love it, but you can take it off your to-read list; you might also find another book you love.
What book is number one on your to-read list? And how do you reduce your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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I won’t lie, I’ve started going through my To-Read list and making a list of books I own list. And then I’m going to filter out those that I have read and just start reading through that list. That way I can start reading some of my new things that people and myself have bought. I’m also planning on going through the ones I have read and donating them locally if I don’t plan on reading them again in the future. It happens and then I zoom through them like nothing. But I have some I won’t let go just because there’s a lot of sentimental value to them. But definitely the thinning the herd is 100% happening.
I do cross reference now, although I admit I do also get rid of books that I haven’t read. (If it hasn’t grabbed my in 2, 3, 4, 5+ years, it is time to set it free haha.) I’ve been donating books back to the charity booksale I shop at, it is nice to know that they are going to a good cause!
First-off loving the discussion- it shows me I’m not alone lol. My TBR pile at home are two towers the size of by nightstand (a small bookshelf) (not growing shorter) and at work is also about 10 books (I work at a bookstore). I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t get anything out of the library until the piles were gone- you can guess how long that’s lasted.
I do find using the library still helps though. It keeps me from buying more books (for the most part) as it helps me decide if a book is worth it. So far I’ve only bought one book when borrowing from the library. Their book sales on the other hand…
I love the idea of passing books on with notes, while I leave some in a Free Little Library when I give them away this is a cute idea. My one concern if it’s left outside (as I’ve heard of people doing) is rain.
I have to say, working at a bookstore and not working at a bookstore both lead to exponential TBR list growth haha. I try to make sure that I don’t get any new books from the library, but there are some that I’ve been on the waiting list for months- then everything is thrown into disarray!
I’m not against buying books. I’ve found now that more of my friends are authors, I want to support authors in any way that I can. I try to size up books to decide if I will re-read them or use them in research, and try and use that as a guide!
There are a few free libraries here in Winnipeg, but they are emptied out from October to early May due to snow and cold weather. In Dublin, they were all built to keep out the water, luckily. I wish I lived somewhere that had them year round!
Also on this list. I have decided that I won’t borrow anything from the library (I know terrible!) until I get through the huge pile of books beside my bed. On the other hand, I have a long list of saved books to be read/ looked at on my library account that have been there for ages so I should go through that. And I was good for awhile and borrowed books if I wasn’t sure I would re-read them before I bought them (I was terrible about buying books, read once and never again). As someone who loves re-reading books this seems like a waste of money. And now I am thinking of one book I want on my shelf (already read) that I can use a gift certificate on lol.
I also have books going at work (I work at a bookstore) that I read when I’m there- but I just narrowed some of those down. It’s so hard!!
Thanks for the suggestions 🙂
I made a decision years ago to not buy fiction. I get all my fiction and non-fiction too at the library. If a book screams to be on my bookshelf I’ll buy. But fiction – library all the way.
I am pretty good at knowing which books I will re-read and so purchase and which to borrow- now that I buy the majority of books on my Kobo, I’ve gotten much better at “putting books down” instead of buying everything!
These are so helpful. I just went through my list for the first time in probably years and found that a book I’ve had on there about living your best life in your twenties is basically irrelevant after turning 29….
My list is a beast, there’s no other term for it ? There are so many reading phases I went through that resulted in 20 super-niche books being added that I’ve NO desire to read in any way now! Sometimes you have go be ruthless!!
I wish I was a more voracious reader! These are good hints!
We can say voracious reader orrrrr I can be realistic and call myself ask addict haha
LOL!! Better to be a book addict than, like, a crack addict ??
Hi! I follow your blog but hardly ever comment. I just wanted to point out a really cool meme I’ve seen going around on book blogs to clean up the TBR:
https://lostinastory.blog/category/down-the-tbr-hole/
This way you get to remember why you deleted books (because you blog it), and still share what you deleted, & why it’s going — or what you have kept and why. It’s pretty fun, & keeps you focused on deleting books. ?
Thank you for stopping by!!! And this is a VERY cool idea- I think I would do a general clean up, because I’m currently at 1321 books on the TBR list and some I honestly have no idea why they even would be on there. However, there are quite a lot that I could actually expand and give a reason for why I might read them but will not- this is on my to-do list!!
A) why are we not friends on GoodReads?
B) Cutting my list down isn’t nearly that bad though I will confess I hoard. I think my count was at nearly 100+ books last I checked. Most have been read but others are on a To-Read list. If I own them, my rule is I read them first. IF I don’t own them, well they’ll just have to wait until I finish the ones already in my collection!
Plus I suck at reading one book at a time. Currently I have 5 started at the same time in completely different genres.
I’m terrible at finding people on Goodreads haha :'( I’m all about the shelves on Goodreads, I have probably 25 lists, by subject/geography/year read/book type.
I always have at least 4 on the go- between audiobooks/regular books, and separate genres, I’m totally good to go. I think I’ve maxed out at 7, but I’m usually around 4!
But it’s so hard!!!!!!!!!! I have a secret Pinterest board where I keep all of my TBR books, and I recently went through it and did some chopping, and it felt good to shorten my list even just a little. Though I’m sure that I have added enough new books by now to make it just as long again!! Number 1 on my TBR list right now is For the Love by Jen Hatmaker!
Oooo, that is a smart idea to make a Pinterest board for it! The infinite scroll and tiny book size make it hard to pay attention on Goodreads when you are trying to get a feel for how many you actually have on your list. A Pinterest board would make it very clear. I’ve seen Jen’s show on HGTV! 😀
LOL. So this summer I told myself I was going to weed out my BTR shelf. I have exactly one shelf, I limit myself to that. Instead of weeding it out this summer, it has been growing. Eeeek. So the last time I took my kiddo to the library, I refused to look at any books for myself so I would read my TBR shelf. Success! Then I came home and promptly checked out several e books and had them delivered to my kindle. sigh. I am book-a-holic.
The first step is admitting it!! *also raises hand* It’s so difficult to weed it out, but it’s getting easier, at least on the physical book front. Because I haven’t bought a physical book in a while due to space, it’s far easier to say no. However, my e-books are growing quickly still….
Aaaah! I am totally a member of this club! Last winter I bucked up and donated over 100 books and combed through my TBR… I use LibraryThing as well as Goodreads, and LibraryThing has this tool on every book’s page called “Will I Like It?” then judges based on books you have in your library and that you’ve reviewed how much it thinks you’d like the book and how confident it is… using that, I killed off about 1/3 of my TBR and put them in a “Not Recommended” list… such a big help!
Good luck with yours! It seems like every year a few dozen new amazing books come out… and the TBRs just keep growing.
I’ve just made myself a LibraryThing account, I’m really liking it so far!! I think that it’s going to a go a long way in cutting down my list! Thank you for recommending the site!!!!! 😀
I think I do need to go through and just blitz remove at this point- there are probably 300+ cozies on it that don’t need to be there. If I’m in the mood for cozies, I know where to look, I don’t need to clutter up my list!!
Aw, I’m glad you like it. It’s not as social as Goodreads but it’s a bit better for general book management, especially if you’re like me and like to tag things to death. 🙂 Good luck!
I do have some friends on Goodreads but that’s definitely not my focus- I am loving the level of detail in LibraryThing!!
I have so many new books to read right now ? I’m definitely guilty of hoarding books BUT the last 4 books I’ve read have been re-reads. I don’t have a good reads to read list though
I’m trying to stop re-reads aside from a few true favourites because I can get caught up in 3-4 months of re-reading haha! I now typically listen to re-reads and save my actual reading for new books 🙂