TBR Tag

I found this tag on Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road a couple months ago and thought it would be appropriate for the new year!

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

It’s mostly on Goodreads… I’ve gotten it almost all together over there, and any time I notice a book I want to read I put it on there, but I always have loads more books I vaguely mean to read at some point. I also own a lot of books I haven’t read, as I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, and I haven’t taken the time to put them in as “Want to Read.” (I use LibraryThing for books I own and Goodreads for books I’ve read. So I have big TBRs on both.)

“It is most likely that I will die next to a pile of books I was meaning to read.” -Lemony Snicket

Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?

Mostly print. The romance genre is the only one where I feel like a significant portion of the books I might want to read are ebook-only, both because I like queer romances and because that genre seems to legitimize its ebooks a bit more, if that makes sense. In other genres it just seems like the quality isn’t always there, because the good authors don’t go straight to ebook. I have a few sci-fi ebook titles kicking around too though.

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?

Partly serendipity — and that goes for any books, I don’t strictly focus on my TBR list — but mostly reading lists I make for myself. For instance, some categories include “science,” “Archie comics,” “romance,” “Airman readalikes,” and a gazillion others. When I read a book, I get to order the next title in the category from the library, or put it in my bedside stack if I own it. Then it’s just a matter of library due dates (and squeezing my own books in between). I usually have between 12 and 20 library books checked out at any given time.

A book that’s been on your TBR the longest:

The oldest on Goodreads is The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma. This looks like a super interesting scifi historical, and I’d actually started it at one point in 2013, but it’s very long and I’d barely started before I had to return the library book. And then, clearly, I never got around to reordering it.

A book that you recently added to your TBR:

The most recent (again, on Goodreads) is Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace. I saw a friend put it on their TBR list and it looked neat, a little bit The Giver-y.

A book that’s on your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover:

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I bought it when it was new, because of the beautiful cover. In the intervening time everyone’s said it’s terrible, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of it yet because it’s just so pretty.

A book on your TBR that you never plan on actually reading:

Probably a lot of classic-type books. I keep thinking one day I’ll read Gandhi’s autobiography or something but realistically I’ll never decide I have the time and wherewithal.

An unpublished book on your TBR that you’re excited for:

I don’t know how you people keep track of upcoming books, I can’t keep track of the ones that are already out! 😉

A book on your TBR that basically everyone has read except you:

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, unless it’s been so long that it’s come back around and people aren’t familiar with it anymore…

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you:

Dune. I guess it’s like, classic sci-fi, interesting religious/philosophical ideas, dense worldbuilding, sure it’s the kind of thing I’d like, I just haven’t read it yet. I’m reading it like IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS OKAY. 🙂

Scene from Dune, probably.

A book on your TBR that you’re just dying to read:

Deadhouse Gates, the second Malazan book. It’s sitting in the library pile waiting for me!

The number of books on your (goodreads) TBR shelf:

683. And 691 on LibraryThing.