You know that website Dog Shame? I’m thinking of starting one featuring readers standing next to their to-be-read stacks. While holding bookshop carrier bags. BECAUSE WE KEEP BUYING BOOKS EVEN THOUGH WE ALREADY HAVE TONNES TO READ. Well I do anyway…
A month ago I posted a mention of Whichbook – a website that suggests titles based on your reading preferences. In the comments section of this post, Christine from Bookishly Boisterous and I had shared our ‘TBR stack shame’, both confessing to towering stacks of books (with the inexplicable desire to obtain still more).
Unlike me, Christine attempted to do something about it –
I did promise to make June my ‘no book buying month’ and in fact I’m going to extend it to ‘no-book-buying-season’. Yes, until the end of winter I will be reading exclusively from my TBR stack and what’s left in my NetGalley queue (lots). So here is a pic of my TBR stack. Obviously it doesn’t include e-books. I know, INSANE.
Bloggers, please feel free to post something similar so that I’m not the only one confessing…
Er … My eight year old has a TBR stack. Should I be worried or proud ?
Ummm…’alert but not alarmed’?!
Righty-o. Her stack is only a fraction of yours. That’s quite something!
I’ll see your stack of shame and add my stack of shame which sometimes includes DOUBLE COPIES of books. Yeah, I buy them, then I forget I’ve bought them, and buy them again. I’m thinking of offering them for adoption on my blog. I put one up for a new home, pay the postage and send out.
Oh dear…the double copy. I’ve done that a couple of times, most often buying an e-book and then a hard copy. An adoption process is a good idea!
I have got to my TBR pile under control too…. I have hundreds of books that I still need to read. Which would typically be a sad state, however, I just did a sweep and actually got rid of 100+ so it’s even worse that I STILL have that many to get through. Need to quit my day job.
Ha! Maybe we should all take a months ‘reading leave’?!
Mental health day? Reading day? Same thing to book lovers.
As a self-employed person, I don’t think I take enough mental health days. #resolvestotakemore
Stay strong. Solidarity. Si se puede! I’m telling ya, it’s a disease!
Aiming to halve that stack by the end of winter…
Yep, that. Exactly. I’m too embarrased to post mine. And my library’s annual Whale of a Used Book Sale is this weekend. I’m going.
It’s like the literary walk of shame.
For reference (and some of these are obvious): Empire Falls, Double Feature. Yes.
Gone Girl, The Lifeboat. Meh. (though I think I’ve just reached the conclusion I’m too twisted to enjoy things like Gone Girl – it just seemed to guessable to my dark mind).
Well I was fairly confident that you would tell me to read those two next!
And I think that given I showed you mine, you should show yours (TBR stack that is). Was actually strangely liberating – like a ‘visual’ list.
Trust me you aren’t alone and if it helps any, my pile is considerably larger and we won’t even discuss those on my virtual shelves LOL
I didn’t even bother with counting my e-books… Maybe my book-buying-ban needs to extend until the end of the year?!
Pingback: Stacks of Shame | fourth street review
I decided to give up buying books for Lent. My brother thought I was going to blow a blood vessel or something but I actually got through it, sanity intact! lol (granted, I kept winning ARCs in the meantime, which my brother said was cheating but I never said anything about books from contests so I think I was in the clear ;)) I’m actually thinking of putting myself in a no-new-books-embargo after the month of June because my to-read list is getting pretty ridiculous, lol
Btw, I see some fantastic titles in your photo (including Mandery’s Q! <3)
(Great post idea btw, will post up my tbr pile on my blog in a little bit)
I don’t count ARCs in a no-book-buying period either… As Christine said, it’s a nice loophole.
I bought Q after reading a great review – perhaps yours? Did you review it at some stage??
And yes, please share your stack – cathartic, strength in numbers and all that…
So my best friend said as well 😉
I did review it early last year…hope you enjoy reading Q! 🙂
Ta-da! 🙂 Posted my stack; I had a lot of fun with it, actually, it was rather cathartic (and reassuring in some way?). And I managed to rearrange it afterwards so it wasn’t left all over the place, lol
I did like your review of Q – hard to ignore a 5-star review!
Your TBR stack is quite modest – no doubt you’ll rip through it (no pressure….)
My TBR shelf is actually two whole bookcases…. I’m ashamed to post a picture. Then I have my ARC stack…. then I have the stack that doesen’t fit in the bookcases….then I have my Kindle *hides*
You win!
Next time my husband complains about the piles of books everywhere, I’ll refer him to you! 😉
Loved your pile, so many good books. I would add another meh for Gone Girl, honestly don’t understand the fuss. Past the Shallows is wonderful and deserves a bump up the pile (assuming pile is in reading order?). I have a whole book shelf of TBR and what makes it worse is I am a librarian and work in a public library & I still can’t stop buying books.
Ha! It’s a disease!
My stack isn’t in reading order so I will bump Past the Shallows up – I just pick whatever takes my fancy at the time.
Looking back now, I realize it was actually you and I who were commenting about our stacks of shame (I knew that sense of deja vu was coming from somewhere! Though us book bloggers almost ALL seem to have this problem…) — but I give Christine (love her blog too!) major credit for actually doing something about it…I haven’t bitten the bullet yet and cut myself off though I probably should… I’m hoping for a good solid summer or reading to help whittle down the piles at least. I will definitely be posting my own stacks of shame post as soon as I get home and can take some pictures
What are the chances of having TBR stack confessions discussions with two Christines, both who have book blogs with double-barrelled B names (Buckling Bookshelves and Bookishly Boisterous)?! Still, as you said, it is a fairly common problem in some circles!
In these bookish circles, I the odds seems higher than one would think! I’m not so good with twitter, so I was definitely the christine in the post comments, lol An excellent reminder that I should do something about this “problem” as much as I don’t really want to… I’m afraid my own stack of shame is much more than just one stack at this point in time — you’ll see what I mean when I get my photo up…
I would post a photo of the books I own (not counting ARCs) that I need to read, but it would honestly be about an entire bookshelf full – and I can’t stop buying/borrowing!
I think we have a problem… D=
Honestly, posting a pic is cathartic! Do it, do it, do it…
Pingback: First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday – ‘Flora’ by Gail Goodwin | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Pingback: My TBR Stack – You Decide | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
I am lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, because I have very little space to keep books. I can only have so many books. Once I get over the amount I can fit on my shelf and what I try to pile next to my bed, I have to get rid of some of them. I guess it keeps me in check. It will be bad once I move to a bigger space!!
Now my online TBR shelf, that is a whole other story.
One does expand to fill ones space! The last house I lived in had little shelf space and I read books and then passed them on. Then I moved to a house with loads of built in shelves… the books quickly took over!
Pingback: First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday – ‘Perfect’ by Rachel Joyce | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Pingback: Bugger. This happened. | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Pingback: Winter book-buying-ban | booksaremyfavouriteandbest