The TBR Pile: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

This was supposed to be a review. It was scheduled a few weeks ago, and I thought I'd be able to read (and finish) the book in time. But various obligations--mostly other reviews--have kept me from finishing the book, and it would be very bad form for me to review a book that I haven't finished.

But even though I haven't finished the review (or the book), I'm responsible for today's content, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about piles and piles of books. Namely, the "to be read" pile (or TBR pile, if you like acronyms).

In addition to Historical Tapestry, I review for a couple of other publications, which means I end up with a lot of stuff to review. And since I work in a public library, I find new things to read every day. My department is responsible for ordering and receiving all of the new materials, so if it's being added to the library's collection, it makes its way through my work area at some point or another. This adds to my pile of things I want to read.

I read somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 books per year, and between books checked out from the library, books for review, and books that I've bought (in paper or in electronic format), my TBR pile has something like 125 books in it. So I have over a years' worth of books that I want to read at some point or another!

I've come to terms with the fact that there are just too many good books out there to read in a lifetime. Every time we get a large shipment of books into the library, I see five or ten more books I want to read, so I put them on hold. Out of every group of books I pick up, I usually read one or two...if I'm lucky. I've found that if I don't read library books right away, I don't come back to them, because something newer or shinier or more exciting comes along. The same thing happens with books that I buy. I've tried to cut back on purchases because of this--I have books on my shelves that I "had to have" ten years ago, and I still haven't read them. 

I try to prioritize my review books, but sometimes even that stack gets out of hand. One of my recent assignments for another publication was to read and review Ken Follett's new book, The Winter of the World. It was great, but it was 1000 (or so) pages, so it took a while to read. This, of course, ate into my time for reading other things, which led to the downward spiral that lead to this review not being posted as intended! So I apologize for my unexciting filler content and my lack of review, and I'll return to frantically tackling the TBR pile.

Do you have a TBR pile? What's in it, and how huge is it? Do you have a plan for tackling it? If you're able to manage your TBR pile, do you have advice for me?

-Nanette