Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out the September prompts!
Do You Ever Get Overwhelmed by Your TBR (to-be-read) Pile? (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)
Prompts: How do you keep track of the books you want to read? Do you have a lot of books on your TBR? Is there any order/organization within all the books you want to read? Does your TBR ever feel overwhelming?
Keeping Track…
I keep track of most of my books by my Goodreads account. I have many that are on my TBR, Owned, and Read. But I have a lot on my bookshelves and book carts that I want to read. I usually pull them from my shelves and add them to my cart. I have a TBR cart and a Readathon cart. Those are my “I want to get to soon” books. I am a huge mood reader and this changes constantly. I’m getting a lot more arcs now too. It definitely pushed my own TBR to the wayside this year.
How Many…
I have about 541 on my Goodreads. To be fair, I haven’t cleaned it out in a long time. I moved and got rid of some books. I need to do it on GR too. I also have received many more arcs that I ever have this year. I’m really thankful but it’s kept me from picking up my own books for months! I think I own about 300 books that I have not read. Yep.. it’s crazy. I started off the year doing REALLY well and reading a good amount of that. Then… the arcs requests started being approved. lol
Overwhelmed??
Yes and no. I get overwhelmed when I have too many arcs and can’t pick up one of my own books in a whole month. It’s just crazy to me. I also have to juggle- blogging, my toddler, and life with reading and blogging. It’s not a lot of free time. Oliver has started preschool two days (two hours ea.) a week and I need to figure out a new schedule. I have realized that I will never read all the books I own and you know, that’s okay! I can just gift them or pass them on. It’s totally okay. Some books are so old that I don’t even want to read them anymore and I need to donate those! This has reminded me to really clean off my bookshelves and Goodreads. I want to try and do this in December.. start the new year off fresh!
What about you? Do you feel overwhelmed by your TBR?
Books Are The New Black 
I never even had a TBR before I started bookblogging! Now it’s got about 30 books on it which is fine. I did get overwhelmed by my Net Galley shelf so stopped requesting ARCs for a bit until it felt more under control. I can’t imagine owning 500 books that I haven’t read. I think I’ve currently got 4 and 3 of those are on my kindle 😃
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Haha! I don’t own over 500 that I haven’t read… my TBR on Goodreads doesn’t reflect the books I own. It actually has all the books I add to my TBR when Blog hopping and so on. I forget to go back through and clean it out when I’ve changed my mind on books and such.
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I agree re: the feeling of needing to get ARCs read, for sure!
I do a TBR game each month, do buddy reads, and do book reviews. I think without a TBR I would feel more overwhelmed! haha but in the end, this is all for fun ❤ and the joy of reading!
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That’s very true! I have got to stop requesting so many arcs. lol. I have decided to not even look at my Netgalley, unless I”m uploading a review!! haha. Yes, it’s all for fun and that’s what I have to remember. 🙂 ❤
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My tbr is just insane lol. I went through my goodreads and wishlist for the library this week and deleted a lot at least. I have slowly been working through what I own and am now in the process of cataloging my ebooks…Arcs definitely take up a lot of my time.
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Yes! I need to go through my Goodreads and get rid of a bunch that I know I don’t want to read anymore. I haven’t done that in a long time. I also need to go through my own books and weed again. I like to do it towards the end of the year! 🙂 Arcs are killing me this year!! I’ve decided to stay off Netgalley the rest of the year, besides uploading reviews!! Let’s see how I do. haha
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Oof, I wish I could commit to not going on Netgalley but it’s so hard. 😂
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It’s going to hurrrrttt but I’ve managed to not look for two weeks! haha
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I really need to go through my Goodreads list because I have around 500 too and I’m positive I don’t still want to read all of those I added years ago 😂
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Yep!! Same!! I think it will make me feel MUCH better to just let go so many of those. haha
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My TBR overwhelms me any time I think about it, so I try very hard not to do so. I primarily use Goodreads to organize, too. Excellent post!
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Haha!! Yes, that’s a good way to go. lol. My Goodreads is always out of control because I add anything and everything that sounds good. I just forget to go back and clean it up!
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I’m drowning and I really need someone to throw me life preserver, but it’s completely my own fault. My biggest problem is I need to quit requesting ARCs.
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YES. I am the same. I know it’s going to be SO hard but I’ve decided to stop requesting ARCs and doing blog tours for the rest of the year! I have so many in October already (8) and that’s crazy! I need to finish the year reading some of my own books!!
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You’re a stronger woman than I, lol.
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haha! We will see how it goes. Two weeks strong! ❤
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Great post, Leslie. I need to stop requesting ARCs. It can get so overwhelming, but I find it hard to resist NetGalley! lol
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Thanks, Juilie. It’s insanely hard but I’m going to be adamant to do it! I actually just emailed a publisher to take me off the list for a certain arc they wanted me to read in two weeks. I was like.. yeah.. I”m starting my fertility medications this week and they make me moody. I”m a mood reader and can’t guarantee that I’ll be in a reading mood. LOL
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I also have TBR cart, and its so helpful for keeping track of my TBR!! I keep schoolbooks, library books, and books I own & want to read soon on it, and it’s really great! Thats neat that you also have a readathon cart as well!!
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Yes! I have an obsession with carts. haha. They are so handy!! I love how it can just keep me focused and from becoming too overwhelmed! ❤
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I get a bit overwhelmed sometimes about ARCs, but never about my GR TBR. I don’t look at it often, so out of sight, out of mind!
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hahaha!! That’s the way to go!! Definitely with you there. ARC’s overwhelm me way more!
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Good luck cleaning off your shelves! That’s always a hard, time consuming process, isn’t it? I don’t request a lot of ARCs because I don’t like to read on deadline. I totally get that having too many can stress you out! Great post.
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Thank you! It really is… Yes.. I’m learning that I need to cut back a lot on arcs! I sometimes think it forces me to read books I want to read instead of sitting on my bookshelf for months. It just becomes a lot. haha
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My TBR is no longer overwhelming because I spent time a year or so ago cleaning it out. I got rid of books I was no longer interested in on my GR TBR. I did the same on my Kindle. It took a long time, but I looked up blurbs and deleted ones I knew I wouldn’t read. I finally got all of those books read. Now, I am accumulating some again, but I make sure to try to read as many as I can again in between ARCs. It’s really helped me.
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That’s amazing!!! I’m totally going to work on that the rest of this year. Cleaning them out and reading more of my own books. I’m going to take a step back from requesting arcs. I already have like 8 in October. I used to only allow myself 3 a month. hahaha! This year has been really bad!
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There’s been a lot of great books releasing. I just try to only request ARCs of books I was already planning on reading.
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It’s what I need to do.. but then I see everyone hyping up a book & request. 😂 Yes, lots of great books lately!
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Okay, your TBR on GR is half of what mine is. To be fair, it has all the books that I’ve “wanted” to read since like 2012 so I don’t think that’s *too* bad? 😂 But I want to get mine down to your number! I also like your idea of clearing out books you no longer want to read at the end of every year—it’s a great way to start the new year especially since we know that we won’t stop adding books to our shelves! 😂 I also get frustrated when I have too many ARCs and then I can’t read the books I already own or mood read the way I want, so it does become overwhelming then. Great post, Leslie 🙂
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Yeah, I totally add things there without a thought and then never go back. So.. I don’t really go by that one. My owned books though.. sheesh! haha. Remember how we started the year?? I read SO many of my own books!! Now, I have barely read any in months. LOL.
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I need to clean out my GoodReads and my physical books. There a book I wan to read and for life of me I can’t find it.
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Oh, no!! I hope you can find it!!!
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