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I've never been a big list maker. I have the occasional "To Do" or "To Buy" list, but mostly I rely on remembering things rather than writing them down. However, one list that I always have on record is my TBR - or "to be read" list. Since it's grown to monstrous proportions over the years I've taken to affectionately calling it "Mount TBR".
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
~ Arnold Lobel
Among readers, I've learned that lots of people have similar classifications about their future reads. A friend told me of a book club member that received an inheritance of more books than he felt he could read in his lifetime and took to calling his collection "BABLE" to stand for "Books Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy". And another librarian friend refers to her future reads as "FEILOMM" meaning "Future Entries Into Library Of My Mind". Are you a TBR list maker? How do you go about choosing your next book to read?
May 3, 2010 at 11:05 AM
You know, before I joined LT, I never really thought about it at all. Sure I had a bunch of books I owned and needed to read, but I never did anything official about it. I therefore pretty much stick to using the "To Be Read" category in my LT library. I kind of wish I didn't, it was far less horrifying when I would just glance at my bookshelf and notice a book I hadn't read yet than seeing a full list of them! As to deciding what I'm going to read next, I go be feel most of the time, unless I have a book I need to read to review and that jumps it up the list.
I'm afraid I haven't made much sense.
May 3, 2010 at 3:14 PM
So many things influence what I choose to read next...Librarything can be a big influence but mostly it's recommendations from friends... I have a work colleague in Melbourne who's pretty reliable when it comes to a great read. I am a sucker for great covers too...or stories with a bit of history in them.
May 5, 2010 at 12:24 AM
I also usually go by feel. Lately I have been recieving many more review books so they do jump to the top of the pile. But usually what I read next is whatever I am in the mood for. As I update my library on LT I notice how many different genres I have! I love being able to pick and choose and am someday hoping to get through them all! But my TBR list just keeps growing and groing lol.
May 12, 2010 at 1:51 PM
"...it was far less horrifying when I would just glance at my bookshelf and notice a book I hadn't read yet than seeing a full list of them!"
Too true. Too true. Now that I think about it, I realize I have a negative selection process of what to read next. With the exception of advance review stuff, which always jumps to the top of the pile, I tend to read whatever I did not read recently. For example, I've been on a huge historical fiction kick lately so I decided that my next book could *not* be historical fiction. I actually wanted to read one about the Vietnam war, but I thought that might be too close so I went with a YA ghost story instead.
Now that I wrote that out, I realize how weird it sounds.
To butcher up a little Shakespeare, there is madness to my method.