For the entire month of March, read books in your TBR pile released before March 1, 2016. They can be eBooks, physical books, or audiobooks.
My Goals:
I will read nothing but physical books I already own. That means no borrowed books, whether from the library, a friend, or the Boyfriend’s bookshelves.
I’ll update my progress in my weekly “Monday’s Minutes” posts, and write a final wrap-up post at the end of the month.
I’ll also write a review for every book I read.
I will participate in the 24-hour TBR Readathon on March 12th.
I will try to participate in the Twitter party on March 16th.
My TBR:
As you all know by now, I have an entire floor to ceiling bookcase full of books I’ve never read. Thanks to the Boyfriend and giveaway winnings, I haven’t cleared out any space yet this year. While I also haven’t run out of space again, that needs to change because we’re moving in March, and I’d love to have at least one box of books headed to the used bookstore before then. While I don’t have any specific books I plan to read during the challenge, I do plan on attacking the paperbacks I’m pretty sure I won’t want to keep after I finish them.
Yep, that’s right! The photo above of my bookcase is my TBR mountain for Feel the Paper Love February. Why? Because, with the exception of three books I want to read this month, I don’t have a plan. It depends on the weather, my mood, and how quickly I get through the other three books.
What are those three books?
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon – I started it on the 1st of the year but kept getting distracted by other books.
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – I borrowed this from the Boyfriend’s Mom’s Husband when we went to visit for Christmas. I don’t know how it will work out, but the plan is that we will exchange books when the Boyfriend’s Mom comes down to Austin every couple of months. Since I don’t know when she’ll be in town next, I want to have the book finished, a note with my thoughts about it written, and a book of mine ready to send with it.
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye by Tania Del Rio – This is an ARC that I’ve had on my shelf for far too long.
One thing I did decide is that, since I’m choosing to read nothing but physical books this month, but I usually listen to audiobooks when I’m in the car, I’m going to catch up with the ridiculous number of podcasts I’ve been neglecting instead. They’re not books, so I’m not breaking my commitment to the printed page. I’ll return to my audiobooks next month.
Felicia at The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog has been working on a project to get her books in order. Her updates on her progress inspired me to finally get my book life more organized, too. I scanned all of my physical TBR books into Goodreads and then worked on getting all of my books (including my ebooks) into a spreadsheet. I chose to do that instead of manually adding most of my ebooks, which aren’t Kindle books (Goodreads has an option to add all your Amazon book purchases without having to look them up one at a time). It still took most of a day, since I copied and pasted the information from my order histories into a spreadsheet and then had to straighten it all out.
I was shocked to discover how many ebooks I have. I figured that I had maybe 150 or so, but I found out I have over 400 ebooks that I’ve never read. Over half of them were free, and 100 of those were bought within the past 12 months. In fact, from the very first ebook I’ve ever bought, up to today, I’ve acquired more free ebooks in the past year than I have at any other time. I’m certain that’s because I’m participating in the #ShelfLove No Book Buying Challenge. I can’t pay money for books, but I can get all the free books I want. Apparently, my brain took this to mean I was in a book famine and therefore I had to hoard all.the.books.
Since I can’t see my ebook collection in the same way as my physical books, I decided to make a TBR jar for them. I also did the math on how long it would take me to read all those books and decided to unsubscribe from the daily emails I receive full of free ebooks being offered. If I continue to read 65 books a year like I did last year, it will take me over six years to finish my mountain of a TBR pile. If I also continue adding 100 new ebooks every year, that mountain will continue to grow. The phrase “When I die, I’ll be found next to a stack of books I was meaning to read” is very fitting to this stage in my book life.
I also made a TBR jar for my physical books, but for a different reason. Do you ever stand in front of your TBR pile/shelf undecided about which book to read next? I spend at least 10 minutes waffling between books I know I’m likely to send to the used bookstore and books I’ll probably want to keep forever. The TBR jar takes the question out of what to read next. Whatever comes out of the jar is what I’m reading.
I don’t know where I got the image that I used for the labels, but I used “Algerian” font and named them “The Hobbit’s TBR Library” because the boyfriend nicknamed me Hobbit ages ago. I used sticker printer paper to make the labels but then had to use a bit of clear tape on each end because it apparently doesn’t like sticking to acrylic. I then spent hours cutting up the printed spreadsheet pages into strips so they would look like shredded newsprint. I probably spent way too much time on these, but I figured they’re going to be in my life for at least the next six years so they might as well be pretty.
Do you have a TBR jar? Leave a link to a picture of it in the comments.
Take Control of Your TBR pile is back for its third year, but this will be the first time I’m participating. For the month of March I’ll read books in my TBR pile that were released before March 1, 2015.
Make a Goals/updates/Results post (can be combined).
Begins March 1st, 2015 and ends March 31, 2015 at midnight.
Read/listen to books from your TBR pile.
ALL books must have been published before March 1st, 2015.
Post a review and then link it to the Rafflecopter for an entry.
You can combine events, challenges, etc. (I’m combining this with all of my current challenges.)
No novellas.
The rafflecopter will only allow two books to be entered per person per day, so update as soon as you finish a book.
Earn an extra entry for adding the Take Control Button to your blog with a link-back.
Use hashtag #TakeControlTBR
There will be a Twitter Party and a read-a-thon (To be announced).
The Rafflecopter will close on April 2, 2015 at midnight and a winner will be chosen within 72 hours. The Prize is a new 2015 release valued up to $20.00.
My Goals:
I’m going to try to finish 4 books. I’ve already chosen 3 of them:
There’s no way I could possibly list every single book on my TBR bookshelf and all the ebooks I have in my 1st gen Nook (thankfully, Kindle links to Goodreads). Even just randomly listing the amount of books for the level I chose (Black Belt: 51+ books) is daunting. Since I signed up for this challenge, I’ve been very slowly adding books I already own onto a newly created TBR shelf on Goodreads, but those are only a drop in the bucket. So, my TBR for this challenge is a weird combination of lists and photos:
To start off, I’ll be reading my review books:
The Kingdom Lights by Steven VS
Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran by Marion Grace Woolley
The Very Best of Kate Elliott by Kate Elliott
The Eterna Files by Leanna Renee Hieber
Cannonbridge by Jonathan Barnes
Onyx Webb: Episode One: The Story Begins by Andrea Waltz
Feast of Fates by Christian A. Brown
Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein
Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr
Then, I’ll be clearing out as many of my ebooks until March 6th, which marks the end of COYER. These are the ebooks I’ve managed to get listed on Goodreads:
Foreign Correspondences
Lesley Krueger
Little Boy Lost (The Librarian, #1)
Eric Hobbs
The Princess of Dhagabad
Anna Kashina
Ren of Atikala (Kobolds, #1)
David Adams
Turn of the Tide
Margaret Skea
The Uncanny Valley: Tales from a Lost Town
Gregory Miller
Lights Out
Holly Black
Birth Of The Monster
Shane K.P. O’Neill
The City of Worms (Everville. #2)
Roy Huff
Everville: The Rise of Mallory
Roy Huff
The Magic of Highland Dragons (The Clan MacCoinnach, #1)
Kella McKinnon
Vigilante of Shadows (Novel 1 of The Scarlet Rain Series)
Miranda Stork
The Final Formula
Becca Andre
A Sea of Shields
Morgan Rice
Gods & Dragons: 8 Fantasy Novels
Daniel Arenson
The Lord of the Plains (Mixed, #1)
Sarah Chapman
Fell’s Hollow
A.J. Abbiati
Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 3
Robert Louis Stevenson
A Tide of Shadows (Chronicles of Llars, #1)
Tom Bielawski
A Quest of Heroes (The Sorcerer’s Ring, #1)
Morgan Rice
Mad Tinker’s Daughter (Mad Tinker Chronicles, #1)
J.S. Morin
The Great Darkening (Epic of Haven Trilogy)
R.G. Triplett
A Shadow of Lilies (The Last Savior)
R. Moses
The Sibyl
Cynthia D. Witherspoon
Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)
Garth Nix
The First Pillar (Everville, #1)
Roy Huff
The Queen of the Tearling
Erika Johansen
After COYER ends, I’ll move over to my physical TBR shelf. Here are the 3 I’ve added to Goodreads:
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1)
Catherynne M. Valente
The Haunted Bookshop
Christopher Morley
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Gabrielle Zevin
And here are pictures of my bookshelf, sans knick knacks, with the books I’ve already read, and decided to keep, blacked out:
As you can see, I have way more books to read than I will get through this year, and it doesn’t include the 136 books I have on my Nook. I would be ashamed if I didn’t know that I’m not the only one with a major book buying addiction.
