Monday, January 16, 2017

Lists Gone Wild!

It's no secret that I am a reader. I love books. I also love lists. So it's no surprise that I actually keep book-related lists. Books I've read. Books I think other people might like. Books I want to read.

My confession to you all is that my Books To Read list is over 20 pages long. Typed, single-spaced pages. With separate sections including Young Adult, Fiction, and Nonfiction. With notations, like asterisks for books I'm dying to read. With words like "Buy" or "Request from Library."

Is that weird?

In my defense, my husband has books on the list, too. But . . . his Books To Read titles might total one page.

And I do go through the list regularly. But . . . I usually add more books than I subtract.

Sigh. I know I will never, ever be able to read all the books I want to in my lifetime. In the words of Lemony Snicket:

"It is most likely that I will die next to a pile of books 
I was meaning to read."

Well, if that's the case then I better make the most of the time I've got and get reading!

*****

Do you have a Books To Read list? How many pages is it? How do you organize it (Please don't tell me I'm alone on this!) Do you set reading goals? Participating in the 2017 Reading Challenge over on Goodreads? If we're not already "friends" over there, let's fix that asap! 

28 comments:

  1. I don't have a list. Just a hundred books staring at me on my iPad.

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    1. I think that would make me feel worse - all those covers staring at me accusingly. :o

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  2. I have a few lists--on Goodreads and a few wish lists on Amazon (for both print books and kindle). But for the most part I just have shelves and boxes full of books I still have to read.

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    1. I also have bookshelves - some contain keepers - those are displayed in the dining room area (who needs a breakfront and good china!) and shelves in another room hold only Books To Read. Those titles are also on the giant list. :)

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  3. Now that is organized! I'd never heard of anyone having an actual list.

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    1. So many other areas of my house wish I would apply that power of organization to them. :(

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  4. I have a moleskin notebook that is my reading list. I highlight them when I read them. There's no organization and it just grows and grows.

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    1. I think I started out with something like that but then it just got too big. Breaking it into categories made me feel as if I had some control. Yeh, right. :)

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  5. 20 pages! Wow. My list is on Goodreads, I add books randomly as I read about them, but recently had a cull - it's still long, but now filled with books I really want to read rather than added politely. As much as I'd like to read all my blog-friends' books, some of them are simply not my thing. (And I completely understand when my books aren't their thing!)

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    1. My Books To Read list and my To Read shelf on Goodreads are pretty much synced. I had my typed list before I was ever on Goodreads though so that is still my go-to. :)

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  6. The closest list I have is my TBR pile on Goodreads and I mostly ignore that. LOL

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  7. Your list is definitely not weird. It's something to be proud of. I started a tracker of books I wanted to read, but didn't keep up with it. I should probably take a look at it again.

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    1. I really do find it keeps me on track for the books I really want to read. I don't get as sidetracked as I used to. But I did have to stop myself from categorizing the list more, like breaking Fiction down into Mystery, Historical Fiction, etc.

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  8. I don't make lists, but I have a gigantic TBR closet, and a TBR table, and a wish list on Amazon. Guess that counts. :)

    I always vow not to buy any more books until I've made some headway. Yeah, that lasts for about a week!

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    1. That totally counts. :)

      I once participated in a challenge to read a chunk of books I already owned. It made me crazy since there were so many new books I also wanted to get from the library or buy.

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  9. Don't feel bad. I've got a bookshelf with books I haven't read yet. But I will try my best to get to them all, anyway.

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    1. I've got one of those, too. I probably won't get to all of them because I keep adding to the stacks!

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  10. I know what you mean. It can be quite a depressing thought if you think about it, but at least there's no danger of running out of books! I just checked and my TBR list on Goodreads numbers 122 - I thought it was more, but there are definitely other blog pals' books I need to add. Not to mention the physical books on my shelves, including those from my wife when we moved in together - we've got Dickens, Austen, Hemingway etc I haven't read... she's much more well-read in terms of the classics than me!

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    1. I used to add a lot of literary novels and classics to my To Read list/shelf, but I noticed after awhile that I wasn't really enjoying them. I was doing it more because I thought I should or had to. No more! I still add/read/enjoy a handful of those types of books but I no longer feel like I'm in school. :)

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  11. A list would be helpful. All I have is a pile of books, some around my bedroom and some collected on my ereader. I'm not that organized with books. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    1. I'm all about lists! Lists within lists. Lists of lists. You get the picture. :)

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  12. I have a Goodreads list, but that's the closest. Unfortunately, I know it's unrealistic to have a lot of books I want to read, because I don't get a whole lot of time with all the kid stuff going on!

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  13. I used to keep my TBR list on an Excel spreadsheet but finally threw it away. It's easier to just click "Want to Read" on Goodreads and peruse that list from time to time. I gave up on most mystery series except for a couple of new ones I like, and I'm reading more nonfiction I pick up at the library from the "New" shelves. Yes, I'm on Goodreads and we're friends there.

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    1. Oh, I know we're friends on Goodreads - I enjoy seeing you over there. :)

      I try to limit my mystery series reading to only a handful because after awhile, they sort of start to blur together. There are definitely a few I keep coming back to, like Tess Gerritsen's duo and Lisa Gardner's people, especially DD Warren.

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