Between the Lines discussion

Fiona,

You have 279 books you own but haven't read? That's amazing.

I'm a library user. I only buy books if it's a favorite, or if I can't get it at the library and must read it.

Anyway, I'm jealous of your cool book collection. Happy Reading!

you can do it! THat is what I am working on too. But not very quickly!

This is also what I'm attempting. Currently, I have 91 books on my to-read list. This is all books I own (except 3, that are borrowed from a friend...). Every new book I buy gets on the list. My goal this year is for this list to have a maximum of 50 books on it come New Year - so that means a lot of book reading and not so much book buying. I hope I can do it - but so far it's not going too well because I keep adding books from my real life shelves that I haven't read...

91 is not bad.

I have over 100 i am trying to read 100 this year. So far going very slow I don't know why.

Fiona I have over 1900 books in my TBR & it keeps growing! At least i don't own all those books. My house would be made out of books then.

Just picture it!

I know, 91 is not so much - but it's still a lot of books!
And ... I have a to-read list outside of goodreads as well with books I don't own (currently) but want to read ... and I can't help myself but buy a book now and then...
And they keep publishing books for some reason...!!! ;-)

If I root for you and your 280, will you root for me and my 91) :-)

Good luck Fiona! I'm in your corner all the way Tweety. Keep those feathers flying and those bright eyes a-flashin!

Wow Emilee and Prettymisslara, you guys have a ton of books on your TBR lists! And you're right, being on GR just makes you add more and more and more...

Lol, Fiona! Being on GR makes us all keep adding to our TBR lists, dosen't it? It's like one step forward, two steps back. I still have lots of TBR books written in a notebook that need to be added to my GR TBR list.

I just bought two more books - and I've 3 coming from the book store whenever they get them (ordered them before New Year, the trouble of getting English books here ... sighs) so that's 5 more books to add to my to-read list ... This is not quite going according to plan!

Our TBR lists keep growing. I think we will all have read the same books in many many years.

Christina being on this site has made me want to read more so I will root for you to read more then 91 books!

I read 91 last year ... but that's just not going to cut it this year!
I'll have to get that to-read list down to a more manageable size. I have somewhat jokingly stated that I have this year to get it below 50 and if I don't, I can't buy anymore books before I do... Unfortunately, my boyfriend thinks I meant it seriously ...

I wish i had your will power! I have such a hard time not buying books. I really need to just read 50 books then reward myself with one book. There's a goal! Can I keep it?

Well, I'm not quite sure that I can keep it either - but it would be nice to have a smaller to-read list. And besides - I bought all those books because I wanted to read them so I better just dive in and get some reading done while I'm still on maternity leave and then hopefully my reading speed and my buying speed will resemble each other more afterwards.
I've never stopped buying books but because of school, I've sometimes haven't been reading much fiction ... that's where the trouble began...

Do you buy more books like I do? ;-)
Because then it don't work as well!!! :-P

So a really long while then ;-)

Come on Fiona. Update this list so you'll feel more accomplished. You'll whittle it down...eventually:)

Not to mention that we're all rather curious as to how you're doing!
I don't seem to be able to get below the 90 books on my to-read list mark... And I'm going bookshopping in two weeks so ... my goal of having it down below 50 this year is seeming a tiny bit impossible to reach!
Although I have been doing a lot of calculations. If I read 23 books in each quarter of the year (as I did in the first) then I'm going to read 69 books more this year - 41 of these have to come from my to-read list so I can buy (and read) 28 new books this year (given that I don't get any more from the library...)....!

well we need to read Dark Lord of Derkholm/Year of the Griffin...Our Mutual Friend...er...probably a lot of others too...but those come to mind.

Ha ha!!! I love that Bossy Boots! Almost as charming as Miss Sassy Pants;)
XO

Fiona: that's not too bad that you only have 282 to read that you own. I think I have about that many.

Have you looked at my TBR list? It is growing to the point that I will need to read at least 100 books a year plus I will need to live to be about 100 years old.

I only have about 200+ books that I own that need to be read. so the other 1800 are recommends or one's I've wanted to read. If I owned that many books I would have to kick my kids out of the house. LOL!

Fiona wrote: "Or just build a bed out of books for them to sleep on? Would be a bit disturbing in middle of the night though if you suddenly came in and yoinked a book from under their heads..."

I actually use a book as a pillow sometimes. It means I can pick it up easily :)

I sleep with several books. But I could make beds out of the books. Brilliant idea!

Fiona wrote: "I've gone to bed snuggled up with my book sometimes. They're so cuddly! "

Cuddly!? I wouldn't say that.. maybe hard and mysterious. I would go with that.

I have to agree they are hard and mysterious.

Are you reading 50 this year?

I know I'll read my 100 but the list I made I'm not doing so good with I keep reading books not on my list.

When I go to bed I stay up and read a lot. I would get more reading done in the day, I use to read on my lunch break but have been very busy at work so I haven't been able to read. If the book is really good I sometimes roll over to see it's 2 am. Plus my kids have lots of activities that will be an hour or 30 minutes long. I just sit and read while I wait for them.

You can so do it. I need to up my 100 to like 150 since my TBR list is over 2000. I seriously need to live to be very old!

plus I keep adding books!

I made a commitment to myself awhile back, that I would only read boooks that I own back and I have stuck with it. My problem is that I am always buying more books.

Alibris.com kills my monthly budget. Your challenge sounds like just what I need to be doing. Today I will write the books I have read so far and later I will pick from my to be read list for my future reading. Those I will list when I'm done compiling them.

PS. last time I counted I had well over 300 books in my possession. Furtunately I have an office with built in bookshelves, unfortunately my wallet always seems empty. Hmmm

Year of Wonders
When She Was Bad
Deranged
The Girl Next Door
Frozen
Primal Waters
Night Kills
Shadowman
Cross
A Wicked Snow
Into The Wild.

I only have 38 more to go. I love the idea of making a list and sticking to it instead a randomly picking a new book each time.

Wish me luck. I wil have a hard time sticking to the order or not wanting to skip one on the list to read one I've just bought.

I will add new ones the list as they are read.

Do you have to keep to your list. Should you post your list to be more honest and accountable?

Susan: It's up to you. I made a list of the books I owned that needed to be read. Granted I have strayed a bit but want to stick to the list. I think next year I'll pick 50 then leave the other 50 as I go along. It's hard when you want to participate in book groups and the group reads a book not on your list. Thus the reason I am going from 100 books to abvout 121. Still have 8 months to go.

Well, I started the year at 91. I've read 27 books this year - and now I have 109 books on my to-read list ... Something went terribly wrong ...
(well, maybe that I had a day and a half break from diaper changes and such together with my boyfriend and we went to Copenhagen and shopped for books - I brought 19 books home with me ...!)

I have to laugh. I've literally got book shelf clutter with books I've bought but have not read. And I've started making Library lists (books I want to read that the library owns) and getting involved in those lists, and this place, I've just gone out and bought a bunch more books.

I'll admit that the new books I bought I got because I'd found a new to me author from the whole library thing, and just had to get the next books in the series.

Oh well.

While shelf space is an issue, and I admire your goal, I no longer worry about owning lots of books I haven't yet read. I realized about a decade ago that if I deferred buying a book I was interested in, it was often out of print or unavailable by the time I looked for it again. Now I just buy books that interest me (to the extent that I can afford to) and now I have a nice backlog that supplies me during those lean months when I have no discretionary cash.

:) I love libraries, but inevitably get frustrated that I don't have the book for reference. Movies are a different matter--Netflix meets all of my leisure viewing needs so I only buy films I need dor teaching or presentations.