Mount TBR 2015 discussion

This challenge helped me so much in 2014, I'm back for more! Not only did I get 78 books (and counting) off my TBR shelf, but reading those really helped me change how I buy books. I was making some pretty big mistakes and wasting a lot of money, but I hope I'm getting wiser now.

Lessons I've learned (in case these might help someone else manage their book buying addiction!):

*Avoid even looking at Kindle daily/monthly deals
*Avoid buying discounted ebooks just because they're on sale and "sound interesting."
*Use eReaderIQ to track the price of Kindle books that I already know I want to read - this helps me to get ebook deals still, but avoid getting suckered into unknown books that I most likely will regret buying.
*Beware YA book blurbs that sound interesting - and try to look beyond those enticing book covers. Too often both of them lie.
*Only buy the first book in a series, even if the whole series is on sale. And even if the series is by an author I already know.
*Don't buy multiple books by an author I haven't read yet, even if their books are only temporarily on sale.
*Borrow books by untried authors if at all possible to test the waters. If it's not available to borrow, wait for a price drop.
*Don't weigh all reviews equally, since reviewers all have different tastes. Reviews from friends whose tastes I know are more reliable predictions of my experience than others.
*Read the sample before buying. This may be the most important habit I'm trying to get into now, since I had a few DNFs that I knew I wouldn't finish very early on.
*Imagine whether I would want to read the book right now rather than on some elusive faraway date - because this challenge is going to force me to read it sooner rather than later!
*Don't forget to buy books by favorite authors as well as untried ones. That way I'll get a few good reads in there.

Learning these lessons means that 2014 was a year of many lows in my reading life, but thankfully there were some highs as well. Suffice it to say, this challenge has taught me to be a lot more cautious before I hit that 'buy now' button.

So onto the next year - I currently have 90 books that are eligible for the 2015 challenge. I decided to start with Mt. Kilimanjaro to allow myself room to read some other things - library books I've had my eye on, and sequels for all the new series that I started in 2014.

Here's to another successful hike! And hopefully to a more enjoyable year of reading!

That "buy with 1-click" function is annoying. I do it all the time, although I know that I shouldn't.... Good luck! :)

So glad the challenge has helped. Good luck with another round!

Irene wrote: "That "buy with 1-click" function is annoying. I do it all the time, although I know that I shouldn't.... Good luck! :)"

I got burned often enough to think twice these days! Good luck to you, too.

Bev wrote: "So glad the challenge has helped. Good luck with another round!"

Thank you! And thanks for setting up this challenge.