carol. > Status Update

Mine was over 1,500 books on my TBR that I somehow whittled down to under 200, and now it's past 300 again. :D This site is the worst influence ever (and the best).

it's terrible! I was so proud of getting it below 500. I don't know what happened!

I was about to laugh at you then realised mine is at 903. And this doesn't include the maybe shelf, to be checked out shelf, and owned tbr shelf. *taps fingers* Oh dear. I tried whittling down the want to read shelf but I do want to read all of them

Do I sense a major TBR cull time? 😈

I don't know about you, but GR's "we will absolutely not stop telling you about these books until you shelve them" approach to recommendations has been a terrible influence on me and my TBR list.

:D

I admit nothing.

mwana wrote: "I was about to laugh at you then realised mine is at 903. "

😁😁 See!


My solution about a decade back or somewhen was to create a 'to be read sooner' shelf. Then I realized I wasn't checking it often enough, so during the pandemic I created a 'read asap I mean it' shelf. 🙄 Obviously, I need to listen to past-carol.

Nataliya, I tried whittling it a little last night and while I kicked maybe 8 books off, I also realized there's a lot of books I really want to read SOON. 😁

Seth wrote: "I don't know about you, but GR's "we will absolutely not stop telling you about these books until you shelve them" approach to recommendations has been a terrible influence on me and my TBR list."

oh no. I haven't found anything through GR algorithm. It is strictly my 'friends.' 😁😁

Mikhail wrote: "I admit nothing."

Uh-huh.

Whittling process:

"why is this book on my list?"
-looks at friends reviews-
-sees Mikhail's review-
-nods knowingly-

Nataliya wrote: "Do I sense a major TBR cull time? 😈"

Girl I am seeing books I don't even recognise. Down to 725

Right? There's a few from 2010 and I'm like, ok, so I'm totally not legitimately intending to read this. Out it goes.

It's sad they took away the 'recommended by' because that would give me a clue. Sometimes now I remember to write it in 'review' but I don't want to spam my friends so I don't always add it in.

carol. wrote: "Right? There's a few from 2010 and I'm like, ok, so I'm totally not legitimately intending to read this. Out it goes.

It's sad they took away the 'recommended by' because that would give me a clue..."

Recommended by would have definitely saved me a lot of time. And considering you can't bulk delete books from an exclusive shelf, I just decided to get rid of the "to be checked out" shelf and moved books in the "maybe" shelf to the tbr if they're actually books I'm more likely to read. I may start adding notes in the review books to remember why I added a book because I'm deadass seeing authors I have no clue who they are. Removed a lot of books I added in 2014 😅

My policy is not to put anything in my tbr anymore. Me thinks a weight might be lifted off your shoulders should you give it a try every once in a while :)

mwana wrote: "carol. wrote: "Right? There's a few from 2010 and I'm like, ok, so I'm totally not legitimately intending to read this. Out it goes.

It's sad they took away the 'recommended by' because that would..."

So this went well. Deleting an exclusive shelf that you made exclusive (not the default ones), moves those books to the read shelf. Now I have to do a double clean up. Yay

This post makes me smile, since it is so relatable!

What! I mean ... okay I have only about 1500 tbr right now =)

Wait, clearing out the TBR list is a thing?!? I’ve been doing this all wrong the entire time…

carol. wrote: "why is this book on my list?"
-looks at friends reviews-
-sees Mikhail's review-
-nods knowingly-"

This is mostly reminding me that I don't review *nearly* enough. [should fix this]

Corinne wrote: "awww mwana!!!

I made a second account and shelf all the books I vet and decide to pass on. Because what happens when you delete a book and come across it again? You shelf it again... vicious cycle..."

I don't have the capacity to run multiple accounts. I did manage to whittle down the books. And lie to myself that I won't add to my tbr

Corinne wrote: "I made a second account and shelf all the books I vet and decide to pass on. Because what happens when you delete a book and come across it again? You shelf it again... vicious cycle..."

This!! I created a shelf 'do not be misled' for this exact reason!!

Mitticus wrote: "What! I mean ... okay I have only about 1500 tbr right now =)"

hahaha!!

if you read nothing else for the next ten years, you could maybe finish it!

mwana wrote: "So this went well. Deleting an exclusive shelf that you made exclusive (not the default ones), moves those books to the read shelf. Now I have to do a double clean up. Yay"

Oh dear, oh dear 🫂

Nataliya wrote: "mwana wrote: "So this went well. Deleting an exclusive shelf that you made exclusive (not the default ones), moves those books to the read shelf. Now I have to do a double clean up. Yay"

Oh dear, ..."

Thank you
I managed to sort most of it. If I missed any I'll deal with them some other time.

Not sure if I'm at fault here but I'll gladly accept some blame :)

Don’t feel bad. My list has thousands of books and it’s still growing. 🙃

oh dear! Some of them I genuinely want to read... and yet, I'm not. So what are the barriers? I think there's this disconnect between me using it as a resource when I'm looking for a next read.

carol. wrote: "oh dear! Some of them I genuinely want to read... and yet, I'm not. So what are the barriers? I think there's this disconnect between me using it as a resource when I'm looking for a next read."

I was having a debate with myself earlier today whether I ever use my GR tbr. Because my reads are picked by moods or my friends forcing me to read a book

I've been trying a new strategy---one, only add it if I mean it. two, I use it as a reference. If a kindle deal of the day or freebie comes up, I check my list and see if a book is on it to avoid those mistakes.

three, and I'm kind of proud of this brainstorm, I pick around ten or so books that sound interesting, order them from the library, and if they catch my mood before return date, I count them a win. Otherwise I read a few pages and see if they are worth reading at all.

carol. wrote: "I've been trying a new strategy---one, only add it if I mean it. two, I use it as a reference. If a kindle deal of the day or freebie comes up, I check my list and see if a book is on it to avoid t..."

Recently I watched a booktuber talk about a classic that sounded fascinating. I went to add it to want to read, and it was already on my tbr. I feel like if Amazon want to make their money back they should be giving us updates on sales or whatever for books in the tbr. Not just giving updates for giveaways for people in the US. do people even ever win those? This site is so shortsighted

Corinne wrote: "Do you follow any author's on Amazon? I'll get notified of sales that way. Even coupons. Maybe not for the exact book I want but helps keep me in the loop better than following on GR"

This is about Goodreads and what they can do. I already utilize how Amazon works.

mwana wrote: "carol. wrote: "I've been trying a new strategy---one, only add it if I mean it. two, I use it as a reference. If a kindle deal of the day or freebie comes up, I check my list and see if a book is o..."

somehow they do have a link; I get lots of sales for the weird intersection of books I read. Or have gotten from amazon. I've finally bought enough for my kindle that there might be dome decent overlap. The reason I tried the '4000 weeks' is because it was on sale.' Unfortunately, I didn't buy it! Darn it! I think they really don't want to give anything away though; the books they keep trying to sell me are usually super cheap and out of license.

Corinne wrote: "alright you do you. I do a little of this and a little of that to get to my sweet spot. I doubt GR will ever do it all. and you did say "I feel like if Amazon want to make their money back they sho..."

Amazon own Goodreads. And it's operating at a loss

carol. wrote: "mwana wrote: "carol. wrote: "I've been trying a new strategy---one, only add it if I mean it. two, I use it as a reference. If a kindle deal of the day or freebie comes up, I check my list and see ..."

When you look up books you'll see the kindle price under the shelf button. But I wish Goodreads had a way of showing you that a book on your tbr is on sale. I wish they'd do it for all platforms including Kobo etc. And even when it's added to libraries registered with Kindle. But nooooo Goodreads would never think that way. The sales I get on Amazon are for books I look up on Amazon. So if I see a book on GR, move to Amazon, kindle will send me a notification if it goes on sale or is a freebie. But GR never thinks like that. They don't even have a genre based newsletter for sales, or freebies. You have to rely on other parties to do that. But I'm not always online so a sale can pass me if it was posted by a niche GR group. But it wouldn't have been if GR sent you notifications properly. This app is so sad.

The same's been happening to mine, maybe we can find a common denominator?

Find books we have in common and divide and conquer? 😁

lol, A Mystery worthy of Agatha Christy 😂