Manage That TBR Pile

My to-be-read pile is always growing. Sometimes I just take a wander in a bookshop and then oops I’ve bought a new book. NetGalley is a killer as I love requesting books – but I really need to stop. I also have family members who give me free books. Then of course there’s Amazon and other bloggers and booktubers suggestions. I’m always just adding, to the point where I have too many books I need to read. Now this gets quite intimidating right? Now, I have created a method for me to shrink my TBR pile and also combat it head on.

1. Accept and Acknowledge

First you need to acknowledge that you have a mountainous TBR pile. Then you need to accept that you need to start reading it. Also, accept that it is okay if you’re in a reading slump. But if you keep putting it off, the pile will probably grow instead of shrink and you’ll feel even more intimidated.

2. Decide on a Number

Now this is the important part. Pick a time frame E.g 3 months and think about how many books you can read in this time frame realistically. So in 3 months maybe you can read 10 books? So then your TBR list will now be just 10 books. You can do this per month, per 3 months, yearly etc. Just make sure you think realistically. I do 3 months because at uni my free time changes a lot over the whole year. So in Summer months I can read a lot more than in November/December when I have assignment hand-ins.

3. Split and Be Particular

Go through your TBR pile and split it into exactly the amount of books you can read in the time period you’ve stated. Be really precise with your choices, and then those which havn’t been chosen put aside. So I put all my unread books on one shelf so I know I havn’t read them. These will then be the ones you pick for the next time period. Or whenever you complete your list. You will then have a TBR in this amount of time book list or pile.

4. Proclaim and Publicise

If you tell people you will be more likely to actually do it. If you’re a blogger, tell your followers. If you’re not let your friends and family know. This is what I love about the Goodreads yearly challenge because you can publically announce how many you’re going to read, and you can also make TBR lists.