Can I Cut My TBR in Half? (Before The End of The Year)

I’m someone who owns a lot of books. My physical TBR currently sits at 115 books, with another one on its way. I’m not going to bother counting my e-books and audiobooks as I know I need to start reading them, but I need to sort out my physical TBR first. The piles are dangerously high and have fallen on me a few times recently. It’s not fun.

The problem is that I don’t want to go on a book-buying ban. That doesn’t work. I then tried something akin to Maddie’s Book Buying Bingo. Also didn’t work. If I try to stop myself from buying books, I’m more likely to say “stuff it” and buy them anyway. What I’m doing instead is making myself stop and think. Am I willing to wait to get a book so I can find it cheaper? Would I be willing to borrow it from the library when I’m in the mood for it? Things like that. That way, when I buy books, I know I’m only bringing in the ones I really want. Not just a load as I went in charity shops or The Works, and I just wanted to come home with something.

I’ve talked about putting myself on a ban and trying other things in the past. I’ve also told you that doesn’t work. So today’s post is just me asking myself…can I try and get my physical TBR down to 58 books by the end of the year?

At the moment, that’s looking like a big no. I’m reading a lot of ARCs recently, and though that makes me feel super happy and honoured, it means I’m not getting time to read my own books. I’m also not getting the chance to use the library or services like Scribd. My TBR is already big enough without new books, y’know? So I want to change that. Will I still be requesting and reading ARCs? Of course. But I need to be a little pickier with those too. Only ask for the books I’m really excited about. I have a few I really want to get to on NetGalley currently, so I’m hoping that’ll keep me going for a little while. I am on some tours that are coming up, so you can still expect to see regular review content from me. No worries there. I’m just going to make sure they’re a little better spaced out to give me more opportunities to read off my TBR.

To help me with this, I’m also going to be reading a mix of jar picks and books I’m currently in the mood for. Then other times, I might try something a little different. I have a TBR coming up where I’ll be reading a few books that family and friends have picked for me off of my TBR. They’ve mostly turned out to be books that I’ve owned for a while, which is perfect. My next TBR pile is solely books I really want to read, what with the new job and all. But I think a mix of books I want to read and randomised picks should work well. I also don’t want to be making too large TBRs.

When I have 8 or 9 books in a TBR pile? I stress. My reading has been very bumpy recently, and stressing over the number of books I need to read soon will not help. I’ve slumped a couple of times, and I’m also reading a little slower than I usually would. I don’t know how long this is going to last, but shorter piles will help there. If I can see the piles getting smaller, and then I get to pick new books more regularly….I’ll feel like I’m actually getting somewhere with them.

So…do I think I can actually cut my book pile by half with all these changes? Probably not. I can accept that this is a pretty massive undertaking. But if I can get fairly close whilst still buying new books? If I can start getting through the books I’ve had for over a year now? That would be pretty great.