BOOKWORM PROBLEMS – TBR part 1

Hello people and happy Monday! I hope this new week started in the best possible way! Today I am back with this meme to talk about a constant and a pillar of our existence as bookworms: the infamous TBR. We can write an encyclopedia about TBRs, not just a post because we can say so many things about them, and about our relationship with them that, really, a single post won’t be enough, and hence the “part 1” in the title.
And today I want to talk about my relationship with TBRs, and I’d love to know about yours too!

I love to write down TBR lists because I love to write lists, and since the main TBR, the metaphysical one we can say (I mean, you know what I am talking about here, right? The whole of the book that you have decided you will read, it can be made by all the books you own, or it can also have books in there that you don’t own but you’ll own at some point, or you would get thanks to library or friends… The bigger One, in opposition to the smaller ones, the ones that you make for a special occasion, be it month/season/event/challenge/whatever…) (Or I am the only one that has these two different TBR lists? Please, tell me I am not alone here!!!), digression aside, I was saying that the main TBR, at least mine, is a fluffy black hole that one day would swallow me whole, and the books in there have no order, they just are there waiting for their turn. And we have different genres, authors, series, and all different things, really, in there. So, sometimes, it can be hard and overwhelming to choose what book would be the next one. Mood reading can be a solution, and when the mood strikes I try to follow it, sure, but sometimes I need more structure to my reading, especially when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the books I want to read. And so I love to write down a smaller TBR, usually seasonal ones, to help me keep a sort of order, to help me feel on top of things (obviously is a lie, I’ll never be on top of my TBR, but illusions are precious and sometimes we really need them!!! And also, a girl can dream!).

But here my relationship with these lists becomes problematic again: first, I tend to be a tad too ambitious with them. The logic behind it is not faulty, because I tend to make seasonal ones with about 20 books in them, and this should not be a problem because on regular months, without slumps, I usually read at least 15 books, so in three/four months I should be able to read 20 something books, right? But there are always new books to add, shiny new things that grab my attention, and let’s be honest here, I am easily distracted. Really, really easily. (Also, a small note here, I am using “new” as in “new to my bigger TBR, or new to me”, it does not necessarily mean “newly published”, even if there are always newly published books, obviously!!). And then we have mood reading. And maybe new ARCs, or blog-tours, and so I tend to forget about my carefully planned TBR.
And secondly, I have this strange attitude toward TBR that does not help me at all: sometimes there are some books that I really really really want to read, but that I kept procrastinating for one reason or another, and so I try to put them on TBR because that would help me finally read them, right? Wrong! Because here it comes the strange (and annoying) attitude: if I put a book in the TBR sometimes I feel like I am halfway down there and so I keep procrastinating reading it because it is on the list so surely I would read it, sooner or later, but the time pass, I keep thinking the same thing, and I keep procrastinating it, so the time keeps passing, the season or the challenge (or whatever it was the occasion for which I wrote the TBR) finishes and I have still not read the books. Case in point:

I wanted to read both of these books since forever. And I wanted it bad (I am still wanting it bad!), and I kept putting them in TBRs, in posts and lists about books I want to read, series I want to start, and authors I want to read more of… and then the brilliant idea! I would use them for the r/fantasy Bingo. And to add insult to injury, I tried really hard to use both of them, it took some work to ensemble all the books at the beginning of the challenge to achieve this, and I was so satisfied when I managed it. Because finally I had them in here, so I was sure to read them.
Well, the bingo finish at the end of March. And I have not read them. I am the worst!

To help me out of it, I decided that I would try with monthly TBR. I would try to contain myself and do some shorter, both in terms of books that in time, list and see if this would really help me or if I am without hope. And the beginning would be quite easy, because in April I am thinking of doing something a bit different, but that it counts as a monthly TBR, and then in May we have Wyrd and Wonder, so I would do a monthly TBR for that event (and I am really excited about it!!), and then we will see from there.
Obviously I would do some bigger TBR too, because I would try again with the new bingo, too, and I think I would go again with a list of books from the beginning, but mostly I’ll try with shorted ones.

And what about you? What is your relationship with TBRs?? Let me know!!!

Happy reading!
S.