How you attack the "To be read" pile...

[Hypnos164]

I was just shelving the latest delivery from Amazon and decided to count up the pile of books waiting to be read..

Currently it stands at 75 (ouch)

Looking at some of the oldest hardbacks they date to around 1998 (guess i couldn't have waited for the paperback )

Its got a bit out of control over the past couple of years due to a World of Warcraft addiction but i'm mostly off that now and attacking the pile much more...

Typically I read one book at a time and just pick something from the shelves that takes my fancy when I finish it (often prefering to alternate genres and styles if possible). With this system the stuff that i've bought recently tends to get read first - as I can still remember why I bought it (review, recommendation, series etc.)

I've been making an effort to pick stuff from the "older" sections recently and its certainly been a mixed bag...

I'm interested in how others manage the "queue"...

And also what the results are when you go back to something you bought ages ago and never got around too. For me its hard to tell if the books just weren't that great to start with, have been bettered by newer takes on the same themes or if my tastes have just changed..

Some examples:

The Light Ages (Ian R MacLeod) - This got a lot of good reviews at the time but I just found it dull from a plot / character point of view and containing nothing new in its sub-genre. Suspect this one just wasn't that good but got some aclaim for being in a new weird style.

Five Hundred Years After - (S. Brust) - This sat on the shelf for ages as after being a big fan of his "Vlad" books i found The Pheonix Guard really hard work. Serveral, but not 500, years later I just could not put this down - i really like the writing style and way it gives the stories told by Humans and "elfs" very different voices - Definately one where my tastes have changed...

Malignos (R Caulder) - A sort of Vance-like travelogue with a very flawed central character - not great, not awful. After some google work i managed to find the review that I think inspired me to buy this and I can only conclude that it must have appealed to me a lot more at the time...

 

[Joel007]

I usually go by order of aquisition. Sometimes a new book out with go straight to the top of the pile because I want to read it instantly (I have mr Pratchett to blame for most of those). Serieseseses go together. Sometimes I'll skip down the list a few book based on the mood I'm in (light vs heavy reads, depressing or uplifting books)
If I can't decide:

Eeeny meeny miney...

 

[Perpetual Man]

I have a set of old roleplaying dice and role them to choose a book at random...

 

[Joel007]

hehe, role them.

 

[biodroid]

Learn to speed read... I know I would like to read at least a 1000wpm then i can reduce my pile. Any suggestions on how to do that?

 

[The Ace]

If the book's worth reading, it's worth doing properly. Don't even think about speedreading your, 'To read,' pile.

 

[thaddeus6th]

75? I give you the Badge of Lunacy to merit your crazy achievement

My to-read pile stands at one (although it was five not so long ago). Mind you, my available space is minimal.

I try to mix up reading habits. I never go all for fantasy for a long period, right now I'm finishing off Memory, Sorrow and Thorn whilst also reading a biography of Tesla. Might go for some classical history soon.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Fires are good. A really thick book makes a 'grate' backstop. I understand the Library thread will be offering some of their back collection to those able to cart them away for 'recycling'. Just turn up and say Tein sent you. They're a friendly bunch when you get to know them.

 

[Connavar]

I just keep making my pile bigger so i can have more books to choose beteween.


My style is i read the books i feel for. Last two weeks i read a couple crime,fantasy books of mine. Now i have the urge to dwell in SF again.

Since then i have read or im reading To Live Forever by Jack Vance and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. I have to finish them before my urge points to horror or historical fiction or something

About older books it might be good to rate it like 1-10 and save it in a document. Later if you reread you can see how you thought and what you think now.

 

[Lenny]

My "To read" pile is usually a series, which makes it incredibly easy for me.

Though I broke my rule recently - I'm halfway through L. E. Modesitt's Saga of Recluce, and I stopped to read Esslemont's Night of Knives, started Recluce again, and then stopped again too start reading Toll the Hounds. Naughty me. Slap on the wrists and all that.

---

If I get books from a Library to read, though, I read them in size order! Not by size order by thickness, but by the size of the front cover. The smaller, A5ish covers are read first, and then I progress through until I've read the biggest one.

 

[Allegra]

Currently it stands at 75 (ouch)

You are ouching at 75? Think about 400+!

And also what the results are when you go back to something you bought ages ago and never got around too. For me its hard to tell if the books just weren't that great to start with, have been bettered by newer takes on the same themes or if my tastes have just changed..

Same here. I used to be an impulse book (and everything else) buyer. Often my interest changed before I got around reading the book, not to mention the new ones keep coming up. I have a sad feeling many of those will solely serve as a decor for the time being.

As a slow reader and a busy person, to 'attack' my TBR pile efficiently I must first overcome the anxiety caused by just looking at the near collapsing bookcases. To choose one or several is always a tough task because there are so many I wish to read at once! Eventually though, as many of you, my mood decides.

As for speed reading, I absolutely agree with Ace. Good books deserve to be relished. After all, to know what happens next is not the only reason that makes us turning pages.

 

[Talysia]

I'm just about the same as Joel when it comes attacking the to-be-read pile - order of acqusition. Sometimes a book will move up the list if I find another in the same series I'm currently reading, or if a new one is released. I guess it depends on my mood (ie, what I feel like reading) too.

 

[Jen526]

Several years ago, I was in a long reading lull. My TBR shelf had only those "older books that I've forgotten why I was interested in reading them" on it, all of my favorite guaranteed-awesome authors were between books, and I'd had a series of bad reads from "hot" new authors that made me unenthusiastic about trying more.

I eventually posted a fairly specific request for recommendations on a newsgroup, and used that to get a fresh influx of books into the TBR. (Shortly thereafter, all my favorite authors started producing like hotcakes again, so that helped even more. )

Since then, I've gotten much more structured about dealing with the TBR to avoid that lull happening again. In addition to changing up the genre/style/length/etc. with each new book, I also force myself to alternate between "really excited to read" and "not so much". The "not so much" books usually turn out to be perfectly enjoyable, and I find that the "excited to read" ones go down even better when they're spaced out instead of being inhaled one after another.

And also what the results are when you go back to something you bought ages ago and never got around too.

I'm usually pleasantly surprised. With my whole "alternating books" scheme, I make a point of setting aside any preconceived notions that led me to be "not excited", and it's helped me tremendously. There are clunkers occasionally, of course, but my list of "favorite" authors has grown exponentially since I started 'forcing' myself to read books that weren't jumping off the TBR at me.

 

[Nikitta]

I have a set of old roleplaying dice and role them to choose a book at random...

I also roll roleplaying dice to decide which book to read next, unless there's one I really want to read, or the dice picks one I really don't feel like reading, in which case I'll allow myself to re-roll.

I feel like I'm cheating when I re-roll, but can't for the lief of me imagine who I'm cheating and for what.

 

[Joel007]

Re-roll always feels like cheating. Even if you're in a remote solitary location playing with a single die made by your own hands, and the only objective is to roll a 6 for your own satisfaction.

 

[elvet]

I've taken to vary my reads so as to give my brain a break . If I've just finished an epic fantasy series, I usually go to a different type of book (regular fiction, urban fantasy, or stand alone books). I find that if I read similar styles, they all mush into one and I have trouble sorting them out.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I've noticed recently that I tend to pick the newer additions of my To Be Read pile to read, and my older additions have been sitting there for quite awhile. I tend to go to my used bookshop a lot and usually come home with something from there, so the list just keeps getting bigger (of course I should count myself lucky, my list is only at 12 books currently, well, 12 that I actually have on my shelf, there are more books I haven't picked up yet that I want to add). I am now forcing myself to finish the books that are on my shelf before I let myself get anymore. We'll see how long that lasts though.

 

[Pyan]

It varies - some authors go straight to the top, series go together, if I've just finished a fantasy, I may choose a "hard" SF, or vice versa.

Part of the fun, though is not having to justify a choice to anyone...

 

[Tillane]

Quite right, Py. Myself, I tend to just pick up whatever's closest and start reading. If I can't get into it, I put it back and pick another.

Mind, I also tend to have at least 4 books on the go at any given time, so the pile disappears quickly. Or would if I ever stopped buying more books...

 

[chrispenycate]

I can barely feed my reading habit as it is, and this place's kept me within my budget (by keeping me on line till all hours, and starting me writing again) but my TBR pile is two books - well, one and two thirds, actually.
Not only must you folks be rich, but your bookshops must be much better than mine at getting new stock.