Mid-2020 I deleted the notorious spreadsheet that documented my ongoing failure at reducing the TBR, and booksellers rejoiced! 😂 With lockdown affording lots more browsing time, I purchased double the amount of books bought in 2019 (not counting dozens of e-book bargains), and confirmed my status as a incurable bookaholic. Am I going to recreate the spreadsheet in 2021? No. As Einstein said, the definition of insanity is to expect different results using the same methods.
Following the creation of my 2020 tsundoku, this year I plan to restrict purchases to 3 per month with the usual EIBF related exception for the summer months. To help me do this, each month I will create an immediate TBR, aligned to my current reading whims, to remind me of the fantastic choice already to hand. A bookshelf has been allocated for this purpose and January’s immediate TBR looks like this.
From left to right: Two books rolling over from 2020, the next stop on my wintery tour of Scandinavia, book 1 for #siberianary, 2 prospects for #invisiblecities, 7 from fellow blogger Best of 2020 lists, the kindle which went AWOL for 3 months, the 2020 Walter Scott Prize Winner, a 2021 release, a graphic novel in German.
Add to that 3 pre-orders …
… and I have a choice of 19 real books and innumerable e-books. Plenty, given that I average between 8 and 10 books per month. A description of the hashtags used above is available on my Reading Projects 2021 page, which I’ve created to keep myself on track! (Now that will make a change from updating a spreadsheet.)
I thought about halving my quarterly list of Great Anticipations to help with reduced purchasing targets. But that would be far too sensible, and besides, I’m only window-shopping. 😉
Looking forward to the Bilston too! And I love the idea of an Immediate TBR – may have to try that (thought knowing me, it would be a constantly changing organism!)
That’s the idea – a refresh every month so that I never feel bored with the TBR.
Ha, I too am the booksellers’ pet! I spent virtually all of my monthly commuting money on books since lockdown started… have had to rein it in a bit to be able to afford boiler servicing and some major tree-felling in the garden.