Tell Us About Your TBR Pile!

11 years ago

Since I have moved recently, I am trying very hard to be more organized, especially with my books. Here at RP we talk about TBR piles a lot (everyone knows that means To Be Read, I am sure) but I wonder how many us have ACTUAL TBR piles. Or are your piles metaphorical? Are they scattered amongst your other books? Do you own them, or are they a list on a computer or in your wallet?

My TBR pile has been a mish-mash of the above. I have, however, created a real TBR pile. Actual books that I own that I mean to read. Here they are:

The Tribe of Tiger - Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home - Rupert Sheldrake

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis (read years ago - must re-read)

Hamlet - Shakespeare (seen this probably 40 times, never read it)

House of Shadows - A Historical Mystery - Various Authors

A Question of Belief - Donna Leon

Couple of books about animals, couple of mysteries, couple of classics.

These are books that I actually own and have on a newly created shelf space by my bed. I have a long, long, list of books that I don't own that I mean to read sometime, perhaps if I give up sleeping, eating, and working.

What about you? Where do you keep your TBR pile, and in what form?

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Comments (33)

dynomutt
11 years ago
I have a number of TBR piles. One's on my Nook tablet (well, it was a Nook tablet but it's now been hacked to a full-blown Android machine). Another is at the bottom of my stairs (includes Stephen Ambrose's 3 volume Nixon bio -- read one and trying to move to the other 2). Yet a further one is next to the bed (that includes a trade paperback of the essential Dr Strange and a trade paperback of the essential Nova).

I can't really comment on the TBR piles except that .... they seem to keep growing. The darned books in the TBR piles seem to multiply like darned rabbits and if I don't watch out, the books MAY force me out of my house.
rosefolly
11 years ago
My bedside TBR pile is much smaller, but that's probably because I now have a TBR shelf in my bedroom bookcase! The truth is I do go through and weed it now and then. Books get either promoted (read it now) or demoted (either passed along to others or set aside). When the pile builds up too high I get distinctly uncomfortable. Then my delight in reading turns into a chore. That's not what I want.

Rosefolly
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carolyn_ky
11 years ago
I have a row on a shelf in my bedroom bookcase. It is mostly current library books because I don't buy very many books anymore. There are currently two that belong to me--Creole Belle by James Lee Burke and A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry.
phyllis__mn
11 years ago
A great variety in my TBR piles! I have a box in my bedroom with books I have just purchased from book sales, or garage sales; I have two book cases in my room, full of TBR (or reread), and little stacks all over the house of the same. I have been tossing some that don't hold my attention, or poorly written, in my opinion. Makes me feel powerful to toss a book that is irritating to me, such as "How to Wash a Cat" by Rebecca Hale. It read like an assignment in "How to Write a Novel" 101, so I just tossed it over the end of the bed last night, and I will no longer be irritated by her writing!
timallan
11 years ago
Just grabbed some books from my TBR pile:

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
The Fall of Troy by Peter Ackroyd.
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.
The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg.
The Canterbury Tales retold by Peter Ackroyd.
Love's Civil War: Letters and Diaries of Charles Ritchie and Elizabeth Bowen edited by Victoria Glendinning.
sheriz6
11 years ago
Oh dear! I have two stacks of books on my bedside table, another stack on the floor, and an entire two-shelf bookcase full. Every once in a while I do weed it out, but right now it's rather oversized.

I am much better about weeding out the "keeper" books -- but that's another whole set of bookcases :)
Kath
11 years ago
I don't even want to think about the number of books I have bought and not yet read - this is a side effect of working in a book shop! I have a bookshelf or two of unread books, but my study is a terrible mess and I hate to think how many books are lurking there.
The one that is waiting for me in my bedroom is Lily Brett's forthcoming Lola Bensky which is based on her own experiences writing for a music magazine/newspaper in her youth. Lola apparently meets up with Mick Jagger, Mama Cass and Janis Joplin, to name a few (the ones in the blurb, actually *g*).
rosefolly
11 years ago
This thread had me go take a look at my bedside stack. I picked up a biography of Luther Burbank The Garden of Invention that I had read halfway a couple of years ago, then set aside as something shinier and newer caught my eye. But yesterday I picked it back up and read. I now have only the two final chapters to go. If I finish it tonight as I expect, that will be one off the stack.

Rosefolly
martin_z
11 years ago
My TBR is mainly on my ereaders, and is about fifteen/twenty books. The highest priority at the moment is a re-read of the Booker shortlist (except for Umbrella, which, as I said, is completely unreadable.)

My wife's TBR is on four overflowing bookshelves, and must be about two hundred books....
J C
Original Author
11 years ago
Uh-oh, I forgot about my Kindle and how many books are on it, waiting to be read...in addition to the several I have unearthed sorting through my shelves, my total is many more than the six I have listed here. Must get reading.
lemonhead101
11 years ago
I have a TBR pile in real life on my bedside stand thing, but I also seem to have one in my head. (However, with my memory, this list seems to fluctuate quite a bit!)

I did set a summer reading list for me to tackle in June, and I think I read quite a few of those. Will have to check as it's been a while...

And then there is the ongoing title list I keep at work when I come across an interesting book there...

And...and...and....

:-)
esterel
11 years ago
Can I add a book to your TBR pile: The Oligarch: A Thriller? It is set in Moscow, Ingushetia (ChechnyaÃ¯Â¿Â½s neighbour), and Tyndersk, an Siberian mining town inside the Arctic Circle and geographically cut off from the rest of Russia. In brief, following his controversial election for a third term amid widespread protests and allegations of vote rigging, the Russian President is determined to destroy the oligarchs before they destroy him. When the global economic meltdown decimates their wealth, the President seizes this chance to demolish their power base. His greatest opponent - Anton Blok, owner of the mighty Tyndersk Kombinat - has a secret agenda and faces far more than just financial ruin as his empire threatens to fall apart, and the President knows that his old enemy will stop at nothing to avoid catastrophe. With battlelines drawn, he turns to Alex Leksin, an ex MI6 investigator of Russian descent, to thwart Blok's plans. Against the challenge of hostile Arctic conditions, Leksin must tread a dangerous path through a labyrinth of corruption, terrorism and obfuscation until the exciting and unexpected denouement takes place in RussiaÃ¯Â¿Â½s northernmost seaport.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Oligarch
twobigdogs
11 years ago
I think I have a TBR house rather than a TBR pile. Books simply show up on my doorstep... literally and figuratively. And I keep buying more. They are in every room, including the kitchen. Both of my kids are big readers too so now I have their growing collections as well. The house is tidy, but it is a book-filled kind of tidy.

PAM
carolyn_ky
11 years ago
Book-filled kind of tidy is my idea of bliss. It's my opinion that books multiply themselves like rabbits. Otherwise, where do they all come from?

I recently thoroughly cleaned my living room, including polishing the book shelves, dusting the books, and working in the past year's purchases alphabetically. It took me two days for the one room. I'm telling you all because you are the only ones I can trust not to think I'm completely insane.
twobigdogs
11 years ago
Carolyn, I do not think you are insane at all. In fact it sounds just like home!

PAM
lemonhead101
11 years ago
Carolyn - that's not insanity. That's being a Bookie Person!

Speaking of bookie persons, I found this article (and related Tumblr website) where people post photos of their bookshelves for other readers to look at.

Rather voyeuristic, but I am not one to judge as I certainly crane over other people's shoulders at parties to see what their bookshelves look like...

(Sorry if this has been posted before. I've been in Editing World all day long and am a bit done for right now...)

Here is a link that might be useful: The Guardian's bookshelf article
veer
11 years ago
Liz, don't you sometimes wonder that the writers of similar articles (as the one above) who just happen to photo their bookshelves probably take more than a little time to arrange the books in a 'casual tidy' way, with plenty of worthy titles on show. If I took a snap of the book shelves behind me as I write there would be a far less neat, dust-free and intellectual display . . . ;-)
yoyobon_gw
11 years ago
One of the greatest "warm fuzzies" I can give myself is to know there is always a wonderful book to be read in my TBR walk-in book pantry.

It just doesn't get any better than that !

Right now I'm starting HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE by Toby Young.
It's not a "how to" book but rather a hilarious memoir !
lemonhead101
11 years ago
Veer -

You have a good point there. I expect that people do "stage" their bookshelves to make both the shelves (and themselves) look brainy and lovely. Perhaps there should be a rule that the picture should reflect "real life" as in dust, dog hair, and Nicholas Sparks next to un-read Kafka...!

Now that would be interesting!!!

As an aside: my S-I-L makes her living "staging" multi-million dollar houses for sale in LA... She can make them look *gorgeous*, but not sure if she uses her accessories and furniture or the people trying to sell... And then, I wonder when the new people move in, are they disappointed that their own stuff doesn't look like it did before?... :-)
carolyn_ky
11 years ago
Yoyobon, I love the idea of your walk-in book pantry.
lemonhead101
11 years ago
So - was mucking around with my camera and thought I would actually go ahead and take a pic of my TBR shelves (instead of "just meaning to" and then never doing that).

So - here is one bookshelf for you to peruse. I think double-clicking it will give you a closer up perspective. I was really doing this to test this app out and see how it might work. You guys are the guinea pigs.

{{gwi:2117410}}
lemonhead101
11 years ago
My (mostly) Victorian shelf (with other bits and pieces as well)...
lemonhead101
11 years ago
And the shelf in our spare room for guests... (Supposing we had more than one a year)... :-)

Tried to select a variety of books, some poetry and a lot of which are easy to pick up and easy to put down. (At least I would think so.)

Again, just trying this out.

P.S. I even dusted the shelf, I think.

{{gwi:2117412}}
pam53
11 years ago
have enjoyed this post and pics-my TBR "pile" is mainly on 2 shelves in my bedroom with a few others scattered throughout the house and the library books too.
twobigdogs
11 years ago
Good Grief Lemon!!!!!
Did you take that picture in YOUR house or MINE??? We have TONS of the same titles, same editions and same cozy way of stacking 'em in there so they fit.
Parallel Lives and Paul Fussell, Dogs and Bryson, and on and on and on! Thanks for sharing... wish I knew how to do it.

PAM
frances_md
11 years ago
I love seeing the pictures of books -- and how thoughtful to provide books for guests.

Most of my house contains TBR books. It is probably best that I don't say anything more about that subject.
lemonhead101
11 years ago
PAM - you are welcome to come and dig through my shelves at any time. (Actually, all of you are. Just let me know.)

And putting the pics up is v easy (now that they've added a step). Here is how you do it:

* First, you find and take a photo you want to put in here. Using whichever photo program you have (iPhoto, Picassa etc.), save it and make sure you give it a file name that you can recognize (not IMG123.jpg or something - some meaningful title), and then save it where you can find it again... (Important step.) :-) This could anywhere on your computer, but say it's on your desktop.

Note: Change the image title when you're saving it either by during the "save as" step or right-click on the image in your computer file and select "rename".

* Open up internet and come to RP (like normal). Come to this set of posts (the TBR pile one). Scroll down to the bottom.

* In the "Post a Follow-Up" section (like the place where you write your reactions to the post), at the top of the section (above the message bit); there is a line that says "Image file to upload (optional)" and then there is a box which has "Browse" right by it.

* Click "Browse" and find your image file (i.e. the photo that you have just saved). "Browse" will give you access to all your files, you need to dig around a bit and remember where you saved it and what you called it.

* Once you have found your photo you want to use, just click "open" on that file upload window (the same kind of window you use to open a normal file). You click on it, press "open" in the bottom right hand corner, and then you should see a trail of letters and back slashes (there "\") in that Browse box. That's good.

Go to the message box and just type your message as usual.

Then preview message.

Bingo.

I am still trying to work out how to control the size of the image when you post it, but not there yet.

Perhaps this might help.

Remember - your computer will not explode if you do something wrong. And it's *very* hard to break it. Just play with it and you'll learn. Promise.

:-)

Easy peasy.
sheriz6
11 years ago
lemonhead, thank you for the photo instructions -- now, to see if it will work for me (I am not always one with the computer...). Fingers are crossed.

If the photo attaches, this is my TBR bookcase. The books are double-stacked, much to the dismay of my (very tolerant!) husband. I've tried to limit the collection to this, but I have a smaller pile of books on my bedside table, too.
lemonhead101
11 years ago
Congratulations, Sheri! You did it.

Interesting selection of books - how do you know what's behind each row?... :-)
J C
Original Author
11 years ago
Great pic! And there are a few of my favorites there! You have excellent taste. :)
sheriz6
11 years ago
Lemon, I don't! Every once in a while I'll go through it, to cull for the library sale or pull something that interests me to the front (last time I did that I found two copies of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I still haven't read it!). I've tried to keep the non-fiction on the bottom but it's generally a jumble.

Most of these have been there for far too long -- they get preempted by new books, library books, book group books -- but I will get to them all eventually (right?). Someone here once said their TBR pile was for their retirement, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

Siobhan, thanks!
woodnymph2_gw
11 years ago
Loved seeing all your pictures!

Here is my partial list:
"The First Salute" Barbara Tuchman
"The Dream at the End of the World" (biography of author Paul Bowles)
To re-read: Works of Kahil Gibran
"Spring Fortnight in France" Tozier (OP)
"Houses Virginians Have Loved A Rothery
Several Works by Peter Akroyd, but I have to find them first.
veer
11 years ago
Our browser is Firefox and no-way can I see those photos; not even a little blank square. DH suggested going to RP via Explorer (always SO slow) and Bingo! I can see them.
Sheri, I too have many 'double-stacked' books and book on top of each other and generally very untidy and in no particular order.

Tell Us About Your TBR Pile!

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