Guys, can we talk? My TBR pile is out of control. If you don’t know what TBR means it’s “To Be Read,” and I tend to use it to refers to the pile of books I own that I haven’t yet read. And I’m not alone, Rachel Manwell from Book Riot agrees with me that it’s the actual books you own that you haven’t read yet, not the list of all the books in the world that you want to eventually read.

Mine is enormous. I’m talking a whole bookcase-worth of books that I’ve been hoarding but haven’t found the time to read yet. What about you guys? How big is your TBR pile?

If it’s short, please tell me your secrets. Do you not buy a new book until you’ve finished reading the ones you have? I could/should definitely do something like that.

I found this article from Bustle, but it basically tells you over and over again to just read more. I definitely have time to read more, but life happens, and so many other things get in the way. For instance, after dinner most nights during the week, I end up plopping on the couch watching reruns of a show I’ve already seen at least once, and I waste time that I could be reading. And I’m not able to read on my lunch break at work right now because we’re having to work through our lunch hour to make sure we use up all of our budgeted funds by July (I work on a government-contracted healthcare website that’s shutting down July 16th…it’s stressful, *le sigh*).

It also doesn’t help that I belong to the Book of the Month club, which I don’t regret at all because I always love the books I get from them, but my stack of books keeps expanding.

So, inevitably, because of this convergence of events, my TBR pile has grown and grown over the years, while my time to actually read continues to dwindle down.

What about you guys, what do you do to keep your TBR pile in check? I’d love to hear in the comments below or on Instagram (@belleannecooks #thebookishkitchen)!

4 Comments

  1. […] Read. Read. My TBR pile is overflowing right now, and I keep adding more to […]

  2. I read this and went to count my TBR pile. 17, one of which is Mums. Every time I reach a certain point, I end up with more. Bought second hand or given to me. After a huge clean out of everything, not just books, I’ve started borrowing more or buying books second hand and donating them if I won’t re read them. Not wanting to spend money and undo my clean out keep me on track.

  3. You sound just like me – I must have at least 150 physical books I need to read! I agree about watching reruns. Sometimes you just don’t have the energy to discover new characters or fall in love with them… I find taking a long bath with a book is a good way to carve out an hour or more to read!

    1. Thanks for the suggestion! I always forget about baths, but they truly are the perfect way to unwind after a hard day! Next time instead of watching reruns of shows I’ve seen a hundred times, I’ll take a nice, relaxing bath. Thanks again!

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