Friday, July 29, 2011

What to do, what to do?

I am a book-aholic. I LOVE BOOKS. I love the feel of a book in my hands. I love the smell of the ink on the page. I love book cover art. Walking into a bookstore is a pilgrimage of sorts for me. There is something calming and reflective about the insides of a book store that speaks to my soul.


As I mentioned in a previous post, reading is a life long love affair for me. Buying an e-reader made me feel as if I was committing some sort of sacrilege. And while I will NEVER stop buying a published book (now referred to as p-books), I do love having a whole library of books at my disposal on my e-reader. And it fits very nicely in my purse.

With that said, when Borders announced they were closing, to my great dismay, I stormed their doors with my ‘books to purchase’ list in one hand and credit card in the other. Needless to say the romance section shelves were a bit barer when I left and I’ll probably return to purchase more.

I spend a lot of my free time researching and reading romance. And while trolling the internet doing research and reading book reviews, I realized the huge amount of romance, as well as other genres, released every week. Many of which are only available as e-books and a lot of self-published books. Which, as I mentioned last week, I think is a growing option for many new authors.  I’ve also discovered there’s a lot of free downloads out there too. And I think to myself, I’m doomed. How am I going to keep up with reading the new releases (and old) from much loved, newly-minted and recently discovered authors? It’s all so overwhelming. Who/what should I read next and should I find a way to organize this mess?

The topic of organizing your TBR pile came up on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books facebook page the other day.

Some readers suggested using excel spreadsheets to keep track, others use Good Reads and then there was the suggestion of using the library on your e-reader to house and organize you books.

And then there’s me.

I have a HUGE TBR pile, physically and digitally, and it only keeps growing. Mine is totally unorganized. Most of my TBRP is in boxes, stashed next to or under my bed or the bag in which they arrived at my house. Quite often it’s the bright shiny new release that gets my attention first. I’m so easily distracted by shiny baubles ;) I also have a hard time remembering what books from my 'to buy' list I've actually purchased that is now hiding in a box or bag somewhere. 

I’ve created an account on goodreads.com to help organize my reading/books, but I haven’t taken the time yet to learn how to use the website. But I see a lot of people raving about it, so maybe I’ll do that this afternoon.

Or maybe I’ll break out one of the new books I bought at Borders—decisions, decisions.

How do you keep your TBR pile organized or, for that matter, decide which book will be the next one you’ll buy and/or read?
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1 comment:

  1. Heya Margaret, I've nominated your blog for the Liebster Award - http://vignettesacrosstheveil.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/purrfect-is-as-purrfect-does/

    ReplyDelete