Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts

01. I love the cloudscapes by artist, Kelly Money.

02. I didn’t have a beach holiday this summer but I have restored the soul with a McCrae day trip. There will be a few more before Easter.

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The TBR stack – it’s still there

I write a post every year about how I’ve made virtually no progress on my TBR stack. Some bloggers will read this post and feel really good (smug) about their own manageable-and-totally-in-control TBR stacks. Others will read it and say, “Pfft. That’s not a stack, this is a stack”, and point to pictures of their hallway, lined with bookshelves that are filled with unread books.

Nonfiction November – New to My TBR

It’s the final week of Nonfiction November, hosted by Katie @ Doing Dewey.

So what’s the damage? I’ve added quite a few books to the TBR stack.

20 Books of Summer (except that it’s Winter)

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. By Cathy’s own admission, she doesn’t have a great track record with her own challenge… But I do! As I’ve done in previous years, I’m using this challenge to read from my to-be-read stack (with a particular focus on hard copies). The challenge is straightforward – read twenty books between June 1st and September 3rd.

Apparently I should give up

See above for my reading theme song.

Truly, I rarely abandon a book. In fact, I can list the books I marked DNF on one hand –

Choosing what to read next

At the end of last year, Bill, of The Australian Legend, asked me what seemed a straightforward question – how do you choose what to read next?

I’ve been thinking about my answer since, trying to tune into what is driving my choice of books and I’ve realised that it’s a really difficult question to answer.

There are a number of things at play –

2017: What I Read

Here’s my year in books (with thanks to the Goodreads record keeping tool):

The ongoing saga of the stupid TBR stack…

It’s the time of the year when I check in on the TBR stack. Last year I had a book-buying ban and that certainly made a huge difference. This year I didn’t have a strict book-buying ban and although I didn’t go mental in Readings, I did borrow lots from the library…not helpful in terms of the TBR stack.

I started the year with 365 books in the stack. I set a goal of finishing the year with 299.

I didn’t get anywhere near that.

2016: What I Read

Here’s my year in books (with thanks to the Goodreads record keeping tool):

So how did I go with that stupid TBR stack?

Around this time last year I mentioned my stupid TBR stack and the fact that I was embarking on a book-buying-ban.

Don’t want to toot my own horn but I did very, very well on the ban and I’m pleased to report that I will finish the year with fewer books in the TBR stack than I started with. Success.