And seriously, folks, I'm not even halfway there. I've got from 700 to 600 in the past hour, and I think I can bring this down below 500 easily. I can't tell you how good this is for me, psychologically. My "read" list is longer than my "to read" again. It's like I can breathe again.
The trick, it turns out, was to create a separate category called "B-list," into which I shunted any book from to-read that I couldn't remember what it was about, where I heard of it, or what possessed me to put it on the list. Some people might delete these, but I can't do that--at some point it seemed worth reading, and I have to trust that instinct. At the very least, I don't want to forget that the book exists.
Also on B-list, we have books that I like to think I'll read, but that I don't harbor a lot of illusions about. This includes a lot of quality literature (The Book of Night Women
, The Shadow of the Wind
), classics (Vanity Fair
), nonfiction (Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul
, The Wishing Year
), and mysteries (The Analyst
, Medicus
). These are all categories that I read, but not very often. This is a list that I can go through and say, "Oh, yeah, I wanted to read that." But the gift is, it leaves my actual to-read list as full of that makes me say, "Oh, yeah, I can't WAIT to read that!"There is also a sub-category called "Like To Think I Will Read," which really means, "Don't want to read, but feel like I ought to." That is almost all ponderous, well-reviewed books on subjects that interest me. Let's not bother going there.
I feel light and free and happy. I'm going to go metaphorically throw some more books out. Hooray!
2 comments:
I've accomplished something similiar by tracking my "to-read" lists by category (fiction, non-ficion, separate category for business books, etc.). That way I can just browse the list of the category I'm in the mood for at that time.
I'm always fascinated to see how others organize their TBR list! If I let my list get too long I start feeling overwhelmed and begin to view reading as a burden rather than a joy.
Mine is divided into into two broad categories: "books I already own", and "books I don't yet own". The already-owned books are further divided into "books I'm in the process of reading", "books I haven't started but am really jazzed to read", and "shelf sitters".
The books I don't own are categorized thusly: "continuation of series", "authors I like", and "books I've heard about that sound interesting". I keep these lists under control by only listing the next book in the series, and only one book at a time by a single author, even if I plan to read everything they've written. When the book gets moved to the in in process list, I put the next on the series or author list.
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