Is Your To-Be-Read Pile Manageable?
An interesting question was posed on Facebook the other day: Is owning books as good as reading them?
Say what now?
Because why would you own a book you weren’t planning on reading? That’s like…I don’t know what it’s like exactly. I mean I have books on my shelves I haven’t read, not because I don’t plan on it. I want to read them, I just haven’t. Yet. Pride and Prejudice I’m looking at you. But good intentions matter, right?
Then I remembered being invited to dinner years ago. I immediately gravitated to her lovely bookshelf. I’m always interested in a person’s book collections. I remarked on how careful she was with her books and asked how she’d like a particular one. Her response? She’d bought it figuring it would look good on her shelf. She was right. It did. It fit right in with the other books she had no intention of reading. And since she was and still is a lovely person we laughed about it. I mean not everyone is a reading nerd and that’s okay.
And books are beautiful. Check out any number of book related hashtags on Instagram: #bookstagram #booklover #bookporn #bookphotography, to see why others think so too.
All this love for books is heartwarming! Really it is. Buy books! Lots and LOTS of books. Buy my books. If you read them even better. Reading rocks! But I’ve heard of people who have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of books thanks to the wide range of free books, 99 cent books and the like. So again…
Is Owning Books As Good As Reading Them?
Who am I to tell people what they should or should not be doing? Some might be comforted by the all the possibilities. The reasons people buy books is as varied as the people themselves. For myself, I can’t face a toppling to-be-read pile. Knowing all those books are there waiting is to much pressure. As it is I’m freaking out because I’ve been reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert for months. I love it but non-fiction doesn’t sweep me away like my preferred fiction does, and these last few months I’ve needed the escape.
This lovely book, The Lake House by Kate Morton, is one of the few books on my TBR pile. On my ereader waits Norah Wilson’s The Standish Clan trilogy which is set in the fictional small town of Harkness, New Brunswick. In Norah’s words these stories are sweet, sexy and romantic. And this trilogy is just the first of many series to come under the Hearts of Harkness banner!
There are a couple of other books waiting in wings. But right now I’m reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah for book club. And listening to Better When He’s Bold by Jay Crownover in Audible when I’m on the treadmill.
There are books I want to read but haven’t purchased. Books I’m considering purchasing. And release dates for books by authors I’m waiting for. But all in all, I like to keep my pile manageable. Otherwise I’d never get anything done.
Because I’d rather be reading.
What’s in your to-be-read pile? Is it toppling? A neat stack? Nonexistent? Come on, ‘fess up!
Right now my ereader is quite full of books I haven’t yet read. And I feel guilty about it, sort of. My husband bought me a tablet for Christmas and put the Kindle app and the Kobo app on it. I went a little crazy for a while buying books and downloading free books. But they’re still there waiting. The good news is that I haven’t been reading a bunch lately (aside from audiobooks at the gym) because I’ve been writing a lot. And that’s never a bad thing. My books will still be there when I’m ready to take a break.
That is so true, Jana! What audiobooks are you listening to? Do you have a favourite narrator? Do they call them narrators?
Great toppling stacks that I want to read; frustration when books are slow slogs slowing my reading time down. Still, everywhere I look there are books calling to me. Some I am stunned that I haven’t read yet. Others that I hunt down and “redeliver” to my kindle because they are lost in the stacks. Thank heaven Amazon has a search feature to facilitate redelivery! There is no book I have ever found to simply decorate with; I’d rather be overrun with possibilities; I’d rather have choices for every mood I’m in. Most of all, I want no down time of longing. On the other hand I have read Pride and Prejudice. Several times. Some books are just worth the return even after they have been read.
Hey Deborah! Here’s to having a great number of reading choices and being a varied reader. I agree. You need to have a variety in the cue so you can read what you need when you need it. And thank goodness for ereaders as they’re a convenient place to keep books and carry around. I reread books too. Sometimes you just need to be in the company of an old friend. I must read Pride and Prejudice! Maybe this summer…