This week’s Top Ten topic, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is books on my spring To Be Read list. Right now this list is about a mile long, and I’m in the middle of three books at once.
What’s the point of a TBR list? For me it’s a way to organize my reading, so I can stay on top of challenges and read a variety of things. It’s a way of being thoughtful about my reading, given limited time. Otherwise the temptation is pretty strong to read whatever’s new and exciting. I don’t worry about how much of my list I read, although I feel good if I stick to it. I never want a list to take the fun out of reading. This isn’t homework, and there are no deadlines. Sometimes it feels like I’m racing through books to get to the next one, and then I have to remind myself that no one’s counting how much I read.
For me, a TBR list is a place to “park” interesting titles when I hear about them. Right now I keep TBR lists in way too many places: Goodreads, Amazon, Overdrive (library wish list), and my blog. Amazon tells me when a book drops in price, the library lets me put books on a wait list, and Goodreads lets me track by category and shows what I’m currently reading. But I’d rather have one list.
Here are my reads for the next three months:
First, I’ve got three advance review copies I’ll be reading:
- The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
- The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan
- The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Next, I’m reading nonfiction about current events and the state of the country:
- In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
For challenges, I plan to read these books:
- Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (for the Classics Book a Month Club)
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf (for Back to the Classics)
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (for Reading Around the World)
And finally, just for fun:
- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
- Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
That’s 13, not ten, and there are way more on my list, but I can only read so much. What’s on your TBR list? Do you make TBR lists? Why or why not?
The Book Stop 
I love to make TBR lists though I never stick to them. Now that I see these, I’m considering to do one for Spring too. I need to read The Bear and the Nightingale. I was eager to read it at the start of the year but haven’t cracked the book open yet and I really would like to read Born a Crime as well. I’ll try to read both this Spring too.
I never finish my TBR lists but I usually read at least half. I hear great things about Bear and Nightingale and Born a Crime. Hope you like them!
Awesome list! Born a Crime and Homegoing were two of my favorites from last year. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! The Be a and the Nightingale and Good Omens sound super intriguing.
I’m glad to hear you liked Born a Crime and Homegoing! I’ve heard such great things but sometimes all that hype can be a letdown. I’m really looking forward to both.
I love your list! Homegoing and Shadow Land are on my list as well. Although not on my TTT, I will also be reading Born A Crime for my book club in May. The other non-fiction books sound intriguing.
I hope you enjoy them! I’m reading Diane Guerrero’s book right now. It’s not the best written book, but reading about a child’s parents being deported is heartbreaking and puts things in a very new perspective.
I”m like you: “For me, a TBR list is a place to “park” interesting titles when I hear about them.” And I also have too many lists! Another problem is that often I lose interest in those interesting titles after a while, but I’m not good about cleaning up the lists.
Challenges help me to stay a little more focused with some portions of my TBR. These days, I try to read at least one classic per month for the Back to the Classics challenge, and to knock off 5 books per month out of the pile of acquired-but-unread books sitting in my house for Mount TBR. It’s going well, as long as I also have time for spontaneous reads.
I think a classic a month is a great goal — one I try for but don’t always make. I agree about leaving some time for spontaneous reads, otherwise reading starts to feel like a chore. Right now I’ve just got too many things I want to start tomorrow and can’t.
Good Omens is so much fun! I hope you’ll love it! 🙂
Lauren @ Always Me
Thanks for commenting, I can’t wait to read that one. I got it at a bookstore event where people brought a favorite book to give away. And Gaiman and Pratchett together have to be good!
Oh, you’re wrong! The book gnomes are counting how much you read, and if you fall behind they’ll start playing tricks on you… like ripping out the last page! Better get reading quick… 😉
I’m with you, both on using my TBR lists as a place to park the books that look interesting, and in having way too many lists. Goodreads is my primary place to track what I’ve read and what I want to read. At my library’s online portal, I’ve got a “For Later” shelf, a list of active holds I’m waiting for, and a shelf of “paused” holds — books I’ve place a hold request on, but paused the request for a later date. (Otherwise, they all come in at once and I can’t read them all!) Amazon keeps track of which Kindle books I own, and all my Kindle ARCs. I used to use Calibre for ePub books, but since I switched to Kindle, that library is sort of useless. And if I ever find the time, I had started to catalog my books in Book Collecterz. But since I own upwards of 3000 print books, I kind of gave up on that one. Maybe someday!
Thanks for the comment. I think Goodreads is the most useful for list-keeping, because you can categorize your books any way you want. And because my “currently reading” shows on my blog. The library system doesn’t have a lot of the books I want, but I try to read library books before I buy more. And Amazon is good for seeing when something you want to read goes on sale.
I recently read Homegoing, and I really enjoyed it. It read more like a short story collection than a novel, which really threw me off for the first little bit. Overall, though, it was a really engaging read, and it really made me think. It’s still stuck with me!
Nice list and I like how you broke it down! I’m also super impressed that you are reading some current events books – I am struggling with this. I feel so down about everything, I am being drawn to complete escapist books. Not very responsible and productive, I know.
Like you I have TBRs all over the place. I do try to pull all of it together on my Goodreads To Read list (which is so insanely long) but I still have wish lists at the library and Audible and Amazon. And the blog. I kind of see goodreads as my overall list and the other three on how I will acquire the books to read, sort of. If I’m pretending I’m that organized.
Have fun with your reading! I have seen such good things about The Bear and the Nightingale and Born a Crime. I’ll look forward to seeing what you think of them!
ooh, I didn’t know there was a new Elizabeth Kostova coming out, I must add it to my wishlist