Tumbling TBR

Oh my goodness you guys!  My TBR pile is getting so big I'm pretty sure it's gonna crush me.

 Seriously though, I probably need to quit getting new books until I finish up at least a few on my list.  It's giving me a bit of anxiety the sheer number of books that are in my house that have never been read...but it's also a little bit exciting!  I'm starting to wonder if I will actually have enough time in this life to finish everything in my house, much less on my list.  On that note I'm off to go find the elixer of eternal reading...or just maybe just go get another book read.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Adding To The Pile

Sometimes when I get in a rut, or am tired, or bored or whatever, I like to find new books to add to

my To Be Read List.  This is the tab on my blog that has the list of books I have or would like to acquire at some point and of course read.  In fact sometimes I joke that the real reason I have this blog is so that I could have access to my TBR list when I'm at the bookstore.  Sometimes just the act of searching out new books to add to the list help give my brain a break.  I use several sources to add to my list, blogs, lists, recommendations, complete and utter random searches, cool book covers, and whatever else piques my interest.  I love researching new books to add to my pile as it gives me little glimpses into possible future reads and lets me pursue through various genre's, authors and pretty much whatever else has caught my eye.  Ok enough talk, lets go find more books!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Ordering The Chaos...Kind Of

I've been spending some time trying to tidy up my blog, refresh links, update pages, do better tagging, things like that.  It is an ongoing project that will probably never get finished, but a girl has to try right?  One of the things I have been trying to do is see what books I have, what books I've read, what books I've rambled about and what I need to do to update all of the above.  I have found (and this is a common problem among us bibliophiles) is that I own way more books then I remember I have.  Between random book trips, online shopping, and e-books, I easily forget I have certain books
already in my possession, or that I even want to read them in the first place.  To this end, I have been updating my Future Reading List with notations on whether I own the book on my bookshelf, on my Nook, or on my Kindle.  I have also been trying to plan ahead and actually continue or finish up some of the zillions of series I have started and actually like.  Now all of this sounds very good, but it comes with it's own problems.  As I go through my list of TBR books, I have a really bad tendency to stop whatever it is I am doing and start reading any one of the ton's of books I have.  If I can force myself to get past that aspect, I usually end up on TBR books I don't own and then a shopping spree ensues.  My rambling page isn't much better as their are a ton of books I love and am dying to reread, or (and this is one of my quirks) if a new book in a series comes out and I haven't read (or rambled) on the previous books...well I obviously have to reread those as well.   All of this, the changing weather, my random book cravings, and my inability to stay off my favorite review sites leads to more chaos then order when it comes to my books, but in the end, that may be one of the things I love about reading so much, there is no wrong way to do it, just not enough time.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Picking The Next Book

The other day, somebody asked me how I pick my next book.  After careful consideration of this question I have found several different factors can be included in my book choosing process.

What Else Am I Reading? - I usually have about five books going at once, so if I'm already reading a dragon fantasy book, a short story collection and a reread, then I will probably pick something entirely different for my next book so I can keep a good variety going.  This actually helps me finish books faster because I am never bored so long as I keep the variety going.

What Did I Just Finish Reading? - A lot of the times what I have just finished reading will greatly affect my choice of next book.  If I loved the book I just finished, I will probably go for a similar genre, or something by the same author, or the next book in the series.  If I hated the book, I will probably go running to my favorite book shelf and quickly devour a book I know I love to get the bad taste of the icky book out of my brain.

What Am I Watching? - Movies, TV, video games, all of these will have an influence on what I am in the mood to read.  Am I watching a BBC show? Then of to a book set in England I go.  Did I just finish an awesome movie based on a book, well then I am probably downloading the literary version as we speak.  Playing a video game in space, well the SciFi shelf it is for me.

What Season Is It? - As I have mentioned before, I am a huge seasonal reader and tend to crave certain types of books depending on what season it is.  In fact I have a shelf of books that I reserve for reading only during certain seasons and will go to them whenever the weather changes.  On the flip side, I find it very difficult to read books out of season and may put off a book I'm excited about until the weather is right.

What Did I Just Buy? - Every trip to the bookstore results in some new exciting find that demands to be put on top of the TBR pile.  Sometimes it's a book I've been looking for forever, sometimes it's a book that just happened to catch my eye, and sometimes it's a book that just happens to be pertinent to something that is going on at that moment.  Regardless, these books tend to nudge up to the top of the list.

What Did I Hear About? - Sometimes I hear about a book from a website, a friend, or just randomly and for some reason must read it immediately.  I can't always pin point it, but something about the description, author, circumstances, whatever it is catches my attention and demands to placed on the top of the list.  I have had hit's and misses this way, but have learned to ignore this impulse at my own peril.

What Do I Want To Read Right This Instant - Every once in a while I just want to read some random book.  Sometimes it is a new one, sometimes it is a reread, sometimes it is just the book that is closest to me.  This impulse can strike any time, any where and involve any book. It doesn't matter how many books I am reading at this given moment, if the urge to pick up a certain book strikes it does no use to try and fight it, I just give in and read whatever it is that is stuck in my brain.  I have been known to wake up in the middle of the night and dig around my bookshelf in the dark to satisfy whatever insane literary craving has struck.  Trust me, it does no good to fight it.

These are all factors that go into picking the next book from my endless TBR pile.  It is messy, random, and usually has the result of a multi-personality list, but it gets the job done.  Now it is off to search my bookshelves for the next read. Happy Reading Everybody!

Books Everywhere!

Came home from another 12 hour shift last night and had to smile.  After bringing in a book I had mail ordered I then proceeded to toss it on one of the numerous book piles that have seemed to grow up around the house in the last couple of weeks.  The best part is that not all the stacks are mine...nope, some of them are Hubbins.  We have been reading a book together (more on that in future post) that requires a bit of research so we both have current reading books, research books, new books, random books, TBR books, TBB(to be blogged) books, just bought and haven't put away yet books, work books, and whatever other books happened to not be on the overcrowded shelves at the moment books all in random piles all over the house.  I have to admit, it is kind of cool coming home to a house where any surface, ledge, shelf, basket, or remotely flat place has a mixed pile of books just hanging out, like a friend or family member.  It may be messy, it may be disorganizes, but gosh darn it if this isn't exactly what I want my house to look like :-)   Happy Reading Everybody!

Stuck In The Middle

Ahhhh I am just about exactly half way through every book on my "reading now" list.  Seriously all five books are AWESOME! and I can't put any of them down, resulting in five half read books.  The worst part is as amazing as these books are, I just got another pile to add to my stack and they are ALL calling my name! (are you liking the excessive exclamation points?!?!).  Of course I started half these books last weekend.  See I took an extra day off and Hubbin and I spent most of those three days relaxing and reading (except for an impromptu dinner party that we decided to have at literally the last minute).  Anyways so here
 we are with all this reading time and I'm thinking I'm gonna get all these books read...yeah not so much.  I did spend a lot of time reading, but between the size of these books (I am reading a couple epics) and the amount of books (they are all so good!) I have only made it half way through each one.  Of course as soon as I get to the point I can't put any of them down, life gets crazy and I am back to being lucky to have 5 minutes in a row to read.  Some people would say that is the hazard of reading more than one book at a time, much less five, but to them I say patooie!  I guess there could be worse problems, I could hate all of the books on my current list, or I could not be in possession of enough books to be in this predicament, so I will try and keep my griping to a minimum.  Now I am going to post this and try and sneak in one more chapter!  Happy Reading Everybody!
How many books do you read at once?  What is worse loving all your books with no time to read, or hating them all with nothing but time?  When are we going to invent a way to read while we sleep?

Slogging Through The Tomes

Do you ever just not want to finish a book?  I find myself in that situation lately, I'm not sure if I'm just not picking up great books, or I am distracted or what, but I have a huge stack of half finished books laughing at me.  I hate not finishing books, there are a few exceptions of course.  I have not finished books that are just so badly written that they don't make sense.  I have not finished books that I personally find in bad taste.  I have not finished books that are so boring that I find myself rereading the same page several times and still not registering the words on the paper.  These are all good reasons to not finish a book, and I have even forced myself to finish a few that fall into these categories, just for fair reviewing purposes.  The books that I have half read now do not fall into any of these reasons, they just are not getting finished. These books are decent books, maybe not earth-shattering, maybe not my new favorite of all time, but these are fairly well written, solid stories with good premises and decent plot lines.  It might be the post-holiday blues, where nothing seems as shiny and pretty as it was last month, it might be that I have so many books just begging to be read I can't keep my focus on what I am reading right now, maybe I just need more coffee. Whatever the reason I am giving myself a break and putting these books back in the TBR pile and hopefully their mocking laughter will not keep me up at night.  I will probably pick one up one of these days, remember why I got it in the first place, finish it and then kick myself for not sticking with it earlier.  Well back to the stack...hey what's that book with the pretty cover over there?!?

Do you always finish the books you start?  Are you one those disciplined people who can read one book at a time, never picking up the next one until the current one is finished or are you distracted by a pretty cover or interesting sounding premise?  What is the most amount of books you've had going at once (I'm up to 11 right now)?