I recommend this article for anyone struggling with the size of their TBR

I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time so far this year trying to beat my TBR pile into submission or at least to get to the point where I read more books than I buy. It hasn’t been easy and I’ve started to question why I’m doing it.

When I read Molly Templeton’s article, “Bookish Death Cleaning: On What We Keep And What It Means”, I realised that I am not alone in my struggle to impose meaning on how I use books and what they mean to me. Should there be some kind of ‘golden ratio’ between the books I buy and the books I read? Can I explain why there are books that I refuse to let go of although I’ve already read them or have had them on my shelves, unread, for years? Is any explanation necessary?

Molly Templeton does a great job of articulating what books mean to those of us who love them and who see them as an essential part of our lives. She’s reminded me that unread books can be seen as a sign of hope, of joy in an idea, rather than as a burdensome sign of failure.

If you read her article, I’d love to know how it resonated with you.

One thought on “I recommend this article for anyone struggling with the size of their TBR”

Like the article, I don’t see my unread book collection as a pressure. Sure, I have a lot of books to get through and I want to read every single one of them (well, ok, there are two that I am realising are not of interest, the more I hear about them, and will likely end up being torpedoed from my collection unread). I don’t stress about what will happen with them when I am gone – I’ll be dead and won’t care. But I’ll also probably leave instructions for my SFF collection to go to the local used bookshop where I know they understand that fans of the genre will buy beat up old copies of OOP just to be able to read the story. And all the others to my local friends of the library to sell.
I have a large stash for my textile hobbies. I did do a massive cull a few years ago after getting rid of my mother’s hoard. But I have also curated it to the point where I can leave instructions about selling it, and some of it is now priced higher than my purchase price.

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