Tuesday, May 17, 2011

How do you tame your TBR pile?

I have a sickness, book bulimia, and the only cure is more cowbell or more books. I love the smell, the feel, and just getting lost in a story. Luckily my husband has his own sickness: music. So we have a general understanding when we can't control our book/music buying. To control my sickness, I have one rule: I can't buy more books until my TBR pile is down to three but then I binge--buying 6 to 8 books at a time. Then I purge through them so I can binge again.

MMGM has been bad for my sickness, every Monday I crave more books (so you need to stop picking good ones). And last weekend, I broke my rule and binged.

My TBR pile currently towers at 17 books and only because I knocked two off the list this weekend. Divergent by Roth and Beastly by Finn. Seriously, go read Joanne's review of Divergent (there is no way you'll be able to resist her review) and then go buy the book, read it tonight, and then we need to chat. Tomorrow. If you have time.

What's on my pile:

Middle Grade
  1. The Ogre of Oglefort by Ibbotson (currently reading)
  2. The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Hahn
  3. The Graveyard Book by Gaiman
  4. Wimpy Kid #4 by Kinney (my daughter is reading this one)
  5. The Black Book of Buried Secrets (39 Clues) by Riordan
  6. Princess for Hire by Leavitt
  7. The Emerald Atlas by Stephens

Young Adult
  1. Wither by Destefano
  2. Real Live Boyfriends by Lockhart
  3. Invincible Summer by Moskowitz

Fiction
  1. The Devil in the White City by Larson
  2. Heresy by Parris
  3. Little Bee by Cleave
  4. The Glass Castle by Walls
  5. Cutting for Stone by Verghese
  6. Devil's Brood by Penman (I uber loved Here be Dragons)
  7. Game of Thrones by... (yeah, my husband has this book right now, and I'm too lazy to look it up. Sorry.)

How do you tame your TBR pile and what's at the top of your pile?

I need help people.

4 comments:

  1. Oh......man.....lol. I fear I cannot help you. I am the same. I try to tame the TBR by staying off blogs, but then I do need to see what's new, what others are reading, so yeah, the TBR pile grows. At the top right now is FOURTH GRADE FAIRY by Eileen Cook.

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  2. Tame my pile? Mine just grows. And grows. And yes, MMGM is bad for me too. =) Although my trick, and this is bad for the publishing industry, is this: I check out all my reads from the library first. If I absolutely LOVE the book, then I buy it in hardcover because I'll reread and reread it (and so will my kids).

    I have two YA on my pile right now (but I need to keep up with MG for my MMGMs, so it's hard to find time for YA) that I've heard rave reviews about: The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli and Split by Swati Avasthi.

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  3. Wow, that was a really nice shout-out, Brooke. Thanks! And I'll chat with you anytime about DIVERGENT. Fantastic book! Would love to hear your views. Email me (JoanneRFritz AT gmail.com) if you want. I don't know too many people who've read it yet.

    I'm with you on the towering TBR pile. Mine is mostly ARCS and I'm up to about 29. I'll NEVER get through it because I keep adding to it, especially after MMGM. You all have such great picks. Thanks.

    My trouble is, I start reading one book at home (right now: Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson) and another book during my lunch break at work (right now: Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson). Then a sales rep or someone will tell me I absolutely MUST read this book NOW, so I start a third book (Sharks and Boys by Kristen Tracy). AAGGH!

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  4. MG: I've got the Night Fairy by Laura Schlitz on my bedside table--will post about that at some point soon. I just finished Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate and Keeper by Kathi Appelt. Going to re-read The Underneath by Appelt too because my daughter is reading it and doing a book project on it.
    I'll go check out that review--curious about Divergent now.

    Sorry to do this to your already full lists but I have to recommend Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall to add to your fiction list (the title Cutting for Stone made me think of it). It's beautiful.

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