Here’s a Way to Make Sure You Actually Read the Books You Buy.
Do you have a huge heap of TBR (“for reading”)? You are not alone. There are so many great books and so little time to read them. But I’ve managed to tame my pile of TBR with a simple change of mind – and this trick also works for video games , craft supplies, and anything else that tends to pile up while waiting in line.
The problem with all these items is that they can be bought quickly but used for a long time. You can add a game to your Steam collection in minutes, but it will likely take you 20 hours or more to play. ( Howlongtobeat.com reports that the main storyline of “Tears of the Kingdom” alone takes 52 hours.)
How many more games will you impulsively buy before you finish this one? How many skeins of yarn will you buy (they were on sale! And so soft!) before you finish the sweater you are knitting now? In fact, this is the same problem as with a bunch of TBRs. And I promise there is a solution.
Only one can be next
My “aha” moment came when I realized that every book I read makes me want to read a bunch more books. Books in this book’s bibliography, books that cover topics that my current book only hints at briefly, books of completely different genres that I can’t read until I’ve finished this one, but I get some serious FOMO just thinking about them. Let’s say I add an average of five books to the TBR pile for every book I finish.
Now, if that meant just adding five books to a pile and reading them in sequence, that wouldn’t be a problem. But with every book I want to read five more. This means that if I buy these five books and then read one of them, there will be five more books in the pile. Even if I start with a completely clean slate, by the time I have read three books, I will have a pile of 13 forgotten books.
The truth is that only one book can be the next one you read. Those five books you add to your pile while you’re reading? Don’t think of them as the next five books you’ll read. These are five candidates for your next book. Only one can truly win this coveted next book status.
Use your “I want to read” list
Once I realized this, my book buying habits changed instantly. At the time, I was reading The Rooms of Bones , about the collections of human skulls in American museums and where they came from (spoiler alert: not from people who were asked if they wanted to be in museums), and kept noticing books that made me disheartened. related rabbit holes: eugenics and racial science, Native American history, European obsession with Egyptian mummies, and more.
But did I buy these books? I don’t. Every time I was tempted to buy a book or request a library, I instead added it to my Goodreads “I want to read” list. (Instead, you can leave a note on your phone or anywhere else you like.)
In the process, I also reorganized my physical stacks of books. Everything that was unlikely to be my next book went on the shelf for a place on the shelf. (However, all of these books are on the “want to read” list. I have not forgotten about them, I just stopped lying to myself that I will get to them soon.)
Reminding myself that only one could be next, I kept my stack of TBR under control. It also makes choosing the next book a lot more enjoyable: Instead of having to choose between the obligation of a book I’ve already bought or the guilt of ignoring the entire stack in search of something new, I know I can skim through my wish list. — or my small stack of TBR — and decide which title deserves the coveted “next” status.