In the immortal words of John Lennon, “another year over and a new one just begun”. It’s time (if you haven’t already) to make those resolutions for 2015–including one for your TBR pile.
My TBR Challenge was such a personal success last year that I’m doing it again! 2015 is very uncertain for me–my teaching career is up in the air right now (Will I ever teach again? When? Where? How? If not, what else will I do?), and thus so is my writing time (How much energy will I have to devote to a day job? How will my health hold up? The bills have to be paid, but will I be too tired to do anything else?). So this year’s TBR Challenge is a way for me to take a measure of control in addition to finally reading some of the books languishing on my shelves and Kindle.
I’ve tweaked the rules slightly for this year:
1. How many books from your TBR pile will you read? I’m upping my goal to 18 books this year over the 12 I chose for last year. I have so many books floating around the house that 12 felt like just a drop in the bucket, and I’m hoping to make more headway this time around.
2. How long have your books been waiting? For the purposes of this challenge, the books I read must have been acquired by me or placed on my library TBR list (which is also getting out of hand) before August 1, 2014. This means I can’t buy new books in January and count them toward my TBR Challenge come September–which I found myself doing at least once last year, and kind of defeats the purpose of the challenge.
3. How will you hold yourself accountable? Like last year, I’ll post here once a month to share my progress and see how you all are doing. I found the Goodreads shelf and the dedicated page on this blog were enormously helpful, too. I’m a very visual person and being able to see the collection of books that I’d read gave me a nice sense of accomplishment, which made me want to read more TBR books 🙂
Who will take up this challenge with me? Who will commit to wading through the mountains of books you’ve spent your hard-earned money on, but never read? Leave a comment here or on the 2015 TBR Challenge page with your goal: how many books will you tackle this year?
And Then She Kissed Him 
I too found that the collection of novels that I’d read gave me a wonderful sense of accomplishment, which made me want to read more TBR books…I keep going to my library cloud ashamed and exhilarated for having so many awesome novels, looking and drooling over which one to read or whether I should grab a paperback or listen to one I just purchase, and yes, there is still my TBR pile standing tall, waiting patiently and at times waving it’s arms up in the air saying pick me… when, I started reading historical romance novels five years ago, we were homeless and my days spent at a library near husband Harry’s work…I read five novels a week enthralled and excited about every new author and her writing ability or style that came across me… then came my fascination with the cover illustrations, the art! I began purchasing many books, investing in the series depicting families, small children and searching or stories of the bonding of friendship. Know I read about five books a week, with the hope of reading more but, to no avail, still I will try again! You will see my post of each novel I read on my FB timeline. And yes, it’s cover illustration with a synopsis!
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I took refuge in a library, to, from some bad stuff that went down when I was growing up. I loved books anyway, and sitting among them in peace and quiet was absolutely wonderful 🙂
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Just counted – I have 26 physical books in the historical TBR pile in the lounge. There’s more in the study, and the bedroom. I refuse to even think about my kindle… So I’ll try and get through 13 of these. And not buy any more – no, that won’t work – buy FEWER than I read!
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I need to add the buy- fewer-than-I-read rule! I’ve been better about acquiring paper books, but those e-book sales get me every time 😀 Good luck on your challenge!
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Thanks, Cora – you too!
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OK, Cora. I am in again this year! I want to get through some older series books that have been stacked up. Jennifer Ashley’s Mackenzies & McBrides, Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons, Stephanie Lauren’s Cynsters, Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series. Also, I have some contemporary series that I am 2 years behind in – Jill Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor, Robin Carr’s Thunder Point & Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series. I will make it a goal to get through all of those & hopefully some others. I would like to make a goal to read 2-3 books a week – at least 10 per month. I will most definitely still read some new & shiny, but I will shoot for 4 older books a month, to include those series listed above. I have some time at my reception job to read, when no one is in the office & I am not a TV watcher. I need to curtail my internet time, though! Good luck with your job search & your health. I hadn’t been aware that you left the teaching job. I knew you were miserable there, though.
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I read the Bridgertons (fabulous!), but the Cynsters and Spindle Cove are in my TBR too. Maybe we can compare notes (if I ever get to them, lol) 😀
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Let me know if & when you want to start! Spindle Cove might be less daunting. Less books!
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I’ve been doing some housekeeping on my Goodreads shelves today. I’ve deleted all the books which I doubt I will have the time or inclination to read. Now the number of books on my to-read shelf doesn’t seem quite so daunting!
I read 55 books last year and have set myself a target of 65 for this year. I’m hoping to read more as I’m cutting back on my blogging this year.
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Cleaning out the (virtual) shelves–great idea! I may need to do a little weeding myself 🙂
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I don’t really focus on the TBR on Goodreads, only make sure I mark what I read. A lot of times I have books on the TBR shelf that were from giveaways I entered.
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