Musing Mondays

TBR List

As a follow up to last week's question, Joseph asked how you keep track of your tbr list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?

My original TBR list was first saved in a Word document. I would print it about every other month or so and keep it in my book tote that I took with me to the library. As my list grew from 1-2 pages to 9-10 pages, I stopped printing it.

I then wanted to track more detailed info for each book on my TBR list (where I saw it, if my library owns a copy, ownership worthy, etc.) and it quickly became too complicated to maintain in Word. So I moved it into an Excel spreadsheet last year. That lasted for a few months and I decided I needed to have a way to bring this list with me. I then moved it into Library Thing. That way I can browse my list from my iPhone.

My TBR list now has over 600 books. How can this be? Although I still plan to keep the list on Library Thing (which I now refer to as my "master list"), I've decided to make a new list that will be less overwhelming for me to read from. My maximum number is 100 books. (I'm finding that I need to set limits for myself when it comes to reading. I'm so impulsive when it comes to books, that I easily find myself feeling overwhelmed, therefore my reading is no longer relaxing and care-free.) So far, this list has 35 books.

Another reason I decided to make a new list is due to my lack of enthusiam for reading some of the books on my master list. At one time, I was so excited to read a book, until the next one came along, then the next one and next one. Well, you get my point. Some of the books, I don't remember how I heard about them, what they are about and why I wanted to read them. It is time for a fresh start!

In addition to my TBR list, I also have a list of my unread, purchased books. I'm slowly trying to tackle this project and finally read all the books I've purchased.

What about you? How do you track your TBR list?