Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tackling the Review Book Pile

I am desperately trying to tackle all the books I have received for review.  Between NetGalley, review copies from publishers, and Amazon Vine I always see so many wonderful books I want to review.  But three months ago I realized that my "to review" stack was a horribly daunting 40 books.  So I instituted a new rule for myself: No new review books until the "to review" pile is below 10 books...the only exception to this rule is if a review book is in a series I am currently reading and I would read it anyway.

So far so good.  Last month I got below 30 books in my "to review" pile.  Today I just realized that now there are only 18 book in my "to review" pile.  At this rate I should hit my below 10 book goal in the next month or so.

After that I have to tackle the problem of books in general and how I acquire more books in a month than I could ever read.  I have some 300 books sitting around the house that aren't for review that I am dying to read.  This is up from some 200 books last year.  Maybe after I get my review books under control I can tackle that issue.

How do you guys cope with keeping your "to be read" piles under control?  I just love getting books so much, but my eyes are always bigger than my stomach....

5 comments:

  1. Honestly? I can't afford books, so my TBR pile is pretty small. But when it is getting pretty huge, I find a read-a-thon and sign right up!

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  2. My eyes are bigger than my stomach too. Even before I had the opportunity to receive review copies, I bought more than I could reasonably read. I have 1406 "to read" books.

    I have 29 on my review stack but only have 90 pages left in book 29. I have some extra reading time this weekend and only brought review books home with me. I hope to be under 20 books before I get the next bunch from Macmillan.

    October is just about killing me. I had 22 books for review with October publication dates. I am down to nine.

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  3. Hahahahaha hahahaha roflol hahahaha {hiccup} hahahaha hahahaha

    Sorry! Under control?? I have thousands of books!! I can't afford books like Debz says but annual book sales where one can pack up a box full of books on the last day for $2 keeps me literally rolling in books. And if you count my netgalley arcs (I don't)I'd have about 300 arcs in my review pile! I just tell people I can't guarantee a date but I will read your book. And I will and I do. I used to fret about it but now I just go with the flow!

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  4. Sorry to hear that everyone has huge TBR piles (or maybe this is good thing?)! Although it makes me feel better to know I am not that out of control :-)

    I've been declining a lot of review books because I feel bad when it takes me 6 months to get around to reviewing something.

    It's hard with Netgalley to not keep requesting stuff especially since the books don't really take up space!

    Thanks for the comments guys. You are making me feel better :-)

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  5. Great job on the review pile back log! I totally understand where you are coming from. I have spreadsheets and special shelves and post its scattered across my desk about dates and books and everything, but I can't resist new review books. "Want to read this book you'll probably hate?" "YES OH MY GOD YES." And then I hate it. But I can't say no. Ugh. Good luck!

    -Megan @ Book Brats

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