That Dreaded/Wonderful to Read Pile

[Perpetual Man]

If any of you are like me you will have a nice pile of books that you have waiting to be read. At the moment mine is far too big with over 50 books sitting there, some I really want to read, others I don't, some I got as presents, some from years ago and some that are brand new - I just don't seem to have the time to read them!

But the question is how do others choose from their pile what they are going to read next?

Do you read series by series? Favourite authors? The ones you want to read least first to get them out of the way? Etc.

In my case I try and choose at randowm using an old set of roleplaying dice!

But how about everyone else? And who has the biggest to read pile?

[star.torturer]

i have an indefinite amount to read
about 7 that i own

to pick i just randomly pick which ever tickles my fancie the most

[Brys]

My to read pile is huge as well - currently at around 120, and that's just of what I own - if you include everything I want to read, it would be as much as 1000 books. They're almost all books I want to read, to a lesser or greater extent, but at the moment I'm just reading what I think I will enjoy the most. I try and keep it relatively varied though, so I don't end up reading just epic fantasy for 10 books, and then just hard SF for 10 books or whatever.

[GOLLUM]

I try to vary a bit both in theme, style and era. My TBR pile at home currently stands at about 35-40 books. Hence my resolution to buy no more books except for current series I'm following until I am at least 2/3 of the way through this pile. Yeh right!...

[iansales]

Er, there's about 300 books on my pile. I buy far too many. There's probably also another 50 or so I want to reread.

[j. d. worthington]

I frankly have no idea how many books are on my TBR pile, save that it is somewhere in that region. I vary ... depending on whether I'm researching a particular thing, reading "just" for pleasure, or going through an emotionally trying time and need something that helps to deal with those emotions.... several things can influence what I pick.

[Cobolt]

I have around 20 or so to read and about the same I want to buy, I tend to restrict myself with favourite authors although I am starting to venture out more into graphic novels.

The problem is finding the time to read them all!!!

[williamkooiker]

Oh man . . . I'm always buying more than I can read, so my pile constantly increases in size. I really don't even want to count how many I've got sitting on my shelf — probably around five or six hundred.

[dwndrgn]

I have exactly one book in my to read pile. I'll have to read it soon or decide to read it later as it is a library book and will need to go back shortly. I don't have the resources to actually buy more than a couple of books at a time - but as I can only read one or two at a time anyway, no big deal.

I do have a nice list of books I'd like to read at some point. I generally cross them off as I read them and update it almost every day. Presently there are only 30 books there which I haven't read yet, but I just started this list on June 6th

[Teresa Edgerton]

I almost never have a to-be-read pile, and when I do it isn't very large, and it doesn't last very long. As a general rule, I have quite a bit of time for reading, and I read fairly quickly. When I have less time to read, I don't have the time to acquire the books either. When I do have the chance to get them, I devour them almost immediately.

I wouldn't buy a book that I didn't intend to read soon. That could leave me without the money to buy something that I did want to read when I wanted to read it. And I guess I'm not a fan of deferred gratification. If the book is here and I particularly want to read it, it will get read; one way or another it will get read.

[elvet]

I've got about 30 books in waiting. Like Gollum I try to vary the read a bit, picking something different from what I just finished. Right now I'm reading more of my hardcovers, saving the lighter books for a trip to Mexico.

[Werthead]

I've got about 12 on stanby at the moment, although some of those are additions to new series which will require re-reading another seven books or so. I try my best not to have too many books on the 'to read' pile as my space is very limited. This is actually the biggest it's ever been.

[Rosemary]

I only have three books on my TBR pile...whereas the list itself just seems to keep growing!

I prefer to read one after the other volume of a series where possible...

[Wiggum]

I usually only keep 1-5 books lined up.

New books from favorite authors usually go first, continuaiton of a series second, recommendation/loan from friend third.

If none of those come into play I just switch genre from book to book.

[steve12553]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

I almost never have a to-be-read pile, and when I do it isn't very large, and it doesn't last very long. As a general rule, I have quite a bit of time for reading, and I read fairly quickly. When I have less time to read, I don't have the time to acquire the books either. When I do have the chance to get them, I devour them almost immediately.

I wouldn't buy a book that I didn't intend to read soon. That could leave me without the money to buy something that I did want to read when I wanted to read it. And I guess I'm not a fan of deferred gratification. If the book is here and I particularly want to read it, it will get read; one way or another it will get read.

Earlier in my life I suffered though quit a few period of temporary unemployment due to cutbacks. They lasted anywhere between 2 weeks to over a year. during some of those times I didn't have the resources to buy books. Aside from my temporary retirement four years ago when my company shut its doors (I did draw a full pension for that period of time) I been working solid for 22 years. But I have more than 200 books and 70 or so ebooks in my stockpile just in case. I have no intention of ever being stuck again. I guess it depends on your perspective. My goal is to read them all before I die. Since I keep buying them I have intentions to live a long time.