I mean, she wasn’t wrong either.

Well, I just added another book to my TBR. My grandma was the librarian when I was a kid. By age 12, I’d left the kid books in the dust. At that point, I’d read every Dean Koontz and John Saul book in the place. I’d tackled some of Robin Cook’s stuff and was making my way through Stuart Woods. The one and only time my grandmother ever came close to censoring what I read was in high school when I checked out Flowers in the Attic because everyone in school was talking about it. She didn’t bat and eye when I brought it up and checked it out to me. She couldn’t quite hold back the little mutter under her breath though. She said, “That woman is one sick puppy.” She let me have the book though and a couple more in the series afterward. Her little grumble was enough to clue me in that the relationships in the book were not normal which was all I needed to read the book in the right mindset.

Parents should have an idea what their kids are reading and be willing to talk about anything their kid comes to them with. If there’s something in a book that the parent thinks the kid needs some front loading on, they should do so in as brief a way as possible. There are very few books that should actually be denied to kids and those should just be a not yet rather than never.

I read this after The Count of Monte Cristo. I was, shall we say, underwhelmed.

Most of my TBR is in the $0-2 range. At that price, the gamble of a TBR pile is worth it.

Exactly. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants girl, myself.

Oh, that sounds fun. I once convinced my library to do a mystery book display where they wrapped the books in brown paper with only the barcode to check out showing. Then they wrote the genre and four of five descriptive words on the paper. I laughed my head off when I brought my prize home, ripped it open and realized I’d read that book the year before.

Organize? What is this organize you speak of? Seriously, though, my husband has relegated me to one decorative box about twice the size of a shoe box for books in our bedroom (don’t worry, folks, he built four very nicely sized, floor-to-ceiling, built-in bookshelves for me in the living room). The box is where I put unread books (mostly, sometimes they end up on my nightstand too). Of course, I can very creatively stack them until they either fall over (I’ve had lots of Tetris practice) or reach the light switch (at which point my husband cries foul). This is, obviously, not counting all the unread books sitting on my Kindle (hundreds because of Prime First Reads and r/freebooks ). There’s also my Libby account where I may or may not have a list of books on hold waiting for my phone to ping that one is ready.

Truly, though, other than Libby books which I read right away because otherwise the hold and loan expire and I have to wait again, I tend to go wherever whim may take me. I am very much a mood reader and I read a bit from most genres (some genres more heavily than others, of course). When I’m looking for a book and don’t already have the next in mind, I peruse my TBR pile to see what catches my interest. If my TBR is getting a bit crazy, I look at what’s been there the longest to decide if it stays or goes without ever being read at all. I figure if I’ve passed it up enough times, its time is gone and it can fly away. I don’t tend to spend much on books (hello free libraries, Dollar Tree, and friends). If I’ve bought a book full price, it’s generally at the top of the pile and gets read quickly.

As far as how many I read at a time, that varies as well. I generally have at least one book (physical or Kindle) and one audiobook going at the same time. I listen to the audiobook while walking and sometimes while driving. Audiobooks are strictly one at a time. Book books are sometimes one at a time, sometimes more. Occasionally, I have a book that I don’t want to leave the house like if a friend loaned it to me and I want to make sure it doesn’t get messed up. In that case, I might have a couple going so I can read something outside the house too. Sometimes, I need to have something that’ll fit in my pocket (Kindle) while I have other book(s) going elsewhere. I also technically have multiple books going all the time as I have a couple of books of short stories that I’ll pick up here and there and read one story either as a palate cleanser, waiting for another book to be available, or while I’m indecisive. I do try to make sure all the books I’m reading or listening to are different though to make it easier to keep the stories separate (it sucks when I mess this up). Right now, in addition to two short story books I’m slowly working through, I’m listening to Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, and reading two books - The Hunger Games and American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper.

You might try listening to them instead. I find that some non-fiction, especially science based ones, are better to listen to because the terminology will sometimes trip me up and slow my reading rate which affects how well I follow the book and how much concentration the read takes. Audiobooks solve that problem and I enjoy the book.

I try not to get stuck in a rut too much. My jam is fantasy/dark but I make sure if I’ve read too many in a row that I switch it up for sci-fi, historical, romance, non-fiction, classics, mystery/thriller, etc. I think it helps me keep interested and reading as much as I do. (On book 128 for the year!)

My first thought is what kind of books are you reading. I find that some books are full of fascinating movies for me and others there’s absolutely nothing. Most books are flashes almost more like looking at pictures rather than a movie. A lot of it comes down to the type of book, speed of the story, and reading level of the book.