I don’t usually keep a TBR, but I have one right now because I have a number of books I want to finish before year-end, and my strategy is simply not reading anything that’s not on that list unless or until everything is finished. I expect it to take me pretty much right up to December 31st or a couple of days before.
I will say, I see the massive TBRs people have on Goodreads and it just seems pointless and stupid. I don’t see what value a 1000+ book TBR has if you only read 20 books a year.
I imagine the big difference between reported numbers comes down to what’s considered a book for that specific survey. Do they count reading Goodnight Moon to your kids? How about cookbooks? Comic books? Really short books? Is this a book?
Also people like me fuck up the statistics a lot.
No, and that’s why I’m not opposed to reading unfinished series the way a lot of people are these days. It’s not remotely uncommon for me to read a book (or even multiple in a series) and like it, but not like it enough to continue the series.
About 4-6 hours a day, except less on Saturday because that’s my bust-ass day for errands, meal prep, and cleaning - I like to take care of all my weekly household requirements batch-style so the rest of the week is really easy. I still read a bit on Saturday but not six hours.
I turn wasted time to reading time. Read on my lunch break, read on the bus, read while waiting in line or waiting for people. My chore load at home is really low because I have a batch system where everything is taken care of on the weekend (cooking, cleaning, errands) in a really efficient way. I also have a short walking commute to work, don’t work overtime, and don’t watch tv or have a smartphone.
Nope. My interest in books is exclusively reading them - I don’t care at all about browsing, buying, owning, or displaying them. I almost never reread anything, primarily use the library, and only buy physical books when I’m travelling (and we’re talking like maybe two books a year from that).
Right now I’d say it’s this strange work by a priest in 1600s Germany, Cautio Criminalis by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld. It’s nonfiction, and basically just a really interesting and convoluted argument against the witch trials that were commonplace at the time. His reasoning is really interesting because it needs to be logically and theologically sound, but also oppose widely accepted and standard church practice, so it’s a bit of a dance to say the least.
I wish my parents had pushed classics more when I was a kid, because the children’s classics I’ve read as an adult have been so unbelievable charming and lovely and just leagues above Pee Wee Scouts and whatever other crap I was reading when I was six or seven. I also have a ton of gaps in my reading with regards to popular books and classics, though I’m hoping to focus on that with my reading in 2024.
I was actually surprisingly unpicky as a child reader, probably because I didn’t have anywhere near the selection to choose from as I do today - small town, no bookstores, teeny library. My books were mostly stuff pushed at me by other people.
I bought the Kobo version (the full 71 volume one) for a couple of bucks and the formatting seems fine, though I haven’t read much yet.
I usually prefer to read back to back, but these days it’s often not realistic to to having other stuff to read library hold times. If I’m working on a series, I try to read at least one book in the series per week. Right now I’m working on the Recluce series and reading 1-4 of them per week depending what other books I have in at the library.
I don’t read a lot of graphic novels, but I read Courage to Dream by Neal Shusterman a few days ago and really liked it.
If I like a series and the books aren’t too long I can do a book a day. If I’m obsessed with a series, slightly more, like three in two days, sometimes two a day, but that means virtually everything else in my life gets put on the backburner.
Prolific, yes, exclusively new releases, no, if you’re prolific enough. I read 23 on the list so far, out of 346 total books so far, and I do still plan to read two more before the voting ends (Bookshops and Bonedust, and System Collapse, both on hold at the library).
You could also be medium-prolific and get a lot of hits if you mostly read specific genres.
My policy is that if I’ve only read one book in a category, I don’t vote in that category unless I thought the book was just amazing. Ideally I like to have at least four in a category.
This year I’d only read 23 across all categories, which is way less than normal. I’ll probably try some other ones from the longlists in the new year.
I’m SO GLAD they finally split romantasy out of fantasy. I like both, but they’ve diverged enough that they have totally different fanbases and I really think it makes sense for them to be separate categories.
I was surprised they axed graphic novels, poetry, and children’s books, though I don’t generally read any of that so I’ve never voted. If I was in charge I would change up the nonfiction to lump together the biography/autobiography/memoirs, have a separate category for science, and then have all other nonfiction books together.
My votes:
I read a certain amount of fun trashy stuff (my Monday book this week was A Fire in the Flesh, and I enjoyed it a lot) but I balance it out with more adult stuff and nonfiction. I would feel kind of silly if as a 37 year old I read mostly/entirely trash, but some here and there isn’t a big deal. Same with stuff like children’s books.
Up to $20 for a physical book if it doubles as a cool souvenir to bring home from an overseas trip (so it’s got a nice cover and is sturdy). For ebooks, about $12 if it’s a new release by an author I already really like, but preferably single digits, and low single digits if it’s a new to me author.
I don’t care at all about special editions or signed copies or whatever.
Also, I’m surprised that multiple people in this thread apparently think r/books subscribers have never heard of libraries.