TBR or not TBR

What to do?

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that their TBR pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!  Whether the pile is actual books, or virtual ones, if it's anything like mine, it keeps growing exponentially.  I decided a few days ago that if I couldn't clear my actual pile any faster, I could at least prune my virtual list. 

I am a huge fan of Goodreads, and I use it almost daily, and unfortunately my TBR list in there had reached the giddy heights of 574 titles.   Now I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get through that lot, even if I stop actually adding to it.  So, I decided to do something about it.  The first thing I noticed was that I had added volumes 2, 3 etc of series that I hadn't even read volume 1 of.  Scratch them off the list, well delete them anyway.  I kept looking and decided if there were titles by authors whose books I hadn't liked previously, chances were, I wouldn't like others - so deleted they were.  Then I went through and deleted any titles that were over 18 mths old.  I figured if I hadn't got to them by now, well time to say goodbye. 

I carried on and I thought I was doing well, deletion after deletion going into my recycle bin.  I figured I had to have my list down to reasonably manageable 200 or so - no such luck.  By the time I had deleted everything I thought I had the remotest chance of not reading I had reached the wonderful total of 400!  I had managed to get rid of 174 titles, which I reckon is pretty good going, but it still left me with 400! 

Am I ever likely to get through them all.  Probably not.  I seem to add at least 5 new titles a week and I only manage to read 2 -3 - which isn't bad really when you consider I work and I have a family, but it is still woefully short of the 1 a day I would have to read if I ever want to get caught up.  All I can say is, it's a good job this pile isn't for real.  It's so easy to click a button and rid myself of a potential good book, it's a completely different story when the pile is for real!  If I mention that my non-virtual  pile has been growing for about 20 years, does that give you an idea of how large it is?  Does anyone have any pruning tips for me? 

OK, I'm off to tackle the real thing. Wish me luck :)


PS Just in case anyone is interested, my total book list on Goodreads is just under 2,000 and I still have about 15 years worth of titles to add to it - eventually.  I'm too busy reading right now to add any more old ones, but I'll be in the right mood one day and I'll finish it.  I've been keeping a book diary since I was 17 and it's getting pretty lengthy!