I’ve been pondering what to do with my Fridays since I discontinued the Friday Favorite Five meme. I do eventually plan to join in with another meme, but for now I think I’ve figured out a way to fill Fridays around here, for a while at least.
As some of you probably saw last Friday, I have a HUGE TBR pile. I’ll be going through my physical books over the next few months and deciding which ones I want to keep on my TBR and which ones I want to purge from my bookshelves forever. The way I plan on doing this is going over a group of books each week. I have roughly 655 physical books (the ones I’m really concerned about) so this series should be about 25-30 posts long. I’ll be using a random number generator to go choose books from my list, that will keep it from being a bunch of the same author’s books in a row. If a book is part of a series (there are some parts where I have acquired several books of the series and haven’t started the series) I’ll only list the first book.
My plan is also to go through several groups at once and pre-schedule some of these posts. If all goes according to plan then I’ll probably finish up going through my shelves long before this post series ends, but I am also essentially a lazy person so I guess we’ll just see how things go. 🙂 Also, I’d like to give a shout-out to Mary from Sophril Reads for spending the time to go over her own TBR management and book purge process–it’s been really helpful! Thanks so much! (If you’re not already following her blog, please check it out.)
As far as ‘how many’ books I want to purge–I don’t have a number in mind. I just want fewer books on my TBR and I want to be realistic with myself and what books I’m actually still interested in reading and plan to get around to. What am I going to do with the books I purge? Well, a lot are used books and may be well-loved copies. Those I will probably give away to friends nearby who like to read, the left-overs from that I’ll probably donate where I can. If I decide to purge any titles that are in good condition then I might host a giveaway for those here or possibly use them for r/fantasy bingo prizes–it depends how many I have and what condition they’re in.
Going through a TBR list is nothing new or original, but since this is sorting through my actual pile of physical books I think I’m okay to make it into a new temporary feature–until I get all the sorting done. 🙂
So, that’s it, that’s my plan. I hope that you’ll enjoy watching me go through this journey of cleaning up my shelves over the next few months!
Way Too Fantasy 
This is a great idea! I’m looking forward to seeing your books. I personally have no reason to purge my book collection (although my husband would disagree!) But I do like seeing other bloggers go through the process😁
Thanks, Tammy! Hah! The only reason I’m purging mine (just a trim really) is because I’m starting to run low on space and also having so much *stuff* is starting to kick my anxiety up so I think going through and clearing some things out will make me feel a bit better. 🙂
Super idea, Lisa… I need better organization on my Kindle and it would be a good idea to do it like once a month. You have inspired me!
Thanks, Paul! Thankfully my kindle app isn’t too much of a mess right now, but I’m sure that can get out of hand quickly with all the ebook deals out there all the time. 🙂
I get three emails a day with ebook deals… and I buy em waaaaaaay faster than I can read them.
That’s a lot! I’m only signed up for bookbub and that already adds to my ebooks a lot lol.
This is a good idea – good luck with it and I can’t wait to see how you get on.
Lynn 😀
Thanks, Lynn! I’m excited to start going through my TBR and narrowing things down. 🙂
Holy moly!!! I feel much better about my tbr right now haha. Looking forward to these posts!
Lol, glad I could help 😉
Thanks!
This is a great idea. I know a lot of blogs have a “what I added to my TBR this week” feature, but I definitely need a “what I need to remove from my to-read shelf” meme before things get too out of hand! Oh who am I kidding, they are already out of hand, lol.
Lol right! There is a weekly meme for Tuesdays, I forget what it’s called, but it’s basically to remove book from your goodreads TBR (want to read) list. Which doesn’t help me because most of my goodreads TBR are books I don’t own yet. Also Tuesdays don’t work for me anyway, that’s usually when I post reviews. 🙂 But that one is always an option too!
I’m really looking forward to purging. Even if I only remove 50-100 books it will still help me reduce this pile of books I need to read, lol.
Physically parting with books sounds like something of a painful process… Even though we might not actually re-read them, still it’s difficult – although giving them new homes with trusted friends might make one feel more positive about the decision… 🙂
Weirdly enough once I make a decision to part with something I have no regrets and am fine with the process. That being said it’s probably only going to be a small chunk that gets purged in the end, but we’ll see how it goes, maybe I’ll surprise myself! 🙂
SOOOO excited for this. Bring it. Arrrr!
x The Captain
I’m excited to get to it! Already looking forward to next Friday. 🙂
Good Luck! I really should do a quick purge of my shelves and admit I’m not going to read some of them…they’ve just been sitting on the shelf so long it feels wrong to remove them, you know what I mean? 😅
Oh, believe me, I know exactly what you mean. 🙂
I sometimes do the Down the TBR Hole meme to purge my Goodreads TBR. Haven’t done it in a while though, so thanks for the reminder. I’ll lookout for your posts.
I thought about that one but it’s not my goodreads TBR shelf that’s an issue for me lol. I just need to go through all these books in my house. 🙂
Good luck purging your goodreads list! 🙂
I think people do it for their physical TBRs; it’s up to the person. I do it for my Goodreads because I needed to remove some stuff.
Ah, that makes sense. I’ve only seen people doing it for their gr TBR but I’ll admit only like 4 or 5 bloggers I follow do that meme so I probably haven’t run into it.