How big is your wishlist/TBR pile? How do you choose books?

I recently went through and did some "spring cleaning" on my wishlist - all the books that grabbed my interest somewhere along the way and I put on the list to check out at some point. The list was kind of getting out of control, and some of the books have been on that list since I was in high school (I'm now... 27.) Some of the books were put on the list when I was really into a certain genre/topic that I'm no longer that interested in, and others I have no CLUE why I put them on there because it's been so long.

Do you ever find your TBR list to be overwhelming?

I find I am a little obsessive-compulsive about books in general. I think I am still stuck on the whole "there are so many books I will never read" that it just paralyzes me when I try to find something. I spend a WHOLE lot of time trying to research books that are going to be worth my time. Then other times I like to just wander around the library and pick something, but when I do, I can't find anything. UGH!

Seriously, I can never relax and just enjoy what I am reading because I am too busy obsessing about what I am going to read next. Surely I'm not alone... right??

When I start obsessing about all the books I NEED to read I generally stop and refuse to read for a day or 2 ( that is usually long enough and I have a hard time NOT reading for longer than that). Usually I just have to try to focus on one book and I'm fine.

As far as my wishlist and TBR, they are fairly big. I have about 100 TBR (I own them but haven't read them) and about another 200 or so listed on my WikiThing page, and I would guess around another 3-500 I've heard about and would like to read someday and recognize the titles when I hear them.

when Collections finally show up my wish list is might finally have some sort of organization!

I completely know what you mean, which is partly why I joined librarything, to stay organized and create a visual, manageable goal. I'm trying to keep little goals..like read one book at a time, and not judge how fast I'm reading it or what's going to be next...just enjoying the present moment and the particular book. It's hard though, my TBR list is large, but not nearly as large as 500, wow! I also focus on what mood I'm in in the moment, and try not to put pressure on myself to pick "a particular book because I SHOULD read it because it's a classic", or whatever. Keep having fun with it, and when you feel paralyzed, just accept it, let it go, and start reading!

About half the books I own are on my TBR pile, plus there are others I want to read but do not own. The list keeps growing, and I'll never get through them all *sigh*.
When looking for something to read I usually stand in front of my bookshelf and glance over the titles until I find something to suit my mood. And sometimes I pick something I've already read, which doesn't help with the backlog at all.

You inspired me to go through my wish list and pare it down. I bought a "Books to Read" journal and have been listing books in it for quite a while. Going through it I've found books I did buy and just didn't mark off, books that I have listed twice, and one listed three times. Houston is having it's "Friends of the Library" sale the week after Easter and I want to be prepared.

I like to keep at least half a dozen books on the TBR pile, as a buffer against lean periods when there's no money to spend on books. My wish list is never very long as, when I've got the money, I tend to buy the books straightaway.

Over the last couple years (hmmm, about the same length of time I've been on LT) my physically owned tbr pile of books has swelled to around 290. I also have another 200+ on my Amazon wish lists. I try not to think about it because it is very overwhelming.

Bigger than me! Guessing around 300! *sigh*

My "To Be Read" tag is at 141 books right now. *siiiiigh*

And yes, I know exactly what you mean, It's totally overwhelming sometimes. I have all my TBR books in a huge box (don't have any shelves), and sometimes I'll spend like 20 minutes searching through it and I have no idea which one to pick next.... And I always feel pressured (just my own internal pressure) to read the ones I've had the longest, but I find they are the ones that usually don't appeal to me much anymore, but I don't want to give them away because dangit I got them for a reason!

..... Yeah.

My wishlist is roughly 250 books, I don't have them all entered on LT yet. Why not? 'Cause I get overwhelmed easily (see above). lol

My TBR pile is ginormous due to the years I spent as a part-timer at B&N. Basically, anything in my library I haven't rated I consider TBR.

I never plan ahead on my reading. When I do, I feel like I'm forcing myself to read a book and I will enjoy it less.

I've noticed that usually when I have a day or two left of reading in my current book (I only read one book at a time and don't spend nearly enough time reading), the little librarian in my head will say 'Hey, remember that book you picked up about blah, blah, blah? Well, that sounds pretty interesting right now.' and I will read that book next.

I used to think that having 6-8 books in my TBR was sufficient ... more if possible of course. But since joining LT, TBR books number in the hundreds.I too, consider it a buffer against a rainy day, hard times, etc. That is much better than just acknowledging that I have totally lost my mind .

I only have books I own at the moment on the Librarything under this name
But I have another list under another name (A free one) for books that look interesting but I can't get my hands on at the moment.

If it ever gets up to 250, I'll know it's time to start paring it down

I too, am well over 300 TBR titles. I spend way too much time pouring through LT Groups picking out titles. I should probably be reading instead, but it's fun!

I also grab a lot of the Recommendations off my own profile. LT knows me very well. It is scary how that works!

I’ve accumulated ~300 unread books and have found it helps to assign priorities (1 to 9) to my {to read} tags, e.g, {to read: 1}. When finding a book to read, I start with the 1’s, then the 2’s etc. until something looks good. Books get moved up and down in priority with time.

I just counted the actual books in my TBR pile and it's at 116. I then checked my wish lists - I have two, one for books I plan on buying, and another for books I plan on reading from the library. Both my lists number over 500, and I am constantly adding to them. I am quite random in my choosing of what to read next, usually going for whatever appeals at the moment, except that I try to get the library ones read and back in circulation in a timely fashion. I look at this on-going, never-ending lust for books as a good thing - if you have to have an obsession - this one is pretty harmless.

15: Wooooah, that's exactly what my mom says! Whenever the subject of my book piles comes up, she always says, "well, there are much worse habits to have!" lol

Oh, wish my mom said that. Thank goodness I don't listen to her anymore...!

"That is much better than just acknowledging that I have totally lost my mind ." Sounds good to me although I think I have totally lost my mind. I think there are about 130 to 150 books on my TBR shelves in my living room. And I keep going to the library. And ordering from Amazon. And browsing my favorite indy (The Tattered Cover, in Denver) and it just grows and grows. I've recently become quite certain I will die before I finish all these books.

Part of my problem is that when I'm really scanning the shelves I want something light and I tend not to buy light -- only heavy. I know I'm not going to re-read any of those mysteries I consider palate cleansers so I get them from the library. But then when I *need* a palate cleanser, my shelves are... bare of them.

According to my tags I have about 190 books on my shelves waiting to be read :) And two more in the post!

..... I added roughly 50 books to my LT catalogue last night, having decided to shove all my wishlist books into here and not wait any longer for collections.

..... it's made me uncomfortably aware of how scary/insane/dark most of my wishlisted books are.

17: I won't let myself go to the library anymore. I banned myself from checking out library books until I get some of my TBR books read. lol

I have noticed that most everyone on LT tags the books they want to read 'TBR' (sorry for pointing out the obvious).
However, I don't keep a TBR list, or pile, or specific tag for those books. I have a VERY bad habit of needing to own all the books I read. I have a nice stock of books that are 'TBR'. (There are a large number of books that I have read and do not own, and it drives me mad. I do not catalog those on here either). So, I just come into my own little library and browse.
My biggest problem is not being able to decide what to read next. I can spend several days trying to figure out what kind of reading mood I'm in. Which is stupid, because by the time I finally pick something up, I could have read THREE books in the time I was trying to decide.

How does one choose books generally at a library or in a bookstore? This is an interesting process, worthy of a scientific paper.
Many different factors come into play, but the end result is that the book "shines," appeals to you, is the one.
Recently, I have wondered if it is possible not to notice a book because you lack knowledge, you don't know its worth.
I'm still dazed in such places.
This always happened so naturally.

I have about 3,000 books in my LT library. I'm going to make a rough guess that I've read 25% of them. So the rest constitute my overall TBR pile! I have a 3-way process for choosing which book to read next.

1) I read one book from this large TBR stack, sometimes just browsing the shelves until something jumps out at me, sometimes even using the "Random Book from Your Library" function here on LT. 2) I read a book from my "short TBR stack" which consists of books I've been given as gifts (I liked to get to them sooner rather than later), series I'm in the middle of and specific books I've purchased recently with the intention of getting to them in relatively short order.
3) Pre-Covid, this was the time in my rotation I would go to a bookstore to buy a book to read immediately. During Covid, I've replaced this step with reading a book from a list of books on African American history and racism in America that a good friend of mine compiled and sent around several months ago. I'm around halfway through that list now.

I see that I too have somewhere around 3,000 books listed as being in my library. I should do some clean up, because I’ve been deaccessioning like mad the last couple of years and only tagging them, not changing collections. However, as I’m moving to another house, I’m finding old stashes that still haven’t been cataloged either.
My library building has been haphazard and opportunistic over the decades. More like the way an alcoholic makes sure of a plentiful supply. I certainly don’t have to own everything I read. I’m a heavy user of the public libraries.

I’ve probably read 1/3rd of what I own. I have no TBR plan at all. I’m led by the moment and propinquity.