It’s once again time for my favorite feature: Tackling the TBR! There’s nothing I love more than picking out which books to read next, and this slightly organized method of reading has really amped my enjoyment to the next level. Bring on the mantras!
Read the best books first.
&
Life is too short to read books you’re not enjoying.
However you put together your TBR for the next month, the goal is to reduce the amount of obligation in reading and increase the fun.
Here’s a look at how the system works:
1. Identify the titles that take top priority in your TBR.
2. Combine them all in your own Tackling the TBR post.
3. Throughout the month pick from that pile as the mood strikes you. <-November 2017 I’m trying something new and reading them in a specific, carefully pre-determined order. <-Going back to how I was doing it before.
Here’s what mine looks like:
March 2018 TBR Tackler Shelf:
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- [July 17, 2018] Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen
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- Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong
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- The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley
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- Nexus by Scott Westerfeld
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- [March 1, 2018] Last Dragon Standing
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- Sword-Bound by Jennifer Roberson
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- Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
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- Skullsworn by Brian Staveley
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- Eulalia by Brian Jacques
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- Red Tide by Marc Turner
My new strategy of reading high-priority books in a carefully pre-determined order is … not working. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the highly structured nature of the system that let me down (I actually liked not having the pressure of choosing my next reads), but the sporadic availably of most of the books. Because I was reliant on library checkouts for at least 75% of my titles, that means I was at the mercy of those in line ahead of me (where they would either keep the books the max time, or return them early… either way they screwed up my system constantly). I’m the type of personality that if I set my mind to a system, I want to stick to it perfectly. So after the 5th or 6th book I had to start out of order, I realized the only way I could get this to work was if I was only reading owned books… not going to happen. Not to mention many of my titles were for Buddy Reads, which start on specific dates. Long story short, I’m back to setting my list for high priorities and reading them as they become available. :D I’m very excited for Nyxia Unleashed, so between that and finishing out the Unhewn Throne series, March has a lot to look forward to.
Niki’s Incomplete Series Challenge [Via Fantasy Buddy Reads]
Niki’s February 2018 Progress Update:
Series Finished: 2
Darkest Mercy – Melissa Marr
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories – Rae Carson
Series Brought UTD: 2
Spectacle – Rachel Vincent
Child of a Mad God – R.A. Salvatore
Series Progressed: 5
The Providence of Fire – Brian Staveley
Tricked – Kevin Hearne
The Demon Spirit – R.A. Salvatore
Teckla – Steven Brust
Dime Store Magic – Kelley Armstrong
New Series Started: 1
Child of a Mad God – R.A. Salvatore
Dayfall – Michael David Ares
Abandoned: 1
Dayfall – Michael David Ares
YTD Totals:
Finished Series: 3
Up To Date Series: 5
Series Progressed: 10
New Series Started: 3
Abandoned: 2
Because I’ve been focused on my goal of getting under 20 open series (by July 2018, which I slaughtered), I’m now sitting pretty with 15 open series (not counting the UTD stuff). My next goal is to get under 10. :)
What books are you Tackling this month? Even if you don’t specifically use my system, feel free to share your versions of how you manage your TBR pile (and the links to your posts if applicable) in the comments. :)
The Obsessive Bookseller 
Hopefully your return to your previous way will work out for you :-)
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Thank you. :) I’m disappointed that I can’t make the other one work, but I can always try it again later when I get bored with this one. 😂
How are you doing?
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On the mend, thanks for asking. Sadly, these first 2 months are going to leave their mark on the rest of year in one way or another.
Reading wise, I’m stronger than ever! I’ve been following a friend over on Librarything as she reads through the Wheel of Time and now I’m all excited to add it to my tbr as a re-read for next year or so.
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I am glad to hear that. :) I think there’s no shame in pretending those 2 months don’t exist and starting off your “year” in March. It’s like a fiscal year… or maybe a bookstooge year.
That’s cool!! I’ve been slowly (and painfully, I might add) making my way through that series for the first time. Last night I got all angry at the series that were stressing me out and threw them into abandonment. WoT was an unfortunate casualty that I might pull back out at some point. I’ve been focused too much on series completion, I want to do some reread this year too. :)
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Thanks, that’s not a bad way of looking at it.
As for WoT, if you don’t like it the first time, I really wouldn’t bother spending time trying it again. I’ve yet to come across anyone who changed their mind upon another perusal.
*double thumbs up to re-reading*
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WoT is a decent series, I just feel a little stressed pulling time away from books I’m actually loving to spent a 1000 pages on it every few months. It feels like I’m just phoning it in and not really getting anything out of it. The next br for it doesn’t start until the end of the month, so I’ll wait and see if I’m in a better mood by then. For the record, I don’t think my opinion of the series itself will change either. For some reason I have it in my head that I have to get through it to become established as a well-rounded specfic reader. It’s a weird compulsion lol.
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Ahhh, one of those compulsion things. I wonder if ANY serious reader can avoid having them?
Nahhhh :-)
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Haha see! You get it. :)
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I feel your pain about relying on the Library! I ran into that same problem with one of the reading challenges I tried a few years ago that was a little too specific. I’m trying to be more proactive about putting books on hold while focusing on reading those books that are already available at the library. I usually check at the start of the month and then once midway through to see if I need to re-evaluate. But it’s hard when you build up a certain book and then don’t get to read it.
Good luck this month :)
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Thank you for feeling my pain! I just can’t do the things I want to do if I’m reliant on other people lol. I figure if I just go back to this “pick from the board” method, at least something is always going to be available.. right? 😁😩
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