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.

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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.

Here’s what mine looks like:

January 2022 TBR Tackler Shelf:

I have so many books I’m eager to get to. If I’m not careful, I’ll send myself into another burnout. I was absolute shit in December at reading one book at a time – I double booked myself at the beginning of the month and started a bunch of titles at once, then proceeded to spend the remainder of the month digging myself out of that reading hole. One thing led to another and I let the highest priority book for the month expire at the library before I had a chance to finish it. Oye.

New year, new goals. Now that I have a fresh taste of what getting bogged down by too many titles at once feels like, I can approach January a little more thoughtfully. I have a buddy read for the Wayward Children books and another for the first Cradle novel and yet another for the next Vlad Taltos novel. And one obligation read in the form of “Far From the Light of Heaven” by Thompson for Audiofile magazine. And Doors of Sleep for my book club. It seems like a lot. I’m perhaps not being thoughtful enough. Beyond that, I will be continuing Age of Ash (my top priority) and Trouble with Peace (it will happen this month).

These are the carefully laid plans to continue series and be present for the commitments I’ve made. However, with the turn of the year and all of the inevitable goal setting that gets done, I slowly realized that most of my TBR this month are obligation reads to one degree or another. Most I actually want to read, mind you, but they’re perhaps not the most enticing books in my TBR…

So I’ve compiled two lists this month. The first one is a list of titles I feel like I should read. The following is a list of books that caught my eye that I’m feeling eager to start:

Books I have my eye on…

I’m trying to figure out why I’m not allowing myself to pick any of these up. When downsizing my incomplete series a few years ago, I got really mindful about adding too many new ones per month, and so always make a concerted effort to progress and finish more than I start. However, I think those habits I’ve nurtured are now working against me – I don’t feel free to pick up series on a whim unless they’re for a proposed buddy read. I might practice loosening up a bit this month by just diving into one of these books. It feels weird, lol. Ultimately, it will depend on if I finish Last Graduate and Trouble with Peace in time, because those are definitely not feeling like obligation reads. Everything else is expendable.

I’ll let you how it goes in next months post.

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Have a great month in reading!

by Niki Hawkes