I know I’m not the only one when I say my To Read Pile is out of hand, and not in a good way. Between physical ARCs (not that many), Digital ARCs (too many) and physical books (sooo many), I sometimes feel like the books are choosing me more than I’m choosing them. Sure, I did want to read that book like six months ago, but do I still want to read it now?  Lots of books and not enough time, here are some simple steps I’m taking to reduce the guilt I feel over my To Read pile.

  1. Stop Buying Books (duh) – No brainer, I know. In the past, I made exceptions. But right now I am very confident that I can spend the rest of the year reading the books I already have.

Solution: Libraries

I love my local library. It’s only a block from where I work and it has a beautiful selection of books. It also has a really generous new book section that I browse regularly.

2. Color Me Bright – I love lists. I’m the type of person who color coordinates my office files. It comes as no surprise that I also like creating lists, and crossing things off. One of the reasons I’m having such a hard time with digital review books is because I forget about them! My kindle goes everywhere with me but of course, I have review books in various lists and no master list to be able to browse. Therefore, I have a harder time showing progress and showcasing the books I still have to do.

Solution: Colored Digital Review List

This weekend I’m going to create a colored digital review list (think bulletpoint journal) that I’m going to hang up in my room. It will be all of my digital ARCs I have to review. I’m excited to see them all in one place and start conquering them!

3. Bye Bye Sequel Syndrome – For a while, I was buying multiple books in a series in the event that I needed to get my hands on the next book. Honestly, this rarely happened. In most cases, I read the first book, didn’t like it, and ended up giving away two or even three books at a time. I also have a couple of series that I’ve started and have had no desire to finish. While this might be sad, it’s also really common and I’ve held onto these books, thinking I will “someday” finish the series.

Solution: Be Truthful.

I will most likely not finish the series if I haven’t already. I’ll be reading book one from now on. And if I really need book two, the Kindle store is open all night.

4.       In Search Of… – Books are a huge part of my identity and are also a physical look at my hopes and future plans. That said, I am also going to go through my books and Kondo the shit out of them.

Solution: Look Inward.

Do I think I’ll re-read them? Maybe? Toss. Do I need that sock knitting book when I hate knitting socks? Nope. Maybe one day I will love knitting socks. (I won’t.) But if that day arrives, I can find the book at the library.

5.       Pack It Up! – There are a lot of books in my house and I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to read them and the resources to have access to even more. Sometimes though this can feel overwhelming and I think I need a way to bring focus and space to my life.

Solution: On Hold

I’ll be putting at least a couple of boxes of books in storage in the garage and I bought underbid storage last month and a lot of books went there too. This will allow me to focus on the books I have left in my library, and hopefully I will feel satisfied as the limited stack whittles down.  I can still access these other books whenever I want, but the main goal is to create space and focus. Once that stack is gone, I can grab one of the boxes and bring it in, like I’m shopping my own stash.

We’ll see how it goes! Wish me luck!