How high is your TBR pile??

I was just wondering how high most people's To Be Read pile is? I'm enthralled by this because I think most book-obsessed people buy books at a faster rate than they can read them. So....at what point to be ever get to lessen the size of the pile?? Will we ever reach the end?

So far I have got

The Sword of Shannara

London: The Biography

To School Through the Fields

Sarum

And about 20 others at my mum's that I can't list cos I'm not there!!!

So.....how high is your TBR pile and whats on it? What is going to skip its place and go to the top? What keeps going to the bottom? What is your next read?

Happy counting!!

Well it's about ten books high at first sight :

The sorrows of an American
The Enchantress of Florence
Eloge des Voyages insensés
The Black prince
The blood of Flowers
Prière à la lune
Une vie bouleversée
Fahrenheit 451
The blind owl
Silbermann

Add to this that :

1. I have 10 days left to finish Pan and Anthologie de la poésie persane which I've borrowed from the public library,

2. yesterday I borrowed Mandelstam's poems and La peinture persane from said library (isn't it a damn nuisance that we French people can afford so many days off?),

3. This morning a friend lent me Ennemis publics tacitly implying that I should have red it by Sunday night (360 pages and neither Michel Houellebecq nor Bernard-Henri Lévi are my cuppa),

4. I have just started Le livre du rire et de l'oubli which has been waiting on its shelf since 2004,

5. This week the pocket edition of Istanbul
has arrived, and I have ordered Atonement and The Half-brother,

6. I'm about 450 pages into Récits de la Kolyma : only a thousand pages left, and still one of my most disturbing and difficult reads ever,

and well, that makes quite a bundle. Hope it will be enough to comfront the impending economic crisis.

Lol.......I think that everyone else are too ashamed to even admit how high their piles are!!!

I worked out that I have about 20 books on my TBR pile at my mum's....with hopefully more on the way, and yet I was browsing on amazon earlier, happily filling my basket with a few books that I wanted that I found cheap, and my friend started to have a small go at me for having this many books, which then turned into a minor argument!!

Presumably I'm not the only one with family members that don't understand the need to have new books that we want, despite the ever growing height. She absolutely cannot comprehend why........even when they were at really cheap prices!!!

Please others, join us in extolling the wonders of the TBR ever-growing pile, and rejoice in the numbers you still have to read!

Don't be ashamed.........come on ;)

I probably have 75 books in my bookshelf by my reading chair. I know that there are at least 8 boxes of books in my bedroom and attic. That's probably another 250 or so books. The worst of my TBR pile is the 2 public libraries that are (1) up the street 2 blocks and (2) on my way home from work. I consider them TBR because I spend way too much time there and I read the books from the libraries before I tackle my own.

God, I have dozens of books in my TBR pile. As in almost two shelving units full of TBR books. I buy books way faster than I read them. It's an addiction, I think. Although, a lot of them were either given to me or bought at a wicked discount. But still... I don't know if I'll ever get through them all.

Okay, I am game. my TBR pile depends on how you categorize it:

5 books - on the top of my TBR pile as they have been checked out of the library and due back in less than two weeks
35 books - the requests I currently have for holds at the library (these reach the top of my TBR pile as they come in)
20 books - the books I own (including the three I purchased this morning) that I haven't gotten around to reading just yet.

By tomorrow, these numbers will change, usually increasing as opposed to decreasing :-)

Anyone else?

In my pre-Lt days I would have 5 to 10 books on my TBR pile. Since Joining Lt it's grown to 20 to 30 range. Once it got up to 50, but I try not to let that happen again.

Like #7 in my pre LT days I would have 5 - 10 books TBR. I also didn't read as much... Yesterday I joined the 999 challenge. Read 9 books each from 9 categories in in 2009, 81 in total. Now while my selections weren't all from my TBR most were and I easily could have. Therefore I know I now have approximately 100 books in my TBR pile. Arrgghh.

Lol.......I think that everyone else are too ashamed to even admit how high their piles are!!!

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I don't think anyone here is ashamed, I think they're proud of their TBR stacks. :-) The previous thread on this topic has 284 posts to it. You can read all about everyone's TBR piles here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/26946

Personally I'm way beyond counting . . . I've brought a lot of books into my house since I last posted on this topic, and I haven't read nearly that many.

It's so high I don't know whether to get excited or depressed about it ;)

Verrry long! I just wrote down a book list yesterday actually and there are like 20 books on it that I want to read! Haha! I dont own all of them though. I will probably get some from the library.

As of today, I've got 54 books in my TBR piles in my house, and 10 at my in-laws, and 12 at my mom's ...... I buy books when I visit with them, and then I leave them at their houses so that I have something to read when I am visiting the weekends.

Embarrassingly, I still use our town library and will periodically bring a book or 2 home, but of course since I have to return them by a certain date, I will read those first, while the books in my TBR pile languish a little longer.

I wish I read more quickly .... no maybe not .. if I did, I would probably buy more, mooch more or borrow more books. I think I'm destined to always have piles of read and unread books lying around all over my house .. and other houses I sometimes reside in. Isn't it wonderful? :-) I'll never run out of something to read

758 of the books in my LT catalog don't have a "read" date, and I've done a fairly good job about going back and entering that data.

I would say about 50-80 or so of those are art books or cookbooks or reference books that I wouldn't catagorize as read but they're not TBR either.

And probably about 100 I've read but don't remember the read-date (so they don't get a date in LT).

That leaves about 578, or since I'm estimating, roughly 580 that I own TBR.

And growing! (I haven't entered the books I bought yesterday!)

Short answer: too many to read in this lifetime

Long answer:

It depends on how you count it.
5 that I have currently checked out of the library
9 that I have on hold at the library
54 that I actually own (this represents over 25% of my personal library)
125 that I have in a TBR list. This list includes 1 of the books I currently have out of the library and one that I own, which brings me to around 160, right? Then there's countless more that I keep in my head and am too overwhelmed to add to the list. (Usually it's a good overwhelmed feeling...I may never finish by TBR pile, but I'll never run out of books!)

So probably hundreds, plural. Somewhere around there.
And it grows faster than the "books I have read" list.

I am afraid to find out how big my TBR pile is.

I know I have zero library books to read and I have none on hold there.

Okay here goes:
6 books that I got today
1 on Friday

91 on the book case so far that is a total of 98 books TBR and that is just on the main floor not including books I have in my bedroom and the basement.

Ouch! Thats a lot.

I used to keep a nice, neat TBR pile selected from books I own but haven't read, arranged by category and doable during the year--sometimes I would carry one or two over to the next year. It also left plenty of room to explore books from the library or borrow from friends or buy new--reading about 50 to 80 books a year.

Then I discovered the talk threads on LT! My TBR mountain is all over the house! Too many to count. However, I function better without chaos and with a plan. I would like to reach 100 boos read this year and I now need 23 more to reach that goal. So this is now my TBR pile for 2008 (I'll worry about 2009 when it comes.)

Read the 4 books for Group reads I am still working on (Never again that many at once!--That's why I'm in trouble now!)

Finish Kristin Lavransdatter
Finish Three Cups of Tea
Start Orlando today
Start A Pirate of Exquisite Mind Nov. 3

2 books to finish:
1 Dead in Attic (great book!)
In the Heart of the Seas (library--just started but I think I will like it)

3 Series books for fun:
Where There's a Will (continuing my project of reading Nero Wolfe novels in order--I may read more than one before the end of the year!)
Reunion in Death (Eve Dallas) (library)
To Darkness and to Death (Claire Ferguson/Russ Alstyne) (library)

2 "Chicago" books (going there in November):
The Devil in the White City
Loving Frank (read mixed reviews, but I own it so I will try it)

1 Borrowed book I need to return:
Running Blind by Lee Child--I was encouraged to try another of his by Lt readers and by the friend who loaned this to me. I reserve the right to ditch it if I don't like it!

1 Book bought last year on the recommendation of a friend that I have put off too long:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

5 from my TBR pile that were recently bought and look like fun"
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society Lt recommended.
Monster: Living Off the Big Screen By John Gregory Dunne (he was Joan Didion's husband--maybe I should read The Year of Magical Thinking, too. I own it--it was given to me as a gift when my Mother died).
Messages from My Father by Calvin Trillin
Meet Me in St. Louis by Sally Benson
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon--I have never read him and think I should.

4 other possibilities
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle which I have had for a very long time.
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart which I hve had for not so quite as long a time--but long enough. I'm a piano teacher--I should read this!
A Georgette Heyer--I'm also on a quest to read all her books and I will really enjoy this.
Another mystery--freebie

I do reserve the right to pick up a "serious book" after I finish my group reads--in case I get bored "having fun." ;-) I also reserve the right to change my mind on any book that isn't a group read. I forgot to put a poetry book on the list! I may have to substitute--especially if a book isn't being "fun!" I want to read for fun for awhile.

24 feet high.

My books are tagged tbr, ntbr (reference, cookbooks, or not to be read for whatever reason), read, and started.

64 started
1401 read
755 ntbr
572 tbr

At an average of 1/2 inch per book (a conservative estimate - I have quite a few hardbacks), that is almost 24 linear feet of books.

Since I tag my books by location, my tbr books are scattered over every row in every shelf in every room.

Having this many tbr books does not, however, prevent me from getting MORE books! Nor does it depress me. It just is.

My TBR tag shows I have 54 books waiting for me. But last night I went to my parent's house, and my mom sent me home with about 4-5 books that have yet to be entered into LT.

>16 MusicMom41: MusicMom - I know it's not on your "fun" list, but I'm one of those who loved The Shadow of the Wind. So far it's one of my two favorite books of 2008 (the other being Fingersmith).

#18 Talbin

Actually I do expect it to be fun. I have been planning to read it all year--but once I got started on Lt it kept getting shunted down the pile as I added more TBRs. I've really enjoyed my reading this year--but the last month or so I suddenly started to feel sated with "worthwhile" reads and feel I need a little break. After all reading is my hobby--not my job! So it shouldn't feel like work. sometimes I forget that! (I do have to do reading for my job--but I don't journal that.)

If I really like it I will have to check out Fingersmith--since you mention them "in the same breath!" :-)

As I written elsewhere, I've pretty much given up on the notion of TBR, since such a pile would encompass an uncomfortably large amount of the collection (not to mention un-owned books).

Instead, I borrowed a trick from personal productivity and task management. I know what I'm going to read today, and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to read next. The today list is 3-5 books (I often have 6-10 going at once) and the next list is 10-15 books, maybe.

But really...I just use the today list so that I take the right books with me when I leave the house, and the next list as an excuse either to buy something or an excuse not to put books away.

This takes care of my urge to organize my reading while also pandering to my inability to follow any of my own rules.

cornerhouse : I think i'm going to take a leaf out of your book. I love this system ... takes alot of my guilt away everytime I think about my TBR piles.

And to the rest of you ... after going through your posts, I've realized that my stuff is really just peanuts compared to some of you serious addicts!! haha... The little dark cloud that's been following me around for the past week as I surveyed and pondered over my piles of unread books in the house has lifted .. an inch.

Right now, I physically have in my bookcases 120 waiting-to-be-read books that constitute my TBR pile. They're mostly serious reading: when light fiction books arrive I tend to read them straight away.

I also have 153 books wishlisted in various places, to buy or borrow.

My family think I am slightly insane, but I think this is perfectly normal. Those numbers certainly seem to be a little lower than average around here.

I have a notebook that has books I wish to buy or borrow that's alphabetized ... but I'm too scared to count the this wish list.

I can only read 1 book at a time but I keep a list of 4 books. The one I'm currently reading and the next three I plan to read. The rest I ignore.

#19 Musicmom, the "shunting down the pile" phenomenon is my biggest problem! I must count up my TBR pile again...if I spent less time tagging and more reading it would shrink a bit more quickly.

I've lost track of how many books I have on the go at once. I'm in the middle of three, and reading them as fast as I can, but I've read the first few pages of about 10 more and they're scattered around the house. Random books that arrive from bookmooch keep bumping worthier tomes off the pile.

And my husband has taken to reshelving books that I've just started without asking first!

I really wish I could give up buying non-fiction because it usually takes me longer to finish than fiction, but I just can't. And I tend not to get rid of non-fiction either, which means we need more bookshelves again (but that's another thread). But it's a happy problem!

#21 cameling: a dark cloud? from unread books?

Unread books are but endless possibility, a bastion against the darkness, a bulwark against boredom.

Besides, there's nothing quite like wandering through one's own house, looking at books, pulling them off shelves, making and reforming piles, and occasionally running across something forgotten, whether read or unread.

For me, the whole idea is to have enough books in the house so that it's more like a library or a bookstore. Always something new, often something unexpected.

You guys are lightweight book addicts. I suspect I'm in the neighborhood of 1,000.

226 TBR of which 23 I own, 10 are on request from library and 3 are currently checked out

I've simply stopped counting

>26 cornerhouse:: cornerhouse, yes, the dark cloud follows me around as I survey the books i haven't read yet because i feel guilty for even having them in the house with no reasonable sense of when I'm going to be able to get to all of them, and then I feel guilty again when I add more new neighbors to them when I bring additional books into the house. I think I was in Catholic school for too many years ... guilt is almost second nature to me now. ;-)

BUT, the silver lining in my little dark cloud is that little spark of happiness I also feel whenever I look at the books I haven't yet read at home ... I'm excited over the prospect of picking one of them, breathing in the scent of paper, and being led into a wonderful new world created for me by the author.

#30 cameling: We really must help you with this biblio-guilt thing. I suggest you go out and buy a book. Or three.

or 10.

10? I feel another guilt trip edging into my conscience already! ;-) I did receive a book from a friend today ....doesn't count since I didn't buy it, right? right? although it's a heavy duty historical book and likely to stay in my TBR pile for a good few months before i get to it.

Definitely does not count! :)

Not that high really but only because I just don't have the storage space.

I have about 20 books in the house that I own and haven't read.

However, my list of books that I want to read but don't yet own or hope to borrow from the library would run to well over 100.

I'm trying to avoid buying anything new until I've reduced the current pile a little but I love buying books. I've decided it is actually a better feeling than buying clothes or cakes!

Sanddancer > Agreed, it's much more satisfying than clothes or cakes!

My favourite feeling is the sense of opportunity when I pick up a basket at the door (which is only once a year, on my birthday). What will leap into it?

My TBR is being held to a pretty reasonable (I think) 80 books, so somewhere in the vicinity of a years worth of reading for me. If I have a mad urge to read something specific though, I'll browse, buy and consume in a frighteningly short period of time. I used to get great grief for my TBR, but fortunately the other half now has an overflowing nightstand of books (partly due to my many and various suggestions).

Especially more satisfying that cakes! It's not fattening. ;-)

Unless you read through cookbooks and then fall into the trap of putting some of the recipes to the test, then you're eating the results and next thing you know, the waistband pinches your waist.

Oh dear, my TBR has been sprung. I accidently let it let slip that I had about 70 books on the pile to read (a very reasonable number I thought), and the other half has put me a book-buying diet until Christmas. Dang. The exception is buying books for other people for Christmas, but I don't think that's going to satisfy me!

#39 Killeymoon - I'm sorry your husband has put you on a book-buying diet. Maybe you can persuade him to let you buy second-hand books? Or is it just the fact of having 70 to read? (I have over 500 on my shelves that I've never read.... I find it comforting that they're there waiting for me. Maybe you can persuade him that you need books for good mental health!)

Two months is too long. I hope you can persuade him to relent.

My powers of persuation must be at an all-time high. Less than 48 hours after the book-buying ban, the other half caved.

Me (perusing local paper): Oooh! Bruce Mackenzie Booksellers are having a sale!
Hubbie (in his "We've talked about this" voice): Oh, yes?
Me: They've got a book I want.
Hubbie: Hmmm.
Me: I've been wanting it for ages. And it's only $12 reduced from $40.
Hubbie (in tone indicating that he is weakening): Hmmm.
Me: Let's get bagels for lunch.

The bagels sealed the deal, given that it's just around the corner from the bookshop... Ha, ha! 71 books onthe TBR pile!

(40, karenmarie: It's the sheer number that has him awestruck. I don't have them all out at once, so he didn't realise how many I had...)

Oh, gosh. I have no idea, more than I can count. I have one library from a house I bought with books, and haven't read so many of them. My own bought library has grown high over my head. Bags of books from fleemarkets and charitychops tends to build up. Books from bookshops usually are read first.
Hundreds ?, thousands ? I really don't know. When all books are registered and put in shelves I can count them if I remember if I have read them.
It's a serius addiction, the only consolation is; I never find myself with nothing to read. I don't like to borrow books at the library because I must bring them back.

Niets, nada, none. I have literally nothing to hand that I haven't read before - barring hideously complicated sailing manuals and a basic Dutch course. Luckily I've managed to establish a dodgy WiFi connection and am finally back reading online - I want something to read! I've been reviewing books I've enjoyed and generally been lurking on LibraryThing. I recently passed on seventy paperbacks to other English readers of my acquaintance, with the delicious hope of making space for more.

Therefore no towering piles of unread tomes - I wish! I've become even more Victorian in my reading habits: a HUGE book makes me tingle with anticipation, safe in the knowledge I won't have to scour the secondhand bookshop for at least a week. No library books at the moment: I may have to join up next week when I'm in town.