Managing my TBR

I know, I know. I said I was back but took another break. I was supposed to have LASIK two weeks ago, but they ended up doing a different procedure that has a longer healing time, so I wasn't able to read or use the computer. And now I can see with no glasses for the first time since I was 6 which is amazing! Now, I'm much better and hope I can truly get into my routine again. 

Which brings me to today's discussion post. My TBR. As book enthusiasts, we all buy a crazy amount of books. I consider myself a collector as well, so I'm also buying to add to my collection. That being said, I struggle with keeping up with the ever growing TBR, last year I wanted to eliminate my TBR, but instead my TBR when from the 50s slowly up to the 100s, and now it sits at just over 200. And I know that is insane, but there are just so many books that look interesting that I buy and never actually get around to reading them because other books come.

With over 200 books to chose from when it is time to pick the next book to read, I've started to have no interest in reading simply because I cannot pick a book. It is a daunting task when you have so many options. I've have tried a TBR jar, but with so many books now it is not feasible to have a jar with that many choices. I used to have my friend choose, but she mostly choose my most recent purchase or a book she was reading so it was not working out.

So I've come up with a new method for choosing books that I'm going to try. I really enjoy doing #RYBSAT and the ease of choosing it allows. That being said, I'm going to start at the top of one of my large bookshelves and work my way to the bottom, then on to the next shelf, reading every unread book there is. I may or may not skip over the next book in the series if I have more than one unread, it will probably depend on how anxious I am to read the next book. I'm really hoping this method can help motivate me to read and keep my TBR more manageable.

Here is the first shelf I will be working on. It actually has more read books then unread which hopefully will help the process. So once I finish A Gathering of Shadows it looks like Cruel Crown shall be my first read. 

How do you guys manage your TBR? Does anyone else have the same problem with too many options being overwhelming?

October TBR

For October my focus is definitely going to be new releases plus one other book. I'm also way overestimating what I can read but I do not care. A large TBR means I can pick from many choices and not follow the set short list.

1. The Martian by Andy Weir (need to read this before seeing the movie)
2. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
3. Stand-Off by Andrew Smith
4. Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
5. Lock and Mori by Heather W. Petty
6. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
7. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
8.  Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
9. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
10. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
11. A Sky Unbroken by Megan Crewe

What are you planning on reading in October? Let me know in the comments!

September TBR

I totally failed getting this up, but I guess better late then never. With grad school going on, I have very limited time for reading, so I have a very small TBR for this month. I'm really hoping to be able to read a book a week while in school.

1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
3. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
4. Stand-Off by Andrew Smith
5. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I am almost done with The Raven Boys and have started The Girl on the Train, but other than those two, this is a month of new releases for me!

What are you planning on reading in September? Let me know in the comments!

August TBR

So I'm obviously doing the BookTube-a-thon and already have a TBR for that. On top of those books, I'm only picking a few other books to keep my TBR very small for August. Grad school starts at the end of the month, so after this month, my reading with be significantly impacted. Once school starts I'm hoping to read a book a week at most.

1. Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick
2. Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3. The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
4. A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

I'm also potentially reading the I Am Number Four series with my friend EJ, we just have not decided when we are starting or how fast we are reading the books.

What are you planning on reading in August? Let me know in the comments!

BookTube-A-Thon 2015 TBR

So it is almost time for the BookTube-A-Thon and while I do not make videos, I do follow many BookTubers. I've been in big slump lately but I'm hoping to be successful with this read-a-thon. The readathon is taking place between Aug 3rd and Aug 9th and is being hosted by a bunch of different people including Ariel Bissett. There are 7 "challenges" for this read-a-thon and I'm hoping to complete all of them.

1// Read a book with blue on the cover
2// Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name
3// Read someone else's favourite book
4// Read the last book you acquired
5// Finish a book without letting go of it
6// Read a book you really want to read
7// Read seven books

Here are my choices:

For the blue book I'm going with Nil by Lynne Matson. I recently got this so I'm looking forward to picking it up.

By far my most ambitious choice is for author who shares same first letter of last name. I'm going with The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I really want to read this trilogy and need an excuse to start it.

The hardest one to choose was someone else's favorite book. For this I'm going with a book/companion series that everyone raves about. I loved Anna and the French Kiss and just haven't picked up Lola and the Boy Next Door yet. So I cannot wait to pick up another Stephanie Perkins book.

For the last book I acquired, that would have to be Armada by Ernest Cline. I'm a little worried about this one because they was so much hype, but I have heard it does not live up to Ready Player One. What helps me in this situation, is the fact that I have not read Ready Player One Yet. Hopefully I will enjoy it because the premise is intriguing.

As for the most "ridiculous" challenge of finishing a book without letting go of it, I've chosen a short book in One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart.

I'm going to read my eARC of Beastly Bones for book I really want to read, since I have been putting it off and it comes out in September.

Finally, for the seventh book to finish up the last challenge, I'm going with The Girl in 6E by A. R. Torre. Shannon from Leaninglights and Lindsey from Lindsey Rey have both read and enjoyed this book, so I'm looking forward to it.

I will be tweeting throughout the read-a-thon and doing daily updates there, along with instagram posts. 

Are you participating? What is your TBR?

July 2015 TBR

Normally I pick books out of my TBR jar to determine what I'm going to read in a given month. However I recently put all my TBR books on a single shelf in rainbow. Doing this made me realize that I have a lot of series to read, both ones that I've started and ones that I have not. So I decided that for July, I want to complete all the books I have for series I have started and any standalones I may own. This got me to 12 books. Which is beyond ambitious, but it is the number I'm going with. Links to Goodreads as always!

1. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
2. Ensnared by A. G. Howard
3. In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
4. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
5. Lux: Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout
6. Four by Veronica Roth
7. One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart
8. Lux: Consequences by Jennifer L. Arementrout (I only need to read Origin)
9. Untamed by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
10. Chosen by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
11. Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick
12. The Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter

And there you have it. The goal with this is to finish all the series I currently in the middle of before I start the new ones on my TBR. I also still have Under the Dome, 11/22/63, and S. which would be considered standalones, but those were taken out of this TBR due to their size. I did not put this on the list because I don't have it yet, but Go Set a Watchman will also be read once it comes out!

What are you planning on reading in July? Let me know in the comments!

The Reading Rainbow Readathon TBR

This readathon is being hosted by the Carpe Librum girls. The readathon will be taking place starting today, June 15th to June 22nd. And it is a very chill readathon where basically you choose six books where the spines make a rainbow or you choose 6 spines of the same color. I went with a rainbow, or should I say I attempted a rainbow, since my books do not perfectly match.

I tried to use books that were already on my TBR for this month along with shorter books so I can be successful. Without further ado, here are my book picks:

1. Zom-B by Darren Shan
2. In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
3. Court of Fives by Kate Elliott
4. Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
5. Lullaby by Amanda Hocking
6. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Are you participating? What's your TBR for the readathon?

May 2015 Wrap-Up/June 2015 TBR

This was a weird month reading wise for me since it was end of the semester with finals and also graduation and moving back home for me. And then we went on vacation for over a week, so my reading schedule was wonky, but I did manage to read 16 books. That being said, I also had a fantastic month in terms of enjoyable books. There were really only 3 that were disappointing. As always links to my reviews if I have one!

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (5 Crowns)
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (5 Crowns)
3. The Heir by Kiera Cass (3 Crowns)
4. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (4 Crowns)
5. All the Rage by Courtney Summers (5 Crowns)
6. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (5 Crowns)
7. The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe (3.5 Crowns)
8. Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper (4 Crowns)
9. Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen (4 Crowns)
10. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (4 Crowns)
11. Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen (4 Crowns)
12. Unhinged by A. G. Howard (5 Crowns)
13. Betrayed by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (3 Crowns)
14. The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker (4 Crowns)
15. Wool by Hugh Howey (4 Crowns)
16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (3.5 Crowns)

#0by16 is still going decently. I only read 2 ebooks this month, however I acquired a lot of new books. My total TBR stands at 63 right now, which is only one less than last month...

Other than the 5 books I chose for #TBRTakedown, I have chosen 3 more from my TBR Jar and then some based on needing to review and what I'm feeling like reading. It is going to be a very heavy review books month.

1. In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis
2. Zom-B by Darren Shan
3. I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
4. Under the Dome by Stephen King (this is going to be the huge book to read in June, really nervous about getting through this)
5. Ensnared by A. G. Howard (I just want to finish this trilogy so bad right now)
6. Court of Fives by Kate Elliot (just got the ARC and need to read)
7. Naked by Stacey Tombley (got this for review and it comes out in July)
8. Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George (again comes out in July)
9. A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
10. Beastly Bones by William Ritter (I was trying to wait until closer to release- September- but I cannot wait any more)
11. If You're Lucky by Yvonne Prinz (this is the last eARC I have on my NetGalley shelf).

If you couldn't tell, this month is definitely focused on getting all my review books completed. This is not going to help with #0by16, but it will help me be on top of review copies. I have a few more physical ARCs that I really need to get around too, but for June I'm going to focus on the eARCs.

How did you do in May? What are you planning for June? Let me know in the comments!

#TBRTakedown TBR

So the awesome Shannon (@leaninglights) is hosting a readathon next week to help decrease the ever growing TBR. The readathon goes from June 1st to June 7th and I will be participating! There are five challenges to go along with this readathon and they are:

1. A book that's been on your TBR shelf over a year!
2. An unread sequel sitting on your TBR shelf.
3. A first book in a series on your TBR shelf.
4. An "out of your comfort zone" book on le TBR shelf!
5. A book from your most recent book haul!

Honestly this was a hard TBR to decide on, but I have chosen 5 books to fit these challenges.

For a book that has been on my TBR over a year I'm going with Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I've started this book twice now and haven't finished it, so I just need to finish it and this is a great opportunity.

As for an unread sequel, I'm going with Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter. I loved the first one so now is a good time to read the 2nd one.

The first book in a series one is hard because I have so many but I'm going with Sekret by Lindsay Smith. I recently won it in a giveaway, so I really want to read it. Plus spies and Russia, it should be great!

My out of my comfort zone book is A Letter to My Mom, I got this for review from BloggingForBooks and need to read. Again this readathon is a great time to do that.

Finally, for a recent book haul, I really want to read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. So I'm tentatively going to say it for this challenge, but I'm going to read the other 4 books first and then determine if I will have time to finish Outlander. If I do not think I will, I will probably pick up The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen or Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick.

April 2015 Wrap-Up/May 2015 TBR

I was actually pretty successful when it came to sticking to my TBR. Only thing that was a slight fail was my DNFing of Not Cool. I read 25% and decided that there was no reason to finish it. As for books I actually completed, I read 11, which is less than normal, but as you will see there were a lot of really big books this month. As always links to my reviews if I have one!

1. Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes (4 Crowns)
2. Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes (4.5 Crowns)
3. Rumors by Anna Godbersen (3 Crowns)
4. The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons (3.5 Crowns)
5. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (4 Crowns)
6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (4 Crowns)
7. A Magic Dark and Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic (4 Crowns)
8. We Are All Suspects Now by Tram Nguyen (3 Crowns)- read for school
9. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl 
10. Awakening by Shannon Duffy (3.5 Crowns)
11. Earth & Sky by Megan Crewe (3.5 Crowns)

#0by16 is still going decently. I only read 4 ebooks again this month and those were all for review, except Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. My total TBR stands at 65 right now, so I'm starting to get a little nervous about finishing but I'm still confident. The only books I bought this month were the HP Special Edition Box set since it was on sale. And those books I have read so they do not count against the TBR pile. 

I'm currently in the middle of All the Light We Cannot See and I will be finishing it shortly. Other than finishing that one in May, I have again picked 4 books out of my TBR jar. May is when I graduate so I will have 1/2 the month of finals and craziness related to graduation, but after that I have the rest of the month to just read! Due to the free time I will be having, my TBR is more ambitious than normal. The first four are what was picked from the TBR, the rest are personal picks. As always links to Goodreads.

1. Betrayed by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
2. Invaded by Melissa Landers
3. Wool by Hugh Howey
4. Graceling by Kirstin Cashore
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (meeting her the 11th, so have to have it read by then)
6.  Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen (this is a reread, but I do not remember really anything from it)
7. Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen (want to have this read so I can get Lion Heart)
8. Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper (going to his show on the 16th so want to read this before then)
9. The Heir by Kiera Cass (new release so have to get to it right away)
10. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (I have 3 huge books that I have not read yet, so I'm going to read one in May, one in June, and one in July) 
11. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (slightly embarrassed that I own two copies of this book and still have not read it)

Only books I have for review are A Letter to My Mom by Lisa Erspamer and The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe. It will be very interesting to see if I actually accomplish reading all of these or if being at home with all my books makes me pick up other books instead! 

How did you do in April? What are you planning for May? Let me know in the comments!

March 2015 Wrap-Up/April 2015 TBR

I completely failed this month when it came to sticking to my TBR. While I was wildly successful when it came to my #Gautierathon, it was an epic fail when it came to reading the books I chose out of my TBR Jar. I read a total of 14 books and am currently in the middle of one. As always, if I wrote a full review it is linked, so you can see my full thoughts.

1. Vicious by V.E. Scwab (5 Crowns)
2. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (4 Crowns)
3. Red by Alyxandra Harvey (2.5 Crowns)
4. Red Hill by Jamie McGuire (3 Crowns)
5. Angelfall by Susan Ee (5 Crowns)
6. The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith (4 Crowns)
7. Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon (4 Crowns)
8. Invicible by Sherrilyn Kenyon (3.5 Crowns)
9. Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon (4.5 Crowns)
10. Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon (3 Crowns)
11. Illusion by Sherrilyn Kenyon (4 Crowns)- Review of series so far.
12. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (4 Crowns)
13. Near Enemy by Adam Sternbergh (4 Crowns)
14. World After by Susan Ee (5 Crowns)

#0by16 is still going decently. I only read 4 ebooks this month and those were all for review. My total TBR stands at 70, and that is due to my Mom taking me out to get some new books. I still think it is doable to get down to zero, but that is going to involve absolutely no more buying. I'm clearly struggling with not buying books and a lot of that is due to me wanting new releases and then caving and getting them.

So if you don't remember at the beginning of March I pulled Tumble & Fall along with Rumors out of my TBR Jar. While I'm in the middle of Rumors right now, I still didn't finish it in March. As for Tumble & Fall, it has gone back into the jar to be chosen at a later date. The winners for this month are (links to Goodreads as always):

1. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
2.  All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
3.  This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl

This month I only chose 3 books because I want to get caught up with the Falling Kingdoms series by reading Rebel Spring and Gathering Darkness. So I will hopefully be reading those two along with the 3 chosen. As for review copies I will hopefully get to Not Cool by Greg Gutfield and A Magic Dark and Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic. And I do realize that most of these books are large, so it will be interesting to see if I can read them all or if I deviate again. Plus they are different than the kinds of books I have been reading recently.

How did you do in March? What are you planning for April? Let me know in the comments!

February 2015 Wrap-Up/March 2015 TBR

I was in a major funk for part of this month and a large part of that was sticking with a book I should have put down way earlier, but I will talk about that in a bit. As for books I actually read, I read 12 books. I'm pretty happy with this number all things considered.

As for #0by16, I'm going home for Spring Break this month so I'm going to get an actual number so I can give better estimates. But I did acquire more books that I wanted to this month. I did not spend any of my own money for these books which is good. However, I will never accomplish #0by16 if I acquire too many more books. After The Alex Crow and The Infinite come next week, I will be doing a book haul to show you what I have acquired since my last one.

As for what I actually read, here is the list:

1. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (4 Crowns)
2. Pig Island by Mo Hayder (4 Crowns)
3. The Glittering World by Robert Levy (3 Crowns)
4. Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee (4.5 Crowns)
5. Wither by Lauren DeStefano (3 Crowns)
6. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (4.5 Crowns)
7. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (4 Crowns)
8. Jackaby by William Ritter (3.5 Crowns)
9. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger (4 Crowns)
10. Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh (3 Crowns)
11. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (3 Crowns)
12.  The Infinite by Lori M. Lee (4.5 Crowns)

As you may recall, one of the books from my TBR jar for February was The Calling (Endgame). From the first moment I picked up the book, I was not at all interested in it. The writing was odd, there were too many characters to follow, and I just did not care about them. Add to that the short chapters and the constant POV changes and I was far from intrigued. At first I told myself I was going to get through it. But after putting it off and reading and enjoying other books, I decided to DNF'd it. I just could not justify forcing myself to finish it, when I could be reading something better (If you couldn't tell I'm really torn about DNF books in general).

March TBR

Keeping with what I did last month, I will again be picking four books out of my TBR jar. I also will definitely be reading The Alex Crow as soon as it comes and I would like to start the Chronicles of Nick series during my spring break, but we will see.  

And the winners this month are...
 

1. Red Hill by Jamie McGuire
2. Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
3. Rumors by Anna Godberson
4. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (I promise I actually picked this out of the jar)

As always let me know how you did in February and what your plans are for March! Or if you have any thoughts on DNF books.

#ProjectTBR Read-A-Thon TBR

To keep working on #0by16, I'm going to be participating in the #ProjectTBR Read-a-thon next week. This read-a-thon goes from February 16th to February 22nd. It is being hosted by benjaminoftomes on Youtube.

There are 5 challenges for this read-a-thon. I have books picked out for each 5, but I'm thinking I can only accomplish 3 or 4 of them.

The challenges:

1. A book with less than 250 pages- Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh (literally the only book I have at school that is under 250 pages)
2. A book with more than 500 pages- Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (really glad I can bump this book up on my TBR)
3. A book with a green cover- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (perfect book for this challenge since it is bright green)
4. An underrated novel- Jackaby by William Ritter (I do not hear much about this book, but what I do hear is great)
5. A sequel you have been meaning to read- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (just one of the many sequels I still have to read)

So those are the choices, again, I do not seem myself finishing all five of these books, but we shall see.