Pick-a-Shelf discussion

If you are at all like me, you have a HUGE wishlist of books that you would like to have. I know that mine grows by leaps and bounds sometimes. So here are the discussion questions for the month of April:

1. What type of wishlist do you have? Is if for books you want to own, books you want to read, or a combination?

2. How do the books on your list get there? Recommendations from friends and family, Goodreads reviews, Blogs, or some other way?

3. How do you decide that you want to own a book as opposed to just borrowing it and reading/listening to it?

4. Do books ever make it off of your wishlist, or does you list just keep getting longer and longer (like mine)?

Good questions!
1+2. I don't think I'm quite this organised, so I have a pile of books I intend to read, some vague recommendations from blogs and friends that I keep forgetting, and then Goodreads want-to-read list.

3. Factual books are the ones I usually want to own, because I know I'll want to flick back through them at some point. Plus anything that looks really well written.

4. Often I'll start reading something and decide that I don't like it, that's usually when books leave the list.

1. & 2. The GR To Read list now only contains books I actually own. My Wishlist on GR is for those books that I find that I might want to read. I usually find them in reviews, other book lists, or sometimes just generally reading. For recommendations from GR based on books I read, I have GR Recommends list and, for friends on GR, I have Friends Recommends. If the book does not have a source like friends or GR or on my physical bookshelves, it ends up on my Wishlist, which grows slowly but still grows.

3. I try not to add to the books I own. In fact, my goal is to read them all and move them on. I think that is my stage of life more than anything else. As I get older, my need to have has gone down. I prefer to get my books from the library. When I can't do that any longer...well, then I will figure that out.

4. My list does continue to grow. I think it always will. There are so many lovely books out there. But, when trying to decide what book I might read for a challenge, I scan the GR list for books on my wishlist first.

I wish there were a book on my tbr in the first 10 pages that I'd like to read now (very few), but I'll go back and check from the end. I don't have a GR wishlist, only a want to read list.

BUT, if I can use my tbr , I'm all set already.

But, wait, this only goes to 25 pages and the lowest number there is 107 shelvings, so I think I'm fine because I have something that's been shelved there over 40 times.

My Goodreads want-to-read shelf has basically everything I hear about from other people on or off Goodreads, on NPR, or in magazines, but these days I mostly buy 1) print books that 2) I've already read and enjoyed (and can see myself reading again). That really narrows it down. (Although I will go a bit nuts at the dollar-a-bag book sale, since the books are virtually free, and if I don't read them in a timely fashion I can just pass them on again.)

But sometimes a book is just too hard to get my hands on from a library (e.g., obscure or out of print) and/or it's only available as an ebook (e.g., self-published books), so buying it is the only way to read it.

My to-read list far exceeds my reading capacity, but my to-buy list stays very short and manageable. If I know I'll need to buy a book eventually, owing to wonderfulness or scarcity, I might add it to my Amazon wishlist so someone else can buy it for me for Christmas, but I generally don't buy books from Amazon if I can avoid it.

My wish list is for books that I want to read but that I can't get from the library. My children refer to it when they want to know what to get me for my birthday or other gifts.

1. On Goodreads, my Want to Read shelf is for books I want to read and that I already own. For books I want to read but don't own I have set up three different shelves: Wishlist High Priority for books that I really want to read/own soon, Wishlist Someday for books that I want to read but with no hurry, Maybe for books that I might want to read one day though not really sure about them.

2. The books end up on my wishlist(s) from blogs, GR friends' reviews (and sometimes recommendations), conversations in GR groups, and lists (I love them) for instance from Book Riot or listopias etc.

3. If I'm pretty sure I'm going to love a book, I want to own it. If it's cheap (very cheap) on Kindle or free on Kindle/project Gutenberg, I'll download it. I seldom use the library or borrow from other people, though both are still a possibility.

4. My list keeps getting longer, but there are times when I have a lot of free time and I go through it in order to strike off some books in which I'm not interested anymore. This is also useful for friends/family who browse through my wishlist in order to find a gift for me - so they don't end up buying something I don't want to read anymore.

Marina wrote: "1. On Goodreads, my Want to Read shelf is for books I want to read and that I already own. For books I want to read but don't own I have set up three different shelves: Wishlist High Priority for b..."

Interesting. I prefer to borrow books from the library and save books I might want to buy on my Amazon account, but try not to do that as my third is set to start music conservatory in September and my middle one will still be in college.

1. and 2. Probably 70% of my current reading (wish list - want to read) is research for my writing - right now WW II resistance in occupied France. (My novel, Doppelganger, is due to come out in June.) I browse Goodreads, do a lot of Google research, and get recommendations from friends. I have a few authors I devotedly follow, like Louise Penny and Donna Leon, and I grab those books as soon as they come out (and then fight with my wife :-) for who gets to read them first).

I find new authors by reviewing new releases on Amazon and Goodreads.

3. If it's a book I'm going to be using extensively for research (and thus marking up), I buy it. I typically look for for used books in good condition.Fun reading is either Kindle or the library. We also love audio books for long car rides (except when we get so engrossed we completely miss an exit or turn!)

4. Because my writing is more work than pleasure-focused, my unread list is pretty short.

1. What type of wishlist do you have? Is if for books you want to own, books you want to read, or a combination? My wishlist is basically books I want to read, some I own some I'll get as I go along.

2. How do the books on your list get there? Recommendations from friends and family, Goodreads reviews, Blogs, or some other way? Usually I find my books from Goodreads challenges and looking for a book to fit a category then I wind up loving them. Another one is NetGalley introducing me to different authors. Sometimes its from Book clubs.

3. How do you decide that you want to own a book as opposed to just borrowing it and reading/listening to it? To own it I usually have to really love that author or subject and will be reading it a few times. Plus I have an audible membership for the past 18 years and have accumulated lots of books. But if it is a new author I will borrow it from the library first to see if I like them.

4. Do books ever make it off of your wishlist, or does you list just keep getting longer and longer (like mine)? Books do come off my list but I think I add more than I take off.

1. My wishlist is books I want to read and ones that I come across by happenstance.

2. They get there by numerous trips to the bookstore, browsing goodreads, and recommendations by friends.

3. I decide to buy when it is books I want to read and I know friends don't have. Also ones I know that I may leave sit for a second. I do borrow. In fact I borrowed the Preacher series from my friend who read them all.

4. Yes they do. It may take weeks, months, or years but they make it off my wishlist. More frequently than before.

My wishlist has books I want to buy - either because it hasn't come out, they don't have it in the library or because I'd like to read it as soon as it comes out so I'm willing to pay for it.

What's the difference between Wishlist and TBR, to make them differente shelves?

I've read my book but am two books behind on my reviews. Ideally I'll get to it before the month's end. Life has been VERY busy this month. Two things have lightened up, but it's still Very Busy until after my son has his wisdom teeth out the day after his high school graduation.