All About Books discussion

Since I just spent 2014 wittling down my TBR list (150 titles to 20 titles at the end of the year), I have some room to maneuvre for new books. I am still committed to reading through the remainder of my TBR, excepting those books which are not going to be published in 2015 (I'm looking at you, GRRM!)

So, here it is:

At least:

48 Books from the 1001 Books To Read Before you Die List:

12 Books written pre-1850:

24 Thesis-related books:

12 Non-Fiction Books:

12 Books written 1850-1920:

12 Books from series and extant TBR:

For ease of achievement, a book can appear on more than one list, which should provide some leeway in reading "fun brain candy" or "stuff I bought" or "things that took my fancy".

Interesting issues; I'll pick something up ...

Genia, where is that "1001 Books To Read Before you Die List"? Is there a group here at GR or a book listing these books. Thanks. I would like to check it out.

Chrissie:

GR Group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/970

List: http://www.listology.com/ukaunz/list/...

Thank you?

Great challenge and thank you for sharing the 1001 books list!

BTW, there's a 1001 app to help you track your progress. I've got it on my iPhone & IPad, not sure if it's available for the Android platform.

I'm impressed on how you managed to demolish your TBR, mine keeps growing despite my attempts at reducing it! Have you got a secret?

Good luck with your challenge Genia!

What it essentially came down to, for me, was the realization that TBR lists longer than 150-200 titles are useless and may as well not exist. In essence, what happens then is that ou get lost in the list, and do not follow through on actually reading the titles on it, so you may as well just delete the whole thing and grab whatever strikes your fancy. My list was hitting the 170 titles, and I made a firm resolution to stop purchasing books I have not read, and stop adding to that list, until such time as I could whittle it down to a reasonable length.

I still have more titles in ePub format and from open sources on my computer than the number of things on my actual list, and have for the last year, but that essentially means that a) I stopped buying books until this month almost at all, and b) I focused very intently in the last year on actually reading those things that were already marked by me as to-read, earliest to latest. if I could choose two similar books, of which one has sat around for a while and the other was new, I prioritized the one that's been around for a while.

That's probably about it, really. I am now resolved to keep my annual TBR to a number of titles not much larger than the amount I actually intend to read that year - this way, hopefully, the list is an actual guide to my book purchases and reading, and not just a kind of generic wishlist which includes "all the books in the universe".

Thanks for your words of advice, it makes a lot of sense.
I just wish I could be strong enough to resist all the temptations ;-)

48 Books from the 1001 List:

1. The Power and the Glory
2. Castle Rackrent
3. Pamela. Or, Virtue Rewarded
4. Pnin
5. Call It Sleep
6. The Castle of Otranto
7.
8.
9.
10.

12 Books written pre-1850:

1. Castle Rackrent
2. Pamela. Or, Virtue Rewarded
3. Consuelo
4. The Castle of Otranto
5.

24 Thesis-related books:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

12 Non-Fiction Books:

1. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference
2.
3.
4.
5.

12 Books written 1850-1920:

1. The Song of the Lark
2.
3.
4.
5.

12 Books from series and extant TBR:

1. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference
2. Master and Commander
3. The Turkish Gambit
4. Scales of Gold
5.

Great challenges Genia! Just curious, what's the topic for your thesis?

It's a little complicated, which means I haven't defined it well yet, but I am looking at something called Minimal Counteriintuitiveness, which in effect means I read a lot of sci=fi and fantasy for it, then hopefully plan an experiment to look at the cognitive mechanisms.

Sounds interesting Genia!