I need to stop buying books and start reading from my shelves
What can I do?
Do you like browsing the shelves of a bookstore, a to-go cup of coffee or tea in hand, in search of your next read? Do you like to discover new authors, new topics of interest, and new editions of your favorite books? Or return to your favorite authors in search of their newest release? Are your shelves piling up under the weight of unread prose? If that sounds familiar, you are in good company — because I love that too.
One of my favorite things to do when I am in town is to go to the bookstore and wait until it’s time to pick up my daughter at her school, especially on Friday afternoons. Hot chocolate in hand, I browse. The staff greets me; they see me every Friday. I am what you might call a regular. I own the highest-reward card possible. I have multiple editions of the gift tote that they hand out every time a customer renews their membership.
However, the last two videos I filmed, devoted to my TBR, revealed a problem I need to tackle. I literally own a bookstore of unread books in my house. So, I have concluded that I need a system to stop buying books and start reading from my shelves.
What can I do? Will I read all these books in one year? Certainly not. I like to read, but I am not a compulsive reader. I like to take notes and digest my readings.
Will I not buy books at all? Nope.
I brainstormed and came up with 12 ideas to implement in my life. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your unread books, these ideas can help you feel more in control and proud of managing your TBR without losing the joy of book shopping.
Here are the 12 strategies I’m putting in place—simple, practical, and realistic, and that can help you reduce your TBR too:
- Have the number of books on the TBR visible at all times: some keep a “Books Read This Year” counter; instead, I created a set of countdown TBR list blocks.
- Keep a list of all the books you haven’t read as a reminder
- Be accountable (daughter, friend, YouTube channel, reading group)
- Don’t go to the bookstore as often. Since I tend to buy books at brick-and-mortar stores more than online, I might as well not go for a while, or instead of going every week, go every other week.
- Set a limit: you can decide to read a percentage of your books before buying another one. For example, in my case, I should read 19 books before buying another. That number naturally decreases as I make progress. It’s ambitious—but since I read an average of five books per month, that represents one new book every three or four months.
- Set up a no-buy month.
- Maybe I could sell the ones I know I’ll never read… although that feels highly improbable!
- Read at set times on the day to create a routine that gives you a sense of stability and makes your reading goals feel more achievable, benefiting both you and your shelves. It could be to read 30 minutes before bedtime, or during lunch break. I know I read first thing in the morning: I am up at 5:30 am, and after a time of prayer, I read my Bible for a while, then I will either read some spiritual material related to my Bible reading, or write on the topic.
- Combine one fiction and one non-fiction (to take notes)
- Use the snowball effect: Read in page order: the smallest ones first, although it would defeat the joy of picking my next read.
- Buy books for others! (birthdays, various occasions, etc.)
- Shop your own shelves: rearrange your shelves, keep your unread books on a separate shelf, or create a “currently browsing” stack.
If you are like me, you don’t want to stop loving bookstores. I know I don’t want to stop discovering books. Plus, I want to support local bookstores, or bigger corporate bookstores, and the industry I am part of. But I also don’t want my shelves to become a museum of unread dialogues, full of dust bunnies and spiderwebs. Or worse, a graveyard of good intentions, a junkyard of abandoned knowledge.
More importantly, reading is always a part of my life. I don’t want to fall into a reading slump, overwhelmed by these books, and I certainly don’t want to run a reading marathon where numbers are more important than the outcome. I read for pleasure, I read to learn. I don’t want to enter a reading competition. I am simply facing the truth.
Mitigation. That’s the word—mitigation without deprivation. Let’s face it. It might take me 4 years to read all these books. That doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy it. So instead of buying less joy, I am learning to rediscover the joy I already have.
How do you manage your TBR? Do you have a system—or are you building one like I am?
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