Teetering towers of TBR books

A few of Erin's fiction shelves

Erin (of Erin Reads) wrote about The Dreaded TBR in her Sunday Salon post today.

TBR lists: We all have them. Whether physical or digital or paper, teetering towers or orderly shelves or modest stacks, lists or spreadsheets or tags, readers have to-be-read lists. And I’m guessing there are as many approaches to organizing them as there are TBR lists to be organized.

Right away I noticed her photo with the caption "A few of my fiction shelves" and knew she had a serious book addiction.  The picture shows not a few of her TBR books, but a few of her TBR shelves.  There's more?  Uh-huh, more than whatcha see here.  Her problems are familiar to me, like buying a second copy of a book already on her shelves.  Can I get a show of hands, here?  Has that ever happened to you?  Of course, it has!  On occasion, I've ended up with three copies -- it should be against the law (book law, or something) for publishers to re-issue books with different covers I don't recognize!  After discussing spreadsheets and Goodreads, Erin asked what we other readers do.

I’d love to hear about your TBR list. Is it physical, paper, digital, or a combination? Does it include the unread books you own, or just the ones you’ve heard about elsewhere? Do you separate TBR books from the ones you’ve already read, or mix them together? How do you sort or tag your TBR list? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share with me? Do tell!

Okay, I'll tell.

First, though I have lots of TBR titles floating around in my head, I don't have a TBR list.  With so many on my shelves waiting to be read (see the accompanying photo of mostly-unread books), I would likely never refer to a list if I had one.

A few of my mixed-together books

Do I separate TBR books from ones I've read?  No, I have -- correction, I try to have -- my books on shelves by topic, and that may mean mixing fiction and nonfiction, according to how I'm using the books.  I don't use the Dewey decimal system, but I have a shelf for books I'm using to study (a whole shelf of 31 books by and about Jurgen Moltmann and his wife, for instance) or to teach (books about writing for last year's class at Chattanooga State) or to write (see my tentative book titles, posted three weeks ago).  The subjects of the books I'm writing:

1.  Women ~ how book blogging not only sells books, but also shares what "wise women" have learned in a lifetime.
2.  Genesis ~ looking at the first book of the Bible as a soap opera with a twist.
3.  Traveling in books ~ around the world, and also to all fifty states.

By the way, did you notice she and I have the very same shelving units?  My books are a little closer to the front edge than hers, but the shelves are identical.  They are perfect for anyone who ever moves her shelves, since the units are three shelves high and can be stacked atop each other to save floor space.  Her photo (top) shows the bottom three shelves, mine (below) shows the top three shelves.

You really should go read what Erin wrote.