How to Cut Down Your TBR Pile Once and For All

Oh the dreaded TBR pile. It really is every book reviewer’s worst nightmare. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the term TBR pile, it stands for “To Be Read” pile.

Now I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve got a TBR pile that towers high into the sky, and I have done for several years.

The books are making their way onto my shelves much faster than I can read them, and it’s not because I don’t read a lot, because I get through a fair few books a year. Read about all the books I read in 2017 here.

So what’s the problem?

I’ll admit it. I’m an obsessive book hoarder. It seems that I not only love to read books, but also collect them, and this addiction is getting a little out of hand. So here’s a two-step process to decluttering your shelves and getting those books read.

The first step involves preventing any new books from creeping onto your shelves by spring cleaning your shelves. The second step will help you tackle the remaining books that you really do want to get through.

For reference, in this post, “TBR pile” refers to books you already own, but have not read, and not books on your wish list that you someday want to read. I appreciate that not everyone is fortunate enough to own stacks and stacks of books and therefore may not be in a position where they own lots of books that they haven’t read.

You might also just be an organised bean who doesn’t leave unread bought or gifted books on the shelf for years. However, from what I’ve seen on Instagram, it seems that a mounting TBR pile is a problem most bookstagrammers have to deal with at some point or another. If you’ve got a sky-high TBR pile, this post is for you. 

Part One

Enforce a strict book buying ban

The first step is, of course, enforcing a strict book buying ban on yourself. This could be as long or as short as you want but obviously the longer the ban, the quicker you’ll see results!

But what about that new release I’ve been dying to read?

Don’t worry, there’s still hope! What are Christmas and birthdays for after all? If you really are dedicated to making a dent in your TBR pile, you should be ok with waiting a little while before you move on to the latest new release.

If the books already on your shelves have no appeal to you and you only want to read said new release, then perhaps you need to remove some books from your TBR altogether. See below.

Donate the books you know you will never read

Have a really good look at your shelf. How many of those titles on your shelves do you actually intend on reading in your lifetime? For me, there are lots of classics on my shelves that I’ve bought from charity shops over time and I know I definitely want to read them at some point.

There are many others, however, that were bought on a whim, bought when my tastes were different, gifted at Christmas or are old review copies. It’s time to accept that I am never going to read them and just donate them to charity.

There are some books I bought from charity shops in my teen years that still remain very popular today but I’m just not the same person I was when I bought them and I’m not sure the books really appeal to me anymore. There’s no shame in admitting that – just put them in a pile and give them to a friend or to a charity shop where someone who actually wants to read it can pick it up!

Check out this post about decluttering your bookshelves to get you started! 

Just say no.

This lesson is important in so many aspects of life, but in this case I’m looking at you book reviewers.

I’m really bad at saying no. I’m slowly improving and feeling so much better for it, but there’s still a long way to go. If you are privileged enough to be offered books by publishers, publicists or authors themselves, remember that it’s ok to say no.

This doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad book blogger.

People lead busy lives and hey, most of us aren’t paid to review these books so you are absolutely not under any obligation to accept review copies. If a book doesn’t sound like it’s your thing – just say no. If you don’t have enough time right now – just say no.

There’s no need to make up excuses either; just give an honest, but polite, response and no hard feelings!

Part Two

Find a book buddy

Find yourself a buddy who also wants to read one of the titles on your TBR pile and vow to read the book together. Hopefully this will motivate you, or if not, oblige you, to actually finish said book from cover to cover.

You can find someone in real life that you know has a similar taste in books, or you can put feelers out on #bookstagram, and I’m sure you’ll find a willing buddy!

Devise a book selection system

It can be pretty overwhelming looking at a large pile of books that you need to read but you need to stop wasting time picking and choosing and just get on with it. If you’re confident that you do actually want to read all of the books in your pile then it shouldn’t matter which order you read them in. I would highly recommend devising a sort of “system” that helps you to choose what book you’re going to read next. For example:

• Select a book by an author whose surname begins with A, then with B, then with C etc.
• Select a different coloured book until you’ve gone through every colour of the rainbow
• Select a book from the top row of your shelf, then the second row, then third etc.
• Or, get a friend or family member to pick the book for you each time

This might seem a little forced but, as I said above, if you are certain that you want to read them all at some point, this is a pretty good way of making a quick decision about what to read next.

Since my bookshelves are colour co-ordinated, I will be picking one book from each “section” of my shelf to read over the course of the year. For me, this means three white, one yellow, one red, one pink, one green, one blue, one dark blue, one purple, one grey and four black books. This is an easy way of whittling down my options so I’ve only got around 15 to choose from each time instead of the whole bookshelf.

Set small, achievable goals

If you set yourself small, achievable reading goals for each or each week, you will find yourself making progress quite quickly. For example, you could tell yourself to read 20 pages a day, or for around 20 minutes a day. Both of these are very achievable and easy to slot into your day.

If you actually block this time into your diary, at the beginning or end of the day, on the tube or when you’re waiting for your dinner to cook, I can guarantee you’ll be able to complete a book in these manageable chunks.

Let’s just say the average book has around 400 pages. If you only read 20 pages a day, you could finish that book within 20 days. This would mean you could read 18 books in a year by employing this simple routine.

And that’s the minimum number of books you would read.

If you’re a bookworm, you can be sure that on many of those days you’ll be reading much more than 20 pages in which case, bully for you, I can see your TBR pile shrinking already!

Take a book with you everywhere you go

You never know when you’ll have the chance to read a couple more pages so you should always have a book with you, if it’s convenient. Let’s say your friend is 10 minutes late to your lunch date, that’s 10 extra pages ticked off for you. If you’re employing the method above and aiming for 20 pages a day, that’s half your daily count down! See how easy it can be?

RELATED: 7 Reasons to Always Carry a Book With You

What tips do you have for tackling your TBR pile? I’d love to hear all about them in the comments below!

Pin now, read again later!

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7 Reasons to Always Carry a Book With You
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How to Cut Down Your TBR Once and For All
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Laura

Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.