In many aspects of my life, I’m a patient person. I can wait for cookies to cool so they don’t burn my mouth. I can buy clothes off season, knowing it’ll be months before I wear them. I can put that bottled sauce in the pantry for use one day when I’m in a rush.
For some reason, this doesn’t apply to romance novels.
When I buy a book, I often don’t even make it out of the store before I start reading. It drives the hubby crazy because he knows once I’ve found a book I like, I’ll read to the exclusion of everything else. Luckily, I speed read so that wait isn’t long.
That’s why I normally buy novels as needed (no massive To Be Read pile for me). That is also why I love eBooks with the instant and unlimited access to novels. I don’t need to hoard books. I can buy a book at three in the morning.
And that is why the holiday season is a stressful time for me.
You see, I’m a lucky gal. I have quite a few friends and family members. They all know I’m a romance reader. They tend to give me what I love… romance novels. I already have a building romance novel pile. On the 25th, I suspect that pile will become a mountain.
I want to read them all… NOW and AT THE SAME TIME. That’s impossible. I’ve never been able to read more than one book at a time. I mix up plots and names. I’d have the space traveling warrior Ral from Laurann Dohner’s Ral’s Woman (LOVED this story) romancing Regency miss Lady Nicole Daughtry from Kasey Michaels’ How To Tame A Lady. Not a good scene. Spaceships and the ton don’t mix well.
So I’ll have to make some tough decisions. I’ll have to decide which novel to read first. Last year, I divided the pile without looking at the titles and gave my hubby a stack to hide from me. I still had to decide on the order of that smaller pile but it didn’t create as much anxiety.
I know there are some readers out there with massive TBR piles. I’m begging you for advice. How do you decide the order? Do you read the first book received first? Do you order them alphabetically? Are you a random reader? What is your technique?
No related posts.
I tend to mix them up by genre although I have to be honest — I don’t have a huge TBR pile. Rather, I have a TBR list.
And sometimes it comes down to a “Veggie or Dessert” read choice, because I can’t let a book go unread. But some are veggies, some are dessert.
I’m more like a dessert or dessert person with my romances. If reading a novel is tough going, I don’t do it.
When’s your mystery anthology coming out? Love your writing and Lori’s and…
Tentatively “first quarter 2010″ but I haven’t had any updates. Holiday crunch at the publisher. And thanks for asking!
I just read what strikes my fancy at the moment. But I read books 3 and 4 at a time. I’m reading Annie Proulx CLOSE RANGE and Steven Shrewsbury’s HAWG and Dr. Phil’s SELF MATTERS all at onc.
I’ve got stuff I’ve had for years and never read. i’ve got books that weren’t in my hands a week before I read them.
Reading 3 or 4 books at a time?
(My mind whirls)
Really impressive!
Do you work on your stories the same way?
BTW… do you have a Christmas short this year? I know you had Frosted Hearts last year and Miskatonic Mistletoe the year before.
I’m a blogging book reviewer and it’s generally a case of first come, first served. However, if I read three Historicals in a row I’d be sick to death of them. So, I break it up so I’m not reading the same genre every time. Also, I have favorite authors and their New Releases tend to jump the line. When I’m feeling down, I might delay a regular Fantasy for a Contemporary Romance because of the promised HEA.
Hi fellow Kimber!
Yep, review books are first come, first serve with me also.
And fave authors DESERVE to jump the queue. They’ve earned that right!
As someone with hundreds of books of every variety, here’s my method.
What looks interesting *right* *now*. And if I start reading something and it doesn’t grab me, I put it back in the pile and pick something else up. I don’t get rid of the book (unless it was obviously really bad), because I might like it later. I had one book that I started, couldn’t get into, so I put it back on the shelf. Six *years* later, I picked it up and I loved it. I was in the right mind-frame for it then.
I also try to vary what I’m reading. If I read a bunch of books by the same author, in the same series, on similar themes in a row, I get overloaded and don’t want to touch that ever again (like eating chocolate until you’re sick — chocolate is wonderful, but I don’t want to even think about chocolate).
So, I read a romance, then a mystery, then a non-fiction, then a fantasy or science fiction, then maybe another romance. That way I keep from getting bored with one style.
Wowsers, Lianne, you have books in your TBR pile for 6 years? You must have an impressive bookshelf!
Well… I buy them faster than I can read them, which results in (oh, lord, do I admit it?) several hundred unread books.
Doesn’t help that I haven’t met a genre that I didn’t like. Well, maybe not westerns. I have very few of those.
You DO have an impressive bookshelf. A TBR pile hundreds of books high. (blinking at the thought) I think that would put me in analysis paralysis. I’d be overwhelmed.
Ah, but it’s not a pile. It’s a bookcase in the bedroom.
(and one in the spare room. And four in the basement. And boxes. I have trouble letting go of books, even after I’ve read them).
I tend to mix it up based on mood, but in your case perhaps you could follow the order in which they were received?
I’ll try that, Katy.
Christmas morn is one big blur (for one thing, it is the morning… I don’t do mornings well) so I may have to go with random order.
My technique is to go for something a bit different than what I just read, and to go with my gut.
Somedays I want action, other days hot sex, sometimes I’m willing to jump on the trope train and see if I can stand the heroine who kept her baby a secret.
I do have the advantage of being able to read multiple books at the same time. So often I can satisfy these needs simultaneously. Good luck
Another reader of multiple books!
I see you write the same way.
96% done Never A Bridesmaid.
Woo hoo!
Homestretch!
I’d love to take a look inside your brain.
Mine doesn’t operate that way.
LOL, it’s more like 118% done on Never A Bridesmaid. I can’t bring myself to change the percentage because even though I’m WAY over word count, I still haven’t written the final chapter. Pathetique!
Reading a paranormal and contemp and the next book in a series at the same time isn’t that hard. It’s like watching a night of sitcoms. You know the cast of characters in each show, but you never think you’re watching Friends when you see that big ol’ moustache in My Name Is Earl.
Oh, boy, do I know exactly how you feel. I have a short (10,000 words) that is creeping toward novella length. Not good, especially as it is part of a series of shorts.
I internalize when I read. I bond with the character (in a good book). With sitcoms, I don’t really get emotionally involved (I’m not a big tv watcher though and maybe that is why).
I don’t order my stack. I just put books on the pile willy-nilly until I’ve time for another book. Then, I go through the pile until I find one that I’d like to read at the moment. I’m not psychic. I won’t know what I’ll be in the mood for next week. So, I just go with what feels good from wherever in the stack.
Ahhh… you see, Dominique, the problem is they ALL sound good. (sigh) My friends and family know my reading tastes too well. All those lovely romances.
My TBR pile is mostly ebooks, and I keep track of them in a spreadsheet. I used to just read whatever seemed appealing, but found there were books I kept skipping, so I’ve started using a random number generator to come up with a random number, and I use the spreadsheet numbers to tell me which book to read. It’s working really well for me.
Another spreadsheet buddy!
I love Excel. Love it! I don’t know how I ever lived without it!
But (looking sheepish) I don’t track my book reading. I tried doing Goodreads but… I guess I’m lazy.
LOL. I needed a nice blog article to distract me.
I look for the most attractive “theme” that moment. If I need a werewolf alpha, he’s the winner. If Scotland appeals, that’s where I’m going. It’s my mental vacation.
You think you have a problem? I have a TBRA pile. Yep, the a is for again!
Ahh… see I read and then donate or give away. That way, I don’t read the same story again.
Well, unless I buy it again. Which is happening more and more with all the re-releases out there.
My TBR pile is divided by sub-genre because they are almost all romance. So historical is a pile, contemporary is a pile, romantic suspense is a pile, and paranormal is a pile. I try to break up my reading and not read two of the same sub-genre one right after the other.
I see you just read Lynsay Sands’ Devil Of The Highlands. Wasn’t it wonderful? She had me at The Devil of Donnachaidh.
What are you reading now, Jill?
I’m actually reading a YA right now. Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Allison Brennan’s daughter recommended it on the Murder She Writes blog.
Order to a TBR pile? I’m in trouble, then. I usually have 15 or so books in a small crate on the floor of my closet that might also be under any clothes that might not have made it onto the hangers. Uh-hmmm, yes, okay, my closet is a pit. But, I can always find my books!
I look at 3 or 4 or 5 books, read a few pages, and choose the book that strikes my fancy at the time. I sometimes read 2 books at once; I take one to work and leave it there to read and I have one here at home to read when I get a chance.
Aren’t all closets pits? Or they hold entire kingdoms… no, wait, that was a wardrobe (in the Narnia tales). Heck, close enough.
I derive comfort from knowing that at least there are no flying lions in my closet.
I try to keep mine in order by date bought, and I try not to let anything linger in the TBR pile more than a year. After about a year though, I usually donate whatever books I haven’t read to the library — just in case I want to read them someday but don’t want them cluttering up my bookcase in the meantime.
Woo hoo! Spider’s Bite is almost out. How many more sleeps, Jennifer?
Wow, you donate books you HAVEN’T read yet still might read? That’s awesome.
I donate almost all the books I read (I keep my keepers to a deliberate 10 books). I donate books I won’t ever read (like the depressing one I’ll get this Christmas from a ‘literary’ loved one). I don’t know if I’d ever donate a book I might read though.