How do you arrange your "to be read" pile?

[Danny McG]

couple of dozen unread stashed around the house in the back of various cupboards wardrobes etc. my wife constantly complains otherwise. once they're read I have massive stacks in my attic with Fave heap at the front. usually two or three on the go at once on bedside table with a couple more on my phone or tablet that I keep jumping back to. ebooks I have several hundred and recently had to delete to make room ( santa is now fetching me additional memory ) . no system at all , as soon as I finish one I get a couple of chapters into another new one instead of completing all the ones part read - fat kid with a xmas selection box syndrome !

 

[TWErvin2]

I arrange by interest in reading, often based upon recommendations from readers I know, and authors/series I've really enjoyed in the past

Combine that with that, how long I've had the book in the stack...longer tends to bump it up. Sometimes if I want to lend it to someone, that will have an impact as well.

 

[Vince W]

Sometimes if I want to lend it to someone, that will have an impact as well.

Wait, what? You lend your books out? I think I need to lie down.

Oh, and welcome to the Chrons.

 

[TWErvin2]

Wait, what? You lend your books out? I think I need to lie down.

Oh, and welcome to the Chrons.

Yes, Vince W, I lend them out to a small circle of friends...and keep track so that I can get them back

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Extollager]

I wouldn't want to discourage book-loaning. But one of the surprises of my adult life has been the casual attitude many people seem to have about returning books.

 

[J-Sun]

And about the condition they return them in on the occasional times that they do.

 

[Stewart Hotston]

I have a shelf for unread fiction and a shelf for unread non-fiction. I then alternate between them and pick and choose as I wish! I have about twenty on each shelf, so I'm not really bothered about order. Some have been there more than a couple of years (but they will get read!) and others won't last more than a few days.

 

[Theophania Elliott]

I have two TBR lists. The "public" one on Goodreads, which I try to keep down to a respectable less-than-sixty because it makes me look organised. Then I have the books marked "unread" on the household book database. There are... more than sixty.

Since the former is kept small, and the latter has search functionality and genre and subject filters, I don't have to worry about arranging them.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Just found I have two copies (different editions) of Everything is Illuminated near the surface layers of my TBR. I need to get a grip!

 

[Ajid]

I am very strict on my purchases. I tend to plan my year out by themes and research what books should fall into that years reading list. It's the end of my "Reading Year" and next year I plan to read historical novels and works from fellow Chrons members. So let me know if you want something added to the list.

I had to come to this decision because if something isn't ordered and planned in my life chaos soon ensues. I have in the past had piles of unread books all over the house. Unread material is tantamount to a crime to me so reading has become a structured thing.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

the household book database.

A database for books? Damn, I like your style!

the latter has search functionality and genre and subject filters

Cool. I've been tinkering with something similar for my CD collection, which is, ah, rather large these days.

I had to come to this decision because if something isn't ordered and planned in my life chaos soon ensues.

I've been going through a bit of a general reorganisation of stuff of late, though I know that I personally need a bit of chaos for balance. My reading list is in the chaos camp - I have a bit of a backlog, but I tend to just read whatever I feel like at the time. Of course, the down side is that a lot of great books have been sitting waiting for me for many months because I just haven't been in the right mood for them.

 

[Theophania Elliott]

I've been tinkering with something similar for my CD collection, which is, ah, rather large these days.

Well, the database I use is BookCollector, by the people at Collectorz dot com (can't post links) - they do them for books and music, and some others as well. You need the desktop version, but they do mobile apps so you're never without your catalogue. I started with it when I, too, had the problem of ending up with two copies of the same book. Got the software and spent a happy day zapping the dead tree books with the barcode scanner.

I think it's especially worth it for anyone with a lot of electronic books - the mobile apps are lovely, and you can still have the nice experience of browsing pretty covers while, at the same time, not having to move out and live in a tent in the garden because the house has been taken over by books.

 

[JunkMonkey]

A database for books? Damn, I like your style!

Have one for DVDs - my filing system is a little convoluted - and I started with the books using Library Thing : (TheOtherJunkMonkey) | LibraryThing but got nowhere near finishing before I realised I was going round in circles and relisting things. I need to start again.

 

[Theophania Elliott]

Have one for DVDs - my filing system is a little convoluted - and I started with the books using Library Thing ...but got nowhere near finishing before I realised I was going round in circles and relisting things. I need to start again.

I hear what you say... I hadn't heard of LibraryThing (or I did and it didn't stick) - it's got some interesting features. I like the idea of being able to add annotations and quotes.

I think I'll stick with BookCollector, though - I'd be in the top 1200 or so "large libraries" on LibraryThing, and from what I can find, it's not designed for collections that large. I'm still tweaking BookCollector - spent a few minutes today creating a new Urban Fantasy category and moving things into it.

What can I say? I love filing...

 

[Gonk the Insane]

Ah, Library Thing & BookCollector are both interesting options. I went with the rather more time-consuming option (though fun for me!) of developing my own music one, although it's nowhere near complete at the moment. It's a little project I've been meaning to do for a couple of years - nothing fancy, just Microsoft Access and a ton of VBA code. Mostly I wanted to do it so my dad can keep track of his massive music collection and the rest of us don't end up buying him CDs he already owns. Then I realised I could keep a blank copy and use it myself (assuming I ever finish it). I reckon I could adapt it easily enough to handle books as well as well as music (though this claim may well come back to haunt me!)

I love filing...

Yay, me too

 

[Extollager]

I guess for me the main thing is to have many of my unread books placed where I will see them and be reminded of them, which really does help me to restrain myself from buying so many more, and strengthens my desire to read what I already have --

Or to give books away. I've given dozens of books to students over the past few years, not counting hundreds that I inherited from a retiring colleague and dozens that have been mailed to me for giving away by an old-time sf/fantasy fan in Philadephia. We have a freebie table in the hall where many of our English classes are taught. Had you passed that way you'd have been able to pick up plenty of literary classics -- and also things like Doc Smith's Triplanetary!

 

[Perpetual Man]

I have two piles.

The immediate to read pile, which has twenty books by various authors, neatly arranged (so they fit) under my bedside table. There is a mix of paperbacks and hardbacks. I choose what I am going to read next at random (the roll of a dice) and work my way through them one at a time. Once all twenty books have gone I remove a few more from my greater book pile and start again.

The greater pile is stored in the top of a cupboard at work and currently holds over 200 books. Once again they are a mix of hard and paperbacks, arranged by author and size...

 

[Paul_C]

I did at one time collect all my unread books into piles on top of a chest of drawers, then they had to be moved and ended up scattered.

With my current wild spending on sci-fi books I've created two piles on the floor of my bedroom - one from the list I've mentioned and the other books I've bought either as a consequence of recommendations from here or those that have taken my fancy while looking for books for pile 1.

The total of those books yet to be read is now around 50 (plus another eight on the way), and 30 or so on Kindle, and I'm alternating between the two forms a lot of the time because it amuses me to.

 

[elvet]

According to Goodreads, I have 200 or so unread books. Most are in a bookcase dedicated to unread books, or collections of series that I am waiting to be completed so I can read them in order. I get anxious if I don't have a lot of choice when it comes to picking my next book, and I like to alternate SF and fantasy reads when I can.

 

[Bick]

I have two piles.

The immediate to read pile, which has twenty books by various authors, neatly arranged (so they fit) under my bedside table. There is a mix of paperbacks and hardbacks. I choose what I am going to read next at random (the roll of a dice) and work my way through them one at a time. Once all twenty books have gone I remove a few more from my greater book pile and start again.

The greater pile is stored in the top of a cupboard at work and currently holds over 200 books. Once again they are a mix of hard and paperbacks, arranged by author and size...

That's a curious mix of highly organised and methodical, whilst simultaneously being random and suggestive of purchasing that was far from methodical or organised (I like it).