Hello again! As of a few days ago, I’m back from my trip to southern Africa and while still moderately discombobulated, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want my fall reading to feel like. (Unsurprisingly, twenty-plus hours on planes and in airports gives you time to ponder.) My usual TBR strategy is two-tiered: I have a larger TBR pile, contained in a rope basket from Target that’s usually overflowing with books, and a smaller stack of five to six books selected from that pile that are meant to fulfill a variety of genres and reading moods. That smaller pile is actually quite close to what I did as a kid, when my reading was almost entirely library-based. I would go to the library every weekend, check out five to seven books at a time, and read them all before returning to the library and checking out a brand new batch.
But the problem with my usual TBR approach is that I frequently find myself getting anxious about all the books I’m not reading. I’ll yearn for something that’s not in the immediate TBR pile or catch a glimpse of something in my living room and remind myself that I’ve been meaning to read it for ages. Then I’ll promptly not read it for another six months. I also have a habit of making wildly overambitious stacks and then feeling guilty for not getting to all of them, as my piles of unread titles stare at me with accusatory eyes. What made my childhood reading approach work was that I had a limited supply of books, instead of a constant stream of shiny new titles, and that I wasn’t overanalyzing whether, for example, I was reading too much Diana Wynne Jones. (For child me, there was no such thing as too much Diana Wynne Jones.) I do still want to be intentional about my reading, and ensure that I’m experiencing a wide variety of stories and voices, but I’d like for it to feel a little freer. To cut down on some of the noise and rely on a smaller set of trusted readers and my own intuition.
Hence, no TBR-fall. No big stacks, no little stacks, no jam jar with slips of paper with titles written on them that I draw at random. I want to try shaping my reading one book and one moment at a time. In the case of books that have been wasting away on my shelves for ages, I’m hoping to rediscover some of the curiosity and excitement I felt when I first bought them and in the case of books that I’ve just bought, to pick them up right away instead of letting them languish. I am still planning on reading the picks for my various book clubs and on trying to get to all six titles I’ll talk about in my Q4 romances post in October, but otherwise I’m officially setting myself free of obligation. I’ve been operating with a TBR of some kind for years now, so the thought is a little dizzying but also a little thrilling. I want to feel more present in my reading life, swept up in one story at a time, and I’m hoping this fall delivers.
Currently reading: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. I’m enjoying the meta commentary on murder mysteries but due to jet lag and the aforementioned discombobulation, I’m not quite as hooked as I would like to be yet.
What’s bringing me joy lately:
The incredible experience that was my trip! I went to Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia and I’m pretty sure I was slack-jawed with awe on a daily basis. One of the best trips of my life.
Although I love travel, I’m also happy to be back and cozy at home. My sweater weather mug is officially back in the rotation, as are my sweaters, and this Sunday, it’ll officially be time for the pumpkin candles to make their triumphant return to my living room.
The discovery that there’s a TV series of one of my all-time favorites, The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, and it’s actually pretty good? Not quite as good as the book, but I’ve been enjoying the episodes I’ve watched so far.
Natalie, I 100% love this and have been feeling so similarly. I set some ambitious goals for myself this year to read more of my owned books (which I'm struggling with) and to read a bunch of campus novels (which I haven't done at all! BIG GUILT). I've also found myself fondly remembering when I was a library-only girl, and while I'm so happy to be in a place where I get to support my bookshops and authors by buying books, it's led to a lot of decision fatigue and book guilt/anxiety. I've been thinking about how best to avoid this in 2024 and don't have any answers yet but I loved reading your thoughts and strategy 🩵
I honestly find the idea of no TBR very daunting haha. I hope it’s wonderful for you! I read Benjamin Stevenson’s book twice, because the first time I read it I thought it was so good that I had to lead a public discussion for it at work (library). We are Australian though so I wonder if that’s a factor in it taking less time to settle in.