2024 TBR

This will be part one of hopefully at least one other part. I am not the fastest reader and I get distracted easily (one of the many reasons I finally bought myself a Kindle). But, I've been trying to find ways to start putting a dent in my physical TBR, and not just re-reading books. Or, buying new ones, or adding more things to my Kindle, or going to the library. I have a massive library of great books that while pretty to look out for, also need to be read. 

What I've learned is what doesn't work. Setting any kind of TBR never works. Not for the month, readathons, or even just a stack of things to read for the year. I'm always lucky if I manage one book. I do flip out one stack of books on my spinning bookshelf randomly by theme. Mostly as a reminder that I have some of these books. Because as I said I collected quite the library over the last three years working down the street from the local bookstore. Still, TBRs don't work for me. They just turn into stacks of books I feel bad I didn't manage because I went into something with good intentions, and then my mood changed halfway through.

Last year though, I did find something that worked. It was on a whim to mostly keep my cat from licking books on the bottom of the book cart, and to make my book sleeves easier to see in photos (I have an Instagram @Bookish_Whispers, you should check it out). What ended up happening is I got in a rut about which book to read next, and just ended up tossing the book sleeves at my roommate and telling her to pick without looking inside. She has no idea what she's picking, and I've generally forgotten which books are and which sleeve. 

While saying this put a dent in my physical TBR would be a stretch. It did help me cycle through some of my physical books, and not all of them winners that I enjoyed. Those books ended up in the Free Little Library by my work. So really, a win-win.

It's also something I'm going to do again this year, and the books above are the ones I picked. Yeah most of them are 2023 releases, The Final Girl Support Group has been one I've been meaning to pick for a minute, and The Apparitionists, well, the cat has been knocking it off the shelf for the last two weeks. So I figured he wanted to help me pick. So all five of these went into book sleeves, and the next time I don't know what to read, it'll be up to fate. Because even though I did this just a few days ago.

I don't remember which book went where. Though I kind of hope the Jesse Sutanto book is my first book. Only because I've been in such a cozy murder mystery era the last few weeks. Though my current to reads might leave me with a bit of a hangover. So I might need this system sooner, rather than later.

HAPPY READING!!