Musing Monday - TBR Pile

It's been awhile since I participated in Musing Monday over at Just One More Page. But I am happy to say that I am participating again this week and will be trying to participate every Monday from now on. Anyway, here is this week's Musing:

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile?

Wow, my To Be Read pile is not as out of control as it use to be, but it is still in need of some serious taming. If you want to know how many actual books I have sitting at home waiting to be read, that number is probably around 200. Now I do need to go through those because some of them no longer interest me and can be weeded out.

Then you have the virtual To Be Read Pile. Those are the books that I want to read, but I haven't picked up yet. I don't have an actual list of these (something else for me to work on), but I would guess that number is somewhere closer to 100 and can easily grow any time I set foot in a bookstore or library.

The only anxiety this question brings up in me is the worry that my books are getting out of control and I'll never be able to read them all. Considering the size of my pile and the rate at which I add books, that is a legitimate concern.

This question reminds me that I really need to clean my bookshelves off and at least get my wish list of books to read written up. Ah yes, more tasks that need to be completed.

To see more answers to these questions, head over to Musing Mondays at Just One More Page.

Musing Mondays - March 30

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about recording your reading…

Do you keep track of what and/or how many books you read? How long have you been doing this? What's your favorite tracking method, and why?If you don't keep track, why not?

I have been tracking my books read since I was in high school. It originally started as a paper list, then it moved to an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet lasted for a several years, but then that got to be a hassle to update. So for the last few years I was keeping a paper list again in the back of my planner. That method worked well for me until I gave up my paper planner this year. This year I decided to track the books I've read in a Google Document. This is working well because I can access it from anywhere with the Internet and I've even made my list public so anyone can see it. You should be able to see my list here.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep my list exactly like this. I'm always looking to improve things so I may get some good ideas from other answers to this question. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's responses to this one.

To see other responses to this Musing Monday question, head over to Just One More Page.

Monday Musings

For this week's Monday Musings we are talking about an article on reading found here on NPR.

One statistic in this article really bothers me. That is the 9 books a year being an avid reader. I remember hearing a statistic similar to this a few years ago and it bothered me then too. No one that I know would consider someone that reads 9 books a year an avid reader. Personally, I read at least 50 books a year. My grandmother reads well over 100 a year. And my mother, who will admit that she doesn't read much anymore because of time constraints, still reads more then 9 books a year. Where are they finding these "avid" readers?

As for Ian McEwan's quote:

"When women stop reading, the novel will be dead."

I just don't believe that. If women stopped reading, it would definitely put a hurting on the novel market, but there would still be a market out there. Granted, my husband may only read one novel a year, but I have known men who were what I would consider avid readers. This means that they read at least 40 books a year. For whatever reasons, men in general may not read a lot of novels, but they do read them.

To check out the full post for this Monday Musing and see the other responses, head over to Should Be Reading.

Musing Monday

Here is this week's Monday Musings question:

Could you narrow down your reading to a favorite genre and author? Why, or why not?

My reading is all over the place. In fact, I usually don't even read just one book at a time. Right now I'm in the middle of reading a romance book, a sci-fi book and a non-fiction book. I would feel like I was stuck in a rut if I had to stick with just one genre or worse yet, just one author. What I'm reading at any particular time is more dependent on the mood I'm in at that time. There are times when you're just in the mood for a fluffy romance novel and there are times when you're more up for the suspense novel. To me, the different genres serve different purposes and I need them all to feel fulfilled as a reader.

What about you? To check out other responses and/or post your own, head over to Should Be Reading