The TBR Book Tag

It’s the last month of the year! I am both excited and anxious for the new year that is about to come. Excited for what is in store and anxious at the same time. I guess I can never keep off anxiety no matter what I do. For now, I have to put these anxieties behind and look forward to the future.

Now I am getting off track. When the year started, I made a list of my reading resolutions and goals for the year. One of my goals  is to post regularly in my blog. One of the means by which I was able to tackle this task is to complete at least one book tag every month. I did complete at least one from January to November. To come full circle, I am completing my book tag for December by doing The TBR Book Tag which I’ve encountered through The Book Prescription.

I have so many books on my TBR pile that I no longer keep track of my pile. The only thing I know is that my TBR pile is already more than a hundred piles.

Is your TBR mostly print or e-book?

All my TBR books are printed. I rarely indulge in reading e-books. I love the sensation of holding a physical book. And the intoxicating smell that arouses my olfactory senses… Haha. The last time I read e-books was about two to three years ago.

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?

There is no clear cut manner in which I determine the next book to read on my TBR pile. I just pick up what I most feel like reading. Sometimes, I read a certain genre in a month and, even then, choosing which book to read is a challenge because I have too many books to choose from, and with every passing month, it gets longer (and bigger as well).

A book that’s been on your TBR the longest

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. If my memory serves me right, this has got to be the book that has been on my TBR the longest. I bought the book nearly five years ago and I never bothered picking up because I wanted to complete purchasing the series first before I start reading it. Completing the series has so far proved to be a Herculean task. However, I did include the book in my 2019 Beat the Backlist challenge but I never got around to reading it. SMH.

A book that you recently added to your TBR

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, this book was declared as the 2019 Man Booker Prize winner. I did try finding a copy of the book when it was pronounced as one of the winners in the prestigious literary awards but it was still unavailable in my country. More than a month after it won, I was finally able to encounter a copy of the book in the local bookstore. It is an early Christmas gift to myself.

Gone are the days when the impulsive buyer in me would buy a book just because of its cover; I think I’ve read them all already. Had this been question asked about 10 years ago, I would have answered it with a lot of books.

A book on your TBR that you NEVER plan on actually reading

None. I have every intention of reading all the books in my TBR pile. Its going to be a tall task and it might take time but I will read them all.

An unpublished book on your TBR that you’re excited for

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. I actually had to research an answer for this. It is good as well because I am already on the process of making my 2020 Books I Look Forward to List. Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel, in particular, caught my attention. I have neither heard of the author nor read any of her works but I am getting some positive commendations on the book. One good reason to look forward to it.

A book on your TBR that basically everyone has read except you

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Nearly every book blogger friend I have seems to have already read this book. Well, everyone, except me. I recently bought a copy of the book and I am contemplating on whether to make this part of my 2020 Top 20 Reading List.

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann. I don’t get that much bookish recommendations but I am going with the latest book someone recommended me. I don’t need the extra recommendation though as I am already intent on reading this book, considering the Twitter uproar post-announcement of the 2019 Man Booker Prize winners.

A book on your TBR that you’re just dying to read

There’s a lot of books that I am dying to read. But if there is one particular book that I am truly looking forward to reading, for now at least, it would be Ducks, Newburyport. 

The number of books on your Goodreads TBR shelf

My current Goodreads TBR shelf is a whopping 148! But I am pretty sure that it is more than that, especially that most books on the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die has not been tagged as “Want to Read”.

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As always, I am not going to tag anyone. If you want to do your own version, do feel free to do so. It is such a fun exercise. However, don’t forget to tag me so that I can check out your answers as well.

Happy weekend reading everyone!