How long is your "to read" list?

[aurora]

So after the post below led me to adding yet another book (The Fault in our Stars) to my "to read" list, I realized that I now have 49 books on that list, which is roughly a year's worth of reading for me.  Combined with the fact that I like to intermingle the occasional "comfort" book (books that I've read before but are like old friends) with my new reading, I suspect I won't get through the list until the end of 2014 at the earliest.  This leads me to a remark and two questions:

(1) Nobody had better publish any good new books between now and 2015, and

(2) How long is your "to read" list?  When do you expect to get through it?

[duckduck]

I just looked at my "To-Read" shelf. Sigh. It currently has 190 books on it.

That's about two years for me. I may not get to all of them because I added a bunch of Nook freebies that honestly don't look that fantastic. And then there are other books (classics, mostly) that I want to read someday but have probably forgotten to add to the list.

I used to try to keep my list below 100 so I felt like I had a real shot at it... Somewhere along the line I let that slide.

[charlatti]

I don't really have a list of books I'm absolutely going to read. My goodreads to-read list has 180ish, but those are mostly ideas rather than things I know for sure I'll read.

[rootbeerfloat]

20ish.

ETA:  This would take me a few months.

[daydreamer]

With so many books, how do you decide what to read next?

My goodreads to-read list has 5 books on it. Those are the books I have immediate intent to read and/or have bought the book. I wish there were some way on there to have a separate list for books that catch your interest, but aren't to be read in the foreseeable future. I would have hundreds if that were the case. Way more than I could read in years.

[duckduck]

Apr 18, 2013 15:54:26 GMT -5 daydreamer said:

With so many books, how do you decide what to read next?

I figure out what I'm in the mood for and scroll through my To-Read until I find something that fits the bill. I know it sounds overwhelming, but I actually haven't found it to be so. I don't skim the entire list every time; I just browse around until I see what that strikes my fancy at the moment and go with that.

[daydreamer]

Apr 18, 2013 15:59:18 GMT -5 duckduck said:

Apr 18, 2013 15:54:26 GMT -5 daydreamer said:

With so many books, how do you decide what to read next?

I figure out what I'm in the mood for and scroll through my To-Read until I find something that fits the bill. I know it sounds overwhelming, but I actually haven't found it to be so. I don't skim the entire list every time; I just browse around until I see what that strikes my fancy at the moment and go with that.

That actually sounds quite reasonable. Sometimes I get stuck a reading book that I'm not quite in the mood for.

[msmerymac]

Currently it's 157. I never expect to get through it, it's kind of an evolving list. I look at it when I want to request more books from the library and whatnot. I add to it when I see a book recommended on here, or on NPR, or just anywhere in general, or when a new book comes out by an author I like. It's the same with my Amazon wish list. It's mostly books I want to get to eventually and every so often I go through and see if I can get the kindle version at the library or whether or not I want to read it badly enough to buy it.

I have about 100 books on my kindle. I'd like to get through those in the next 2 years. I buy kindle books much less often - but I supplement my reading with a LOT of library kindle books, and some regular print books as well.

Usually my top 10ish books on my Goodreads to-read list are books that are waiting for me at the library or that I have, and that I want to read next. Usually because I have a finite amount of time in which to read them.

[dorothyinAus]

I don't really think of things in terms of a "to read" list.  According to Goodreads, I have over 960 books, and over 700 of those are read.  Strictly looking at the books I actually own and have not read, they number is somewhere over 200.  But I know I'll never read them all.  So I don't even try.

As far as new books, I read mainly series mysteries so my list grows as the series do.  I like to be as "caught up" as possible with most of my series and that is my main goal for this year's reading -- to catch up with the books in the series I own.  I think I've done a pretty good job.  I've caught up the books I own in the China Bayles, Mrs. Murphy, Her Royal Spyness, Hemlock Falls, Charles Lenox and Phryne Fisher mysteries, as well as the non-mystery Spa Girls series.

Most of the series I am caught up on have newer books out, but I do not own them so they are not on my to be read list yet.

Long explanation short, my to be read list is somewhere over 200 and growing, but it doesn't bother me and I don't worry about it.

[charlatti]

Apr 18, 2013 15:54:26 GMT -5 daydreamer said:

My goodreads to-read list has 5 books on it. Those are the books I have immediate intent to read and/or have bought the book. I wish there were some way on there to have a separate list for books that catch your interest, but aren't to be read in the foreseeable future. I would have hundreds if that were the case. Way more than I could read in years.

You can make a second to-read shelf and call it something else -- to-read-right-now vs to-read-eventually, or something like that. But you can make as many goodreads shelves as you want.

[apelila]

My goodreads to-read shelf is 236 books long. Since I average about 20-25 books a year, that will take me at least a decade. Assuming I don't add any more, which is impossible! Haha
And except for maybe 6-8 books, I already own them all.

As for when it comes time to pick the next one, I will usually take a day or two to completely absorb the last one, and then I will wander from shelf to shelf deciding what kind of mood I'm in. And since I'm a total nerd, I always pick a coordinating bookmark.

[Deleted]

Long. I have Kathryn Hughes's biography of George Eliot up next and then I want to get through Maureen Waller's 1700: Scenes from London Life which I started but haven't finished yet. And then I have Flora Fraser's Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III out from the library. I think I only have three weeks to get through these. I also have Amanda Foreman's biography Georgiana: The Duchess of Devonshire, Janet Gleeson's biography of Harriet Spencer, and two of Judith Flanders's books (The Invention of Murder and Consuming Passions) sitting on my nightstand. 

I better get reading! lol.

[aurora]

It sounds like I need to get to work on my list considering some of your replies.

Turns out, though that I mis-counted anyway. I keep an electronic list of books I want to pick up when I see them (cheap on Kindle, at the used book store, etc.) and then I cross them off that list when I have the book. I stupidly only counted that list, so I actually have more like 80 books on my to read list once I include the ones on my shelf and Kindle. Still less than many of you!

Like @duckduck, I usually just browse around until I see something that strikes my fancy, except when I decide to set up a "pick my next book" poll here.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2013 12:32:27 GMT -5 aurora said:

It sounds like I need to get to work on my list considering some of your replies.

Turns out, though that I mis-counted anyway. I keep an electronic list of books I want to pick up when I see them (cheap on Kindle, at the used book store, etc.) and then I cross them off that list when I have the book. I stupidly only counted that list, so I actually have more like 80 books on my to read list once I include the ones on my shelf and Kindle. Still less than many of you!

Like @duckduck, I usually just browse around until I see something that strikes my fancy, except when I decide to set up a "pick my next book" poll here.

I am super weird and get a panicky, restless feeling if I don't have a stack of good books sitting on my nightstand. lol

[charlatti]

Apr 19, 2013 13:19:39 GMT -5 @lcap said:

I am super weird and get a panicky, restless feeling if I don't have a stack of good books sitting on my nightstand. lol

I don't think that's weird at all! I get a little nutty when my good-book stash gets low (hence my library trip this morning, despite not being anywhere near to finishing my current book).

[daydreamer]

Apr 18, 2013 19:15:42 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Apr 18, 2013 15:54:26 GMT -5 daydreamer said:

My goodreads to-read list has 5 books on it. Those are the books I have immediate intent to read and/or have bought the book. I wish there were some way on there to have a separate list for books that catch your interest, but aren't to be read in the foreseeable future. I would have hundreds if that were the case. Way more than I could read in years.

You can make a second to-read shelf and call it something else -- to-read-right-now vs to-read-eventually, or something like that. But you can make as many goodreads shelves as you want.

Thanks for telling me this could be done.

I had tried setting up other shelves unsuccessfully before. The books on my other shelves would still show up as to-read as well despite choosing "exclusive" when setting up the shelf. I tried again on my app after reading what you said, still didn't work, but then finally got it to work using a computer to set up the list. Maybe there's a bug in the android app. 

[Deleted]

I don't have a list per se but I want to read everything!

[BookLover]

Just the books that I added on in the last 4 months is 30. So, I have about 75-100 I want to read.

[booknerd]

GoodReads says 442. Since I'm in grad school I'm only really able to read 20-30 books a year, but I finish my program in one year. Then I can jump back up to my usual 50-60. It's going to take me forever to read all those books, and I'll be adding more along the way.

But I do own most of those books that I want to read. So that's something I guess lol.

[amy726]

My Goodreads to-read list is 171. I regularly go through recommendations or listopia and add new books to the shelf. I don't look at it as a list of books that I need to read right now, but what I want to read in my lifetime. Every once in a while I will go through my list and put the books on hold at my library. Although it seems when I do that the first 5 or 6 books that I search are either not available at my library or has a long hold list. Therefore I usually have quite a few that I'm waiting for and they seem to all become available at the same time. If there are times that I've finished all the books I have out and there are none yet available, I will grab some random books to hold me over.

[GilliC]

According to Goodreads, right now it's at 333. Of those, I actually own 209 that I have never read.

I also have 1112 free books that I have no expectations of finishing in my lifetime.

[chicacocodrilo]

My to-read is 129. My to-read-the-I-own list is at 68 after a used book sale this weekend. Seriously, what was I thinking?

[apelila]

Apr 22, 2013 18:26:45 GMT -5 chicacocodrilo said:

My to-read is 129. My to-read-the-I-own list is at 68 after a used book sale this weekend. Seriously, what was I thinking?

You were thinking what I would have been thinking: MUST.OWN.THESE. ON.SALE. CAN'T.SAY.NO. 

Lol

[kasi]

I have 281 books on my GR to-read list. I don't expect to read them all. I use it as a reference point when I am looking for something to read. Or maybe like a reminder. I am constantly adding to it but later some of the books I added don't sound appealing anymore.

[duckduck]

Apr 19, 2013 13:30:23 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Apr 19, 2013 13:19:39 GMT -5 @lcap said:

I am super weird and get a panicky, restless feeling if I don't have a stack of good books sitting on my nightstand. lol

I don't think that's weird at all! I get a little nutty when my good-book stash gets low (hence my library trip this morning, despite not being anywhere near to finishing my current book).

Totally normal.

[duckduck]

Apr 19, 2013 18:31:17 GMT -5 @kjewell said:

I don't have a list per se but I want to read everything!

For the win! Haha.

[whitepicketfence]

Way too many. My GR list has 546 books on it. I tend to use it to flag any books that catch my interest vs. solely those that I plan to read.

I also do the same as @duckduck. I enjoy scrolling through my to-read list when I'm trying to decide what to read and choosing whatever I'm in the mood for at the time.

[pooh8402]

130ish on my GR list. I also just scroll through and find whatever I'm in the mood for, and what's available in my library.

[wambam]

I have 9 currently, but I don't put stuff on my list unless I actually intend on reading them in the near future.

[smiley]

My Goodreads list has 10 books to read. I am not sure if I will actually read all of the though. Some are books in a series that have not been published yet, I was using it as a reminder.