Read What You Own Challenge

[ÚlldemoShúl]

I’m going to start a Read What You Own Challenge on the 1st of July to try and reduce down my ridiculously huge TBR both physical and kindle.
My rules for me are-

• No buying any new books after midday on July 1st
• Unsubscribe from the kindle daily deals email
• I am allowed to break it for the Booker Prize longlist when it’s announced, but must check my library for the books first.
• Keep going until August 21st as my first goal. (Maybe until 2026 in total)

These rules are specific to me and anyone who wants to join me is free to make their own set of rules for their challenge. I’m going to log each book I read here to keep me accountable. Anyone else up for it? I know some 50 Bookers are considering it…

I'll join! I have been trying to reduce my tbr pile all year but seem to be exactly where I started, if not worse, so not sure what's gone wrong!
My rule is no more added to the pile before my holiday to Wales in August. Although I have birthday before then and we will be having a day in Hay-on-wye so I doubt I'll see any improvement before September 🙈🙈

Welcome @ProfessionalTeaDrinker Ive just realised I have a birthday too which may scupper things! Well I suppose if I get any as presents they are books I own! 🤷‍♀️
Hay on Wye has to be an exception I reckon like my Booker one!

For me the Kindle deals are lethal and I have SO MANY unread books and all I seem to do is scroll endlessly hoping something jumps out and then buy some more. I have got two books I’d like to buy but I’ve been resisting. I suppose I would like to find some way of prioritising books that have languished for some time

Yes it definitely qualifies, it would be rude not to just go for it! I'm thinking if I just focus on clearing what I can before I go and freeing up a bit of space, I might be able to fool myself into thinking I've not done much damage 😃
It definitely needs bringing under control though. Although my numbers aren't horrific, I do have books that have been sat there for so long that I kept saying I'd read and ten years later, are still there......

I am keeping a list on my phone of any books I'm that I hear and am interested in. So when I do need to top up the tbr eventually, I have some to choose from.

Welcome @EineReiseDurchDieZeit
I’m undecided as to whether I can buy books from my kindle wishlist that come up at 99p. I think probably no. I’m also going to try and avoid buying stationery/ journaling supplies which is my other overstocked weakness

Yes. I think I will do this until the end of the year. I need to stop reserving books from the library and clear my Kindle pile. I think if I start now, I'll clear it by the end of December.

I doubt I could clear my Kindle backlog in 3 years

Mmm, I could probably do with signing up for this... but (despite the 96 books on my current TBR piles, which are threatening to topple over and suffocate me in my sleep) it will be SO HARD! What if I walk past a bookshop? I can't walk past one and not go in! What if I spot a usually-expensive or rare book on a fantastic deal? What if I get lost and find myself in somewhere dangerously bookish like Hay-on-Wye?

I don't own a Kindle, so I'll have no problems on that front. Sadly, the local town does not have a bookshop anymore but the next one does. I don't tend to visit the library much, because I have read a lot of their books and I have a larger and more interesting selection at home. I mean, why read chick-lit and old lady books when I can read about sheep, various religious groups and books imported from far and wide as the British publishers can't keep up with me?

I'm unsure as to how long my TBR pile will take to get through, as I just keep adding to it. I used to read a book a day, but then I got a very full-time job which consumes my life...

I’m up for this - I seem to be more into buying books than actually reading them at the moment 🤦‍♀️

My exceptions are parts 2 and 3 of the Kristin Lavransdottir trilogy for the MN readalong, and the last in a series of Scandi crime novels that are my going to sleep reads. Actually come to think of it I might not have much on my kindle so might need to top that up. But nothing else! I can easily go the rest of this year and probably all of next year without needing anything new.

Welcome @FuzzyCaoraDhubh @NormaMajors1992coat @TheeNotoriousPIG
Just do it in whatever way works for you- even if you only make it to 5 or 10 books read it’ll be 5 or 10 off the long-term TBR.
I’m like you @EineReiseDurchDieZeit it would take me years to clear my kindle TBR. More than 10 I’d say…

I don’t know how many I’ll get through with the Lavransdottir readalong and I’m doing the Dombey one as well. But really looking forward to clearing a few books and disposing of them one way or another. The house is full of things waiting to be read and I have a nasty feeling there are more in the loft which were put away when we had some work done on the house and never reemerged. And I’m going to have a good sort out of my kindle too, long overdue. My biggest problem is reading the books threads on here, so many great recommendations 😬

I'll join! No more books for me until my birthday (2 days before your set date, @ÚlldemoShúl !) - although I will make an exception for 99p and on my Wish List.

Thanks for the thread - I'm also up for this.

I will make an exception for:
Booker longlist
Book club books
Wishlist books that go on offer

Realistically, I'm not sure how long I'll manage but will aim for July & August to at least try and get through some of the 100 or so unread books on my Kindle + another 10 or so actual books.

I also have a birthday coming up but may not ask for books!

I might join in but in addition to not buying I have already started to cull my unread books. Tastes change and I've decided to no longer feel any obligation to read a book just because it's on my tbr pile. There are unread books on my kindle from years ago that realistically I will never read. I scrolled past them all this time. So I have moved lots into a folder " probably won't read" and they are now out of sight.
Plus I have lots of kindle books that were my late mum's. We had some similar taste but I'll never read most of them.

Totally in!!! Packed kindle, books have gotten from people to review (am an author) or from people as presents and books people have told me not to give back until I’ve read (should start there!). Thank you for this x

edited to add haven't read anything in months because of work and personal crap!

I'm up for this, but will probably fall off the wagon.

The need to clear my TBR pile gives me all the excuse I need to pack in The Sea, The Sea (Iris Murdoch) which I'd borrowed and is boring me to tears. That frees me up to read something off the stack of books I either own or borrowed literally years ago.

The only exceptions will be book group books, but I've read the next two.

Tomorrow, I'll make myself a list.

Anything I'm not enjoying by p.50 is going to go. Life is too short to waste wading through something you aren't enjoying.

Welcome everyone. @MissyGirlie I’m with you on the DNFing too.
@stayathomer is it hard to read a book in the same genre that you’re writing in?

I’m going to try and have a gentle, no-pressure go at this. I’ve chosen a non-fiction next that’s been lurking on the tbr pile for several years to my knowledge and will see how it goes - my last few reads were also physical books of some vintage decades in one case.

( @OurMavis I too have a kindle packed with the books I bought for my mum. She didn’t have her own account but a kindle was probably the best present I ever bought her, and I used my account to buy things for her to read on it. She loved reading but our tastes generally diverged. It’s coming up to 5 years since she died and I just haven’t been able to face deleting them all yet. I might try your folder trick)

It can be, if I feel I’m starting to get ideas that are in the same vein as what I’m reading, I start reading thrillers! (I’m rom com!)

Kindle users, do you know that you can remove books from your Kindle without deleting them? You can also buy things but not download them. I've bought books for dp occasionally that I definitely don't want on my Kindle, and sent them to his device, not mine.

For more, have a look at Manage Content and Devices.

I'll join, though I'm going to a book sale on the 11th and can't promise not to buy anything.

Ooh, the literary equivalent of shopping from your wardrobe. I don't think we should say "except Kindle 99p" because there are hundreds of those. I just got Demon Copperhead on the 99p offer but goodness knows when I will get round to reading it, if ever.

My exceptions are book club books (obvs) and anything already on my Kindle wait list which comes down to an acceptable price. Oh and maybe new books in a series where I've read the others.

I'm in even if I make some progress before I fall off the wagon that would help. As with others, exceptions for book club books (and possibly next books in series I am part way through).

Made a start on Some Tame Gazelle - Barbara Pym - purchased 1 May 2024 so by no means a long-term lingerer.

😁 Me too! I'm up for the challenge. Two exceptions for me: I have a sample on my Kindle of a book for a July readalong- if I like the book, I'll buy it. I'll also make an exception for any 99c deals on my wishlist but I don't imagine they'll come up. I am going to aim for the next month. Afterwards I'm on holiday in the UK and can't resist the charity shops!