Let's Talk: Do books get "lost" in your TBR?

Today, I’m doing a discussion post because I love doing these and getting to hear what you guys think on topics and discuss.  So much fun!

I feel like so often I am pumped to read a book, I buy it, and then weeks go by, then months, and somehow I still haven’t read it.  How does this happen?

Also, I wanted to talk about that wonderful feeling of going to a bookstore and buying a book and going home and reading it right away. 

Although, now with the size of most of our TBR piles, this doesn’t happen very often.  And that’s sad.  There’s something really special, I think, about buying a book and reading it right away.  You’re so excited to read it, you go and buy it, and you’re able to sit down and read it right away.  There’s no waiting, and you are able to dive in immediately.

I feel like so often I am insanely excited for a book, I buy it, and then it gets lost in the massive TBR pile.  What happened?  I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book – now it’s been a year, and I still haven’t read it.  Time just slips away from me and it’s insane.

Does this happen to you?  It’s unfortunate.  Because I look at those books waiting in the pile and think “I was so excited for this.  Why haven’t I read it?”  It’s not that I still don’t want to read them.  They still appeal to me, and I still really want to get around to them.  But, I didn’t read them at the peak of my excitement.  It’s died down now.  Everyone else was reading it months ago, but it got “lost” in the TBR.

I was away for the weekend at the beginning of the summer and only brought a couple of books with me.  When I had finished all my books, I bought a couple more.  Every Last Word, Daughter of Deep Silence, and The Wrath and The Dawn were those books.  They were the three books I most wanted to read at the time.  And I read them all right away.

And there was something really special about picking out a book and reading it as soon as I got back to where I was staying.  I didn’t have the struggle of looking at The Wrath and The Dawn sit on my shelf for the next 3 months while I constantly thought about how I really should read it now because I’d heard amazing things. 

There was something kind of refreshing of having that little stack of books and just concentrating on those.  

That being said, my TBR will never get that low and even with all of its’ problems, I like having a wide range of books to choose from.  It’s just nice sometimes as a change and it was really refreshing.  So, it got me thinking. 

From now on, I think what I’m going to TRY to do is to read whatever books I do purchase right away.  Or at least most of them.  If I buy a couple of books, instead of shelving them, I want to try to read them next.  Yesterday, I bought Alive by Scott Sigler and I’m going to take it with me when I go away this weekend.  Because I’m super excited to read it right now.  Why should I wait?  There’s something so freeing about just saying “I’m going to read this book RIGHT NOW because I’m super excited about it and I CAN.” *

*unless, of course, you have review copies to get to first or pesky library books that must be read and returned.

I’d really love your thoughts on this.  Do books get “lost” in your TBR?  Do you have feelings similar to these?  Do you agree?  What’s your take?  Any tips?

Olivia