As of today, I officially have 140 books on my TBR. That’s after reading over 100 this year and culling a few I never intend to read. That’s a lot of books. It would take me about a year to read all of those IF I never added anything else to the list. That’s NOT going to happen. But, I decided it was a good time to take a deep dive into my TBR and find out what’s really on there.
GENRES
- 2 Classics
- 1 each of Young Adult and Adult
- 16 Contemporary Fiction
- 1 Middle Grade
- 8 Young Adult
- 7 Adult
- 37 Fantasy
- 4 Middle Grade
- 27 Young Adult
- 6 Adult
- 2 Historical Fiction
- Both happen to be Adult
- 16 Horror
- 1 Young Adult
- 15 Adult
- 39 Mystery/Thriller
- 6 Young Adult
- 33 Adult
- 5 Non-Fiction
- 2 Young Adult
- 3 Adult
- 7 Paranormal Fiction
- 2 Young Adult
- 5 Adult
- 1 Poetry
- Happens to be Middle Grade
- 4 Romance
- 3 Young Adult
- 1 Adult
- 10 Science Fiction
- 3 Young Adult
- 7 Adult
- 1 Western Fiction
- Happens to be written for Adults
AGE CATEGORY
So, if we’re counting, that’s 81 books written for adults (58% of the TBR), 6 written for middle grade, and 53 written for young adults. Am I surprised to find absolutely NO children’s books on there? No, not really. I’m not teaching any more, my kids are teenagers, and I don’t typically get review or ARC requests for children’s books. They just aren’t on my radar as much as they used to be.
SERIES
36 of the books on my TBR are the first books in a series. This can be problematic because it’s likely reading this one will result in me adding AT LEAST one more book to the TBR haha. Really, when you see this stat you can understand how we got to a TBR this large. In fact …
- 15 are the second in a series
- 6 are third
- 1 fourth
- 2 sixth
- Plus the 31st and 32nd in the same series
That just leaves 78 stand-alone books.
PUBLICATION YEAR
The oldest book on my TBR was published in 1937. In fact, 12 of the books on my TBR were published in the 1900s (yes, it hurt my Gen X heart to write it like that LOL). Another 10 were published before 2010. A HUGE chunk (51) were published between 2010 and 2019. 22 of them were published in 2020, 14 in 2021, 17 in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 1 is coming in 2024. I’ve really tried to make an effort to get the older stuff read and off my TBR. Obviously, that’s not working. Points for trying, I guess.
HOW DID I GET THEM
Ugh, this is the one that always kills me. See, I work at a used bookstore. So when I see a book on my TBR for a good price, I tend to just grab it. That means I have a LOT of these already kicking around my house, waiting for me. Let’s see how bad it really is.
- 1 ARC from a publisher
- 11 Borrowed from a family member who lives with me (technically it’s not on MY bookshelf LOL)
- 22 I have either won in a giveaway or have been gifted (I actually didn’t realize this number was so high, that’s CRAZY)
- 11 are traditionally published books I can get from my library’s audiobook rental service
- 5 are traditionally published books I can get from my library’s ebook rental service
- 4 are traditionally published books I can get from my library in physical form
- 20 are ebooks I’ve already purchased
- 63 are physical copies I’ve already purchased (see, told you, that’s 45% of my TBR)
- 3 are pending Review Requests from the author, publisher, or agent
INDIE?
61 of the titles are independently published (about 43% of my total TBR)
HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN ON MY TBR?
Ok, look, it’s bad. I’m aware of that. I’ve been TRYING to get better about reading the stuff that’s been there a long time or making a decision to cull it from the TBR. I swear I have. Currently, the oldest thing on my TBR has been there since January of 2019. I do own a copy. Yes, it came from the bookstore. In fact, of the oldest 10 books on my TBR, I think half of them came from the bookstore.
I know reviews matter, which is why I review everything I read. But I also know they have a special place in the hearts of indie authors. That being said, I’m doing the best I can and still probably could do better for them. The indie book that’s been sitting on my TBR the longest has been there since January of 2020. It was gifted to me.
All in all, here’s what we’re dealing with:
- 10 books have been there since 2019
- 9 since 2020
- 27 since 2021
- 26 were added in 2022
- The rest (68) have been added to the TBR this year, regardless of when they were published. I’d just like you to acknowledge that this means had I read everything I read this year but added NOTHING NEW to the TBR it would be down to 72 books. Of course, I look at what I added and have no regrets because there’s some GOOD STUFF there … I’m just stating a fact.
Anyway, that’s my deep dive into my TBR for today. I love playing around with statistics so this was fun to look up. If there’s anything else you’re wondering about my TBR, ask me in the comments! I could talk about this stuff all day.
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