So, Monday I got a wild hair and went on a mass deleting spree. I had a lot of random, weird books on my TBR list and it was driving me crazy! I went from 1400 something books down to 720. Crazy, right? (I’m kicking myself now for not screenshot-ing!) There were SO many books were I was just like, “WTF is that? Was I drunk when I added this?”
I think many of them were books I added when I first made a Goodreads account, and back then I was waaay less picky. So I just added books that sounded remotely interesting. But now, being the picky ass I am, I know I would never touch those. So I let them go. And it feels AMAZING!
Want to organize your own shelves? I recommend making a “maybe-read” shelf.
This is what I did. It’s an exclusive shelf, so the books that I might want to read, but am only semi interested in, don’t clutter my TBR list. I have a little over 200 books on that one. That’s 200 books that aren’t clogging up my list of books I genuinely want to read!
Now, if I want to read something totally random, I don’t have to go through tons and tons of books to find something I feel like reading. It’s a pretty awesome feeling :)
bahahha! I ‘ve looked at my TBR shelf and I cringe a lot because I’m like, ‘why the heck did I add this?’ I really need to clean out mine! Go you for actually doing it!
I love organization!! Great tip :) You practically halved your list!
Some time earlier this year, I just deleted most of the books on my Goodreads TBR shelf because I got to tired of looking at all the hundred of books I didn’t even remember adding. It was such a relief. The idea with a ‘maybe-read’ shelf is such a good idea, that I might need to make use of myself! :)
Once in a while I’ll open a page of my TBR, and just delete everything that doesn’t look appealing any more. For years I managed to stay under 1000 TBR books, but I kinda splurged recently. A maybe shelf sounds like a great idea!
How long did it take to clean up your TBR? I need to be like you and just attack it Jessi. Maybe it’ll be apart of my Book Blogger Organization Challenge!
I had a huge clean-up last year, where I went from 6000something to 2567 I have at the moment. It’s still a lot, I know, but easier to manage. I just like way too many things, haha. I’ve also made a ‘maybe’ list and it’s nice to have those books somewhere, without interfering with the books I’m interested in.
I could probably do with sorting through my tbr as well.
And my Kindle!
LMAO Jesse!!! I just cleaned out my TBR a few days ago!!! And I thought the same freakin’ thing — WTH was I thinking?? I know they didn’t used to have those exclusive shelves, so I just added everything to my TBR and added to a top tier TBR shelf if I really wanted to read it.
So I made a few exclusive shelves and deleted about 500 books and now I’m good for awhile, LOL
That is until I go to clean it out next year only to erase another 500.
I’m stealing this idea right now… :D
I got rid of about 50 books on my TBR shelf the other day. I just figured these were books I was never going to read or why did I ever add some of the books I did.
I went on a major cleaning spree with GR earlier this year, then I cleaned out my ‘wishlist’ shelf even more last week. Feels so good. And like you, some books I thought ‘WHY is this here?!!’ I’ve gotten pickier as well.
And I agree about having a ‘maybe-read’ shelf.
I try NOT to look at my Goodreads TBR sometimes…I can only imagine what is on there…
I did this a while back too, and it felt AWESOME! I, too, had so many books on my TBR that I really had no interest in reading anymore. I also made two other exclusive shelves called “series to finish” and “series to try” which is helping me to prioritize and organize my series reading too! I like your maybe shelf idea though … it’s a good place to shelve books that I might consider one day, but not 100% sure that I want to read just yet.
I just did the same thing, and it really is so relieving to see all the books shrink away! I made a “think about it” exclusive shelf, and that makes it a lot easier to keep away all the ones I either haven’t really looked at yet, or I’m waiting to see what the general consensus is.
Awesome idea, I may be copying it soon, hehe!
I really need to do an overhaul of my Goodreads shelves. I need more categories to keep it more organized. There are books that I no longer care to read, so I should either remove it or make a “maybe-read” category like you recommended. If only I had the time. It’s just so tedious. Lol.
Feels great huh? I did something similar this summer – I have several exclusive shelves now: “owned-but-not-read” (that one is scary), “need-to-read-for-review”, “dying-to-read”, “hope-to-read”, “maybe-read”
I probably wont ever get to the books on hope ot maybe, but I hung on to them, just in case I’m in a mood and nothing is satisfying me on the other shelves :)
I applaud you!
I think I’m too lazy to sort through my TBR shelf. I think the problem I have is that I never ever even LOOK at that shelf. So for me there’s not much point in cleaning it out since I don’t really use it anyway. But I do know it’s probably loaded with books I’m no longer interested in reading.
That’s awesome that you organized your Goodreads shelves. I’ve been wanting to do that for months. I’ve started, but then I never finish. I love the idea of a Maybe-Read shelf. I definitely need to add one of those.
[…] Jessi talks about cleaning up her TBR on goodreads. […]
I feel like I should start organising my Goodreads TBR into shelves but I am far too lazy to do it. I just keep adding to it and there is no order :(
That’s a good idea. I actually have a “to read soon” shelf, and everything else that isn’t important just goes on “want to read” and it doesn’t mean very much heh.
I don’t think I could go through my list… Such a scary thought.