Coming to the end of one year and looking ahead to another: it’s a good opportunity to take stock of my virtual and physical to-read piles once more. Thanks to fellow book bloggers Naomi at The Writes of Woman and Eleanor at Elle Thinks for giving me this meme idea and tagging me in it, respectively.

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

I have a ridiculously large to-read shelf on Goodreads, but that’s more like a vague lifelong wish list – some of them I own, some I’ve only heard of and want to investigate further, some I’m desperate to get hold of, and so on. I recently culled my online TBR and cut it by about 10%, but it’s still overwhelming. In real life, I take occasional inventories of the unread books in our flat (192 at last count). However, this doesn’t account for the fact that at least half of my book collection is still in my parents’ house in the States. While I’m back there for some time over the holidays, I enjoy gazing at my books and choosing a select few to bring back in my suitcase. On this trip I’ll be boxing them all up to go into storage. When shall I ever be reunited with them?!

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Is your TBR mostly print or e-book?

If I only consider the books I already have access to, there are more unread print ones on my shelves than there are e-book approvals through NetGalley and Edelweiss. There’s not all that much in it, though; I might estimate the print TBR at 400–500, while I have about 300 books at my disposal through those online sources and new titles come up for request all the time.

How do you determine which books from your TBR to read next?

This generally depends on review deadlines, library due dates, and e-book expirations. In some sense, then, my reading list is completely imposed on me from outside. However, I always make sure I let whimsy guide some of my choices. Next year I hope to be even better about just picking up a book off my shelves and starting it for no reason other than instantaneous interest.

A book that has been on my TBR the longest

On the virtual TBR: probably Fast Food Nation and some of Margaret Atwood’s back catalogue. On the vague list in my head: all the more obscure Dickens and Hardy titles.

A book I recently added to my TBR

Rochester Knockings: A Novel of the Fox Sisters by Hubert Haddad.

A book on my TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover

I love the beard-house on the cover of Know Your Beholder by Adam Rapp.

A book on my TBR that I never plan on reading

Will I really pick up Martin Amis’s novels, or Ian McEwan’s early work? How about those obscure Thomas Hardy novels like A Laodicean and A Pair of Blue Eyes?

An unpublished book on my TBR that I’m excited for

I recently started Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (to be published on April 19, 2016). Her novel American Wife is one of my absolute favorites, so I was excited about her Pride and Prejudice retelling and lucky enough to be sent an advanced copy. I’m not that into it yet – the third-person omniscient voice is taking a while to get used to because first-person female narrators are Sittenfeld’s forte – but I hope it will pick up soon.

A book on my TBR that everyone recommends

I’ve encountered almost universal praise for Elena Ferrante’s four autobiographical novels, the first of which is My Brilliant Friend. They’re on my priority list for 2016.

A book on my TBR that everyone has read but me

1984 by George Orwell.

A book on my TBR that I’m dying to read

Some of my priority books to get hold of are Nell Zink’s novels, the final two books in Jane Smiley’s The Last Hundred Years trilogy, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast, and Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig. I’ve also been meaning to read The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert for ages, and I’m intrigued to try The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide.

How many books are on your TBR shelf?

5,664 on the Goodreads shelf; maybe 500 in the print queue.

People I’m tagging:

Shannon at River City Reading

Lucy at Literary Relish