There are currently 289 books on my TBR list. Of course, that’s only the list on my library account; it doesn’t include titles I’ve saved to Goodreads, or taken a screenshot of so I remember them, or saved in one of a million tabs open on my phone.  

If you google “TBR” (also known as your “to be read” list), there are a bunch of articles that come up, offering tips on ruthlessly pruning your list down to a more manageable size. Some articles will recommend keeping the list to no more than the number of books you can read in a year, or in two years; some of them recommend regularly purging your list of books you haven’t gotten to; some of them recommend only reading books in the order you acquired them.  

All of these articles start from a single premise: There are too many books on your TBR list.  

That might be true if you had to buy every book on your list, and then find a place to store it in your home. Luckily, you and I both know there’s a better way. Instead of buying, borrow, and let us store the books for you – in our library or one of the 450+ other libraries in the SHARE consortium.  

Sometimes, people view their TBR list as an obligation: these are books that HAVE to be read. I prefer to see it as an inspiration; when I’m stuck on what to read next, I can turn to my TBR and find something that I know I was interested in (at least at some point). What’s more, I don’t think of a TBR list as something that needs to be finished. To my mind, that’s akin to saying that I’ve “finished” my fridge. Certainly not a position I want to be in! 

Of course, sometimes a TBR with hundreds of books on it can feel overwhelming. There are certainly strategies to reduce the strain. In my OFPL account, I separate out the lists by books that are local (held in our library) vs. books I’ll need to order through ILL.  

(By the way, did you know you can keep track of books on various lists directly in your library account? Once you’re logged in, just look on the left-hand side of the screen for the menu option marked “Your Lists”, and from there you can create and manage lists of books, games, movies, etc. from throughout the SHARE system).  

Other people might organize their lists by genre, or by length, or by the mood they want to be in when they read the book. What matters is finding what’s right for you. So if you need permission, here you are: it’s ok to have a ridiculously long, aspirational, TBR list. And when you’re ready for the next book, whether it’s on your list or not, we’ll be here for you.