# How big is your TBR list.



## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Some of us are serious book addicts. For those who have e-reading devices, it's made purchasing books a lot easier. Some people have lost even control over how many e-books they either purchase or download for free, causing a backlog. 

How many books do you have on your "To Be Read" List?


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

There are currently 1605 books on my goodreads "To Be Read" list. I don't own all own all those books though, just that I'd "like" to read them..... hopefully one day, if I live long enough to get to them.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Just ebooks alone, I have about 3000 on my to be read list and I own about 1300 of those.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Only about 2000.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Wow. I'm only at four.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

in the thousands....if they were paper books I would not be able to get in my front door!


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## Natasha Holme (May 26, 2012)

I'm precious with my TBR list, like to keep it trim and manageable, just as I like empty cupboards in my kitchen. I don't want to know what I'll be eating for the next few months. I want a surprise.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I have 59 currently in my Goodreads list. I suspect at least 10% of those will never be read: just something that caught my eye for some reason or other. On the other hand, I'm sure I have at least a few dozen books on my Kindle(s) that I've not yet read and are not on my Goodreads lists: often freebies and such that I may never read, but the price was right even if that's the case.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I currently have only 136 unread books on my kindle.  Of course there are a couple of books I ordered this morning that I haven't downloaded yet.  Somewhere between 125-150 is the usual (I delete to archives as soon as I finish a book). That's approximately 6 months worth of reading for me.


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## Not Here Anymore (May 16, 2012)

Wow! I only have about 10 unread books on my Kindle. I have several in mind that I want to buy, but haven't gotten around to it yet. They're on my mental TBR list.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I have > 800 books on my Kindle which I really want to read.. someday.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I have a couple thousand in my archive.  Some are my brother's, who shares my account.  Some I've arleady read.  No idea how many.  I don't keep track.  I only know it's a couple thousand because that's easily calculated via MYK.


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## Sam Kates (Aug 28, 2012)

Only counting books I own but haven't yet read: around 25 on my kindle; around 30 paperbacks.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Well over a thousand. 

It's a sickness....  

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

A smidge under 650 unread books on my kindle. Loads more in mg Goodreads TBR and Amazon wish lists.


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## dikatiecarlo (Aug 5, 2013)

I try to keep it under 365 between my kindle and my wishlist. If it gets longer than that I trim it down or read more.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

For all of you who have over 25 on their TBR list, all I can say is "Wow." lol


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I have about 50 unread books on my Kindle.



Russell Brooks said:


> For all of you who have over 25 on their TBR list, all I can say is "Wow." lol


Looks like that's most of us.


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## MartinStanley72 (May 17, 2011)

A couple of hundred, although this includes a few paperback books as well.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

Five books that are on my must read TBR and about twice that many that I want to read.


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

I have between 200 and 300 on my kindle(thats mine and my daughters books) but on my Goodreads to read list I have 105.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Like history_lover, I have about 50 on my Kindle. To those with a hundred or more - I understand.  It could easily be me.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I have all my paid for kindle books on my kindle, those I haven't read yet. 
Those are about 450 unread at the moment. The rest resides in the cloud and I use my goodread shelfs to mark them all.
I don't keep read books on my kindle. 

I have always had a lot of books around me. But as an apartment dweller, the kindle is nirvana. I still have one large bookshelf for my collector stuff and cookbooks and some out of print. 

I guess to me having 450 books I own and paid for and still have to read, doesn't seem so much. I like buying stuff on sale and stock up like a squirrel.  . Its not like they have an expiration date, so I'll get to them eventually. All of them. So there.  

I think I would get the shakes if I only had 5 books on my list.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Atunah said:


> I think I would get the shakes if I only had 5 books on my list.


LOL, same here!


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Atunah said:


> I think I would get the shakes if I only had 5 books on my list.


I know I would. I almost went into DT's one vacation because I had no physical books with me. My husband pointed out that I had hundreds of books to read with me. Though that week we did go thrift shopping and I found some cooking and craft books.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

Atunah said:


> I think I would get the shakes if I only had 5 books on my list.


I re-read a lot of works (or chapters I especially enjoyed or am studying to learn how to improve my own writing). Plus having one full-time and three part-time jobs (I teach, am a member of the village council, grade e-course work, and write), plus a family and church and such, doesn't leave me nearly as much time as I'd like simply sit down and read. Sadly, I am not a fast reader. I do squeeze it in and I do a lot of audiobooks while driving to fill in the desire for reading. Just an efficient use of time.

So, for me, to have fifty or more of TBR books stacked and/or downloaded, wouldn't make sense.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

82 on my Paperwhite, 651 in my Cloud, and probably close to 250 on Calibre. I love love love that my Paperwhite lets me switch from device to Cloud, and lets me view my archive by book cover! This is such a huge help when you have hundreds of books archived; you can glance at the covers and have an idea of the genre of each book.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Until Kindle and forums like KBoards, I never knew I was unusual in this regard. I have no TBR list. I buy a book, read it or decide it was a mistake, and get another. Before Kindle I'd sometimes buy two at a time but more often not. The library is the exception in that I tend to bring 3-6 library books home at a time and go through them one after another. Since Kindle I sometimes hear about something I think I might like and send the sample to my K as a reminder, but even at that 2-3 samples sitting there would be a lot.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

You need an intervention Ellen


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Atunah said:


> You need an intervention Ellen


And here I thought it was the other way around and you guys with thousands of unread books needed help. 

At least we're no longer talking about books piled on shelves and needing dusting.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

No no no, we are the normal ones.  . 

Dusting  . Don't say that word.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Atunah said:


> No no no, we are the normal ones. .
> 
> Dusting . Don't say that word.


Yes we are normal.
You said the D word. Take an Erma Bombeck and a Jean Kerr and call me in the morning. That should cure the D idea. If that fails grab a Phyllis Diller too.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

Atunah said:


> You need an intervention Ellen


  Yes, Ellen, you definitely need an intervention! Or maybe you're just OCD and don't like a lot of clutter.  I gotta say though, you're situation is rather unique. I've seen some say they prefer keeping 10 or so ebooks on their Kindle at a time, but you're the first I've seen that buys and downloads one. book. at. a. time. I'm probably averaging 3-5 a day! Yeah, maybe I'm the one who needs an intervention...


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Mandy said:


> Yes, Ellen, you definitely need an intervention! Or maybe you're just OCD and don't like a lot of clutter.


Well, there's sure enough clutter in other parts of my life, but having a bunch of unread books around would bother me. I need to either read it or decide it's not for me and zap it. The couple of times I've downloaded some freebie or classic thinking I should read it or will read it later, it sits and sits until I admit to myself "should" doesn't cut it and I don't _want _to read it or I would have right away.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

ellenoc said:


> Until Kindle and forums like KBoards, I never knew I was unusual in this regard. I have no TBR list. I buy a book, read it or decide it was a mistake, and get another. Before Kindle I'd sometimes buy two at a time but more often not. The library is the exception in that I tend to bring 3-6 library books home at a time and go through them one after another. Since Kindle I sometimes hear about something I think I might like and send the sample to my K as a reminder, but even at that 2-3 samples sitting there would be a lot.


I don't normally buy a book if I'm not ready to read it either, except if it's something I know I want to read and it's on sale - might as well get it while it's cheap and save myself money. So with 50 books waiting to be read on my Kindle, that just shows how often Kindle books get significantly discounted.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

About 50 print books, 171 on my Kindle. Which are about typical for me.

At one point a few years back I had my TBR pile/list down to about 5. That's the lowest it's been in my life. It took me years to get there. Just wanted to see if I could do it. It didn't last. ;-)


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

I have no real idea how many books are on my TBR list...let's just say LOTS!  I'm afraid to go and count because it would be overwhelming. My sisters (who don't share my kindle account) become baffled from time to time on what to read next....really?? I may not know which book I want to read next, but I have a big enough list to choose from so it's just a matter of deciding what I'm in the mood for. They don't have a TBR list to speak of...do people like that really exist??    It seems I add books to my TBR list every day....not that I buy them all, but they are added to the wish list.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Mandy said:


> Yes, Ellen, you definitely need an intervention! Or maybe you're just OCD and don't like a lot of clutter.  I gotta say though, you're situation is rather unique. I've seen some say they prefer keeping 10 or so ebooks on their Kindle at a time, but you're the first I've seen that buys and downloads one. book. at. a. time. I'm probably averaging 3-5 a day! Yeah, maybe I'm the one who needs an intervention...


It could be worse Mandy. You could be downloading 20-30 a day. I am down to downloading 1-5 a day and omg the other day I got none.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Back in the day, 2009-2009/2010 and such, I used to download like there was no tomorrow. All of that lead me to have to do some serious culling. I am almost done with that. I am talking permanently deleting some 600-700 books.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

Book Hoarders Annonymous, anyone?  I guess that's the beauty of our Kindles; we can have thousands of books, and they all take up the space of less than one paperback book. Can you just imagine physical copies of these books in your home? I've been cleaning out my girls' bedrooms to prepare for complete renovations. The girls have _a lot_ of stuffed animals. We took out all e ones they no longer wanted and we're donating them to a church who will distribute them to an orphanage. The girls and I got bored and counted - 348 stuffed animals.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't keep particular track, but I imagine it's over 1000 books on my TBR list. This includes books which I have no plans to read anytime soon, but likely will read someday.


Mike


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Mandy said:


> We took out* all e ones * they no longer wanted and we're donating them to a church who will distribute them to an orphanage. The girls and I got bored and counted - 348 stuffed animals.


Mandy seeing as how we have been talking about e-books your typo made me giggle. What is an e stuffed animal? Other than say Teddy Ruxpin.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

Oddly enough, since getting Kindle for the PC (I don't own a Kindle), my TBR pile has gone down. I think it's because when I buy a book I'm in a place where I can start reading it almost immediately and usually do. 

So, I'm looking at about 30 or so ebooks that haven't been read yet.

My physical TBR pile hovers around 50 and that's due to space restrictions.


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## Robena (Jan 19, 2013)

I've read most everything on my Kindle now, so I'd say about five to go. It has been a few months of intense reading and not much writing. : ) Hope that is about to change.


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

I think I need to make a list, that might help.  But in the spirit of the thread, I'm on book 28 or so of Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series   There's a bunch more.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

cinisajoy said:


> Mandy seeing as how we have been talking about e-books your typo made me giggle. What is an e stuffed animal? Other than say Teddy Ruxpin.


Hey, we did have an e-stuffed animal! It was a Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur) that you plugged into the computer to personalize. Pretty sure it was called eBarney. So after personalizing it, he would sing, "I love _Amber_, you love _Amber_, we're a happy family..." Thank heavens the Barney phase is permanently behind us.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

I had such a huge TBR that I couldn't stand to have it remind me everyday of all the books I hadn't yet read.  Made me feel guilty.  So I scratched the list and now never allow myself more than a half dozen books TBR, and try  get through at least half of those before I add anything more.  You have to do crazy stuff like that when you're a bookaholic but want to live a normal life.


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

I used to have a huge TBR list, but decided to start anew. It was stressing me out, like the job email getting out of control... 

Now I have only a couple of books - "Treasure Island" and "Misery".


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

johnlmonk said:


> I think I need to make a list, that might help.


That's what Goodreads is for!


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

my TBR list on goodreads is 4,000 plus now I fully realize I wont read all of those BUT its a way for me to track things I would possibly like to read someday. My actual TbR list on my paperwhite is at 1154. in july I started a project to read as many of those as I can before giving in and buying more. so far I've read 7 and expect to be at 9 today or tomorrow so technically I started at 1,161


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

mistyd107 said:


> my TBR list on goodreads is 4,000 plus now I fully realize I wont read all of those BUT its a way for me to track things I would possibly like to read someday.


I know a lot of people do this but I personally like to keep separate lists. I created a shelf on GR called "got-my-eye-on" which is for books I am interested in and want to keep track of but only books I already own (or pre-ordered) go on my to-read list.


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## cshoughton (Jul 10, 2013)

My list usually hovers around zero. I read about two books a week, but whenever I am done (or nearly done), I just look around and see what I feel like reading next. 

I probably developed the habit by spending most of my life choosing from among what books I saw currently available at the library or used bookstore. I suppose the long TBR list is really a product of being able to select from a nearly unlimited market of ebooks whenever one pleases. Maybe I'll try it. 

Craig


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## legion (Mar 1, 2013)

Probably about 1000--only about 300 shelved to-read on Goodreads, despite having over 350 waiting on Kindle alone, and hundreds upon hundreds in physical form in my home (and/or on some other list somewhere).


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## Sarah Rielle (Jul 8, 2013)

Wow! And I thought I was bad at trying to keep track of my unread purchases. I'm currently in *writing shutdown* meaning NOTHING should be getting done but writing my novel. Which leads me to internet scouring and forum reading. However, not to sitting down with a cuppa and catching up on my reading   But not to worry - I've only about 30 or so novels downloaded awaiting my return, not like some of you poor souls with thousands. THOUSANDS.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i have 1010 books in my cloud and 36 on my kindle.  no clue how many are actually TBR and how many i've already read.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

cagnes said:


> There are currently 1605 books on my goodreads "To Be Read" list. I don't own all own all those books though, just that I'd "like" to read them..... hopefully one day, if I live long enough to get to them.


Yup, you'd run up quite a bill if you owned all 1605 TBR books, lol, unless you got most of them in giveaways.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> Only about 2000.


lol, I like the way you write "ONLY about 2000."


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Russell Brooks said:


> lol, I like the way you write "ONLY about 2000."


And 2 of your books are on that list.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

cinisajoy said:


> And 2 of your books are on that list.


Sweet


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Cobbie said:


> Same here. I wiped out all my books on my Kindle and felt such a sense of relief. I now have 7 on my TBR list and that's borderline too many.


I'm sure that you'll have an easier time getting through those seven.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Austin_Briggs said:


> I used to have a huge TBR list, but decided to start anew. It was stressing me out, like the job email getting out of control...
> 
> Now I have only a couple of books - "Treasure Island" and "Misery".


Yup, I keep receiving more emails than I can read. It's annoying.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)




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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


>


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Back in the days when I read physical books, sheer lack of space meant I only ever had a few books waiting to be read and I seem to have carried over that habit to e-books. Too big a TBR list makes me stressed and depressed about how long it will take me to get around to reading them. 

So, I have about 12 unread books on my Kindle, bought ahead of time only because they were on temporary special offer which I didn't want to miss, and an Amazon wishlist with about 70 more I might eventually buy. I find that unsettling enough and often go through it and weed out any I think I'll never get around to.

I don't get nervous about finding myself without anything to read - with a Kindle, a new book is only 60 seconds away ...


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

About 200.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)




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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

I love that!

Used to have a sweatshirt that read "I was born behind in my reading!"

I have no idea how large my TBR list is, but I'm quite sure it will outlive me!


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## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

I have about a dozen TBR books in my possession, and many, many more that I dream of reading if money and time permit.


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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

If you limit the list to books on hand, I'm still in the deep, deep... uh, book pile.

For a time, I didn't have a nightstand beside my bed. I piled up unread books there, and set the lamp on top. Back then, I worked in a bookstore, and that employee discount got a workout!


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

I just got through one, INSIDE OUT by Barry Eisler. He writes a similar genre that I do, and I enjoyed better the second time through. Now I only have five left.


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## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

Someone finally talked me into reading Clavell's Shogun, this summer. It's taken a good, long while, and the TBR pile has grown alarmingly in the meantime. 

I think I'll cherry pick a bunch of short reads from the pile for the near future!


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Vicki G. said:


> About 200.


That's plenty, although not as bad as some of the others I've seen. How long do you think it'll take you to get through that list?


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

I was pleasantly surprised to see I only have 90 on my TBR list on Goodreads. 6 of those are in a slightly more narrowed list I call "next on the pile", which are basically my top priority reads. Might be next in a series or just something I need to read NOW.


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