When I'm 64

     Simon's post yesterday sent me off to read this article about TBR piles, but what a bleak view the writer takes. He talks about " [confronting] the tyranny of the to-read pile head-on.
Bibliophiles everywhere will be only too well acquainted with the demons of guilt and shame that such explorations would conjure. The to-read pile is more than just a physical stack of books: it's a tower of ambitions failed, hopes unrealised, good intentions unfulfilled. Worse still, it's a cold hard reminder of mortality. Already, I have intentions to read more books than I can hope to manage in a normal lifetime. How will this pile of books taunt me when I'm 64?"
     Oh dear!
     We've talked about this subject here before but I don't see my modest collection of books-in-waiting (currently 49) in that light at all, in fact it's quite the opposite - a reminder of all sorts of interests taking me in different directions and feeding a rich inner life, treats in store for later, some to discover when the moment particularly suits, others to revisit. I'm talking about the books physically present in a designated place, not those (and there are over 300) on my wishlist, to be acquired as and when I can justify getting more, but even then although there is a vast amount I want to read and know I never shall, I don't feel overwhelmed or diagnose some failure of stamina or spirit in that I've read A, B and C and not X, Y and Z.
     Having read more this year than ever before, and further to that, reading about more books than at any time previously - hence the 300 - my appetite is whetted, not dulled, and I view the whole business with a kind of idealistic realism. As to the coming years, well, in (almost) the words of the song: "will you still need me, will you still read me, when I'm 64....." We shall see, but meanwhile, there's no lack of will, just - as Simon says - lack of time, so choices have to be made and priorities respected.
     Does anyone feel tyrannised or shamed by their unread books, or are we all just happy to read where the literary road takes us and forget the routes untravelled?
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Comments

[Deirdre]

I am happy when I look at all my books which still have to be read. Honestly, I just smile and think of the time when I will get to them, when they ask to be read.

Love the newefangled look!

[Claire]

one two three

[Harriet]

Tyrannised and shamed? No way. What a sad and gloomy soul to feel that way.

[Lee]

I never feel shame or guilt about my to-be-read pile. They are a reminder of the abundance of life and I love knowing that the perfect book is waiting for me, somewhere in the TBR pile.

[Peter the flautist]

Harriet, I completely agree with you here as I have no pile of books waiting to be read, and (as far as I can remember) I never have had; thus I cannot be either tyrannised or shamed!

Dark Puss

[Barbara MacLeod]

This is a test: Now is the Winter of Our Discontent made glorious Summer by this Son of York.

[Peter the flautist]

To reply to Cornflower's last statement (about routes untravelled) I am not prepared to forget routes untravelled. Indeed I hope to restart some journeys (Proust for example) before I am too old to hold up a hardback book without it falling back onto the bedsheets. It is just that there is no burning urgency in my mind to read or re-read a particular book that once I might have felt was an essential part of my literary education. In that sense I am much more relaxed than I was as a teenager/young adult and I see it as a normal part of growing up. Others will see it perhaps as a loss.

Dark Puss

[Frances]

My TBR piles look like nothing but promise to me. I would be a little sad if they did not look so daunting. The piles remind me that life will never be boring, that there is always a unique experience (or book) waiting for all of us.

[Nancy]

I do feel a little guilty for having collected so many books that I've not had or taken the time to read - but, when I see a book that falls into one of the lines of my interests I just have to have it, and right then. So, if I'm ever unable to buy anymore books I still have a real 'store' of my own to choose from - have never considered them a TBR pile.

My TBR pile is more in the line of library books I bring home but don't get around to reading (usually anywhere from 1 to 5) - and I feel bad about that if they are recalled for some other borrower, otherwise I just keep renewing them online.

[Charity]

The only time I feel guilty is when I have a large pile from the library. I have trouble restraining myself from bringing home bags of books, and then can feel pressured to get them read and returned as quickly as possible. :0)

[Terri - teelgee]

I have a whole wall of books TBR, most of them acquired in the last year. I used to be an avid library user, but now I buy a lot of used books and trade back and forth with friends. At first I felt a little guilty about it (why???) but now I think it's so delightful to walk over to my book shelves and pick out something that calls to me without having to leave the house.

The only books I feel a little tyrannized by are the freebies I get to review. I'm rebelling against reading them just because I'm supposed to! I've quit asking for quite so many ARCs.

[Deborah Lawrenson]

Cornflower, your lovely words - "a reminder of all sorts of interests taking me in different directions and feeding a rich inner life" - perfectly encapsulate my feelings of delight at the prospect of shelves of unread books, treasures to be revealed when the moment is right. Pace is all - you can't feel you must tear through them all; there's no magic in that.