Tackling my TBR: How many unread books do I have? And how many is too many? A mini-vlog of shame!

I finally did it! I counted my unread physical books! Taking inspiration from Alice and the Giant bookshelf, I decide to check out the extent of my book problem. Curious? Take a look...

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[spreadbookjoy]

Note: At one point here, I say you can’t be a bookworm and have a zero tbr. As my good friend Ariel has pointed out, it is entirely possible to have a zero tbr and be a bookworm (like her - check her channel out btw! Link in the description box!) and there are plenty of booktubers that do. I just like to make myself feel better about my book buying habits with generalised statements! 😂

[MarilynMayaMendoza]

Hi Jack oh, your video was mesmerizing.. I don't read many children's books Stephen King or fantasy, but the excitement of opening a new package of books it's the same for every bookworm. Your voice is very calming as well. I loved when you speeded up the video. I wish I could do that in real life to organize my books. I'm celebrating a year on booktube this month and I'm trying to do a few celebratory videos. Sending love and Aloha from Hawai'i

[teacupthestoryteller]

That´s so true... really doubt my TBR would ever get to zero 😄 lovely video, thank you 😊 I should really do the same thing soon :)

[MsReadsAlot]

Oh jack 🤣 I refuse to count how many are on my shelf.. especially the ones that are not on my 1001 book list! House of leaves is so confusing! I wish you luck! LOL you have the 1001 book! 🤣 so many books 💕💕 I have so many credits in audible! So many free ones! The George Eliot book I am reading has a lovely free audiobook! I wish you luck on trying to keep your TBR down!!

[gaiaathena-books]

How amazing your borrow has a lot of little free libraries! There aren't any near me. It's nice you have been gifted many books. Oh I didn't know that about David Eddings, that's ugh. How cool your brothers gave you a collected volume of the Sandman omnibusses each! I recently got the first volume when I found it in an online sale, I have left it in the plastic too so far. I have Circe and Girl, Woman, Other and House of Leaves on my physical TBR too. Oh I only bought House of Leaves recently, after I watched Jeremy Fee's review video on it. I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Yeah it is a difficult question about the problematic authors.. I don't know yet, I still would like to read some of the books but.. yeah. I have read about half the Discworld books, and have the remaining ones on my TBR. Ah I have the Amber Omnibus on my TBR (as a side note, my TBR is huge, but I'm not bothered by it. Books are my special interest and I do love having books to look forward to, I also am a huge mood reader, and buying books makes me happy as does going to the library (though I haven't been since 2019 because of the pandemic).

Nice to see all the titles! I've read the first.. some books in the Dragonriders of Pern series (I'd have to look it up or check my shelf to see exactly the amount), it looks like you have the first one on your TBR, Dragonflight? I loved the Otherland series. I have some of David Eddings' books and also a lot of Robin Hobb books on my TBR. I also have some Brandon Sanderson books on my TBR, I haven't started the Stormlight Archive series yet because it is as of yet unfinished, I want to wait until at least all 5 books of the first arc are out, I own the first 3 because I collect them in paperback and book 4 isn't out yet in medium or small paperback. I've read Eragon twice and liked it, I haven't yet read any other ones in the series. I really liked Smile by Raina Telgemeier. There may be some I've missed.

Oh yeah I wouldn't want a zero TBR! I know some people try to, it wouldn't be for me. Yes, to mood readers!! I am like that too. Ah yes my Kindle says unread too for some books I have read. Duncton Wood sounds interesting! Shame they are out of print (it's getting harder from here in NL to find non-Dutch books second-hand online for a reasonable total price including taxes). I loved the Farseer trilogy, aww shame you loved the first one but didn't like the other two as much. I hope you'll like it more the second try around. Those are beautiful covers of The Farseer Trilogy books.

[Shellyish]

Your TBR is not that bad, Jack. I could probably name 150 books on my TBR. Very much enjoyed listening to you chat about your books and your thoughts of books. Very curious about how your book reading journey will go in the following months.

[deborahwager]

I recently put my library into libib, so I can see the covers and sort them, mark what's been read, tag them, take notes, etc. All together, between my husband and me, we have 2, 953 books. Many of those have been read (for instance, the 137 children's books have all been read), but a lot have not, and then there are books I read maybe 20 or 30 years ago, so I hardly know how to count them. I keep hoping that that number will sober me up and stop me from bringing more books into the house, but it's really hard! If I start a BookTube channel I think I'm going to call it "Can You Read Me Now?" as that's what I hear my books calling all day long!

[novellenovels]

Jac seriously it’s not that bad.. I’m 560 Ish unread. I’m doing a video on counting my read vs unread which will be interesting. I’m trying to tackle it by doing my try a Chapter tags and borrowing less books as well as trying to buy less than I read in a month 🤞🏻😂😂

[BookTubewithAmy]

Well done on admitting your problem 😂 I am right there with you I currently have 303 on my physical tbr. It was higher though and I've managed to make a dent in it this year. Circe is ❤️❤️

[AliceandtheGiantBookshelf]

Oh Jack, I loved this video so much! 99 was amazing, I’ve not been that low in years and years! I laughed to myself when you were like yay 99 isn’t bad and then one minute later, here’s a box of books I bought! 😂 That did make me smile… the endless problem of book buying! I’m not restricting my audible either and I must say I’ve already added several of the free books to my library! When I had all my tbr on my table it was terrifying to see what over 200 books looks like, and like you I kept finding more I hadn’t counted!
Thanks so much for the shout out, and I hope to one day attempt to tackle House of Leaves with you! 🙂📚📚📚

[ReadBecca]

That's not too bad, as you say it's great to have a wealth of options available to pick up. Quite jealous of those Sandman omnibus editions, I keep debating to shell out for them, but they're quite pricy, I guess I need more brothers who love me 😁 Also, House in the Cerulean Sea is adult, though it probably is all ages appropriate.

[FindMyFilm]

I too have a problem...!😆 but still buying new books again and again😅

Wondering where will I keep my book after my bookshelf will be full...😂

06:49 This book looks 🔥

[readingandwhatnot]

Damn Jack! Lol THATS A LOT OF BOOKS MY FRIENDS!!!! And that was before you got your box haha I loved watching you unwrap them tho lol like a kid on Christmas!! 🎄

Soo.. JK Rowling.. I agree with her on whats shes put on in the world.. but I live Harry Potter. So I think I can love the books and personally just set the writer to the said.

So. I disagree on the 0 TBR thing.
Normally, I don't buy books unless I've read them and love them and want to reread.
Before this year I've never had unread books in my home. Because I don't have the money to buy books like I'd like to or the space to keep them. I get everything from the library so 99.99% of the time I have a 0 TBR and I consider myself a bookworm.

House of leaves sounds nice I wish my library had it lol

I wonder what it would be like to share a family kindle library 🤔 my family doesn't read lol

[ScientistsReadingWorld]

I prefer not to counted xD it would make me feel bad so I prefer to be ignorant and happy xD one day they will be read eventually :P
99 is not that bad :D not that bad at all!!
Have a 0 tbr it would be a nightmare specially being a mood reader and the time the books take to arrive XD