Confessions of a Book Slut

Posted June 24, 2009 by Tracy in Reviews | 32 Comments

Hi, my name is Tracy and I’m a Book Slut. It’s been 3 minutes since I put my last book down.

Can I be honest? I really don’t want to go cold turkey. I love my books. I want them around me so I can smell them and touch them and, well, read them. Which brings me to how many books I really have around me. I’ve been in the closet when it comes to being truthful about how many books I have in my TBR. You see, I can be honest and let you know that I have 205 print books on my shelves (possibly a couple more that might have been lost in the count) waiting to be read. But the other day my friend Kris made me face up to exactly how many books are in my TBR.

You might have read in my Monday post that I recently cataloged/converted/organized all of my ebooks onto one device – a new 32 GB flash drive. It’s heaven. I plug that puppy in and look up the author I want, open the folder and voila…books. No more trying to figure out which cd it’s on, it’s just all there for the taking, or in this case, the reading. But when I was putting books into the folders by author I noticed that there were books that I hadn’t read. I, shoving my head in the sand, mentioned that I had “shitloads” and “boatloads” that were TBR. My friend Kris, fellow Book Slut and nosey biotch that she is, asked me specifically how many ebooks I did indeed have that were waiting patiently TBR. So I counted…and counted….and counted. It turns out that I have not only the 205 print books waiting TBR but 367 ebooks that I have not read. That’s right 367!

Now I know that there are others around bloglandia that have TBR’s way bigger than mine coughWendycough but I needed to get that load off of my chest and get my head out of the sand.

I am a Book Slut and I have 572 books in my TBR!

Confession Time: How many books are in your TBR? Be truthful now.


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32 responses to “Confessions of a Book Slut

  1. Obviously you two have your heads in the sand as I did since you haven't coughed up any numbers yet. Hmmmm? Spill it!! lol

  2. Tracy, you are so not alone. I have an estimated 287 books in my TBR. I have a feeling that if I had an ereader, my TBR would be just as large as yours.

    And like Katibabs, I can't stop buying books either. It's an addiction. One where I'm betting that no 12 step program could cure.

    😉 VFG

  3. Count?? *gives daunting and fearful look* Umm…it'd be fall by the time I finished counting all those books! :o) Taking a guess I'd say I have about 100 unread books in print (ok maybe closer to 150) and only 5 ebooks -I don't buy them because I don't yet have an ereader and I hate reading on my computer.

  4. WOW! 572, and I thought I had a long list. I have 100 books on my TBR List. That doesn't include books that haven't been released yet.

    But you know I'll be going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow, so that number will probably go up.

  5. Jeez, I thought I was bad. LOL

    I hover right around 300 print TBR and I think I have about 100 e-books TBR. I actually do practice restraint when it comes to e-books (not print, obviously!), and I know at least half of those 100 are freebies from authors and blog contests.

  6. You are all mere amateurs. I scoff at your 572. Ha!

    (Honestly, you know how I justify my huge TBR? It's a comfort thing, I'm extremely organized, we're not stepping over piles of books in the Bat Cave, and my addiction has never kept me from paying the bills on time. Plus it makes me happy. My Man likes me happy.)

  7. VFG – So glad you're almost up there with me! But listen…do we really want to stop? Do we really want a 12 step program? I say no! Besides we just end up swapping books! lol

    Ms. Moonlight – It feels good, doesn't it? To get it off your chest? Wonderful…carry on. 🙂

    Anna – How do you do it? I just can't stop buying I guess. Even with all the books I read you'd think that the list would go down…but it doesn't!!

    Jenb – oh see now we're talking…400, I like it. And see I thought my problem was print but, ahem, apparently not. A ton of my ebooks were won too, so I understand.

    Wendy – organization does help, it does. But I KNOW how many books you have my little librarian. Let's just say you could start your own library! 🙂

  8. 107 last count, and that's probably because I give a wide berth to ebooks (reading from a screen drives me nuts and the hideous covers turn me right off, yes I'm shallow). I don't even put them on a shelf – they have to "earn" a place on the shelf, otherwise they get sent straight away to the used book store to be traded for something better

  9. I can't stop buying either. I don't see a drop in my list until about the end of the year. But then it starts all over again

  10. So I wake up this morning to find that everyone in the northerm hemisphere has gone completely nuts and is dissing me all over the place. How rude!

    Srsly tho… how could I possibly keep a secret like that Tracy?? These are the kind of things that should be shared with your fellow BSs. 😉

  11. Renee – absolutely…and you still didn't tell me how many are in your TBR! Nice diversion though. 🙂

    AnimeJune – Yeah I wish I could say that all of those ebooks came after I bought my ereader but alas no. I know, I have issues. 🙂

    Anna – Amen sister!

    Kris – how wonderful it is to be considered "everyone". So sweet of you.
    Well if I knew you were gonna blab maybe I wouldn't have told you! Did you ever think about that? Ok, I still probalby would have! lol

  12. lol have you been drinking? Oh yes you have…you're on DIK now and we do drink a lot. Excuses us from all sorts of things.

  13. Lea

    Hello My Name is Lea and I am a book slut.

    Counting is out of the question because I would succumb to madness. In addition it would require moving the first level of the Alps and there would be an avalanche.

    Then of course there was the e-book purchasing craze I went on after visiting my fellow book slut Tracy's blog amongst others.

    However, I do bow to your level of sluttiness!

    It is most impressive.

    L

  14. OMG!! *patting self on back* I am NOT a slut! See? I've been trying to tell hubby this for years. He tells me I'm a total slut. In the most loving way of course. Cause I think my unread books (both print and e)total about… (dare I say it in this group) 10? Maybe?

    What do you call a baby slut? A slutette? A ho-to-be? I just read too damn fast. And, unlike all of you, I only review what I feel like reviewing. So I can read 20 books a day if I feel like it and not review a single one. (errrr… I frequently do that. Not a lot going on at the ol' review blog lately, LOL)

    My realproblem is the pile of books I've already read that lies next to my bed. If there was an earthquake? Let's just say… we're toast.

  15. I haven't done a count recently but I estimate there to be around 400-500 books in my TBR pile. All print.

    And yep, I keep buying more. I love my books and find comfort when I look at them and sort through them. It's like my own private library. Knowing that I'll always have something to read or an old favorite to re-read is a great feeling. Corny maybe but true. 🙂

    So I will gladly join the ranks of Book Slut with you Tracy! LOL

  16. Wow Tracy, I know I have a TRP which has become an entity all of its own but I think I have me a TRP of around 300 books (DH says: Ain't that enough?!) DH and I watched the movie Red Rose once from novel Stephen King and he said my bookcases where like the house Red Rose, it grows and expands all on its own now…

  17. Barbara – saying your not even close doesn't give me numbers! 🙂

    Lea – thank you, thank you very much. I appreciate the deference. And I will summarily excuse you from the counting in light of the natural disaster it would initiate.

    Lori – 10? Wow…It would never happen to me. And WHAT??????? You could read 20 books in one day??? Holy shit! lol I wouldn't have a TBR either if I could read that fast!
    And I like Ho-To-Be. 🙂

    Leslie – you ARE a book slut! 400 to 500 is a fine, fine number. Keep up the good work.

    Leontine – I love the ananlogy to Red Rose…it's perfect and I'll have to share it with my hubby. 300 – you're doing fine! 🙂

  18. OK, so in the interest of full disclosure, I went to my TBR page (I keep it on my blog so I can check it when I'm at the bookstore and avoid double buying.)

    Between print, ebooks, and audiobooks (because I also have a tbl list –oh the agony! lol) I have about 75 (give or take a couple I may have missed on my hard drive) Not as bad as I thought. 🙂

  19. I would estimate mine to between 400 to 500, like Leslie. I think, but then I have lots of books that I want to give away and I need to do a deep cleaning.

    I hope you did a copy of that 32G flash card 😀

    All right, my question is… if we have the money and the space, why should we keep a tab on how many books we have? LOL 😛

  20. I know if I were to add in e-books I'de be up well over 200 maybe even closer to 300. I don't know. Not something I think I'm going to do! 😛

    And with all those books, you know what I'm doing? I'm rereading another book this month! That's NOT how you make the TBR pile smaller! But I figure it isn't getting small anytime soon so why bother! LOL I'll reread as much as I want!

  21. I guess it depends on what you call the TBR pile? In terms of physical books I have a couple of hundred in the house that I own, about 60 out from the library with another 20 on request. The killer for me is the list where I add anything that sounds interesting and 5 times as many titles on that!

  22. Okay, I thought I was bad but you're awesome! I have about 30 tbr print books gathering dust and about 20 ebooks waiting to be read.

  23. Renee – I'm so impressed. Very nice. You're with Lori – well, she's got less so you're a slutette. 🙂

    Nath – money and space are definitley 2 essentials. 🙂
    I didn't make a copy of my flash drive but I do have all of the books still on the CD's – I didn't erase them just to be safe. 🙂

    Amy – ahhhh, the truth will set you free. Ok, not really but it feels good to get it out there! 🙂
    I know, with the re-read challenge I'm re-reading more than ever. And with all the books I read per week you think my pile would go down…but that never happens. 🙂

    Marg – 60 out from the library? Holy mackeral! That's a lot! But you do have a couple hundred that you own so how do you keep track? 🙂

    Katie – only 50 – wow I'm impressed. I can only dream of one day having a TBR that small. It will never happen but a girl's gotta dream. 🙂

  24. Excel is my friend! I have lists and lists and lists to keep track of the books I own, what I have read, what I want to read, which books I have out from the library and when they are due back and also to try and keep track of the reading challenges that I am participating in.

  25. K, I don't actually read 20 a day. I't was just an example of what I could do, since I have no reviewing commitments. But I have been known to read 5 or 6 single titles in a day, LOL.

    And a bigass thank you to all of you. I made my hubby read all of your comments. Not only am I a slutette and a ho-to-be, I'm a saint, too! Combine tour TBR's with Nath's book-buying spree this week and I'm an angel. You all rock. Seriously!

    I think I'll buy a few books at the So Cal get together tomorrow 🙂

  26. If you check out my GoodReads page you'll see how out-of-control my lust for books has become. (At last count 1,424–and that doesn't include all my ebook, nor the print volumes I've neglected to catalog). LOL My mom & therapist have even asked if how I plan to get any work on my own writing done with all these unread book hanging around. 🙂

  27. Marg – oh you're so good. I haven't quite gone the excel route yet. I don't have time to work, take care of my family and read and get that done! lol Thank heavens for Goodreads. 🙂

    Lori – even 5 or 6 is completely amazing. I read 2 books the other day and that was amazing for me! lol
    So glad we could help in showing your hubby how good you are! 🙂

    Catie – wow 1400 and you haven't logged your ebooks (I haven't either for the most part)! That's incredible. We'll definitely have to get you nominated for the next Book Slut Blogger award. 🙂

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