After 3 years of chasing a TBR Zero

It doesn’t even seem real that I decided to embark on this journey three years ago this month. While this is in no way a project or a challenge I’m actively pursuing, I still want to see what’s on the other side. And it will take whatever time it takes. I want to be more intentional with my purchases. To be on top of the books I really want to read. I don’t want to own a graveyard of books, I think I’ll like. I want to find that out instead of keeping guessing.

Over time, my approach to this challenge has changed. From a more strict strategy to incorporating other challenges like The Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done, HRCYED for short. I went from book-buying bans to adding too many books to my TBR, from great reading months to reading slumps. But all of this is with one goal in mind: to pick up books from my TBR.

February

A couple of posts back, I dived into how good rereading can be, at least for me. And that marked the journey I’ve been taking for the past few months. Instead of looking for new books, I looked at my shelves and chose the story I was craving to read, even if I was already familiar with it. Therefore, in February, I only read one book: The List by Joanna Bolouri.

This was my third time reading this book, and I still loved it just the same. I adore the humour, the relationships, the characters, and how cheeky it was. Every time I open this book, it’s time well spent. I already have a post about it and another for the sequel. It’s still my go-to if I want to have a laugh. Despite starting to show how long it has been published, the bulk of the story is ageing fine.

Even though I had a jolly good time, a reread doesn’t help reduce my TBR and neither does it count for HRCYED, which I decided to pause for a while and see if I naturally pick up the books that I already own and count for the challenge. But for now, it’s time to recharge my batteries and read whatever I’m craving without much thought.

March

My rereading journey continues with another favourite: The 100 series by Kass Morgan. The TV series is currently being broadcast for the first time on a Portuguese channel, and I obviously couldn’t pass on the opportunity to watch this show for the 100th time. But with only five new episodes a week, I needed more, so I dusted off the books from the shelf. It was so good to be back! This book series is such a comforting place for me. It’s sci-fi, cosy, low stakes, with some secrets and drama. It’s the calm after the storm. A relaxing read to avoid looking at the world.

In March, I only read the first two books in the series and left the rest for the upcoming month, but that’s not the only reread I did. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel was another reread, and I enjoyed it more the second time around. I already posted a dedicated review if you want to read it. Long story short, I saw the new adaptation on Max and wanted to taste Tita’s story once again. Books with a big emphasis on food are few, but really delicious when you’re a foody. And Like Water for Chocolate gives the food and the cook almost magical properties, which is very unique. It places a massive importance on food and connects it to significant moments in our lives. Food can be more than just nutrients for the body, and Laura Esquivel understands that.

But! I did pick up one book from my TBR! Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome is a book I soft DNFed a while ago, meaning that I stopped reading but wasn’t ready to give up on it just yet. And this time, I did read more than half of the story, but the end was the same. I think I took from the story everything that I wanted, and continuing forward would only be boring and a waste of time. I know what the story is about, the writing style, and the humour. The antics of all the characters were very funny, which led to other tangents that progressively started to lose my interest. From what I read and where I stopped, I still had a great time. I laughed out loud because of a pound and two pence of butter. I’m not DNFing this book because it did something wrong, but instead because I’ve read enough. I don’t need to see them reach the end because the journey is the best part.

The month wasn’t over until I added new books to my TBR. Although these ones are special. I casually, on accident, stumbled upon a book perfect for me: Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher. This is a non-fiction book about what she calls Scanners, or what you might currently know as Multipotentialites. These are people who don’t want to be good at one thing. They want to be good at all of them. A Jack of All Trades, if you must. And, in my journey of productivity and scheduling, this promised to be a great next step. The other book I purchased was my upcoming challenge: Un Cuento Perfecto by Elísabet Benavent. In my last TBR Zero update, posted in February, I shared my excitement for reading my very first book in Spanish, a manga. Now, I wanted to go a step further and read a full-on novel. But not any novel, I chose one of the stand-alone books by the same author who wrote the Valeria series, which was later adapted by Netflix, as well as this book, A Perfect Story. Valeria was very enjoyable and dramatic, and I’m hoping that by reading the same author, I can get something similar and accessible.

April

April was a terrible month. I was so done with it. It seemed like everything that could go wrong chose the same month to annoy me. Overall, it was just bad vibes that needed to go. I finished the last two books of The 100 series and didn’t read much else. I wasn’t in a reading slump, although I’ve lost my reading habit. I’m still, to this day, trying to rediscover it without feeling guilty that I’m being lazy when I could be doing something more productive. I know that resting is productive too, and reading is the best way to “waste” time. But sometimes, it’s quite hard to reason with yourself. So I decided to take it slowly, even though what I really wanted was to do a 24-hour readathon to read tons of books.

I also bought a book this month because of a promotion I couldn’t pass up. From time to time, there’s an online Portuguese bookstore that does 100% vouchers, which means anything you purchase, the value, is given back to you to the fullest to spend another time. And whenever I want an expensive book, this promotion is quite helpful. And by expensive, I mean books that are split into volumes when they aren’t originally. Portuguese people really don’t like big books, and I don’t know why. This time, the book in question is Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Divided into two volumes, 24€ each. If I can get a deal, I’ll get a deal. I’m not paying 48€ to read one book. One story. And these are paperback standard editions. There’s nothing fancy about them. With that same value, I can buy 4 English paperback books. In this case, I preferred to buy the Portuguese translation because the two languages are more closely related, and I’m hoping it will deliver a translation closer to the original.

May

The month I started to embrace my TBR again. I still kept a reread on the side, which I think I’m going to embrace as a practice. I picked up, once again, Foundation by Isaac Asimov so I can later read the second book that has been on my shelf for a while. Now, I’m seriously questioning if I want to continue with this series. I’ll give it a try with Foundation and Empire, but it will be a make-it-or-break-it kind of moment.

After almost 4 months, I finished the first half of A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin. I love this series. For me, every book feels like home. Although it’s a slow reading process, and if I don’t have enough time in the day dedicated to reading these books, this is what happens: taking months to finish just 500 pages. Now, I have 500 more and a Red Wedding to attend before I can cross off the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire for good.

Then, in honour of Asian Heritage Month, I finally read The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. And it felt so great to be obsessed with a book once again. It’s such a great feeling when you just click with a story. I still have my pet peeves, you can read all about those here, but overall, it’s a new favourite sci-fi book. All those people I heard many moons ago saying it’s a great story, they were right. Then I’m guessing Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky might be great as well. Another sci-fi series I want to check out. But that’s an adventure for another time.

Another book I finished this month was the non-fiction Refuse to Choose. You can obviously expect a review about it soon. I loved it. It was great. Barbara Sher seemed like a great listener, and that one friend we all need to keep us positive. That’s the biggest vibe I got from the book. Keep a positive attitude, and know you’ll find a way to make everything work out in the end. It was a hard book to finish because, with every other chapter, I was so hyped up to do something, to shoot for the stars and conquer the world at that very second, that it was hard to keep sitting down and continue reading.

Compared with previous years

The end of a year should also be a time for reflection and seeing how these numbers relate to previous years. Usually, I might compare it with the previous update, but never with the year as a whole. And now, we have two years to compare with. Did I really read less than in the previous two years?

When looking at all the numbers, I read 119 books, not counting the ones I DNF, which gives about 40 books a year. Almost a book a week. And that’s a great number. I feel my life is so chaotic sometimes, and I still manage to read all these books. It’s impressive. 15 also seems to be the number of books I buy per year. Sort of like my quota. And as long as I’m reading more books than adding to my TBR, I’ve a positive balance.

Funny enough, while the first year was the one I read the most from my TBR, all thanks to the readathon that kick-started this project, it was the year I read less overall. Only 38 books compared with 40 and 41 in the following years. Readathons might be fun and a great way to read a lot of books in a short time, but maybe it means, in the long run, I’ll get tired of reading more easily.

Objectives for another year of reading my TBR

The next update on this challenge will be the beginning of the fourth year, and I’m manifesting lots of read books to shrink the TBR and hopefully place a checkmark on Les Mis. I really want to see the number on my TBR go below seventy. I feel I’ve been in those numbers forever. I have to reorganise my shelves, so in the process, I might recount them and DNF a book here and there that I’m really not interested in reading anymore.

I’ve finally moved my TBR to be with my read books. Now I have to get used to their new location. Overall, it’s a change that doesn’t make much difference. I know full well the books I still have to read, so it’s just a matter of finding them on the shelf. And I like to look at them all together and cosy. It’s quite amazing to look at a fully stacked bookcase and think that I’ve read all those books, apart from a small percentage.

I think my attention will change to the books I want to see on my shelf. Which books do I want to represent me as a reader? Give more importance to themes and topics instead of just tasting the hyped ones and booktok trends (which I actually don’t give that much attention to anyway). To be more intentional with my reading. To expand to genres I don’t usually read and dive even deeper into the ones I already love. Either way, it’s going to be another year full of books.