TBR Spring Cleaning Tips

Credit

The idea for purging my TBR list actually came from my recent library haul. This is how I borrow books. I have my TBR list open in one tab, the NYPL site open in another and I just put a bunch of books from my TBR list on hold. And whatever comes in, comes in. Most of the time, I don't even bother to read the summaries of the books I choose to put on hold (unless it's a book I specifically want to read ASAP) because if it's on my list, then I must want to read it right?

Wrong.

From my recent haul, there were two books that ended up being DNF and a couple that I didn't remember why exactly I wanted to read it. I knew I wanted to whittle down my TBR list but I was going about it all wrong. I thought the best way to do it was by reading them all when really I should be going through the list and filtering out what I truly want to spend my time on.

When I told Alexa what I was doing, she quickly hopped on board and before we knew it, we were removing hundreds of books. And it felt GOOD! Since so many people on Twitter were responding enthusiastically to our efforts, we decided to share some tips.

JUDGE THE COVER (It's okay!)
Based on the title and cover alone, would you still pick up the book? In a lot of cases, we just looked at the book and knew to cross it off the list.

TO START/CONTINUE THIS SERIES OR NOT
If the book is part of a series and you started the series, how much do you prioritize continuing it? Likewise, if you haven't started the series, are you sure that you're willing to put time into it later (series binge-ing!). Are you even interested in reading a story that lasts for longer than 1 book?

TOPICS THAT TURN YOU OFF
What things do you generally avoid in books? What makes you uncomfortable/angry/the like? You might want to make sure all the stuff in the books on your TBR don't meet this criteria (unless you trust the author to handle whatever it is well).

BLOGGING BUDDIES
If you have blogger friends whose taste you trust completely, you might want to see if they've read a book/series and see what they think. Since we were cleaning up our lists at the same, there were a lot of "have you read this and would you recommend" questions.

REREAD THE SYNOPSIS
I could not remember what half the books on my list were about. And I was surprised by how many times I'd read the summary and think - I wanted to read this? What I would've picked up three years ago may not apply now.

INSTINCT
Last but not least, trust your gut. If you just know you're not going to read this ever, delete it!

These tips really worked for us (I got down to 173 and Alexa is down to 200) so hopefully they'll help you too!

Do you guys have any other tips?
And will you join our spring cleaning sessions?
We'd love to hear your thoughts!