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A year ago, I decided to participate in a year-long challenge set out by Milana (@acouplereads) over on Instagram. The challenge was to prioritize reading books on your TBR that you already own instead of being distracted by new books.
Let me tell you, I get sidetracked by bright and shiny new books all the time BUT I did manage to get through a bunch of my physical TBR.
Throughout the year, Milana provided anyone participating with Instagram templates as well as a couple of BINGO boards to fill out as we went. It was so much fun to check off the BINGO boards and be able to see my stacks of books that I hadn’t read (but had purchased prior to 2021) dwindle down.
So I guess the questions that remain are:
1) How many books did I read?
2) How many books did I not read and unhaul?
3) How many books remain going into 2022?
4) Did I get BINGO??
At the start of this challenge, I counted that I would be beginning with 44 books. Which I thought was a lot but some others who were doing it had hundreds (and at least 1 was over a thousand!). Considering my average number of books that I read in a year is over 50, I did feel like 44 books was entirely doable.
Then again, I know myself pretty well after a lifetime of being a reader. I know that I get distracted by new books AND I am a mood reader. So, if I wasn’t in the mood for anything on my pre-2021 TBR, I would inevitably need to grab a new book. There were obviously books releasing in 2021 that I knew I would not be able to resist getting and reading as soon as possible too. So all of this together made me nervous about if I would succeed in diminishing my TBR.
Surprise of all surprises though, I have read over 100 books this year which was completely unexpected. But just how many of those were from my physical TBR?
Well, I managed to read 31 of the initial 44 books! I actually think that is pretty good considering haha. This leaves me 13 books leftover; 8 of which, I ended up unhauling and never reading. I had held onto them for so long that my reading tastes had changed and I just never felt I would be in the mood to pick them up. Also, between the 2 BINGO boards Milana provided, I really only got BINGO twice haha.
Where that leaves us is 5 books that are remaining from my original 44! Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
You may now be thinking to yourself, “Wow Kaylee, does that mean you only have 5 books on your physical TBR going into 2022?” To which I would have to laugh, pat your head and say “Oh you sweet summer child. Just you wait until you see my #ReadWhatYouOwn2022 TBR.” HAHA!
Stay tuned for that post a little later!
In the meantime, did you challenge yourself to read your physical TBR? Were you successful?
Until next time, keep reading!