Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.
Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!
A few years ago already, I shared my intention to do a “taking stock” Shelf Control post on an annual basis, to see how many of the books that I’ve featured as Shelf Control picks I’ve actually ended up reading.
Well… that was in 2019, and I only just remembered that I’d intended to make it a yearly tradition! Oops.
Better late than never — so here I am, at the end of 2022, ready to do a little tallying.
In 2022, I shared 47 Shelf Control posts.
Of those 47:
- I have read a grand total of TWO books.
- There are FIFTEEN that I’d put into the “unlikely to read” category. Upon reflection, I just don’t feel all that interested in taking the time to read them.
- Some of these may end up in my donation pile, whenever I get around to doing another bookshelf purge.
Keep in mind, that’s just the 2022 selection of Shelf Control books!
Going back to when I first started this weekly feature (in 2015 — I can’t quite believe I’ve been doing these post for that long!) my stats are a little intimidating:
Total Shelf Control books so far: 347
Number of Shelf Control books I’ve read since posting about them: 33
Number of Shelf Control books donated or otherwise discarded: 63
Number of Shelf Control books that I doubt I’ll ever read (I still have them, but they may be next to go): 61
Which means:
Of the books I’ve featured, I have…
190 books still to read!
Which just goes to show that these Shelf Control posts do seem to help me in some way — they at least force me to really think about the books on my shelves, and eventually decide if I’m still interested. Although as my stats show, the most probably outcome for my Shelf Control books (particularly those I’ve owned for more than a year or two) is that I’m unlikely to actually read or keep them, when push comes to shove.
Still, this isn’t necessarily a negative. Since I don’t seem to ever quite stop adding to my home library, getting a bit of organization and motivation to donate the books I don’t intend to read is really a good thing.
Onward to 2023! Let’s see how my shelves are looking a year from now.
Happy New Year!
And for those doing a regular Shelf Control post this week:
A Novel Start
Bookshelf Journeys
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Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:
- Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
- Add your link in the comments or link back from your own post, so I can add you to the participant list.
- Check out other posts, and…
Have fun!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
I counted up my tbr and was shocked to see I have 183 books on it! I need to get reading!!!!
My TBR never seems to end… but there’s also something satisfying about going in and weeding out the books I know I’m not really going to get to.
I’m taking a cue from you this week and switching to a post taking stock too; I last did one of these in 2020! Not counting my entire TBR though–I shall probably faint 😀
Oh, I’m with you — this certainly does not represent my entire TBR! I definitely need to do some sorting and organizing, and put together a few donation bags!
I need to do a full sort through as well!
I think that I only have 3 physical books that I have yet to get round to reading with about another 6 on my kindle. I don’t often buy books and then not read them straight away. Well done on reducing your pile a little 😃
That’s a great approach. I love book shopping, but then end up with more books than I can possibly read!
I love the idea of taking stock, even if you don’t read a lot of the books. It’s nice to revisit older books that you may have forgotten about😁
Definitely! Although there are plenty on my shelves that I may have been interested in at one point, but just don’t see myself ever truly reading.
Omg, yes, that does seem like a lot of books, but kudos for actually working it out! I’m too scared, lol. I haven’t done many Shelf Cotrols yet, but I have hundreds on my tbr on Goodreads and on my Kindle… the problem is I keep finding new books!
Good luck with the 190 books 😀 I hope you had a great holiday season.
Here’s my post for this week: https://anovelstart.co.uk/2022/12/28/shelf-control-8-the-milliners-daughter/
Same here — I have hundreds on my Goodreads TBR shelf and my Kindle, not just the 190 here! And I keep adding new ones… definitely time to purge some of the ones I don’t really feel drawn to anymore.
I find it interesting that we all have these huge TBR lists, keep adding to them regularly, but when we look back, so many of the books have lost their appeal. Sometimes I can’t even remember why I thought I’d be interested! Easier to take them off a list than off a shelf though. I’ve only been doing Shelf Control for a little while but definitely see the value. I’ll do a review at the end of 2023 and see how it looks.
Here’s my entry for this week:
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/wednesday-memes-18
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
Doing the post for today motivated to go look at my shelves and see if there were books I felt ready to part with. I definitely found some! You’re right, sometimes I wonder why I bought a particular book, but I know at the time I really wanted it!
Based on Shelf Control I picked up Lexicon, which was a good read, I think you’d like it. And of course I have to mention the other shelf control you did for Challenger Deep, which is a fantastic, National Book Award winning read. I hope you pick it up in 2023! 😊
I’ll try to get to it, I swear!! I’m not sure if I even still have my copy of Lexicon — it may have ended up in one of my library donation bags during the pandemic. Glad to hear you enjoyed it though!
I think I’m at 170 books read! I’m looking into buying shelves that are decent and sturdy. I love your bookshelves!
Thank you! It was a big project, but I so enjoy having them (and rearranging them!)
You were brave to tally up all the books you read…and still haven’t read from your Shelf Control posts. And at least you’ve found some books you no longer want to read so you can make room on your shelves for new books. ;D
Definitely! After posting this, I went and started pulling books off my shelves for my donation bags — and ended up with a really startling amount of books I no longer feel the need to keep. It seems like a good reminder to move slowly when I’m thinking about buying books and only get the ones I intend to read right away. We’ll see how that goes!
I might join in on self control. I have a feature on my blog that like self control but the opposite. It where I take a look at the books I have read and write about why or why not I want to keep a book.
Ah, that sounds like a great approach!