[LET’S CHAT] Do We Need to Set Monthly TBRs (And Why I Don’t)?

Ah, yes, monthly TBRs. I know there are several people who actually do these things, because once the month comes to a close, there are always those, “February Wrap Up and March TBR” depending on the month, and I used to take part in Wrap-Ups, but have decided to dump them recently, but I’ve never done monthly TBRs on my blog.

I used to be able to do monthly TBRs when my primary blogging site, if you will, was Books Amino (I know, you guys are probably tired of hearing me talk about it). Basically, it’s this great app that combines blogging and Litsy and Instagram, so you can write mini blog posts or your own writing and upload pictures. I like to think it’s like if you want to blog, but don’t want to do the 34828042 other things you have to do to actually maintain a blog.

I actually wrote an entire post on the subject on Books Amino about how I was going to stop doing Monthly TBR posts just because they personally didn’t mesh with me and my reading style. I’m well aware that set TBRs can work for some people, but there are a multitude of reasons as to why I just can’t do them.

1. I’m a huge mood reader.

Me looking at my TBR

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before in passing that I’m a mood reader. That means that I pick up books based off what I’m feeling like reading at that very moment. One week, I’m in the mood to read some contemporaries, and then I might never want to read contemporaries until the end of the year. During the last half of last year, I pretty much read thriller after thriller after thriller, and I couldn’t stop. Now, I’ve sort of backed off the thrillers (even though I miss all my babies), and read a mix of everything, especially since this year, it seems like SO MANY GOOD BOOKS ARE COMING OUT THIS YEAR IN ALL THE GENRES GAH. So I just don’t set TBRs because nine times out of ten, I’ll end up reading everything except the list of books I put for me.

2. I’m way too much of a perfectionist.

I know, I know; there are so many people who do monthly TBRs who are like, “It doesn’t matter if I don’t make it through all the books or if I don’t read any of them. It’s just there to be a sort of guide during the month.” BUT I CANNOT DO THAT. I am a perfectionist. When I accidentally deleted pictures in my Media and then realized that they deleted across my few blog posts, I went back and took two hours to put them back in. When I finally made my graphics that I have now, I changed my graphics for every single post I had before. If I misspell something in a comment, I have to leave because if I don’t, I’ll give into the urge to delete it and re-write it all over again. I will delete tweets if they don’t look perfect the first time. I check my captions ten times before I copy and paste them into Instagram when uploading photos. If I set a TBR, and I don’t follow it, IT WILL STRESS ME OUT. I know it might not make sense to other people, but that’s me as a human being.

3. Life happens.

Me talking about my TBR

And by “life happens,” I mean, “great books come out, like, every single month, and I borrow/buy them, and want to read them right away, but there’s also the fact that I haven’t finished up reading these unfinished series, but there’s also these backlist books that I want to read, and then I also have 48928849 books that have been recommended to me.” Basically.

4. I literally suck at making decisions.

I DO OKAY. Eleven times out of ten, I’ll finish a book, then stare at the iBooks app for an hour because I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO READ. We bookworms understand that feeling when you’re so excited to read about 1200 books that you realize you’re way too overwhelmed and can’t choose one to settle down with. THAT HAPPENS TO ME ALMOST EVERY DAY. So imagine me trying to compile a list of books I want to read for the month. That’s right, IT NEVER HAPPENS.

5. I just can’t stick to it.

I’ve tried doing TBRs. Multiple times, in fact. Literally every single time, I fall flat on my face, and read none of the books I told myself I was going to read. I DO end up reading books, though, so that’s always a plus. Just not the ones I was originally going to force myself to read. Oops. Hence why I don’t see the need to force myself to sit down and make a plan when I never actually keep up with it.

And, basically, this is why I totally suck at monthly TBRs, and why I’m just writing them off forever, and never doing them ever again. Like, ever. There are just too many traumatic memories attached to doing monthly TBRs. Mainly because I’m a perfectionist as a human being (trust me, I wish I wasn’t).

How do you feel about monthly TBRs? Do you like them or not like them? Are you a perfectionist much like I am (please say yes)?

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