Yet another grand projet bites the dust!

The dusty death of the Book Jar

book-jarBack in June 2013, I put 200 or so slips of paper each with a book from my TBR pile into a jar – and made a Book Jar – you can read my original post at my old blog here.

I read precisely one book from it and that was We by Yevgeny Zamyatin – which did turn out to be a real corker – reviewed here.

Since then, my jar has sat on the top of my CD shelves in the lounge, completely forgotten.

Today I dusted it, then I made a decision. I opened it, and picked out three strips at random, then chucked the rest in the bin.

I am so totally absolutely (as Lola of Charlie and Lola would say) useless at keeping going with projects like this, however I do vow to read the three books I picked out before the end of the year. I will locate them and place them in my bedside bookcase, They are:

  • Mr Norris changes trains by Christopher Isherwood
  • The Group by Mary McCarthy
  • War With the Newts by Karel Kapek

Three books, that on the face of it, I’m still keen to read. Of course, you’ll have to take this promise with a pinch of salt too… Just look at my Banksread and Annabel’s Shelves pages, and my Anthony Powell self-challenge. However those projets are theoretically on-going!

I still maintain that it’s OK to start reading challenges and then drop them. Any device that gets you looking at and hopefully reading from your TBR piles (mountain ranges in my case) is good – whether it’s completed or not. My 2016 Book Bingo card is also in danger of lapsing, and as for the Book Riot ‘Read Harder’ challenge, I’ve totally ignored that after some initial enthusiasm.

What tricks do you play on yourself to encourage you to tackle your TBR?

10 thoughts on “Yet another grand projet bites the dust!

  1. Sharkell says:

    I try to pick every second book from my tbr and I do the triple tbr dare Jan to Mar. I’m not always successful but it does mean I end up picking about 50% of books I read during the year from my tbr. If I didn’t keep buying more books than I read I woukd be doing really well 😯

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      When I did the Margerison-McCann Team Mgt personality test ages ago – I came out as a ‘Creator-Innovator’ – and I’ve used that classification ever since as justification for starting up many projects and rarely finishing any of them!

      Talking 1947 – I’m on the home straight with The Plague reading from my old inherited copy – hope to get a post up about it later today or tomorrow. The Camus also crosses off a box on my Book Bingo card thinking about it – I’m sure Camus won the Nobel?

  2. Lizzy Siddal says:

    Is it really 3 years since the cookie jar did the rounds? I thought it a brilliant idea and yet I never got round to sorting one out for myself, (So you got further than I did.) This year I’m aiming for 80% from the pre-2016 TBR – I won’t make it, but I might reach 50%.

  3. Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis says:

    LOL This post reminded me that I haven’t pulled a title from my jar since that very first one, either. I do try to use titles on my TBR list but the slips in the jar refer only to books I own. They’re on the list, but rather over-numbered by others which I shall have to borrow from the library, or buy from some source.

    I’m not ready to give up my jar though since I really DO have to move books out of the house, so I’ve drawn three as you have, and put the jar in a more prominent place. 🙂

    We’ll see.

  4. Alice says:

    Usually, sugar and caffeine (which I really shouldn’t consume) get me enthusiastic about my TBR, a sad but true thing.

    I completely agree that the beginning and quitting of challenges is totally fine, and if at some point it’s motivated you then its done its job.

  5. Jenny @ Reading the End says:

    Good for you! I feel that this is a salutory type of exercise not just for reading goals but for any type of goals. Sometimes a given plan for achieving your goals doesn’t work, and if that’s the case it is such a good idea to reevaluate and figure out what you want to do instead, rather than trying forever and ever to stick to a system you know isn’t working. So yay for declaring bankruptcy on reading challenges! (signed, a very very rebellious reader even when I am litrally only rebelling against myself)

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