Revisiting The TBR Book Jar Experiment
I don’t know who came up with the concept of the TBR book jar . It was very popular among book bloggers several years ago though I haven’t seen it mentioned for quite a long time now.
It was meant to act as an incentive to read some of those books that had been lying unread for months/years. The idea was that you wrote the titles of every book in your TBR onto slips of paper and placed them in a jar. Then, when it came time to choose your next book, you put your hand in the jar, and read whatever you picked.
I gave it go even though my stash of owned-but-unread books was half the size that it is today. But it was an experiment that didn’t last long. I confess that I kept cheating! If I picked a book i didn’t fancy reading, I’d return the slip to the jar and pick another one. And another one if the second choice didn’t appeal. Even I realised that’s not how it’s meant to work.
I’d forgotten all about this until earlier this year when, in the darker recesses of a cupboard, I found a jar of brightly coloured slips. Each slip had been tightly folded to keep the title hidden.
I don’t remember exactly when I created this jar but it has to be around 2014 because on one of the little bits of paper were the words Moon Tiger, a book by Penelope Lively which I know I read in February that year.
Out of the 83 slips still inside the jar, I’ve read 47 — primarily Booker prize winners and books on my first Classics Club list. Ten titles I no longer own such as The Thread by Victoria Hislop (I recall reading just three pages of that one) and Family Romance by John Lanchester.
There are 26 books I still haven’t got around to reading including Love In The Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
As an experiment this jar had its flaws. But I’ve been thinking that there could be a way to make it work. So I’m going to give it another go.
My “plan” such as it is for this year includes reading more of the books I already own so this could one be a useful way to choose the next book to read. I know I could just create a pile of the books I want to get to this year but I really don’t find that this level of planning ahead works for me. I much prefer the idea of randomly choosing a book to read.
This time however I’ll make it more flexible to try and combat the danger of “cheating” which was my downfall last time.
What I’m thinking to do is to pick out three titles from the jar at the beginning of each month. From those I’ll choose at least one that I’ll commit to reading within two months — the rejected title/s will go back into the jar for another day.
I’ve done slips for books that have been on my TBR the longest. By including only those bought from 2005 up to the end of 2019 I’m giving myself a choice of more than 150 books. The “oldest” is Daniel Deronda by George Eliot which I bought in 2005, there are numerous other classics by Trollope and Zola and a sizeable number of books in translation. I’ve also included a number of neglected Net Galley titles
So there should be a variety of books to suit different moods
Maybe the experiment will work this time. Maybe it won’t but I’ll have lost nothing by giving it a go.
If you’ve ever used a TBR book jar to help you pick your next book to read, do leave me a comment. I’m curious whether they’ve fallen completely out of fashion and if so, why.
Hahahaha the same thing happened to me when I tried the jar. I’d pull out a slip and be like “Ugh, I don’t want to read THAT book.”
Like you said, maybe it will work this time, maybe it won’t but it is always fun to try the jar!
No-one is going to issue any punishment if I don’t stick at it !
Oooh, fun coincidence! This is exactly how I’m choosing all of my books this year! I’m actually really enjoying it, and not even tempted to cheat. I think the “trick” was only putting in books that I’m really excited to read (I don’t have a jar big enough to fit EVERY book I haven’t read on my shelves, ha). It’s made the perfect balance between random chance and curated selection.
I just did my first draw and would be happy to read two of the three that I picked. I’m going with Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh which i’ve been meaning to read for a very long time.
Great idea, though I’m not sure how good I’d be if the book I picked didn’t match my mood! Good luck!! 😀
I’m hoping that by giving myself three “picks”, there will be at least one book that matches my mood
What a fun reading time capsule to find! I was always keen to try this idea but never actually did it – but there’s still time, of course. I do tend to find putting a book on a list makes me instantly lose all interest in reading it thought 😀
Exactly my problem with lists Simon. They are more fun to put together than they are to actually read
My current ‘book jars’ are (1) my bedside table and (2) my printer desk which also acts as a display for my guilt trip book pile – oh, and a full cardboard box next to the desk…
From which you’ll gather it’s pointless me doing a book jar because I *quite literally* have hundreds of unread or partially read books on my shelves mixed in with read fiction, nonfiction and reference books.
Meanwhile, there’s a nearly full box of completed books almost ready to go to the Red Cross charity shop, so I hopefully am making progress!
I have a small book case near my bedside table which is technically housing the books i want to read next. But actually when it’s time to read something new I go to the bookcases in my roof space instead.
I had one of these at the time because I had very restricted space on my one tiny bookshelf! I was very strict with myself about keeping only well-loved favourites or books I wanted to read, so it was helpful – if I pulled out a strip and didn’t want to read it, it went to the charity shop. I have a lot more space now and I’m also more of a mood reader than I used to be, so I don’t think it would work for me now, but I was grateful for it at the time. I quite like the idea of a variation though, with different coloured strips for different moods or genres, so that I could pull out a yellow slip if I want to read a silly fantasy novel and a blue one for a big Victorian classic. Maybe I’ll give that a try!
You’re clearly more disciplined than I think I’m capable of being. If I find I pull out the same book twice and reject it both times, that should be a signal that its time the book left the house.
I wasn’t quite disciplined enough! The little bookshelf eventually collapsed under the sheer weight of the books on it. (In the middle of the night, which startled me, since I was in a studio flat at the time and it was right by the head of my bed!) I probably have the TBR jar to thank for the fact that shelf lasted as long as it did, though…
The TBR jar is a great idea and I’ve been telling people to do this for a while now. Especially when someone says “which should I start with” and a list of books I don’t know. Seems a good answer!
I like the randomness of this – sometimes I spend far too long deliberating what to read next.
That’s an excellent final sentence. I see too many bloggers beating themselves up for not meeting goals and challenges.
I know – I groan when I read those remarks because to me, reading is meant to be fun, and not something to stress about. I have though noticed more people this year saying they are not going to set any goals. so maybe the tide has turned
I’ve always loved the idea of a TBR jar. Never got round to it as I know I wouldn’t abide by its mandates. It might work better for me if the slips were to contain categories. Now there’s an idea …
I floated with the idea of just writing a category on each one – but then I’d probably spend far too long trying to decide what books fitted the category and which I fancied most. Another idea I had was to fill the jar with prompts. So I could have one which said “set in Asia” or “title contains the word ……” or “literary prize winner”. Maybe I’ll do that next year
Fabulous idea… except that I’d spend too much time reading the blurb, the first para, the first chapter of every book, to try to decide whether it was worth going into the jar!
Ah well I circumvented that by giving myself date parameters. So into the jar went only those books I bought between 2005 and 2019. I didn’t examine the list – just wrote the names onto the pieces of paper.
The jar seems a good idea. Will I make use of it? Probably not. I’d be an even worse cheat than you!
If I find myself cheating more than once I think that will be the clue that this is not going to work!
I NEED to try this! It might save me time when deciding what to read and perhaps help me cut down my TBR 🤞😂
I spend far too long deciding which book to read – by the time I’ve decided, it’s almost too late to actually start reading. So yes I’m hoping this speeds up the decision process
I use wheelofnames.com where I have a kindle wheel and a physical copy wheel. I may also have to create a Netgalley wheel. Sometimes I know by my mood which book I’m reading next, but often I just spin the wheel. I get more excited than I should about spinning the wheel and I realise this makes me a bit sad.
Just had a look at that site Adrian – it seems like you could have a lot of fun with it. It probably works best with a smallish selection of books from which to choose?
I remember when this was a thing but never gave it a try cos I just knew I would cheat! Also, I tend to read by mood so choosing something randomly lucky dip style would just never work for me. I’ll be interested to see how you get on. Will you be adding more paper slips to the jar (ie adding all the titles that have been added to your TBR since you first created this jar)?
The temptation to buck the system is going to be a factor I’m sure. I guess I’ll see just how honest I am in the next few months 🙂
I did add to the jar – all the unread ones from version 1 stayed in. Now I’ve added all the new books I bought between 2005 and 2019.
I so enjoyed this post. I must have at least 30 books on my shelves that one might call “desirable but unread.” I am very mood-sensitive when it comes to reading, particularly after I finish a really fine book (and there were so many this last year!). I’ve started three since the first of January and the timing just wasn’t right. Plus I get distracted by new books, especially writers I love, love, love the phrase “serendipity reader” in the comment above. Instead of a seeking a therapist for my lack of “book discipline”, maybe I’ll just call myself a serendipity reader and be done with it!
I can sympathise end to be a “butterfly reader” – unable to settle on one book for any length of time before catching sight of something more temping in another corner.
The most fun was writing up the books on slips of coloured paper and organising the jar. I failed miserably at the actual task. I will watch you with glee to see if you do it.😄😄😄
Ha Ha. I know how you feel – I take great pleasure in making lists of books to read. And then promptly deciding I don’t want to read any of them!
Yup! 😃😃😃
I run into that issue every year with 20 books of summer.
Yasssss I love writing up the books on the slips of paper and organizing the jar!!!!!
It is the reading of the books that gets tricky😄😄😄
There never seems to be enough time
I’ve thought about doing this a few times, but then decided against it because I’d also be one who cheats and am too much of a serendipity reader. Your solution sounds like a good compromise method though – good luck!
I like that description – serendipity reader. I’ve often described myself as a butterfly reader – always flitting from one book to another
How fun to find an old book jar! Sounds like a time capsule, lol.
I did put some titles in a similar type of container, putting in there the books I kept saying, oh it’s been for a while on my TBR, when I would run into it on another blog.
So far, I haven’t picked anything from there yet, but I think I should soon be able to do this. But your idea to pick 3 and choose one of them sounds like a great balanced idea.
BTW, Love in the Time of Cholera is really worth your time, so good!
https://wordsandpeace.com/2022/03/27/sunday-post-58-3-27-2022/
I know if I limited myself to just one choice, that I would be highly likely to decide it wasn’t something I wanted to read right then. So by choosing three I hope I can find something to suit me
A good experiment, but as usual, there’s always room for cheating! 😛
I suggest letting yourself picking one book from the jar and another whatever you want to read at a time. That way you won’t feel too much burdened with obligation, because you can still read it along with the one you picked yourself. 🙂
Reading should be a fun activity anyway. So, good luck and have fun! ^_^
I’m going to be choosing books at random from the other half of my TBR throughout the year- the ones that didn’t make it into the jar which are more recent purchases.
Nice idea, but this year at least, all the books “drawn” would seem like homework. Maybe next year?
If I get “this is homework” feeling when I make each month’s selection, then that will be a good sign it’s time to abandon the idea
I’ve never done this, I love my TBR and only the size of my entire house will limit its expansion, ha ha.
But…
Surely the point here is, that if a book comes out of the jar, and you don’t want to read it, then that’s a book that goes to recycling to be loved by someone else?
I haven’t done a ‘stock-take’ this summer like I usually do because I’m too tired (post Covid, post some surgery) but every other year I’ve done it, I’ve ended up with what I call my ROTO pile. Read Or Throw Out. They are books that I ‘have a feeling about’. I take them out of their proper alphabetically organised spot on the shelves, and put them *on the floor* near my desk where I see their titles every day. If I haven’t read them by the time the next annual stocktake comes around, out they go.
I don’t do this to reduce the size of the TBR, I do it to make room for more books!
I need the space too – there are just no more places in the house where I can fit books in so they are in piles in an attic space and hard to actually see what I have.
I’ve never done a complete stock take though suppose I do mini versions via my “Sample Sunday” exercises. I’ve let a lot go as a result.
As to your question – if I pick a book that I don’t want to read, shouldn’t that be donated/recycled. That could very well happen. Also feasible that I start reading the chosen book and decide I don’t like it so will give it away unread.
Never used a jar, too lazy to write down titles. Have done various iterations of tbr spins/tackle with reasonable success. Best initiative to read unread books for me has been Cathy 746books 20 books of summer. I chose my books and set up the challenge in Storygraph for that sense of achievement.
Ah well I found a quicker solution to writing all the titles individually. Mine are all in a spreadsheet anyway so I just printed them out and cut them up ….
This is very funny to me; the time that it took to locate a jar and to find slips of paper and write on those slips of paper the name of books you wish to read and to select a book; one could have been halfway through reading a book by that time or not. Thank you for sharing 🙂 Have we nothing better to be doing… oh my!
Also, I could use a jar that size to store some tea bags in; I have yet to see one this size; and viewing this TBR Jar reminds me of that popular candy “Starburst:” as the wrappings are similar. Okay, I’ve gone as far as I can go with this; others could go farther yet…and farthest away.
Do you have a branch of IKEA near you? That’s where I got mine – I use them to store biscuits and breakfast cereal normally
Well I didn’t need to spend any time looking for a jar – I already had the one I used previously. And I didn’t laboriously write each name – I just printed out the spreadsheet
Okay, I give up; a bookie you truly are…book worm and all and very organized. Kudos!
I never tried this because I KNEW I’d cheat! 😂😂😂
You need to spend time in the naughty girl corner 🙂
😂😂😂more true than you know!