It turns out I’m not the only one with a decent sized to-be-read (TBR) pile. Nooooo. In fact, mine pales compared to others. Here are a few pictures sent my way after I asked about your piles. You can click on the photos to see the images in full glory.
The first picture is of author and award-winning blogger Lee Wind and his pile, including library books on hold written on post-its on his arm. I love this picture, in part because I know that Lee is over six feet tall!
Abby the Librarian has a nice, simply organized 
bookshelf of books waiting to be read. You can see the pile in context in a post of hers giving a tour of what she calls her “Blog Central.”
The incredibly talented Laurel Snyder sent a picture of one of the smaller piles… but Wallace Stegner and Five Little Gefiltes side by side? Oh yes!
And speaking of an eclectic grouping, 
Heidi Estrin of the fab Book of Life podcast sent in her TBR picture, too. That’s some mix!
Librarian and book-reviewer Maureen of Confessions of a Bibliovore has, uh, a few books in her pile. She claims her Library Thing list of what she wants to read is even longer. Good luck on that, Maureen!
Charlotte from Charlotte’s Library 
has the most dramatic presentation of a pile that was sent my way. Nicely eclectic, too. She reviews children’s books on her blog, so there’s proof that she does, in fact, read a lot and not just pile ‘em up!
My friend and fellow writer Laurie Young admits to being juuuust a little behind on her reading. The addition of magazines seems dangerous – you’ll know by date just how far behind you are! Magazines or not, however, that’s an impressive pile.
Not to be outdone, however, librarian/blogger/author 
Liz Burns of A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy sent me FIVE pictures. I’ve chosen her “L-O bookcase with additional pile” for your viewing pleasure.
To know Jeanette Fisher on Twitter (@JeanetteJoy) is to love her. To see her TBR pile explains some of why she’s so interesting – look at the varied topics! I sense a theme in these TBR piles….
How author, mom, and blogging dynamo 
Melissa Wiley even has time to put books in piles, let alone read them, is beyond me. But she does… and has even found time to blog about her TBR pile being out of control.
Using a clever variant on TBR (to be reviewed, in this case), Janelle at Brimful Curiousities sent a picture that makes me wonder how big her to-be-read pile must be! You should check out her reviews, by the way, if you are interested in kids’ books.
Terry Doherty of the wonderful
Reading Tub sent a few pictures. I chose… her TBR CLOSET! Whoa. I guess this happens when you’re as passionate about literacy as she is. Or when you have an extra closet.
Kelley, another reading, rocking librarian/blogger (at the ACLA Youth Services blog), sent a few pictures, including this one of what had been her library hold pile and then became a whole new TBR pile immediately upon pickup. I’d read them all, by the way.
And finally… Jen Rothschild, librarian ninja (!!!) and the blogger behind Biblio File, gathered up her TBR books for a photo op. She was also nice enough to count – there are over 400 books here! I hope she reviews them all on her blog for us. This week! No?
So, does seeing the piles make you feel better about yours? Worse? Regardless, what I hope most of all is that it make you want to sit down and read a good book.
(Thanks to everyone who sent me photos and notes over the last two weeks. I really had a great time putting this together.)
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How cool! I love seeing people’s book piles–the one that really makes me feel better is the last one–400 books is pretty impressive. (Now I have to go and count just exactly how many are in my pile!)
My only remaining comment: where’s your pile, Greg?
I hadn’t planned to put mine back in, but I edited the post to link to my original picture that accompanied my first post on big reading piles:
http://www.thehappyaccident.net/reading-list-overload/
And I like seeing other people’s book piles, too.
What fun! Thanks.
I spy with my little eye multiple rectangular objects filled with words. Some I’ve actually read. Some will end up in my ever expanding TBR pile. Thanks for the interesting post, Greg.
Awesome post, Greg. That makes me feel much better about my TBR pile. And it’s so interesting to see what everyone’s waiting to read! Great idea.
I feel better about my TBR piles. Now I want to compare notes on how people organize their TBR piles and how they decided what to read next!
Luckily, I didn’t have to actually count the books. I have all my TBR stuff in a spreadsheet, so the number was pretty easy to come up with.
Liz– my TBR pile isn’t well organized. I have my library books in a bag (and a list in my datebook of what I’ve checked out in order of due date). My ARCS and other review copies are in another bag and I have a list of all of them, organized by pub date.
Then the books I own (majority of the pile) are on my bookshelves, with the books I’ve already read and Dan’s books that I have no interest in reading. The fiction is alapha by author, nonfiction is grouped by subject.
I decide what to read next by… well whatever grabs my fancy at the moment (hence the large number of purchased by unread books. That and everytime I go into a bookstore there’s a large blank spot in my memory but then I come out with a lighter wallet and multiple carrier bags). Books that need to go back to the library right away or books that have a reading deadline get priority.
What fun! Great post, Greg. Now I don’t feel so bad. The books in the closet are the ones we have read that are waiting to be shipped out. There’s another *few* boxes down in the utility room … that would have been t-o-o embarrassing.
I guess all these piles prove that we love reading, which, as writers and bloggers and reviewers, is a good thing. Seeing everyone else’s TBR piles certainly made me feel a bit better (less embarrassed) about mine! Thanks for sharing with us all that this particular obsession is something we all, um… share!
Namaste,
Lee
I should note, for whatever it’s worth, that Carl Hiaasen’s Scat was the book I saw in the most pictures. I believe it was 5, though maybe only 4. It was pretty noticeable with its one word title prominently displayed and a brightly colored jacket. Still, I hadn’t expected to see so many people waiting to read a book that’s not even startlingly new.
Other titles in other photos were obscured, of course, so it’s possible that there were books that appeared more. We’ll just never know!
Thanks for this post, Greg! I always thought I had way too many TBR, but I feel positively normal after reading this. Most people I know just have a couple on their list, but book bloggers are of course a breed apart!
And Liz, I organize my pile and pick which book to read next by how long it’s been on my list. The books I’m currently reading have generally been on my list between a year and 15 months. (There’s a complicated system of exceptions which basically boil down to “But I wanna!”)
Maureen
I feel *much* better about my various piles now. I am a person who weeds her tbr pile 2ce a year, clearing out those arcs that were published a year ago. I have to face the music that some of them just aren’t gonna get read!
yay! I’m not the only one with a ginormous pile!
My niece described my TBR pile/bookshelves/heap perfectly as she exclaimed, “It’s a book EXPLOSION!” I am in good company it looks like!
I am no longer ashamed of my TBR pile(s). It’s comforting to know there are others like me.
All of those feel about right. I could do a stack of post-its about my height (and in fact there’s one here started). And I’ve read Scat–hooray! That one was in my stack for a while!
I cannot even take a photo of my TBR piles, because they’re spread across all the rooms I frequent, but this made me feel better about the sheer quantity of what I want to read. I’m glad there are others like me.
Well Greg…I do most of my catch-up reading in bed at night before I nod off, book open on my chest. I work from a large pile of dusty books on the floor next to my night table. I was recently so relieved to have made it halfway through one book I had been dying to get to for 2 years…only to find I suddenly remembered the whole story and realized I had already read the book!
So much for catching up at bedtime!….sooooz
Thanks for this! I saw this via BookMoot and had to share. (Posted the link on our Library’s FB page.)
I’m very glad that I’m not the only one who can’t keep up! And may we never run out of books in our TBR piles!
It makes me feel a bit better to know I am not the only one with an unmanageable TBR pile. Thanks!
Glad to see I’m not the only one who is a little behind on my reading!