Problems with Monthly TBR Lists

I would like to start this topic by saying that I have never had any problems before with TBR lists, annual, monthly, weekly or anything at all, until I started writing about them, publishing pictures of my TBR piles and Books to Read in .

For every perfectionist and overachiever out there, I am sure the problem starts to appear crystal clear. Yes, sometimes no matter how hard we try, we just don’t meet our TBR goals by the end of the months. And here comes the feeling of failing, crawling slowly up our backs, making us shiver in disgust with ourselves! (literally what happens. I am not overreacting. Repeat, I am not overreacting.)

Problem #1: Ambitious TBR piles

Yes, we all fall for it as we see huge piles of books on twitter, bookstagram and YouTube and think “I can read 20 books this month! Easy!”
I am very proud of every person out there who reaches his / her TBR goals every single month, no matter how big the pile is. But no, usually we can’t. Sometimes we don’t even want to. But we set those ambitious, unreachable goals anyway.

Problem #2: The ‘must’ of including new releases

The influence of YouTube and bookstagram is incredible, in a way that we run to the nearest (sometimes furthest) book store to pick up the new release everyone talked so much about to make sure our monthly TBRs always have the most recent books, the books of the moment that everyone is excited about. However, often we don’t even like the genre of the book or would rather read other books on our TBR.
But, it gives us such a pleasure to see new cover on our instagram feed, am I right?

Problem #3: Reading Slumps

Speaking from my own experience here, TBR piles, Read-a-Thons, Read-a-Longs and all other “group activities” make me so anxious and preoccupied about reading those specific books that I usually start feeling reading slump peeking from under my bed every night, scared that it will get to me in my sleep and I won’t be able to accompany all the book lovers on during short periods of “reading competitions”.
And eventually it gets to me! I give up on reading,start watching YouTube videos non-stop to run and hide from my own failures.

Problem #4: When what you wanted to read in the beginning of the month is not what you want to read anymore

Usually my TBRs consist mainly of fantasy and YA, YA and fantasy, and more fantasy. And then after just one book I remember how much I love crime or adult novels, causing me to go off track, picking up other books, hating myself for not including other genres in my TBR list from the start.
But let’s be honest, our moods and tastes constantly change, sometimes we feel like YA, other times we feel like contemporary, and sometimes we feel like classics (yes, this happens as well).

Problem #5: When life gets in the way

Finally, one of the last problems of TBRs is… life! We all get so busy from time to time that there is no way we can power through these book pile that is sitting on our nightstands, eating our conscience.

Long story short, I feel like I might start with shorter TBR piles, something I can read in few weeks and be over with. By the end of the month I know I will feel so much better about myself for completing and OVER completing my reading goals, reading exactly what I feel like and when I feel like.

What are your thought on TBR piles and Read-a-Thons? Can you deal with the pressure? Let me know in the comments down below!