New TBR Game! | January TBR

I have been loving the readathons lately. They have somehow helped me pick books to read and have been pulling me out of this reading slump. I still feel myself getting over the slump. Or maybe my love of reading is changing. I just don’t seem to want to read like I used to and so find myself putting books down even though I’m enjoying them. Then instead of picking them back up after a few weeks, I end up picking something new. The readathons have helped me focus and give me a reason to finish the book. Even though I’ve decided not to throw in punishments if I don’t finish the TBR due to life likely getting in the way, I hope this game will still give some motivation for me to read the books.

Creating the Game

I used Google Spreadsheets to create the board, and play on the computer so there is no physical board. I’m calling the game Fate of TBR, at least for now. I couldn’t find this name being taken by another TBR game, so I hope it’s safe, I’m just not sure the name fits. If you have other ideas, I’d be happy to hear them; let me know in the comments your ideas for a name for this game.

The board in the end was mimicked off the Monopoly board in terms of number of spaces on each side. Originally I was picturing many lines and you’d be teleported from one line to another, but I wasn’t liking how it looked so ended up with this. For each space I pick a prompt, similar to other TBR games, but there are a few special spaces that further limit what I can choose.

The special spaces are as follows:

The four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Element Bonus Earth, Air, Fire, Water – read a book with the specified element being a prominent factor in the plot, or with the element on the cover and works with the prompt. These each have the benefit of a bonus, or some help in the next month if I read the book chosen for those spaces. I chose one aspect for each element and related it to something to help. For Earth I chose Strength, allowing me to replace a book with a smaller one and doesn’t need to match the prompt. Air is Premonition, and allows me to ignore or not pick a prompt and just pick a book. You could also say this is picking a mood read. The bonus for Fire is Life Force which will come in real handy when life gets difficult, and would be even better if I was doing punishments (which originally I was planning, but I also need to be realistic). This allows me to replace a book with one I think will either improve my mood, or a non-fiction to help me grow in other ways. Last but not least, Water is Cleansing, and if I already know a month will be particularly difficult, it allows me to pick one less book. Even though I ended up trashing my punishments (for now anyway, they may come in the future), I do still hold myself to those goals I set for myself. If I say I’m going to read these certain books in a month, I will feel like I let myself down if I don’t manage all the books.

The pentacle, is scary but also provides protection. For whatever prompt comes up, I need to pick a book over 500 pages. Yikes! However, the protection of the pentacle also allows this book to count as one of the rolls for the next month if I don’t finish it.

Eucalyptus is said to help with your health. Since I am usually stuck at a desk for most of the day while I work, the book to go with whatever prompt comes up should be an audiobook and listened to while walking, running, or doing some kind of workout.

Gifts is somewhat self explanatory. I should pick one of the many books I’ve been gifted over the years I sadly haven’t yet read. (There are more than I’m willing to admit to, especially considering I get maybe 5 books for birthday and Christmas combined, each year. 😖)

Start Over

This does not mean to go back to start. No. I got the idea after watching Maddie from Book Browsing Blog on YouTube. One of her TBRs last year included the prompt to start over. She got this on like her last throw in her TBR game of darts. May not have been fun for her, but it was interesting as a viewer. So this space is totally for your enjoyment. It won’t matter how many rolls I’ve done, or what books have been picked. If I land here, I roll again and start picking a new set of books for the month.

Game cards is referring to someone else’s TBR game. I will need to use another blogger or YouTuber’s TBR game to pick a prompt. Or more likely, I will see what prompt came first in their game for one of their monthly TBRs and use that to pick a book I read.

Tarot means instead of using my list of prompts and randomly selecting one, I will use a tarot card. I will use the card, either the meaning and try to find a book with some of those elements in the plot, or try to find a cover that may be similar to the card in some way since I don’t usually know what books are about by the time I pick up the book, or only know very generally what the story is about. Outlander for example, I would say is a Historical Romance. I know the main character is a woman who at some point, somehow is sent back and time and ends up living there. Is there LGBT rep? Not that I’m aware of. Are there dragons? I don’t know, but would assume not because if someone had mentioned dragons in this book, I’d have it higher on my list of books I want to read. Where does the story take place? On Earth, I think somewhere in Europe.

The Bomb will mean I have to pick a TBR vet, again I have way too many, or a book from my list of books which will explode if I don’t read them that year.

The rolls / January TBR

I’ve decided to keep things somewhat manageable, while still being a bit of a stretch, I would do 6 rolls to get 6 books.

For my first roll; I landed on Earth, and my prompt was to read an author’s debut. For some reason, the first book which came to mind I wanted to read was Priory of the Orange Tree. A tree is of the Earth, right? However, when I checked if this was a debut book I learned it was not. So I ended up with another Samantha Shannon book I found and was available from my library. I ended up going with The Bone Season. Bone’s may not exactly be of the Earth, but you can use Bone Meal as a fertilizer to help plants grow.

Second roll, I landed on a blank space, and got the prompt of blogger recommends. I went to a blog I enjoy checking on, BecauseReading, and found Michelle recommended Fallen Empire by K.N. Lee, which is a book I own. I purchased on a whim to quick take the place of a book I had on a readathon TBR but wasn’t likely to finish, and my team had some ability where could switch one book. I purchased this intending to switch, but in the end didn’t get to start this book before the end of the readathon and still haven’t picked it up yet. Maybe now is the time.

Third roll, was another blank space. I got the prompt of do over. For this prompt, it’s intended as a book I started, put down, and never picked up again. Thanks to the slump of many years I seem to be in, there are plenty to choose from. I decided to go with one I was enjoying and am anxious to get back to, but when I started coming out of the slump, I was trying to prioritize the books I had on my list of books which would explode if not read in 2021. So, I’m excited to once again start A River of Royal Blood.

Fourth roll, I landed on a blank space, and got the prompt of Pet Pick. Since my library is basically digital, I took some paper scraps and wrote down 3 books. The choices were The Hero of Ages, The Drawing of the Three, and Red Rising. Like the Booktubers do for this, I put a treat with each paper and called in the puppy. (He’s not really a puppy anymore, but he’s a very attention needing dog, and we think of him as our child.) The puppy chose for me, The Hero of Ages.

Fifth roll, I actually landed on a Eucalyptus space so I’d need an audiobook. The prompt is 5 star prediction. Well, this was a no brainer. A River of Royal Blood I had just chosen for the previous prompt, so I went with The Burning Sea which I was just gifted for Christmas. This is the second book of the Furyck Saga. I read Winter’s Fury, book 1, last year, and was deeply disappointed we were so close to the holidays and it was the usual Family Ban on buying stuff for ourselves. I immediately put books 2 and 3 on my wish list, and was excited when I was actually gifted them.

Sixth and final roll, I landed on a blank space and got the prompt of translated. I know I put this prompt in wanting to expand my reading a bit, but I don’t track what books I own are translated or not. I ended up doing a google search for translated books, and tried to find one which was interesting to me, preferably something I owned, or something available through either Scribd or my library. I found and ended up going with Six Heirs, which I found on Scribd as an audiobook.