TBR Pile Bookmark | Book Lover Gift | To Be Read Humor | Book Hoarder | Funny Bookish | Relatable Reader

The to-be-read pile is not a problem. It is a retirement plan. I will get to them eventually. Probably.

Let us be very clear about something.

The TBR pile is not out of control. The TBR pile is a carefully curated collection of future reading experiences organized according to a system that makes complete sense and will absolutely be worked through in a reasonable timeframe. The fact that the reasonable timeframe extends potentially into the next decade is not a problem. It is forward planning. It is investing in future happiness. It is exactly what a responsible person with excellent taste and a deep commitment to their own intellectual and emotional wellbeing does.

The pile is fine. Everything is fine. There are just a few more books to add first.

✦ ABOUT THIS BOOKMARK
A richly illustrated scene of a room that has been comprehensively and lovingly claimed by the to-be-read pile — not a messy room, a room with a system, the system being primarily vertical and occasionally diagonal and in some configurations that suggest creative problem-solving under significant pressure.
Bookshelves on every wall filled magnificently past capacity — books shelved vertically and horizontally and in some configurations that defy easy categorization but clearly made sense at the time of shelving. Books double-shelved with a second row behind the first. Books stacked horizontally on top of the vertical rows. Books on the windowsill. Books on the stairs. Books under the stairs. Books on the kitchen counter visible through the doorway because the shelves reached capacity sometime in the previous year and an expansion was necessary.

The TBR pile proper occupies the center of the composition in its full magnificent height — the primary stack on the bedside table that has expanded into a secondary stack on the floor beside it and a tertiary stack on the chair by the window and a fourth configuration on the windowsill that is doing fine and does not require intervention.

Post-it notes in multiple colors stick out from between books throughout the composition — reminders of why each book was acquired, when it was acquired, with what level of urgency it was acquired, most of them now partially obscured by the books acquired afterward which were acquired with equal urgency.

A small handwritten sign somewhere in the composition reading CURRENT TBR: followed by a number that has been crossed out and corrected upward several times. A calendar on the wall with an extremely optimistic reading schedule mapped out in colored markers, most of it already outdated, none of it regretted.
One book open on the bed — the current read, the one actually being read right now, looking slightly smug about its status among all the waiting.

A cat asleep on top of the tallest TBR stack with the complete serenity of a creature that understands this pile is a permanent and beloved feature of the landscape and has made its peace accordingly and claimed the summit.

The pile is a retirement plan. The cat is already retired. Everyone is exactly where they should be.

✦ BOOKMARK DETAILS
— Size: 2.05 inches wide by 6.65 inches tall — Printed on premium card stock — Laminated for durability — water resistant and long lasting — Full color illustration front with matte finish — Arrives ready to use in your current read while the rest of the pile waits patiently which it will because it has no choice

✦ PERFECT FOR
— Every reader who has more books than time and has made their peace with this — Book hoarders who prefer the term curators — The friend whose home is becoming a library and is honestly fine with it — Anyone who has ever bought a book they already owned because they forgot they owned it which means they definitely needed two copies — People who consider the TBR pile a form of optimism about the future — all those unread books mean there are wonderful things still ahead — Readers who have a reading schedule and a backup reading schedule and a mood reading pile that operates outside both schedules — Birthdays — specifically the birthday of someone whose gift list is just their TBR pile — Holiday gifts — the reader on your list who will unwrap a book and add it immediately to the pile with genuine joy — Treating yourself — the pile needs a bookmark and you have earned this

✦ A NOTE ON THE QUOTE
The word Probably at the end of I will get to them eventually. Probably. is doing more emotional work than any other word in the quote. It is the moment of complete honesty in an otherwise confident statement. It is the tiny crack in the retirement plan theory through which the truth is visible — the truth being that the TBR pile will always grow faster than it is read and this is not a failure, it is the nature of loving books in a world that keeps producing excellent ones. The Probably is not defeat. The Probably is wisdom. The Probably has its own TBR pile.

✦ A WORD ABOUT THE RETIREMENT PLAN
The retirement plan is sound. Here is the math — the books are acquired now while energy and enthusiasm are high and income allows for acquisition. The reading happens continuously throughout life at whatever pace feels right. The pile ensures there is always something wonderful waiting no matter what else is happening. The cat on top of the pile is living the retirement plan in real time and appears to be thriving. This is the correct approach. The pile is not the problem. The pile is the solution. There are just a few more to add first.

✦ ALSO IN OUR SHOP
This bookmark is part of The Humor Collection — bookmarks for readers who take their reading seriously and themselves lightly. Other titles in the collection include The Alaskan Bear Era, The Goblin Era, The Dragon Era, The Reading Hangover, The Book Budget Era, The One More Chapter Era, The Feral Reader Era, The Book Club Era, The Book Boyfriend Era, The Emotional Support Book Era, and more. See our shop for the full collection.

The TBR pile bookmark pairs beautifully with our reading checklist bookmarks for the reader who wants both the aspirational list and the honest acknowledgment that the list will grow faster than it is completed and that this is completely fine and possibly the point.

✦ SHIPPING
Ships within 3 to 5 business days. Arrives in a protective sleeve inside a rigid mailer so your bookmark arrives perfectly flat and ready to use. We suggest adding it to the pile immediately so it knows its place in the system. The cat will supervise.

✦ ABOUT OUR SHOP
Every bookmark in our shop is designed and produced professionally by us — made with care in our own studio and printed on premium materials we stand behind completely. We are a small passionate operation and we treat every order like it matters because it does.
We are committed to five star service on every single order — from the moment you click to the moment your bookmark arrives at your door flat and perfect and ready to live inside your favorite book. If anything is ever less than exactly right please reach out and we will make it right immediately. We respond to every message promptly and we mean it — real people, real responses, no automated runaround.
Thank you for supporting a small independent bookmark maker. It means everything to us and we do not take it for granted. We hope this bookmark finds exactly the right book and exactly the right reader.

Michelle and Julie
The Luna and Loom 📚

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