I have many books I haven't read. When I am exploring a subject, I'll often hear a subject matter expert say "the go-to text on this is $BOOK." At that point,

I have many books I haven't read. When I am exploring a subject, I'll often hear a subject matter expert say "the go-to text on this is $BOOK." At that point, I buy the book if I have a reasonable expectation that I'll actually read it. Some books I only reference or read partially if the subject is pretty well divisible. I read a few tens of books per year but my queue is a couple years long. No big deal, I don't feel pressure to get through it.