Tuesday, July 17, 2012

What to read, What to read...

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It's a difficult decision. I often find myself reading more than one book at once, putting down books when I'm halfway through because something better came along or sitting staring at my book shelf contemplating for a while. What is it exactly that makes it so hard sometimes to settle on one book and read through the whole thing?

I think part of the problem is that battle that we have with ourselves over what we want to read and what we should be reading. I don't know about you, but I tend to look at tasks I should be doing and thinking "Nope, I don't wanna do that". It could be something I want to do, but the minute it is on that To Do List my mind builds up a list of reasons why I might not want to do something that I may have
actually wanted to do in the first place. Twisted, but that's how my mind works.

WHAT YOU SHOULD READ:
My TBR Pile for the month usually consists of a few of the things listed below. The shoulds. There might be one or two novels in there that I generally want to read, but for some reason, when I get around to it I feel like reading something different.

The Shoulds:

-Review copies for books being released this month (or dates already passed).

-Challenge/theme books:
For example, I'm doing a classics challenge this year. So my TBR has classics in it.

-Books I haven't yet finished:
The ones that I put down, because I just wasn't feeling it anymore. Or, because another book on the shelf was speaking to me "Read me, read me, read me..."

-Old books gathering dust:
The ones that I keep telling myself I've gotta read. Why did I buy it back then for full price if I was going to wait for forever to read it?

-Books being made into a film:
The movie is coming out on DVD soon and I still haven't read the book?!

-School/University/Book Club reads

-Library and other loans:
I avoid the library and try and tell people "No" when they are offering to loan books. For some weird reason, the minute someone finds out you can read, they are figuratively shoving books down your throat...

WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO READ:
Once my TBR pile has been decided for the month I start to look elsewhere. Yep, I'm that bad... These are things that I really really want to read, but should wait for because I've got other things I should be reading.

The Wants:

-Review copies for books being published far away in the future:
On the odd chance that a publisher gives me a book really early (like two months) I'll decide to put it under a stack of books for later. I often do really want to read it (probably partly because I should be waiting until later to review it) and go searching for it.

-New purchases:
I've got a heap of unread books that I bought a while ago, that I put on the TBR, but my eye tends to be captured by a sparkly new one sitting on the Book Haul pile.

-Library Books you don't have on loan:
Why I avoid the library. You go in with your mum, you get out a few books, you come in later that week decide you really want to read "..." even though you've got plenty of books to read, get out more books and you probably only read two of them...

-Books you feel like re-reading:
Favourites you want to read again or books that you've read that are being made into a film and you feel the need to brush-up on the story.

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO PICK ONE BOOK AND STICK TO IT?

1) Too much to choose from:
Like a style savvy girl looking at her wardrobe and exclaiming "I don't have anything to wear!", sometimes not having anything to read can be down to having too much to choose from.

2) Mood Changes:
This is one of the reasons I think my TBR pile often gets discarded. I might decide to go with a bit of a YA romance theme and fill my pile with both Paranormal romances and Contemporary books when I decide that I don't really feel like reading about some girl sap over some guy. Instead I might feel like reading a book with a Kick-ass female hero who says hilarious things and tells the guy to "Get!"

3) The Reading Goal is Overwhelming:
Sometimes I look at my Goodreads goal and think about how bad I'm doing. "Look at all those unread books" I tell myself. "I should read one of those" I say. But, I just don't know which one... If it's a classic it could take me forever, If it's a fat book it could take me forever, but then I don't want to go and read all YA Paranormal romances just because they are easy to get through...

WHAT I THINK:

-You are the reader:
Read what you want to read. Forget deadlines (okay, maybe not if you have to read a book for school and your grades depend on it) and release dates, forget loans (just as long as you remember to get an extension or take those books back) and pick a book off the shelf that appeals to you in this moment.

-Slugging through review copies, just because the release date has already passed, so that you can get a review released is pointless. Slugging through a review copy, that you don't feel like reading = A Bad review. I think you should give each book a fair chance and read it when you feel like it.

-As long as you don't release your review too early before the book -depending on the publisher- you should read the book whenever you want.

-Finishing one book (Any book) is better than staring at a very large pile of books thinking about what you should and shouldn't read.

IF YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW:

-Make an Online Poll asking fellow readers what they think you should read.

-Take that book your friend has been talking about for ages and read it. Then you'll at least understand what she's talking about.

-Write book titles onto a piece of paper and draw it out of a hat.

-Stand in front of a bookshelf, close your eyes, turn around three times and point to/touch a book. That's what you'll be reading...

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

3 comments:

Wall-to-wall books said...

Your posts are always so amusing!

Unknown said...

I have this same problem sometimes. I'm in the process of recovering from a massive reading slump...figures, I start my blog then I go into a slump. Right now I'm pretty much reading what ever the heck I want. I'm pretty eclectic so whatever trips my trigger is what I end up reading. My current read is a murder mystery. So far so good.

Great post! Found you via the Saturday Situation :)

Krazzyme(Young Readers) said...

Great post...Almost all you said was so true! I always break away from my TBR pile when it gets too much (you know the review copies and all that )

Krazyyme @ Young Readers