Reader Problems Book Tag

I’m tired, sore, and ridiculously cranky. This translates to I’m not in the condition to write nor create anything out of thin air. Instead, I’m stealing another tag from Story and Somnomancy, and yes, it’s another book-ish one.

THE QUESTIONS

1) You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

I can easily cut down the number based on what I’m planning to read next. I usually (sort of) know what I’m looking to read and if I can divide those books by genre the list should get way shorter. If I want to get super technical I can also do a selection based on how big a book is — if I know I don’t have the time to commit to a large book, I reach for the ones with less pages.

But I imagine at the end of all of it I’ll just pick something randomly. I have less trouble picking a book to read, I have more trouble getting through my TBR.

2) You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or commit?

I rarely drop a book for good. If I find it extremely dull I will likely just put a bookmark and leave it for another time. And by another time I mean some unknown point in the future when my brain goes “Hey, remember a while ago you were reading that book you didn’t quite like? I wanna give it another go.”

3) The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, yet so far away on your Goodreads Reading Challenge. Do you quit or commit?

This has already happened and I’ll be honest here, I quit. The thing is, if I had the time I would have devoured the books I’ve decided to read in that year. Plus, “the end of the year is nearing” is a period which tends to be rather busy for me, no matter what year it is. I know my strengths just as I’m aware of my weakness, I wouldn’t be able to do it (unless I had a magical item such as a Timeturner, which conveniently lets me go back in time and catch up).

4) The covers of a series you love DO. NOT. MATCH. How do you cope?

Ugh. Why would you put that thought in my head? I would most likely try to avoid the issue as long as I can, and separate the books on my shelf to avoid that horror show in my brain whenever I glance at it. Eventually, when the wallet allows it, I’d buy a set with matching covers and give away the old ones.

5) Everyone and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

This rarely happens as most of the folks around here aren’t particularly fond of books. Didn’t you know, not reading is cool on the streets? It’s the worst plague humanity has seen in its existence, a fear and shame of books. Not to diminish the damage done by plagues in history, but I think this one will be the end of us.

Anyway, should this scenario take place, I have a number of online friends with whom I rant/complain about such things.

6) You’re reading a book and you’re about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

I don’t see that happening. I don’t read in public, the furthest I would take a book from my home is our yard. The only case where it could happen is if I was on the beach, but then it’s super easy — sunglass! Duh. SUNGLASSES!

7) A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find the synopsis on Goodreads? Cry in frustration?

I would say that it depends on how much time I have available. I’d prefer re-reading the book, but if the odds are against me and I cannot make that happen, I would likely just look up synopsis online. Or, even better, if there’s an audio book of the same, I might just put that to play in the background while I’m doing another task.

8) You do not want ANYONE borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?

I’d just straight-out tell them I’m clingy about my books and I cannot in good conscience borrow them to anyone due to fear of not getting them back or even worse, have them returned in a butchered state. You ruin my books, you be damn sure I’ll be haunting you in your dreams. Okay I may leave out the last part, I forgot we were aiming for a polite tone.

9) You’ve picked up and put down five books in the past month. How do you get over your slump?

I’d resort to munching on TV Shows or playing video games. Whenever I hit a hard time with anything, I know I just need an unhealthy dose of “bad entertainment” (tv, video games, vines, cat videos, etc.). Afterward it’s like someone has hit the reboot button and I’m back to functioning normally.

10) There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?

Depends on the money I can spare. Yes, deep down I’ll probably want to buy them all and maybe even buy myself a large library while I’m at it. Both so I can have a place for them and so I can read with peace and quiet. But in reality I know I’ll just make a list of all of them and then see how many I can cross off that list. Whatever I’m unable to buy at that time will eventually find itself on a future book shopping list.

11) After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf until you actually read them?

Some don’t make it to the shelf as I get to them right away, others are still sitting on the shelf and waiting their turn. Hey, I’ll get to the poor books right after someone makes my day last 25 hours. Not that I don’t want even more hours than that, but I’ll be fair and settle at 25.

THE TAG-EES

I’m tagging anyone reading this. Mostly because, as mentioned at the beginning, I’m in no state or mood to come up with lists of names. Plus, ain’t it more fun when we can all chime in on a topic?