Fine. Not ninety-nine. Ten.
This week The Broke and the Bookish ask us what some of our "bookish" problems are. Thank God they specified, because you people don't get paid enough to be my therapist.
1. Reading two books at once- I abhor reading two books at once, as I am now (Chronicle of a Death Foretold for Work and Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage for fun). I'm known to multi-task, for better or worse, in my everyday life, but when it comes to reading I'd rather focus on one book at a time.
2. My kid- While I actually thought my reading and blogging would suffer more than they have, Sawyer still does sometimes prevent me from reading as much as I used to.
3. Space- This is one that causes me serious anxiety, which the rational part of my rational brain thinks is ridiculous, since I have a good-size home. I want them to all be in once place, though, so eventually we'll have to do some rearranging and whatnot.
4. Time- This is partially linked to Sawyer, but also balancing my favorite hobby with work, taking care of the house, and other things I enjoy doing.
5. ARCs- I haven't accepted any this year and I still have a few I should be looking at. Honestly, for the short-term I think I'm closing myself down to 99% of what is available for snatching up.
6. Blog commenting- This one bothers me to no end. I love receiving comments on my posts- who doesn't? I'd like to say that I don't need validation and I don't "care if people are reading, I do this for myself," and while that may be slightly true, I like having readers. On the flip side, I think if you expect people to visit and comment, you to need to return the favor. It's called a "community" for a reason. I'm trying guys, I am.
7. Being judgmental- This is one of those "sorry, not sorry" moments. I know I get snotty when it comes to books, and I try to keep it on the inside, or to only show it to like-minded individuals. The fact that people spend so much money on sub-par literature makes me mad. When people think they're such awesome, hardcore readers when they read total junk irritates me. Going into my local Barnes and Noble and seeing that they carry five Janet Evanovich books for every one David Mitchell novel makes me want to yell at the workers.
8. Conversation- There are three people I can safely talk books with: my husband, my good friend/colleague, and another good friend. Unfortunately, we rarely read the same books at once, so it's frustrating when you finish something and want to talk shop... and can't.
9. The older crowd- I have at least a dozen books that have sat on my shelf for at least two or three years. It makes me feel bad. It just never seems like the right time, or there's always something new and shiny that calls my name. It's neglect of the elderly, that's what it is.
10. Excessively long chapters- Obviously this is nit-picky, but I really enjoy putting down a book at the end of a chapter. Fifty page chapters are not practical for this habit.
Excessively long chapters is a big pet peeve for me as well ... I do like reading two, three, or even four books at once though. Right now I'm in the middle of three different books.
ReplyDeleteLong chapters work best when broken up into sections, the old-fashioned way. I personally dislike chapters that are way too short, all of 3–4 pages.
ReplyDeleteI also have too many unread books on my shelves, which I really wanted to get but then never got around to. At least I look like a serious, deep intellectual with those books on my shelves.
I concur with the neglect of the elderly. *sighs* It'S BAD. But there are so many new books! And they're shiny and beautiful and gaaaah. I really do need to read some more oldies. ;-) I absolutely loathe long chapters, so I'm with you there! Here's my TTT!
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of neglect of the elderly too :( Sadly, I probably have unread books going back much further than 2 or 3 years. SOME DAY. I also agree with the long chapter thing. I was just reading a book (a favorite I've read before, no less, but I guess I forgot this fact....) that has vastly varying lengths of chapters some as short as 3-5 pages and one interminable one that was over 70. There were other breaks in the text, but still that chapter did not make me feel like I was making any progress on the book!
ReplyDeleteBeing judgmental is apparently one of my problems as well. My friend told me the other day I am way more of a book snob than her and I was offended until I thought about it. She told me she read 100+ books last year to my 25 but her reading list was populated with mostly trashy romance, vampire books and YA fiction. I will admit that not all of my 25 are literary works of genius but I would rather read 20 quality books than 100 crap books! I guess I will embrace my judgmental nature and go back to my books :)
ReplyDeleteHAH! I thought I was alone in disliking long chapters. It makes the books feel so loooooong! I definitely have some elderly books that need attention... now look how guilty you're making me feel...
ReplyDeleteNice list of book related problems!! Here's a link to my TTT for the week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2015/02/top-ten-tuesday-ten-book-related.html
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I definitely hate long chapters too. It's frustrating when I'm like "just one more chapter" and then I end up staying for two hours more reading one chapter! Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteKrystianna @ Downright Dystopian
1. I sometimes have three books on the go at once. I like variety.
ReplyDelete6. Will hold you to that ;-)
7. I feel ya. There is so much crap out there. Few things cheese me off more than people bragging about how they read and it's all James Patterson blah blah blah. There aren't too many people I can talk books with. It's a bit frustrating.
ReplyDelete