The Reader Problems Tag

I have been tagged by Izzy over at The Reading Izzy to do another tag! I love stuff like this because it makes us explore our reading habits and what we read.  I know I've put a weird emphasis on that in a few posts but I think it is tons of fun.  Y'all go check out Izzy's Blog!

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

Well, 20,000 is a lot more than I have on my TBR.  I think the actual number is somewhere in the 300 range which feels a bit excessive sometimes.  I have a kindle so some of my choices regarding books take price into consideration.  If I just bought a book that was over $7, the next book I buy is usually less than $3.  The bigger factor, however, are the reviews.  I look at my friends' reviews and the overall star rating as a good indicator of the quality of the book and it has only failed me a few times.  I notice frequently that the classics have fairly low ratings but I read those mostly based of reputation.

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

I am fully 100% committed. I always finish what I start.  I have a few compulsions in my life and a good number of them are based on books.  If y'all could only see my notes from high school and college, you would see just how neurotic I can get.  (I may be exploring this in a later post)  It drives me absolutely up the wall if I do not finish a book.  I can walk away from them for a short time but if there is a bookmark in them, it is pretty much a guarantee that one night I will stay up until it is finished, just to get it over with.

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

This goes back to the compulsions.  I make it a point to always be ahead on challenges like this.  I'm one of those people that sees the ETA on my GPS as a time to beat and I'm always early for everthing.  This year, I put 60 books down for my challenge which I thought was a fair and reasonable goal and I'm almost at 100.  In theory, if I was behind, I would basically lock myself in a room and read as much as possible. I couldn't just not beat the challenge. 

4. The covers of a series you love do not match. How do you cope?

Kindles are extremely handy for this reason.  Once you have a book open, you don't really have to look at the cover if they are hideous or don't match and then you can stash them in a bookshelf when you are through.  The biggest problem with this is that you also don't get to enjoy the pretty covers as much.  I value consistency in my covers. I could never understand it when the style changes halfway through a series.

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

Goodreads is great for bonding.  No matter what book it is, I don't care if it is the best seller of all time, there will be at least a few people that don't like it.  The opposite is true as well.  Goodreads helps you connect with these rare few and commiserate a little bit.  I don't believe in bashing books because people put a lot of time and effort into them but if I am just confused as to why people like it so much, I'll reach out to the Goodreads world.

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

It takes a lot for a book to make me cry in public but on the rare chance that it does, I'll switch out for another book (hopefully a funny one) so that I can compose myself.  If I know a book will be sad, I try to read it out of public eye so I don't make a fool out of myself.

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 a synopsis on Goodreads? Cry in frustration?!?!?!?

I re-read. I re-read series even if there isn't a new one coming out any time soon.  The biggest problem I have, and this is the only time I break my "If I start something, I'm going to finish it" rule is if/when I stop caring about the characters from the first book(s).  If I am not thinking about the characters, I don't feel compelled to learn more about their lives.  Or if I got spoiled, I won't pick up the next book.

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

Ugh, this used to be a big problem for me.  I HATE it when people crack the spines of books when I would lend them out.  It makes the book weaker and more prone to falling apart.  I used to dread getting school books passed down from my older brother since there were always drawings from his friends in the margins and the spines were broken.  I had a friend (frenemy?) in college that broke the spines on all of the books in a series and I haven't let anybody but my boyfriend borrow books since.  I'm possessive and a bit of a hoarder with books.  So if someone asks, I usually just say that the book is on my kindle or that I don't lend books.  One person ruined it for the rest of y'all.

9. Reading ADD. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

If I'm in a slump over reading, I usually do one of two things.  I either pick up a classic or an old favorite or I binge watch a series on Netflix.  Both help me cleanse the palette in a way and get me out of a perpetual grump cycle that I can get into.  Classics are familiar and often live up to the hype so I never regret reading them.  I re-read a lot of my older books and the reason I started Once Upon A Time was to get over a few books that had left me mad that they wasted my time.

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

One at a time.  Otherwise, it would drive me bonkers.  If I had more than one book that I was looking forward to, I would rush through one just to get to the other.  I don't want to rush my books because I'm too eager to get to another one.

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

It depends on what is going on in my life.  I'll usually start reading them within a couple of hours or days.  I rarely have a book that sits for more than a week.  I've had a few shoulder surgeries/back procedures and and if one is coming up and I am in anesthesia recovery or in physical therapy icing joints, it takes me longer to get to a book.  I'm always a little bit too ambitious about my focusing abilities after sedation or whatever.

This was so much fun.  Thanks to Izzy fog tagging me!  Since I want to hear everybody else's take on this, I'm tagging a few more people:

Erin at The Hardcover Lover

Sandee at Book Ramblings of a Whimsical Reader

ParanormalBlogger at Paranormal Book Reviews