- Ever since college, when I would bribe myself with a pleasure read to get through textbooks, I've almost always been reading at least two books at any given time. In fact, I've almost lost the ability to concentrate on a single book all the way through.
- I struggle with the impulse to overrate or underrate books, but I'm trying really hard to be better about that, and finally ironing out exactly what my ratings mean to me has been a huge help.
- When people comment and tell me that I didn't like a three star book, even one whose review is ranty, I feel rage. Just because I liked it overall doesn't mean there weren't drawbacks, but 3 means I can unreservedly say I liked it, so don't tell me I didn't! *bristles*
- If someone comments on my blog and tells me to come to their blog, you can bet I will never go to that blog, though I probably would have otherwise.
- Comments that don't say anything specific to my review (as in "great review" or "looking forward to this") do not get comments back or even responses here on my blog. I know commenting is hard, but I work really hard to leave substantive, quality comments. Getting those is better than none, but they don't make me curious about your blog and I literally have nothing to say in response aside from "Thanks!"
- I am equal parts terrified and excited about the impending move to Wordpress.
- Rarely do I read over my blog posts before I publish them, because I find reading my own writing to be a form of torture. I'm going to try to be better about this so that I can catch the inevitable typo or three that sneaks in (homonyms are my enemy), but I do this only out of love of you guys. I totally didn't proof read most of my papers either.
- I am jealous of every single one of you who's read a book I haven't read but want to read. I want to have read EVERYTHING.
- I am also jealous of everyone who reads more quickly than I do.
- There are ARCs on my shelves from 2010 that I've not yet read. Oops. To be fair, I was a young library student and not yet a blogger when I got them, but there's no explaining the ones from last BEA other than I fail.
- It irritates me when people who visit only come to my blog for giveaways win them, so much so that I sometimes toy with not doing giveaways anymore, though I do like the idea of giving back to the publishing industry which has been so kind to me.
- Sometimes I fear that I spend more time thinking about how to obtain books, searching Goodreads for books to read, and organizing my shelves than actually reading. This may not be true, but...I could definitely get more reading done if I did less of that.
- Since I started blogging, I've read more books every year than I did the year previously, but not this year, which saddens me. Damn you, book a day challenge, which, by the way, was more books than I could comfortably read with a full time job and modest amount of friends.
- I own somewhere around 1300 books and want more. Most of them came from Goodwill.
- It's been somewhere from 3-6 months since I went to book club, because I've always had either family plans or a business trip scheduled on the day of the club (when almost any other day I'm free free free). And I think there was also a month where I just didn't have time.
So, dear friends, did anything surprise you? Shock you? Make you laugh?
12. Sometimes I fear that I spend more time thinking about how to obtain books, searching Goodreads for books to read, and organizing my shelves than actually reading. This may not be true, but...I could definitely get more reading done if I did less of that.
ReplyDeleteI can so relate to this. Nowadays I can only afford to buy books using Amazon Associates credits. Though sometimes I buy from eBay if I see a book cheaper from there, rather than Book Depository. But I think I've only got two books this year via eBay. And most of the Amazon credit goes to international postage, to get my order out here to Australia.
But I spend so much time each week running my wishlists through eBay, and checking release dates on three Amazons (US, UK, and Canada). Plus checking for new covers on Goodreads, the Amazons, and Pinterest.
Undiagnosed, but I think I may have some slightly obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I seem to like organising/thinking about books rather than reading. Hmm...
That sounds complicated. I am by turns incredibly jealous of you international folk and really grateful that I have easy access to books. Though, Australia does get its own back. There are a few Melina Marchetta books that I cannot get and Kate Forsyth too. It gives me a sad. (I realize that's a drop in the bucket, but still I will cry moar.)
DeleteOh yeah, checking for covers. I do that too. Ha.
You should read OCD Love Story. I always wondered if I did, but I'm not convinced that if I do my tendencies are so minor that they're not worth mentioning. I'm just going with this: I'm weird.
3. Agre. It bothers me. The "Sorry you didn't like this one" or "Sorry it didn't work for you"make me RAGE.
ReplyDelete4. Same. I am not the world's best commenter, but I do better than that. And that goes for #5 too.
8. Yes, THIS. SO much this! And people that read faster than I do, like you and Renae, so much jealousy!! And that applies to #9 as well. Can you tell I am reading this as I go?
12. Yes, this is me too! My shelves are growing by like 3 books a day and it takes me a week to get through 3 books. LULZ
3. Right. I don't care if they're like "aww, sorry you didn't love this," because that is an accurate assessment, but if they contradict me I'm all "OH NO YOU DIINT"
Delete4. You do fine. :)
8. Yes, well, you are jealous of me and in turn I am jealous of Renae and Nafiza. It never ends.
12. THIS.
I find reading over my writing to be a form of torture too...which is hard for a writer!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I imagine!
DeleteI have major reading speed jealousy of Renae - she is just unbelievable! I wish I could read as fast as her! And I totally agree that I really dislike it when someone comments something super vague like "nice review" - it feels like they're commenting just for the sake of commenting, and I like to have discussions or conversations with people in my comments! Plus, it's a good way to get to know someone.
ReplyDeleteI just recently moved myself over to WordPress and it's not as scary as I thought it was going to be! Probably the biggest thing is just that it's a bit overwhelming because you have so many more options than you had in Blogger, so even if it is a little intimidating at times, I'm so glad I made the switch. P.S. I think you're plenty respected as you are - it's your blog content that matters most, not what it looks like!
Me too, Steph. Me too. She's so speedy that I can't even. Yup, I love getting to know people and making new friends. I want their personality to make me want to visit their blog, not obligation!
DeleteOh, that's good to hear. The plugins will definitely take some getting used to, but it didn't look that bad when I was looking around. Awww, thanks!
I have to agree with Steph (its your blog content that matters most....!!!)
Delete3. Exactly! When did a 3 star rating become "bad"? Of course there were drawbacks, otherwise it would have been a 5!
ReplyDelete4. YES!
6. I know WordPress seems scary, but I promise you it's not! Plus twitter is full of awesome people that can help!
7. I do not proofread. Way back when I first started writing papers my mom would type them for me and proofread them as she was typing. When I learned to type I would give them to her and she would proofread them. This went on through middle school, high school and college. And even though I am over the age of 30 my mom still proofread my papers in the class I took this past spring. I am not ashamed.
14. I could own a 100,000 books and still want more. I pretty much want them all.
3. 3 stars means I can honestly say I liked it, even if there was a lot I didn't like about it. Sometimes I even dislike most of the individual elements, but still liked it as a whole for some mystifying reason. *shrugs*
Delete6. Yup, I plan on asking Steph, Jenni, and Renae EVERYTHING.
7. My mom proofread a few of my papers. :-p She would have done more if I didn't do everything at the last minute.
14. ME TOO. I need a bigger house first though. Haha.
Sometimes I do that three star sorry you didn't love it, but to me a three star means no love but merely like. Alas.
ReplyDeleteAlso. I am jealous of people who have read all the books I have not as well -- especially when it's someone reading like a hot book months in advance and it's like yeah I have a copy but I need to stick to a schedule. I am trying though, to calm down on the schedule and just pick things that interest me regardless of release date. I am beholden to no date hahaha.
I feel you on the 2010 arcs lololol. Or maybe it's 2011. Either way, I did parse a few the other day including Tris & Izzy which has universally bad reviews. It felt great to get that reading load off my shoulder. I also got rid of the I Am Number 4 books. Yay!
Wodpress is the best. Moving there is not at all bad, the worst part, in fact, is deciding to change hosts, and even then, if you decide to follow directions and NOT make executive decisions like I did, you will be fine.
Also, I LOLed at your confessions about comments, I hate that great haul here's my blog shit. Like, I get that I am awful at commenting back as of late, but once it's no longer appealing to go do things outside and when I run out of House Of Cards episodes, I will totally visit the blogs of people who commented, but I am going to prioritize those who leave good comments ha ha.
ALSO! Yay professional design! Cannot wait to see it!!
Lol, that is fine, because it is accurate. I liked but didn't love the book, and not loving them is sad. But telling me I didn't LIKE it makes me ragey.
DeleteOoh yeah, that's painful too. Haha, Hannah is reading Crash Into You and I'm like "how dare you!" even though I have a copy and could totally read it, but I read by publication order and I'm totally still reading for next week and SIGH.
That was a good life choice, my friend. Sometimes Goodreads averages are not reliable, but that one was not lying to you. I know she can write good books, so I do not know what the fuck happened with Tris and Izzy.
Weeee. I have a host already. My friend is hosting, so boo yah.
Right. If I'm not impressed enough by someone's comment, I'm not going to give them a comment back. Like, if I feel like you are here just so I will pay attention to YOU, then no. I want you to want to be here. lol
ME EITHER. I SHOULD GET MY FIRST GLIMPSE THIS WEEKEND AND *flails about*
3. This annoys me SO MUCH. Most of the books I have reviewed are 3 star books. You can't expect all books to be memorable to me, which my 4 and 5 star rated books definitely are. But just because a book isn't memorable to me doesn't mean I didn't LIKE it. 3 star rated books are series I will continue to read and books I will read again if I feel like it. Don't tell me what I think. BLEGH.
ReplyDelete5. I get that commenting takes a lot of time, and I've been lacking time lately so I've barely been commenting on any blogs. BUT I don't go around JUST telling people what a great review they wrote, because how would they know I actually read their review?
6. YAY WP! I just moved like last week and while I still don't like everything about it because Blogger was so much easier, THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS! I was terrified, but I'm very happy I moved!
9. YES THIS! I'm a VERY slow reader, which may be because English isn't my native language, but also because I always feel like I HAVE TO TAKE EVERYTHING IN and I want to reread sentences I like and... yeah. I'm very slow, and I envy people who read super fast.
11. I have this with people who tweet to get more entries, but have those accounts made especially for giveaways? I know it's a GIVEAWAY and I get that people want to win free books and that I even added the option of being able to tweet every day, but blogging is not JUST giveaways. I don't know. I may be a hypocrite for this, but it does KIND OF annoy me.
Good job! I don't think I'd get to 15 confessions haha.
3. Right. Memorability is a good way to quantify three stars too. They might be fun but won't have the staying power of the higher ratings. I don't always continue with three star series, but, if I don't, it's usually because I liked how one of the books wrapped up and am happy with that.
Delete5. Yup. I know my hits suffer a bit if I don't participate in the blogosphere, but I'm not going to just copy paste the same general comment everywhere in hopes of comments back.
6. Options are good. I think. Gah!
9. Oh, sometimes I am slow, but I think I'm generally on the faster side. I always want more though.
11. Right. I have a lot of giveaways right now, but I am paying for the books and I want them to go to people who really want them, not some schmo. Sigh. Maybe I'll start doing secret giveaways. Like if you comment on my review and it's awesome. I don't know. Meh.
IT WAS SO HARD.
ReplyDelete3. (Ironic how you picked #3 to discuss your three star ratings - was that planned?). How annoying people want to say you didn't like a three star book - three star ratings usually mean to me, the book was likable, enjoyed reading it, but it did have some flaws.
6. Everyone seems to be switching to WordPress. It sure has a beautiful interface. I need to double check that I follow you with Bloglovin or something because I don't want to miss seeing your posts. Good luck with the migration. I'm sure all will go well.
12. I TOTALLY am guilty of exactly what you describe here. I love Goodreads, searching for new book and organizing the books I already have listed. The only way I remedy this is set a time limit for the internet. After X period of time I force myself to get up and do something else.
13. Its so difficult to keep upping the number of books read each year. I too have a full time job and at some point won't be able to read more than the year before. I NEVER, EVER could read a book a day. Even though I'd sure love to be able to do this. Maybe if I won the lotto and had more time I might?
14. Ok with 1300 book I need to know WHERE do you keep them all? Also, have to toss is good for you for getting them from Goodwill - ok that's AWESOME! Never would have consider Goodwill a place to browse for books - lol.
I always find your writing insightful. So, its fun you will be participating in this blogger's challenge - even if it is a bit late. I look forward to reading more of your posts in this challenge.
3. I wish I could say that I was that clever, but alas. Some flaws isn't a big deal. Pretty much all but the 5s have some flaws.
Delete6. When I move, I'll slap up a big post on this blog linking to the other. Don't worry!
12. Ah, that makes sense, but I totally do not do that. I just try to keep reading time to reading.
13. I basically had to give up TV and movies for a year. It was super sad.
14. They're on my bookshelves in alphabetical order by author. They're actually really easy to find.
Awww, thanks!
Meh, better later than never. So let's see...
ReplyDelete5) I don't blame you. I hate those comments, especially on giveaways! It's kind of like, "great thanks..." It's so much better when people legitimately leave a thoughtful comment that spurs some sort of discussion.
7) I originally didn't read over my posts, but would skim them once the were posted. Every once and a while I'd be horrified by bad grammar, spelling, or complete omission of a thought or word. I'm getting a little bit better at editing, but sometimes... I just don't wanna!
8) Well that's a given for most everybody, I'd think. Why must it be necessary to work, eat, sleep, and have some semblance of a social life. Why?
9) Please! I'm jealous of you! Your weekly Sadie Hawkins, on top of regular reviews, always blows me away. I'm lucky if I get through a book a week.
12) I do the same thing! I was organizing my Goodreads shelves the other day, condensing, deleting and what not and all I could think about was that I could be reading the book that's three feet away from me. I just got bookshelves for my birthday and I'm excited to build them and put my books up, but... I could be reading. Perhaps I'll make Joe build while I read. Brilliant.
5. Exactly. Giveaways do get the worst comments. Ugh. I used to make commenting a requirement, and it was awful, even though I stressed MEANINGFUL. Just not worth it.
Delete7. Me either. X_X
8. I don't know. :(
9. Ah, well, there are always people who read faster though.
12. Ooooh, new shelves are so much fun! Filling them up is even better. Also, good idea to read while someone else does the work!
COME TO MY BLOG CHRISTINA. I JUST WANT YOU TO LOVE ME.
ReplyDeleteNO.
DeleteOh man, the organising/scouting/stalking/obsessing thing is so familiar to me. I can spend hours reorganising shelves, checking release lists and catalogues, looking at my recommendations on Amazon and reading ABOUT books - SO MANY LOST READING HOURS!
ReplyDeleteThe giveaways thing has always pissed me off, SO glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. I want to give stuff to people I know, not people that only come visit to enter. That's why I get all excited when someone I know wins.
I know. All the books I could have read. SIGH.
DeleteMe too. I'm always THRILLED when a friend wins, but I'm too honest to rig it. Sigh.
1. That happened to me because of high school!
ReplyDelete2. I look back on some of my old rating and shudder.
4. AGREE!
5. AGREE! X2
6. Good luck! I can't afford to move, but I love my new design and I paid for it, so I plan on sticking to blogger for a while.
7. You know we're both on the same page with this one.
8. YES!
13. Blogging has increased my yearly reading too!
BONUS: I can't wait tos ee your new design! But I do enjoy this one, it's simple! I love simple, as you can tell from my own design.
2. Yup. Me too. Sometimes I have to waggle a finger at myself to not be too nice or mean.
Delete6. Once I've got it, I really don't plan to change it for years. I mean, if I'll stick with this one for three years, I certainly am not going to pay for one and immediately change it.
I love simple too, but I sometimes see this on other blogs and I hate that.
1. I wish, so that I can read more, read as much as you do. But whenever I do pick up more than one book, I tend to forget what happened in the other or end up forgetting about the other book altogether. This is sadly the fate of DARK TRIUMPH, which I am halfway through but I don't remember a lot of what I'd read back in April?
ReplyDelete2. I don't rate books, but I have a similar kind of problem. For a ten likes/dislikes list, what to include in the middle categories? Also, with any book, I tend to emphasize the negatives more than the positives - I can't stop myself from ranting even when I liked the book. Something to work on. I like your rating system. It's better than GR's, more easily understood.
3. I hope I've never done that. 3 seems like the average rating - like a little above the 2 in GR. So you liked it, even if it's not flawless.
4. That's kind of why I stopped participating in the super popular memes. There's a weird expectation that if there's a one-line comment, you should go to their post and do the same. Kind of why I like Disqus - it gives me the option of voting up comments without replying them, which some comments are like.
5. Agreed. That's why I don't understand how some people are able to leave so many. It takes me hours sometimes to finish my commenting rounds because I'm trying to leave thoughtful responses (maybe I'm just not efficient enough, I don't know). I'm not going to visit unless it's something that says the person has *actually* read my post.
6. YOUR MOVE WILL BE AWESOME.
7. Ha, I am so the opposite. I reread a lot, especially if it's a post I'm nervous about - do I have the right to say X and X? etc. Euh, but I'm with you on not proofing my college papers :D.
8 & 9. Me too. Truthfully not very jealous about others getting lots of ARCs 'cause it seems like a lot more people engage when it's a book that's already released? Maybe that's just for me. But definitely jealous over people like you who can quote X and X book and I've never read nor do I read like 300 books in a year o.O.
10. The old ARCs. And the dilemma of what to do with them. I'm hoping to not get to that point yet, but I still need to finish Assassin's Curse and Pirate's Wish and the Anatomy series soooo I might be headed there soon :(.
11. Oops, I might send some your way if you host a big giveaway... I don't like it much either but I like the increased traffic for my blog and the promotion for the book enough to keep at it.
12. Ah, this is why I am so behind on GR. Because I know that if I try to catch up and label everything, it will take so much time o.O.
13. Blogging does wonders for your reading habits.
14. where do you store them all o.O?
15. I've never gone to a book club.
And definitely agree with the design thing. Also about owning the site/hosting your own site - so many dot coms. But I don't know if I'm willing to pay for that.
YOUR DESIGN IS GOING TO LOOK GREAT :D.
1. Yeah, that can be an issue. I'm mostly fine, since I'm making definite forward progress in all of them, but if you put one down for too long that definitely can happen. The only time I have problems is if I'm reading books that are too similar at one time. That doesn't happen too often, but did a bit with Covet and The Husband's Secret.
Delete2. I try really hard to focus on the positives, but sometimes with 3 stars I have to say at the beginning "I liked this, I swear," because the review is one big rant.
3. Yup. 3 is my most common rating, here and in GR, I think. There's nothing wrong with a 3. I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't read it again. With the GR 2/my 2.5, I'm starting to wonder if my time might have been better spent.
4. Yeah, I only do Top Ten Tuesday now, which I do love. Some of the comments suck, true, but a lot of them are fun.
5. Commenting takes me forever too, so I'm with you.
7. Hahaha, I like how you don't proof what you're graded on but do proof blog posts. :-p
8-9. That's very true. There are a lot more comments when people have read the book already.
12. Oh, I don't really label things in GR. I was on GR for ages before I really started using it and there would be a such a backlog of books to label and I can't remember my clever shelf names and I just can't.
14. Shelves. :-p
Well, one book a day is very ambitious. I think only very few bloggers manage that - or they read very short books.
ReplyDeleteHa, I did read some short ones, but some longer ones too.
DeleteI was so impressed about your book a day challenge! That is so awesome and so fun. I wish I had done that when I didn't have kids. What a great accomplishment! I agree about people who visit your blog only to enter contests winning. That's gotta suck! Nice list but none surprised me that much actually, though a couple made me chuckle! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I made it. Definitely touch and go for a while.
Delete
ReplyDelete1. For a time I was reading at least three - one actual book, one audio at work, and one audio in my car. That was fun.
2. I do that too! I try to make ALL starred book reviews mean the same thing, but it's so hard.
6. Why is everyone doing that now? Should I?? LOL
7. OMG I don't do that either. And I'm an editor. My work *should* be perfect, but I'm so bad at catching my own mistakes.
8. Same here!!!!!
10. Girl, I have a room full of them. LOL
12. I think we're all a little like that.
14. It's great that you get them from Goodwill!
1. Ooh, multiple audios at once! I've done that, but I prefer not to. I have two physical books and an audio.
Delete2. That's pretty much impossible, but I try to get it as close as possible.
6. Up to you. Blogger's done a lot of small things to annoy me, but nothing horrible has happened.
14. Yup, you'd be amazed what you can find!
I totally agree with you about underrating and overrating books. Recently I've kind of gotten the hang of my rating system after really sitting down and trying to define it for myself. But occasionally there will be that book that defies all ratings and I can't seem to figure out how to categorize it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, come to my blog, Christina.
Yup. OCD Love Story was that book for me. On the one hand it totally deserved five stars, but I also sort of hated reading it even though it was good. Ended up sort of averaging and giving it a 4. lol.
Delete#1. Your system works so well for you! I've been tempted to try something along the like, but I know my brain would get confused.
ReplyDelete#2. Yes, this. Especially if I like the author. I want to like their stuff and I have to talk to myself and ask if it was really worth 4 stars or if I just love the author and want to be nice.
#3. THIS. WHY IS THIS SO HARD FOR PEOPLE.
#4. Comment etiquette is important. I hate hate hate "nice list/post, come check out mine." NON MERCI.
#7. THIS IS ME. I hate hate hate reading anything I've written. It means I can miss typos until a friend tells me, but then I don't have to hate myself for being a pretentious ass.
#8. I used to really struggle with bloggerenvy, but then I realized I will never read everything I want, and having influential/popular blogger friends read books before me is better for my wallet. I still get envious over coveted ARCs, though.
#12. I am obsessive about my GR shelves. To the point where I have wasted hours reorganizing, re shelving books. I have to make myself step away and realize some will slip through the cracks.
#15. I only joined my bookclub 8 months ago, but if they don't start picking better books, I may be "busy" for a few future meetings. ;)
Love your confessions, Christina! This was fun!
1. Ha, yeah. It used to be sort of hard for me, but now I rarely have problems with it!
Delete2. Another issue I have is if the book is a quick easy read, sometimes I think I liked it when I didn't.
7. True. I usually don't find more than a couple of typos, so meh. It's not like I'm paid for this.
8. Me too. That will never go away entirely, but it's at a manageable level.
12. I gave up on shelving the books. I will never be the reviewer with awesome shelves. I just cannot maintain them.
15. Haha. Mine picks good stuff, but I'm just not able to make it!
I can't wait to do this challenge! I'm starting it soon! I can't wait. :D
ReplyDelete2. I have such a hard time figuring out my rating system sometimes. Lol. And I created it so....it shouldn't be that hard. But it is.
5. I am trying to get better about comments! I feel like I need to comment when I like the post, but sometimes I only say, great review and I need to read this! Ooops....
12. Haha, yes!!! I can spend hours on other people's blogs searching their archives and GoodReads for new books. Ugh. It's exhausting and makes me wish I was a cyborg or an andriod so that I will never die so I can read all the books I want.
So excited to read the rest of this challenge. :D
Good life choice! It's fun so far.
Delete2. You wouldn't think, would you? But it totally is.
12. I just hate thinking I might miss out on something, but I probably miss out on actually reading more as a result. :p
I very rarely read over my own writing either because I find it so embarrassing. However recently I read some posts from about a year ago and wasn't completely humiliated by what I wrote so I guess I just need A LOT of time and distance. Numbers 8 and 12 are also pretty true of me-I want to read ALL the books!
ReplyDeleteIf I look at them objectively, they're mostly not terrible, but it's really hard for me to do that.
DeleteI don't like reading my posts over, either. I mean, once they're written, they're done. I'm not really a draft, then edit, then make a final version person. If I get a post written, I consider that a success. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I always get jealous when other bloggers are reading books I want to read ... I think that's why I have such a problem with buying books!
What I have learned is that most of us have few fucks to give about this.
DeleteMUST HAVE ALL THE THINGS RIGHT NOW.
Re: #5... I'm the same when it comes to comments like that (although usually on goodreads). And just when I was beginning to think it was harsh! Glad to know I'm not the only one.
ReplyDelete