The Reader’s Problems Book Tag

At the very end of December, I was tagged by Riddhi @ Whispering Stories to answer this tag. I had plans of completing it immediately, and in fact even wrote an intro congratulating myself on starting the year off right by answering the tag so quickly, but then I must’ve forgotten to actually answer the questions. So here we are at the end of July! I had so much fun with my answers to these questions that I honestly don’t know why it took me so long! Anyways, without further ado, I present to you a glimpse at how I solve the bookish problems in my life!

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

Listen, I’m a mood reader. How I decide which book to read is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. I think the phase of the moon, the temperature in Arizona, and which fruits are on sale in my local grocery store all have some influence on matters, but I’ll never know for sure.

.

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

Listen, I will DNF at any point. Page 6 or page 274, I don’t care. I’ve DNFed books in the very first chapter, and I’ve DNFed books when I’ve been more than 80% through the book. In fact, I DNF so much that I don’t record most of my DNFs! I just record the ones I was reading for review or the ones I REALLY detested. My Goodreads shelf claims I’ve only DNFed 11 books, but I’ve probably DNFed over 11 books this year alone! (I was curious if that number was accurate, and while I have no way of actually tracking how many books I’ve DNFed this year, since I don’t record those books anywhere, with some sleuthing I figured out that I unhauled at least 5 books this year that were DNFs.) The books I will stick with for the longest tend to be review books, since I hate writing DNF reviews with a passion!

This was a much longer answer than you needed.

TL;DR: I’ll quit.

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?

Hmmm. Depends on the year and how feasible I think catching up will be. Last year I was 5 books away from my Goodreads goal and decided not to hurry through 5 books just to hit an arbitrary number. This year, I’m already behind on my Goodreads goal by about 14 books, but I’m determined to shrink that number in the next month or two so that I can actually achieve my goal. If I see that it’s impossible, I may just lower my challenge in September or October.

Assuming I do plan on catching up and I have the time, like the case is right now, I focus on shorter books and graphic novels. (The graphic novels can be whatever length because they’re faster reads regardless of page count!) So you’ll see in my July wrap up that I’ve read a few novellas and some graphic novels as well, mixed in with some novels, of course, but the short and fast reads are specifically being read right now in hopes to catch up on my reading challenge.

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

I don’t?

Listen, it still bugs me to no end that the books in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series don’t have matching spines. Like, the covers are fine, but the first book was never given a matching spine to the rest of the series. Does this in any way impact my day to day life? No. But I will still be mad, every time I see that series on my shelf.

Thankfully, I rarely read series anymore, so this hasn’t really been a problem recently. All you poor fantasy and sci-fi readers have it much worse when it comes to series redesigns than romance readers like myself have it!

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

Hmm, this is a tough one. Usually I’ll just reach out to my friends and rant, whether or not they’ve read the book. Sometimes it’s the only way I can make it through a book I hate! But then of course, once I finish the book, I get to talk about it on the blog, and usually someone in the comments has felt similarly!

I’m not shy about discussing the books I dislike. I’ll bond over my dislike of books, popular or not, with practically anyone that will listen!

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

Listen, this is a very unlikely scenario. I very rarely pick up books that I think will make me cry, and I also very rarely read in public. So the chances of me reading a book that’s about to make me cry in public? Very slim!

But say this did happen, I would probably try to be as subtle as possible about the tears streaming down my face. I might use the book as a shield, or pretend it’s allergies. I don’t know. I just hope this never happens to me!

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?!?!?!?

My answer used to be that I would reread the entire series and then continue on with the new book. And since I’d do this with each release in the series, that meant that I’d end up reading the first few books in the series quite a few times! But now I barely read series, so it isn’t a problem. I just don’t finish series!

Nowadays, the only series I tend to read are companion books set in the same world, where remembering all the fine details of book one are not important! However, since I’m trying to read a bit more sci-fi and fantasy this year, I may run in to problems with continuing series again soon. But that’s a concern for future Malka to worry about!

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

This tag makes so many assumptions. I mean, why do you assume I’m polite? I mean, I probably am, but still! However, I have no problems telling people that they can’t borrow my books, or that my books come with a list of instructions that they need to listen to. So far I’ve had pretty good experiences with lending out books as a general rule, but I still wouldn’t have a problem telling people they can’t borrow a book if I don’t think they’ll treat my property with the proper respect and care.

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

This sounds like a typical Tuesday. Being a mood reader adds another layer to slumping, because sometimes I won’t be slumping but will be in the middle of 5 books! But when I am actually slumping and starting books, but finding they don’t hold my interest, it’s the worst. I honestly don’t know how I get over my slumps. I try taking a break from reading, but still absorb bookish content like blog posts and Bookstagram photos and Booktube videos. I try seeing if there’s a specific book I’m in the mood of that I might not own, but I can buy or get from the library. And then I just wait it out. It’s no fun, but thankfully it usually only takes a few days (that feel like forever) before I’m able to pick something up again that can hold my interest!

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

So this is an interesting question because I put a limit on how many books I could buy this year, so my answer can’t be over 60. However, I would say that a good number of the books I buy are new releases. After checking my spreadsheet it would appear that all the books I purchased this year were either published in 2021 or 2022! That means that while I don’t purchase ALL the new books that I want to read that release in 2022, if I’m buying a book, chances are it’s a new release! It’s interesting though because I get a lot of new releases as ARCs either through NetGalley or from the publisher as physical copies, so I can only imagine how many more new releases I would be buying if that weren’t the case!

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?

I’d say it takes at least 2 or 3 months for me to even get to the books I’m most excited for. The rest of the books I buy usually take about 6 to 9 months for me to read them. Of course, there are outliers, with some books that I’ve had on my shelf for over a year, maybe even two years, but at this point I’ve gotten pretty good at either reading or unhauling books after I notice they’ve been on my shelf for too long!

My books letting me know how long they’ve been on my shelves for

How do you decide what to read next from your TBR? Do you buy more new releases or backlist titles? Are you behind on your Goodreads challenge yet?

Advertisement