The Reader Problems Tag

The Hopeful Pen at With Joy for the Work has very kindly tagged me (quite some time ago…sorry about that!) for the Reader Problems tag! Tags are always fun, and tags about books are especially delightful, so let’s get into the questions with no further ado.

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

That depends. I write down the books on my TBR just in the order that I think of them (mostly; I try to alternate between easier and harder books), and I usually adhere very strictly to reading through my TBR in order. But then sometimes I’ll be in That Sort of Mood where I just say phooey to my TBR and read whatever I feel like, whether it’s on the TBR or not. And then again, sometimes I’ll read things for book clubs which I hadn’t been planning on reading at all before. (Which is why I’m currently reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky…I had intended on reading it someday, but I hadn’t intended it strongly enough to actually put it on my TBR.)

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

That depends on how much I’m not loving it and why. If I’m just feeling slightly bored by it, it’s more likely that I’ll grit my teeth and power through. If I’m not loving it for some content reason or other, it’s more likely that I’ll decide to skip it.

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?

I don’t give myself reading challenges as such…but if I did, I could see myself spending far too much time with my eyes glued to a book during Christmas week trying to catch up.

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

By wincing in frustration and keeping an eye out for matching versions at thrift stores and library sales.

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

I really don’t know how to answer this, because I don’t feel I share the exact same taste in reading with anyone…I’ve bonded over disliked books with more than one person.

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

Just cry silently. It’s easy to do. (Actually, the first time I read the death of a Certain Character in Les Misérables I was in public, and just as I reached that part someone asked me a question about something completely unrelated. It was a bit of a jolt.)

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?!

Oh, this one’s very simple – if I loved the prior novel and it’s been long enough that I’m forgetting large parts, I’ll re-read it, of course!

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

I have fortunately never been in this position, and now I find myself pondering what I WOULD do. Hmm. This is difficult. Some of my books are beat-up and well-loved, so I could use that as an excuse sometimes – saying, “Oh, we should find a better copy for you than THIS!” If not, though…huh. I better give this some thought.

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

This happened to me earlier this year, and I got out of it by re-reading lots of fun easy books, some of which I hadn’t read since middle school…Tom’s Midnight Garden, several Noel Streatfeild books, the entire Little House series…

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

Probably none of them. I’m actually not usually very knowledgeable about soon-to-be-released books, but even supposing that I were, I’m also a cheapskate. I’d be much more likely to wait until I could get them out of the library.

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?

This is again sort of non-applicable, since I *don’t* usually buy new books…the last time I can think of buying a book just for the fun of it that I hadn’t already read was when I got Random Harvest by James Hilton at a library sale last fall. If memory serves I actually did start reading it pretty promptly.

Well, that’s the end of the questions. Thanks to the Hopeful Pen once again for tagging me!

Now, to tag some people…I’ll tag

Cecilia at Craft, Coffee and Cake
Emi at The Idlewood Archives
Grace and Katherine at The Maidens of Green Gables
Phoebe at Black Otter Books
Ruth at The Bend in the Road
Sarah at In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae
Stephanie at Stephanie’s Ninth Suitcase
…and anyone else who wants to grab it!

(Does anyone else find thinking of who to tag exhausting work? One wants to tag a fair number of people, but still leave some people for others to tag, and I frankly admit that the effort of balancing the two is a bit much for me sometimes :P)

And here’s a clean copy of the questions for you:

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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?!

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

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

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

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?

What are some books on your TBR right now? Do you prefer buying new books or getting them out of the library/buying them second-hand? How would you politely decline to lend out a book?