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Tuesday 6 October 2015

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten bookish habits I want to quit

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish!)

Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday in October! Where has the time gone? Can you believe that in THREE MONTHS it will be 2016? ...Dang, I think I need to go and lie down.
This week, I'm talking about ten bookish habits I want to quit, and there's quit a few of them - here goes!

10) Setting my expectations too high
If an author I love releases a new book, or if there's a synopsis for a book that sounds extremely interesting, or if the book has a beautiful cover, or if I hear everyone talking about it, or if it's Book of the Month for this book group/that website/those dogs - well, I'm going to get my hopes too high, and they're likely to be crashed down. I really dislike being disappointed by things, so I need to start going in with lower expectations. 

9) Stopping a book to read something better
So far this year, I've done this with 'The Novice: Summoner' by Taran Matharu (because I was enjoying it too much and I didn't want it to end) and 'The Elite' by Kiera Cass (because I was getting bored). I need to pick both of them up and finish them, but I feel I need to re-read the first halves now... I don't have enough time to do that. 

8) Forgetting to charge my Kindle
I have three hours before work. I sit down on the bus and decide to get a bit of reading done, then when I get to town I'll find a cafe, have a blueberry muffin and read some more of my book. But my book is electronic, and my perpetually lazy self has forgotten to charge it. Three hours + nothing to read = death. 

7) Forcing myself to finish a book
I refuse to DNF books. I chug along like a tired and depressed choo choo train, but I finish it in the end. Sometimes, I hate myself for this. There was the case of 'Moonlands' by Steven Savile, which just got more convoluted and terribly spell-checked the closer I got to the elusive ending. Or how about 'The Girl's Guide To The Apocalypse' which I read last week and was the most flat novel I'd ever read? I could have given up on these novels and moved on with my life, reading a much better book that I've been waiting to read for a while - but no, I forced myself through. I'm a glutton for punishment. *sobs* 

6) Judging books by their covers
We all do it, you need to be honest. If a book has an awful cover, the likelihood is that it's not going to be the best book! There have been some exceptions to this rule, when books with good covers have been bad, but I can't think of a single example in which I detested a cover and loved the story within. 

5) Avoiding books that have movies
I avoid movies, because I haven't read the books: I avoid books, because I don't want to get involved in the movie hype. It's the most awful Catch 22, but I can't get myself out of it!

4) Getting irrationally angry
I know, I write reviews - I'm supposed to be opinionated. But sometimes, my feelings will go further than my reviews. Sometimes, I will write a scathing review, then rant to my mother about the book for hours on end, and will still bring it up months and months into the future - with colleagues, people I pass on the street, pigeons... It happens with 'The Fault In Our Stars', and it happens with 'Marly's Ghost' - I wish I could just let them go and get over them!

3) Not finishing series
I've complained about my habit for doing this multiple times in the past, which is why it's not higher on the list!

2) Looking for spoilers
I can't believe I just admitted that I do this. It's a huge faux pas, I know. It hurts even me. But sometimes, I just want to know what's going to happen. I don't do it actively - no googling "what happens at the end of Allegiant?" for me! But sometimes I hang out in the bad places (tumblr) where I know I'm going to find out all of the spoilers. At least I'm not one of those people who reads the last page of a book first!

1) Book buying
I KNOW, I KNOW. Why would I stop buying books? Why on earth would I want to do that? Because I HAVE NO ROOM IN MY HOUSE FOR ME. *deep breath* I'm sorry for shouting, it's just getting to the stage where I think that I might need to sell my dog, just to be able to fit in a few more books. I mean, Charlie's cute and all... But can I read him?

I hope you enjoyed this Top Ten Tuesday! Really, these were in no particular order - they're all habits that I hate equally and would love to stop. Please tell me what your bad bookish habits are down below, it might make me feel less disappointed with myself...

12 comments:

  1. As much as I hate to admit it it's true. I always judge books by their covers. If I don't like the way the cover looks I most probably won't ready the summary. *Did I seriously just admit this?*

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  2. This list could be about me! I always forget to charge my Kindle and it always dies just before a long travel day.
    My TTT - my bad bookish habits!

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    1. I know people who remember to charge them before travelling "just in case" - HOW?!

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  3. What a great list! I try so hard not to set my expectations high, but it can be hard, especially when it's a favorite author, as you pointed out. Your #5 is so true for me. I can't tell you the number of times I have skipped a movie because I haven't read the book. And the book buying . . . I think many of us have this problem. I know I do. I've gotten better, but not enough to say I've beat the habit. :-)

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    1. I feel really bad for skipping out on movies, because they're so much shorter than books so I'll be able to get through them faster... It just feels like too many spoilers. But then, if you read the book first, you get spoilers for the movie! THERE'S NO WAY TO WIN! D:

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  4. Replies
    1. With the amount of awesome new books being released every month... Nope, no way. :P

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  5. I totally force myself to finish books and rarely can DNF one. I need help on this one too.

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    1. I just worry in case I stop and then it gets Really Good. They almost never do, but there's the occasional one that will turn around and knock my socks off.

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  6. #7 is totally me! I need to get out of the habit of doing this!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/top-ten-tuesday-25/

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