I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesday when I first started blogging and it was a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers! I thought with coming back from a hiatus, and a bit of a lack of inspiration on my part, participating again would be a great idea. So, every Tuesday (if the topic interests me) I’ll be sharing a Top Ten Tuesday post. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl! Make sure to check out her page explaining everything you need to know, including future topics.
Last week’s Top Ten Tuesday was 10 Reasons You Won’t Read a Book. This post was supposed to publish for that TTT, but I totally forgot. So, you get it today! Once again, I’m putting a little spin on it. I’m also treating it as an extension of a previous Top Ten Tuesday I posted a couple of weeks ago titled 5 Reasons You Should Read Books. In that post, I listed out reasons I think anyone should read, no matter the genre.
This week, I’m sharing 4 reasons I think you shouldn’t read books. Say what?! A book blogger saying you should not read books?! It’s actually quite simple, so let me lay it out for you.
YOU SHOULDN’T READ IF…
YOU DON’T HAVE TIME
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just do not have time to read. With a 3-year-old, a mother who needs daily care, myself, my husband, my dog, the house, the pool, the cars, and everything else life throws at me, reading just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t just take the back burner, it’s the food lost in that little crevice between the stove and the counter (you know that disgusting place we don’t talk about). Sometimes life just gets in the way. It’s important that we accept that season of life and don’t beat ourselves up over it.
All we need to do is focus on what we do have time for. Sometimes this can be making time for other things that are important to you, but other times it might look like scrolling Instagram because that is really the only thing you have the energy to do. Either way, it’s okay to not read at all. Don’t let comparing yourself to others make you stress over reading (which I’ll address a little more in another section).
I have no Pro Tip for this one, because it’s really just about being okay with where you are in life.
YOU’RE NOT ENJOYING THE BOOK
Now this is one I struggle with all the time, so let’s say this one together.
It. Is. Okay. To. DNF. A. Book.
Phew, ok, a lot easier said than done for some of us, though. For those of you that will drop a book even if you’ve surpassed the 50% mark, I applaud you. I definitely struggle with this one. I always convince myself it will get better, if I just push through. But you know what? It probably won’t.
- Pro Tip: Apparently, back in this older post regarding DNF’ing books, I set a rule to DNF a book if I didn’t enjoy it by 35%. I have yet to take my own advice, or abide by that rule, but hey, maybe second times a charm? If we don’t love a book by 35%, let’s drop that sucker and move on to a, hopefully, better book!
YOU FEEL LIKE IT’S A CHORE
I know a lot of us have been here before, especially if you’re a blogger or on bookstagram. With all the wrap ups and people sharing their Goodreads challenges, it can feel like you’re falling behind. So, you have to catch up, right? Eventually that means reading will start to feel like you have to do it instead of doing it because you want to. Which puts you in a slump. So, you fall even more behind on this arbitrary goal set by social media comparisons.
It’s a vicious cycle. Knock it off.
Don’t compare how much you read to other people. Don’t compare what you read to other people (read those backlist titles, baby, they’re just as good as all the new releases).
- Pro Tip: Set your Goodreads goal to 1 book. That’s what I did, and I am already 16 books ahead of schedule.
YOU READ A BOOK SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE OF THE HYPE
Coming up with a shortened version of this as a header was difficult because I don’t want anyone thinking you shouldn’t read hyped books at all. What I am saying is: don’t read a book solely because you feel pressured to by the hype or seeing it everywhere IF the book doesn’t even sound interesting to you.
I feel we’ve all been victim to this: A book we aren’t really into, but we pick it up anyway because everyone and their cousin is obsessed (coughFourthWingcough [though I did totally get this one, because dragons, duh]).
Look, sometimes it can work out and it might be the best book we’ve ever read.
- Pro Tip: Look at both positive and negative reviews for hyped books. Sometimes there are things in the negative reviews that might shine some light on things that you know you won’t enjoy.
What reasons can you think of for not reading books?
Where are you at in your reading journey: not reading much,
or a reading machine?
18 Comments
I totally agree with all of these.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
Totally agree with DNFing – why suffer through something you’re not enjoying? I might also add you “shouldn’t” read if you have other hobbies you enjoy or are trying to cultivate. It kind of goes with number 1; sometimes we have to pick and choose where to spend our time, and we have to actively choose not to read in order to do other things.
You’re not enjoying the book and it’s a chore go well together. If it’s a chore to read it, I’m not enjoying it for sure.
Yes! That is true too!
This is a great post! I try to live by these too, but I can definitely use a reminder every now and then 🙂
Same! It’s hard haha
I have a hard time telling myself that just because someone else loved the book doesn’t mean I have to. Especially when it’s all over Booktok or the blogosphere. I also try to force myself to want to read a popular book even if it doesn’t pique my interest, which is super silly of me.
I do it, too! Like I said in the post, I bought Fourth Wing even though I’m not super interested in it. It IS the book pick for a book club I am in so that influenced my decision too. Its definitely hard when we spend so much time online seeing what everyone else loves!
Great reasons! I definitely read more now that my kids are grown up than I did when they were all little and needing my constant attention. Kids don’t stay little and cute for long—put down your book and enjoy it while you can (even though it’s exhausting).
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Yes! I try to remind myself of that whenever I think I have to get other things done but my son wants my attention. He won’t want my attention forever. One day, he’ll be too cool for me lol
hard agree with these points, especially the first one! reading and maintaining a reading habit takes time and not everyone is at a stage where they can commit much time to books. and that’s totally ok, life is overwhelming nowadays with too many things to do.
Yes! We all just need to accept whatever season of life we are in 🙂
Yeah I actually haven’t started a book in like two weeks because I just haven’t felt like it, and like you said, it’s not supposed to be a chore. I’ve been setting my goal to one for years! It seems silly, but it genuinely helped me to stop paying attention to or caring about the numbers, taking away that stress.
Sometimes we just go through phases! And yes, the 1 book a year thing has been so nice. I haven’t stressed about the number of books I read since I did that.
These are SO GREAT and something I should bookmark to remind myself from time to time. I am so BAD at being like “okay ma’am you have no time so maybe you shouldn’t read way too late when you need sleep more than air”. I let random . org pick my Goodreads goal- the highest possible is the number I read the year before, so it can’t make me go too crazy haha. I also need to get better about DNFing. Idk why I am so bad at it, but here we are!
You have some GREAT reasons here, Molly. And I agree. If it’s a chore or you aren’t liking it, just “let it go” and move on. There’s other more important things in life AND things perhaps in that season you enjoy more. 🙂
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Oh boy, I struggle with DNFing, too. Thankfully, I research most books so well before I add them to my tbr, I usually don’t come across books I want to DNF. But on the rare occasions I do, it’s such a struggle. I’m slowly getting better. 🙂