Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the gals over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s theme is 10 bookish ‘things’ you want to quit or have quit. It could be authors you want to stop reading, book tropes you’re sick of or in my case, habits you want to quit. So I know it’s supposed to be the top ten but I only have seven habits that I want to break. Also, instead of just telling you the habits I want to quit, I’m also providing what my fix/goal is going to be to actually quit it! So, if any of you have similar habits you wish to break, maybe my fixes will work for you too!
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1. Avoiding Classics
I have an entire shelf of classics that I never touch. They intimidate me, so I just don’t read them. I actually somewhat touched on this topic in a previous Top Ten Tuesday post: Ten Books I Wish I Actually Read in School. Nevertheless, I continue to avoid them, even though I actually do want to read them.
- My Fix: Read 1 classic book a month. And maybe find someone to buddy read them with!
2. Purchasing Free E-books
I know you’re probably saying “…but they’re free!”, but personally, this is a habit I really want to break. I tend to go onto Amazon and search through the free (or .99 cent) books and purchase them if they seem even remotely interesting. This backfires on me because then I feel overwhelmed with a number of books I just added to my already very long TBR list and I never get to them. I have e-books I purchased last year that are still on my iPad unread.
- My Fix: Read 50% of the e-books already on my iPad before adding/purchasing a new one (with the exception of my anticipated new releases).
3. Starting A New Series Before I’ve Finished One I’ve Already Started
What a mouthful. Let me clarify, I’m talking about finished series (also discussed in a preview post). Granted, sometimes it is nice to take a little break from the story and read something else but more often than not I forget all about the first series I started. I currently have many unfinished finished series: The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Maze Runner, The Lord of The Rings, Matched, Shatter Me & more. Do you see my problem?
- My Fix: I’ll finish the series listed above within 6 months. Ambitious, because I’m not putting restrictions on starting new series, but I will give it a shot!
4. Getting Distracted From Reading because of Instagram
While I love taking photos of books, discussing books with fellow ‘bookstagrammers’, discovering new books to read, etc, Instagram is definitely a distraction. I try to keep up with all of the challenges, tags, updating blog news, read-a-long news and whatever else is happening in the book world but sometimes that pulls me away from actually reading. It’s a bit of a contradiction.
- My Fix: I’ve actually already started this one. I’ve made a goal to read at least 30 minutes a day.
5. Buying Books Based Solely On The Hype
I’ve done this often. I’ll see one book featured in many Instagram photos, discussed often on Goodreads or on other people’s blogs and I buy it. I don’t read what it’s about really and I barely skim the reviews, then I buy it. Sometimes I like the book, sometimes I hate the book. Either way, I really need to purchase books based on whether or not they seem interesting to me.
- My Fix: Simple, read the synopsis, read reviews and see if it’s a book that would interest me. If so, buy it.
6. Reading Books Because I Think I Have To
One of the best things about having a blog is reviewing books and authors requesting your review. I love it. However, sometimes the list of TBR review books starts piling up, whether it’s a new release or an author is waiting for me to review, it becomes a little overwhelming. I start pushing myself to read a book that maybe I am just not in the mood for at that moment. This then puts me into a bit of a slump and I start to resent the book. It really takes the fun out of reading and defeats the whole reason why I started this blog in the first place!
- My Fix: Relax. Read what I want and realize I’ll get to the review books soon.
7. Requesting Too Many Digital ARCs & Not Reading Them
When I signed up for NetGalley I had no idea how it worked. I didn’t know there was a review ratio and that if you had too many un-reviewed books on your shelf it wasn’t good or that there were archive dates. So I went a little crazy, I requested as many as possible and grabbed all those ‘instant approval’ ARCs. All those free, advanced copies had me feeling good. Then I realized I was in a little over my head and got completely overwhelmed. Technically, I’ve already stopped this habit so the real problem now lies with actually reading the ARCs I requested.
- My Fix: Try to chip away at the long list of digital ARCs I have, whether archived or not, and DO NOT request more until that unread number goes down!
20 Comments
I am the worst at finishing series. I have so many that I started and have yet to finish. Though I set myself a goal of finishing 2 or 3 series before I’m allowed to start a new one. Hopefully that will work out!
Good luck on fixing your habits!
It’s hard! I don’t usually like to read the books back to back so I’ll read something in between, then I’ll just get distracted with the other books I have and forget. You have a good idea of reading some before you start another one. Maybe I’ll try to read 1 before starting a new one. That seems a little more doable for me 😀
Me neither. I can read two books in the same series back to back, but more than that doesn’t work for me. 🙂
I have a habit of “buying” those free books too. I have like… 400 eBooks on my tablet via Kindle app that are free and unread, and I keep requesting books from NetGalley or getting new free books that I’ll probably never read. Then I feel obligated to read them because I downloaded them.
My TTT:Marie @ Pages to Explore
Ah, yes! I don’t have that many, but it still gets overwhelming. There are a lot of books that I even forgot that I purchased as an ebook and I will see it in the store and say “hmmm…this title looks familiar” haha
I’m was just like you when I joined Netgalley, and I requested way too many books! It’s so tempting to keep clicking the request or read now buttons. And this ties in with your sixth point, too, but I used to feel super guilty when I ended up really disliking a book I requested via NG. I feel like I have to read them, and when I’m not enjoying the story, it’s so hard to find the motivation to even pick up the book. Toward the end of last year things built up so much I ended up DNFing a few I just couldn’t manage to continue on with, and it took so much pressure off. And oh gosh, Kindle freebies. I stopped counting when I reached the 500 mark! There is just no way I’ll ever have the time to read them all!
There have been quite a few from Netgalley that I just didn’t enjoy. I always hate when I dislike free books. I actually don’t DNF books, I just put them on “hold” until I feel like giving them another shot haha
I am so guilty with no. 1. Classics intimidate me too! 😀
They are very intimidating sometimes. Especially if you read a lot of YA in a row!
Yes! So true! 😀
Netgalley and i have the biggest love hate relationship ever!! Also please finish The Infernal Devices series! That last book was my absolute favorite ever!! The hypwe monster gets me everytime. so badly that hubs took away my book allowance. I also admitted I have only read about 25%of the book on my shelves. Should have kept my bug mouth shut. 🙂
<3 Britt @ Please Feed The Bookworm
I am in the last book of The Infernal Devices, for some reason I’m just not hooked into the story… but I will finish it! I haven’t been cut off yet from my book buying, so I think the hype monster will continue to get me haha
#2 & 7 – YES. me too. lol My TTT
Free books are so tempting!
I think someone did a disservice to readers when they began lumping older books into the classics category. In truth, classic books cross genres (and centuries). Pride and Prejudice is a 200 year old novel of manners (social satire) and 1984 is a 65 year old sci-fi dystopian, so WHY do they get lumped together? If you want to read more classics, start with classics in the genres you love. You’ll be more likely to enjoy them, and you’ll probably gain a richer appreciation for the genre as a whole. 🙂
I guess I just consider ‘classics’ as books that were either required reading in school or those iconic books that everyone knows/has read. I do see what you’re saying though! I want to read both of the books you mentioned, so I guess I will see which genre I prefer!
I have a tendency to avoid classics, but that’s because the ones I’ve read, I really haven’t liked (mostly)!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/top-ten-tuesday-25/
I love how you have identified a fix on all of your habits! I too have the ARC issue and am in the same boat. No more requests until I chip away at that NetGalley list! I was doing the free ebook thing too. Now I just do ones that really interest me.
Thanks! I can’t say I’ve stuck to all my fixes. The day I posted it, I ended up buying a cheap Amazon book 😀 whoops! It’s hard not to pass up a good deal though haha
I feel the same way! 🙂