Maintenance Monday
To Finish or Not to Finish, That is the Question
There's a certain contract between author and reader. If the reader decides to get a book (and for the case of my argument, we're going to discuss purchasing the book, not getting it from the library), there's the unspoken expectation the reader is going to finish the book. The contract is this: I buy you, you entertain me. And thanks to the rigidity of reading & English programs across the US (and I mean from elementary school and beyond), there's a certain amount of guilt involved when you don't finish a book you've started.
I'm not immune to this. In fact, in the past, I've been downright stubborn. Then again, in the past, I'd buy anything and everything that nabbed my attention, and I believed that a writer can learn just as much from a bad book as they can a good book. I still believe that, but over the years, my TBR pile has gotten precariously out of control, and I need to fix that somehow.
Part of the fix: stop buying so much. I'm trying to stay out of bookstores and websites that are guaranteed to make me drop a ton of books in the cart.
Part of the fix: be more judicious with my selections. This means reading reviews ahead of time from people I trust, and it means actually reading the first few pages to make sure the writing style won't turn me off right away.
This is all well and good, but as any reader knows, once you've been reading long enough, you have authors you'll buy no matter what, and it seems like those authors are ALWAYS publishing SOMETHING (Carrie Vaughn published four books alone this calendar year, and I think Cherie Priest is going to have at least two!), and when you couple those purchases with those from the past that interested you enough to buy but not read, well, let's just say the TBR pile isn't getting better.
Last week, it occurred to me that I need to renegotiate the writer/reader contract. Instead of promising (with my almighty dollar) that I will finish the book I buy, I should instead be asking the book to give me a reason to keep going. Because if I reach that page 100 mark and I'm bored for whatever reason, even if the book isn't bad, then why should I keep reading when I have so much else clamoring for my attention?
Admittedly, this method gives me pause, because I can always come up with reasons to continue: It's a Hugo winner and I want to see why it won! or I've enjoyed this author in the past, why shouldn't I enjoy this one? or I'm reading this book with a friend, and I'd feel like a shit for not finishing.
I can come up with a lot of excuses.
But there's other things that factor into this growing need to wipe the TBR pile clean. 1) I want to free up my non-existent shelf space. 2) The reason I want to free up the non-existent shelf space is because my husband and I are looking to seriously move this time next year, and let's face it, books are heavy. 3) The smaller the TBR pile gets, the less guilty I can feel for trying brand-new books.
So what's the plan? Well, if you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know that my plans have a way of fizzling no matter how good my intentions. But I'd like to start training my mindset from must-finish-everything-I-read-unless-it's-REALLY-bad/boring to let's-give-this-book-100-pages-before-tossing-it-to-the-find-a-better-home-pile.
This will not be easy, but I think it's worth trying.
What does this mean to you? For starters, I may be posting more reviews during the week. They won't be horribly long reviews, because unless I need to rant, I'm just going to explain why the book didn't grab me. Another thing that'll be different is that with any luck, the books I DO finish will have higher ratings. I can't promise that, because sometimes I'll finish a book that on the whole isn't very good but engages me emotionally or intellectually all the same. Of course, that's no different from now, is it? What will be different is that just because I finish a book doesn't mean it's OMG-AWESOME! and just because I don't finish something doesn't mean you should avoid it like the plague.
Also, I'll be adding more books to my Book Sale, so keep an eye on that. The whole book sale function is likely to get a makeover this fall too, because again, I'd really like to get some books out of here.
Another change I'm making is to the rating itself: before, I'd rate a book I didn't finish as "couldn't finish it." Now, I'll be using "didn't finish." The difference is subtle, and maybe would only matter to a geek like me, but "couldn't" implies I just couldn't make myself go on, that's how bored I was or how bad the book was. "Didn't," however, seems to imply I could've finished the book if I really wanted to, but I didn't want to.
We'll see how this goes. I'm not sure what I hope the results will be, but you may not notice a difference at all: the books I pick up I may be interested enough in finishing. But I have a feeling that's not really going to be the case, so we'll just see what happens. Like I said, this is me trying to re-train my mindset when it comes to reading, so with time, you may see more DNF's than not. But we'll see. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that…. Book Club Selections
August: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
September: So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson
October: Feed by Mira Grant
Book Sale: In order to buy new books, I have to sell old ones. Help me out? :) Details are here.
Follow me on Facebook, and find me on Paperback Swap!
FAVOR!! When I review a book you've read and reviewed yourself, would you kindly provide a link to your review in the comments of mine? I love seeing what others think, and sometimes I see those reviews when they're originally posted, but don't read them as I don't want to spoil myself on something I know I'll read in the future. The problem, then, is I often forget to go back and read the reviews I missed! So please, if you've reviewed something I'm reviewing, shoot a link my way. :)
Giveaways & Challenges
@ Jawas Read, Too!, you can win an ARC of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. Click here for details. Deadline 8/20.
@ janicu: win an ARC of Cassandra Clare's A Clockwork Angel. Click here for details. Deadline: 8/24.
@ Jawas Read, Too! the "Summer of Series" reading challenge is in the final month. Can you believe it? August is Sherwood Smith's Inda series. I'm not participating because I've not heard of these books before now and I want bigger fans of epic fantasy than I to give me their opinion on the series. BUT you should participate if you're interested, so you can give me your opinion! For more details, click here.
@ Libri Touches, enter to win a copy of either Twilight of Avalon or Dark Moon of Avalon both by Anna Elliot. Click here for details. Deadline: 9/16.
Got a giveaway or reading challenge you'd like to promote? Please comment.
Upcoming Reviews: Clementine by Cherie Priest, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and Changeless by Gail Carriger
Currently Reading: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
2010 Reading Total: 70 out of 75 (once I hit 75, I'll move that number up to 100).
2010 Comics Total: 256 out of 365. #257 will be tonight!
There's a certain contract between author and reader. If the reader decides to get a book (and for the case of my argument, we're going to discuss purchasing the book, not getting it from the library), there's the unspoken expectation the reader is going to finish the book. The contract is this: I buy you, you entertain me. And thanks to the rigidity of reading & English programs across the US (and I mean from elementary school and beyond), there's a certain amount of guilt involved when you don't finish a book you've started.
I'm not immune to this. In fact, in the past, I've been downright stubborn. Then again, in the past, I'd buy anything and everything that nabbed my attention, and I believed that a writer can learn just as much from a bad book as they can a good book. I still believe that, but over the years, my TBR pile has gotten precariously out of control, and I need to fix that somehow.
Part of the fix: stop buying so much. I'm trying to stay out of bookstores and websites that are guaranteed to make me drop a ton of books in the cart.
Part of the fix: be more judicious with my selections. This means reading reviews ahead of time from people I trust, and it means actually reading the first few pages to make sure the writing style won't turn me off right away.
This is all well and good, but as any reader knows, once you've been reading long enough, you have authors you'll buy no matter what, and it seems like those authors are ALWAYS publishing SOMETHING (Carrie Vaughn published four books alone this calendar year, and I think Cherie Priest is going to have at least two!), and when you couple those purchases with those from the past that interested you enough to buy but not read, well, let's just say the TBR pile isn't getting better.
Last week, it occurred to me that I need to renegotiate the writer/reader contract. Instead of promising (with my almighty dollar) that I will finish the book I buy, I should instead be asking the book to give me a reason to keep going. Because if I reach that page 100 mark and I'm bored for whatever reason, even if the book isn't bad, then why should I keep reading when I have so much else clamoring for my attention?
Admittedly, this method gives me pause, because I can always come up with reasons to continue: It's a Hugo winner and I want to see why it won! or I've enjoyed this author in the past, why shouldn't I enjoy this one? or I'm reading this book with a friend, and I'd feel like a shit for not finishing.
I can come up with a lot of excuses.
But there's other things that factor into this growing need to wipe the TBR pile clean. 1) I want to free up my non-existent shelf space. 2) The reason I want to free up the non-existent shelf space is because my husband and I are looking to seriously move this time next year, and let's face it, books are heavy. 3) The smaller the TBR pile gets, the less guilty I can feel for trying brand-new books.
So what's the plan? Well, if you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know that my plans have a way of fizzling no matter how good my intentions. But I'd like to start training my mindset from must-finish-everything-I-read-unless-it's-REALLY-bad/boring to let's-give-this-book-100-pages-before-tossing-it-to-the-find-a-better-home-pile.
This will not be easy, but I think it's worth trying.
What does this mean to you? For starters, I may be posting more reviews during the week. They won't be horribly long reviews, because unless I need to rant, I'm just going to explain why the book didn't grab me. Another thing that'll be different is that with any luck, the books I DO finish will have higher ratings. I can't promise that, because sometimes I'll finish a book that on the whole isn't very good but engages me emotionally or intellectually all the same. Of course, that's no different from now, is it? What will be different is that just because I finish a book doesn't mean it's OMG-AWESOME! and just because I don't finish something doesn't mean you should avoid it like the plague.
Also, I'll be adding more books to my Book Sale, so keep an eye on that. The whole book sale function is likely to get a makeover this fall too, because again, I'd really like to get some books out of here.
Another change I'm making is to the rating itself: before, I'd rate a book I didn't finish as "couldn't finish it." Now, I'll be using "didn't finish." The difference is subtle, and maybe would only matter to a geek like me, but "couldn't" implies I just couldn't make myself go on, that's how bored I was or how bad the book was. "Didn't," however, seems to imply I could've finished the book if I really wanted to, but I didn't want to.
We'll see how this goes. I'm not sure what I hope the results will be, but you may not notice a difference at all: the books I pick up I may be interested enough in finishing. But I have a feeling that's not really going to be the case, so we'll just see what happens. Like I said, this is me trying to re-train my mindset when it comes to reading, so with time, you may see more DNF's than not. But we'll see. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that…. Book Club Selections
August: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
September: So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson
October: Feed by Mira Grant
Book Sale: In order to buy new books, I have to sell old ones. Help me out? :) Details are here.
Follow me on Facebook, and find me on Paperback Swap!
FAVOR!! When I review a book you've read and reviewed yourself, would you kindly provide a link to your review in the comments of mine? I love seeing what others think, and sometimes I see those reviews when they're originally posted, but don't read them as I don't want to spoil myself on something I know I'll read in the future. The problem, then, is I often forget to go back and read the reviews I missed! So please, if you've reviewed something I'm reviewing, shoot a link my way. :)
Giveaways & Challenges
@ Jawas Read, Too!, you can win an ARC of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. Click here for details. Deadline 8/20.
@ janicu: win an ARC of Cassandra Clare's A Clockwork Angel. Click here for details. Deadline: 8/24.
@ Jawas Read, Too! the "Summer of Series" reading challenge is in the final month. Can you believe it? August is Sherwood Smith's Inda series. I'm not participating because I've not heard of these books before now and I want bigger fans of epic fantasy than I to give me their opinion on the series. BUT you should participate if you're interested, so you can give me your opinion! For more details, click here.
@ Libri Touches, enter to win a copy of either Twilight of Avalon or Dark Moon of Avalon both by Anna Elliot. Click here for details. Deadline: 9/16.
Got a giveaway or reading challenge you'd like to promote? Please comment.
Upcoming Reviews: Clementine by Cherie Priest, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and Changeless by Gail Carriger
Currently Reading: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
2010 Reading Total: 70 out of 75 (once I hit 75, I'll move that number up to 100).
2010 Comics Total: 256 out of 365. #257 will be tonight!