Monday 24 November 2014

Slumps & Why I Don't Borrow Books

Monday 24 November 2014
Recently I've found myself in a little bit of a pickle. I somehow managed to borrow a total of 7 books from various people within two weeks. And although this might be someone's idea of heaven it is my exact idea of hell, or well, not really, but close!

The reason I've never been keen to get books from my local library is because I'm a mood reader. This can prove to be slightly problematic when running on a deadline to read the damn book. For example, I'll borrow the book from the library and be extremely excited to read it only when I get home I won't be feeling it anymore and so I'll put it on my shelf for a while. However, every time I look at my shelf I hear a little voice going 'read me! read me! you have a week left!' and nothing stresses me out more than feeling pressured to read something.

This is what's been happening. If you follow me on Goodreads/Twitter (which, btw, you should) you might have noticed that I haven't been reading a lot and that's because I feel pressured to read the books that these people have borrowed me. Only, none of these books are YA (which is uncommon of me to venture out of) and none of them I had heard of before previous to borrowing which makes me slightly nervous. Add that on top of me being tired from college and wanting nothing more than to sleep and/or binge on Netflix it doesn't make for a great mix. Which is why I've found myself in a bit of a slump.

Seriously, it took me five days to read 100 pages. What.

Also, What if I really enjoy the book and want to keep it for myself? I can't do that! Which means I'll have to purchase it anyway and that's what I might as well have done to start with. In fact - There's a whole load of problems that come with borrowing books (I might have to make a whole post about it).

I was reading a book called Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World that my brother's girlfriend had borrowed me and I realised that although I was enjoying it, I didn't want to read it and I don't want to force myself to read it or any of the books that these people have kindly lent to me, so instead of putting myself through the stress of it all I'm just going to return the books and thank them for their generosity (or I'll look up the summary and discuss it with them - where's the harm in lying a little?)

I don't think I'll be borrowing any books for a while - I'd like to stick to my own pace from now on and hopefully get out of this 'bleh' attitude towards reading that I've been having,

4 comments :

  1. I usually don't borrow books from friends, but I do get them from the library. This doesn't happen often, as I have more books than time to read them. If I do borrow a book from the library and end up loving it, I buy it later (usually when the hype has passed and it is inexpensive to do so). Great post!

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    1. Ah, Libaries are a strict no-go-zone for me. For one, my local library has about 2 shelves for YA and I've read most of them anyway. Also, I rarely get my books back in time which means that I have to pay and well that's just too much of a hassle.

      That's what I did with Throne of Glass! I borrowed it from the library and loved it so I waited until there was a deal on all three books that I could get and I ended up getting them all for £10!! Now I'm just waiting on a deal with the Grisha Trilogy.

      Thanks for the comment! Hope to see you here again soon :) x

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  2. Ooooh gosh. Libraries. I love them, but I avoid them. I'd like to say they're easier on my pocket book, but that's a lie. I'm really bad about reading and returning books. The last time I ramped up over $30 in late fees, and I was almost submitted to collections because I kept forgetting to pay it. Since then, I've borrowed a few e-books, but mostly I stick to buying a few paperbacks a month.

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    1. I think I still have a few library books on my shelf from when I was younger and didn't return them! I guess I never grew out of it since I literally never return them on time and end up paying God knows how much.

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