I am a book hoarder. I cannot go into a bookshop without leaving with at least 3 books.
I’m always interested in what I buy since I’m not really keen on wasting my money, but without a fail, I always struggle to pick up and start a book.
It is very annoying because I’m generally a big reader (156 books during the first year of COVID… To be fair, it might a burnt me out a bit lol), but since I don’t have a lot of free time anymore, it’s always a struggle to choose a book, think that if I don’t like it, I’m going to be disappointed, and then feel like I wasted money in a crappy book. And if I’m picking the next novel in a series, then at some point I’ll be done with the series and I’ll be sad that there is no more books!
I’m definitely overthinking this!
Do any of you has the same problems? How do you manage? I just started a new book (first one in a series too) that I’m enjoying so I hope I’m going to like this one lol, but what am I going to read after this one‽
by chalu-mo
10 Comments
You are indeed over-thinking this.
Read books from the library.
Otherwise, like a lot of folks who are posting to this sub recently, you seem to be investing too much importance in books. Yes, books can be disappointing. So can everything. Don’t hold books to a higher standard. Just read and enjoy.
I use the library. Since I’m not spending money I don’t worry if I won’t like the book. If I don’t like it, all it cost me was some time. I tend to only buy books if I’m already a big fan of the author or I already read the first book in the series and loved it.
As for being sad when a really good series ends, well that’s just a part of reading a really great series! But there’s always another great series to find and dive into.
>Do any of you has the same problems?
No. I have real problems. Financial, family, stress, mental health, etc.
But I enjoy reading so I read a lot. I don’t ever have a crises over whether or not I’ll like a book. I never feel burnt out from reading. I don’t over think something that’s a simple hobby and then try to get validation from the internet
Like anything in life, evaluate what you got out of it. Maybe it’s a better understanding of your likes and dislikes. If it ends it ends. You can re read or find something similar.
It also sounds like you are concerned with the monetary investment in comparison to how much you like the book.
I think you need to slow down. Go on a book buy ban, if you really want to read it. Put a hold through libby. If you like it enough to add your collection to re read, do it later.
We’re not going to like everything but the experience can be valuable in someway
A lot of my most disappointing reads were later some of my favorites on a reread. So I don’t really worry about it at all.
The library and the realization that there’s no harm in DNFing, even for the most stupid and petty reasons. Not like I’m going to run out of books to read even if I were DNFing 10 at a time
Try and take the money element away. If you can, use your library, try project Gutenberg, charity shops, kindle unlimited.
Nope. Books and I get alone very nicely. I track my books on Goodreads so I always have a “want to read” list ready.
I stopped buying books until I’m ready to read them. I get most of my books from the library these days so I don’t have the fear of wasting money on them if they aren’t good. I also don’t start a book with the expectation that it’s going to be great, I hope it isn’t bad, but as long as it’s interesting in some way I’m satisfied that I didn’t waste my time. If it is not interesting or becomes annoying, I DNF and move on.