This week’s theme is bookish brags or confessions. So I'm supposed to talk about things I'm either proud of in my bookish life, or things that I feel guilty about. Since I'm not sure I can come up with ten items for either option, I'm doing both, because both is good.
Bookish Brags
1) Yesterday, I took my daughter to Barnes and Noble after school so she could spend some of her allowance because she was doing chores at the buttcrack of dawn before school with no prompting (this is not something we ever expect to happen, but she didn't do them this weekend when she was supposed to and she usually wakes up early), so we wanted to reward her. While at B&N, I didn't buy a single book for myself. The amount of self-control that took is literally off the charts.
2) So far this year, I have only not finished three book club books in time for the meeting (and one of them was because I didn't even know I would be able to attend the meeting until the day before because I was scheduled to be working, but my boss had said we needed to cut hours so I volunteered to leave early which allowed me to attend the meeting). You may be thinking that not finishing three books in ten months actually sounds pretty bad, and you'd be right if I was only in one book club, but I'm in 8. So we're actually looking at me not finishing three books out of about 50-60 (probably, because I haven't been in all 8 book clubs all year, and most of them haven't met yet for October).
3) It is only October and I have already read more books and pages this year than I did last year. I like to judge more based on pages than book numbers, because if I'm reading longer books, I will obviously get through fewer of them than if I'm like binge reading the Goosebumps books, so judging pages is a more accurate representation of increased reading in my opinion.
4) I finally got all my books* scanned into Libib and put onto my bookshelves after letting them languish in boxes for over a year after my bonus daughter moved out on her own. This is helpful because it will hopefully prevent me from buying duplicate copies of books when I go to the thrift store, because I can check and see if I own it already. (*This does not count the elementary school level books that I am just leaving boxed up for now because my kids have outgrown them.)
5) I have had everything set up for my 12 Books of Christmas reading challenge for over a month now, and I'm super prepared with books to read for it.
Bookish Confessions
1) I have over 100 book reviews I need to write and post on my blog. Although I've been making progress on getting my review backlog reduced, it is still wildly out of control, and I do not anticipate getting it under control before the year is over. I'll be happy if I can get it knocked down to about 50 (which would be easier if I'd stop reading books, but we all know that's not going to happen so...)
2) On the topic of reviews, I have over 600 books that I need to either read or review on Netgalley, dating back to 2015. Now since I have that over 100 book review backlog, I'm sure I have fewer than 600 books to read on Netgalley, but at my current rate of reading, it will still take me at least three years to get through all those books, assuming I can prevent myself from getting more in that time, and only read Netgalley books to begin with. Every time I play Netgalley Request Roulette and get approved for books, I really question the publisher's judgement.
3) Since I got all my books scanned into Libib, I was able to weed some books out of my stash as they were duplicate copies. This is a confession because it led me to discover that I have a stack literally to the ceiling in my office (I think it's a 7 foot ceiling) of duplicate books that I need to get rid of. But a couple of my book clubs encourage book exchanging at meetings, so I always take a few from my duplicate pile in case anyone wants them. And I'm getting pretty good at not taking the books that anyone else brings.
4) In spite of that weeding, I still own more books than I have shelf space (hence the reason the early elementary age books are staying in boxes). I even double stack books on my shelves, and I know you're not supposed to do that, but I got no choice.
5) I am a serial spine breaker. But I buy so many of my books at the thrift store in their own questionable condition that my spine breaking habit doesn't really matter. And I only do it to my own books, but that's why I don't like borrowing books from people, because I want to break all the spines.
What are some of your bookish brags or confessions? After reading mine, do you think I'm just a monster, or do you relate a little bit?
If you're stopping by from the linkup, please be sure to drop a link to your post below so I can be sure to stop by and see what you had to say. - Katie
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| Join the 12 Books of Christmas Challenge Here |
It sounds like you're having a fantastic reading year! I keep track of books and pages read too. Though, I tend not to share the page count that often. Next year, I may log hours read for the audiobooks I listen too.
ReplyDeletePam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/goals-for-2024-3rd-quarter-check-in/
I've been using Storygraph this year to track my reading, so I am also logging hours listening because it is so easy to do that on Storygraph. But I don't have anything for comparison until next year. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteEight book clubs! That is quite an accomplishment then.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could group your book reviews into one post of similar books and just do shorter reviews on them. Everyone loves book lists and then you could scratch some off your list faster.
The amount of books I have is in direct opposition of yours which you can find out more about on my post.
LOL! The comment about questioning the publisher's judgment on NetGalley. Too funny! In the meantime, I'm sitting around wondering why I can't get three books approved.
Have a great day!
Well obviously you can't get approved for those three books because they already gave them to me. LOL. A while back my Facebook wife had requested a book she really wanted and got denied in spite of her very good feedback percentage. So I went to request the same book so I'd get denied to make her feel better. But instead I got approved and we were both mad at the publisher. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteWow, that’s a lot of book clubs! What made you sign up for eight of them? I can’t even keep up with one. Haha.
ReplyDeleteDo you review every book you read?
I'm in my book club era. Honestly it's how I get out of the house to meet new people and try to make friends as an adult. And I like how I get different books to read in all of them every month.
DeleteI do try to review every book I read. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
A great list. I do far don't have duplicates but I am very behind on my tracking of books so 😂 I am also thinking about double shelving, but it hasn't got to that point yet.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/10/08/top-ten-tuesday-book-blog-facts-so-far-this-year/
I buy so many books at the thrift store, and I know I gotta' grab them when I see them, which leads to buying duplicates because I forget that I've already bought the books before. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteYou have a lot more self-control in Barnes & Noble than I do. LOL. Happy Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteI really don't. It was so hard to not buy a half dozen books while I was there, but I'm currently unemployed and on a budget and overspent on my meal at my bookclub meeting on Sunday. But I have a job interview tomorrow, and if I get the job, I'm definitely going to reward myself with a trip to Barnes and Noble. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteOh wow! Those are some confessions. Since I've a shoddy memory at the best of times I've always made myself write the review for the book I finished before I can start my next one. If I didn't I'd end up talking about Tella from Legendary when I'm reading OUABH that's all about Evangeline or something like that! Lol. Writing the review is my reward to get to the next book. It works for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my TTT!
I don't read book series close together, and I do make sure to write a book series review before moving on to the next book in the series though, to make sure I don't get the books mixed up while reviewing. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteWhen I moved houses a couple years ago, I was shocked at how many duplicate books I had in my collection! I've been meaning to make some kind of list ever since so I won't keep doing that. I've yet to do it, though...
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better, my review rate on NetGalley is like 6%. I don't know why they keep approving me for books. Ha ha.
Happy TTT!
Your review rate on Netgalley does make me feel better! Thanks! I imagine some of our approvals are that they're just not getting as many requests for the books as they expected. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
Delete8 book clubs!! I'm having trouble picking up my jaw off the floor! That is some brag! I love that you're in 8 book clubs and missing only 3 books out of all the ones you have to read. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI live near the 2nd biggest city in Colorado (at least I think it's the second biggest city, it's definitely up there), so there is just a wide variety of groups around, and I'm willing to drive a little ways for meetings because I'm from the middle of nowhere in Kansas where driving 30 minutes to do literally anything fun (to include eating at McDonald's) is just normal. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteLeaving B&N without a book is an amazing feat! 🙌 You can make up for it next time! 😂😂😂
ReplyDeleteRe book reviews: sometimes I’ll do a post of 3-5 mini reviews just to knock a chunk out at one time! This works well if they are similar genres or themes! I’m behind right now as well. #bookproblemsarethebestproblems amirite??!! Great post today! ~Carol @ ReadingLadies
I'm honestly not sure mini-reviews would really help me out much, as my book reviews are typically fairly short anyway, and building the rest of the blog post goes pretty quickly. I'd also have to take the time to figure out which books were similar genres or themes and that just sounds like a lot of work. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteThese are all so good, but wow, #4! That's awesome. And honestly, it's kind of fun finding duplicates; you get the thrill of offloading books with absolutely zero feeling of sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteRe: your last sentence in #1...SO TRUE. I would like to reward you with a small virtual trophy but I don't know if emojis will show up in comments. Here's an attempt: 🏆
It took forever...partially because my phone battery kept dying and needing to be recharged while I was scanning. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the trophy! - Katie
DeleteI *try* to make a point to always write a review of anything I see or read within a month (likely shorter) of seeing/reading something. However I don't always publish them so it could be fun to look at my files and see how many reviews I have unpublished! I like having that in some sense so that if I'm ever at a loss for something to publish I do have reviews to add to the archives. :) Thanks so much for visiting my list today.
ReplyDeleteI always write like one or two sentences on Goodreads when I mark the books as finished, so I at least have a starting point for my more in depth review for the blog. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteCongratulations on smashing those pages!
ReplyDeleteThanks. - Katie
DeleteThese are all great brags, congrats on having all your books on Libib, it's amazing
ReplyDeleteIt was a chore, that's for sure. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteThanks for your visit! I hadn't hear of Libib and will look into it. I thought of creating an excel spreadsheet for mine, once, despite more serious IT guys harrumphing that using Excel as a database is a gross misuse of it. XD
ReplyDeleteHow do you approach reviews for books that are far back in memory? Do you take notes as you go?
I'm also planning on creating an Excel spreadsheet for my books, mostly to know where they are on my shelves (because they are not sorted by genre or author or anything like that) in case anyone ever wants to borrow a specific book, I'll know exactly where I need to go to find it. That also requires me labeling my shelves, but I have a label maker so it's all good.
DeleteI have a fairly good memory for the written word, and while I don't really take notes as I read, I do write a one or two sentence review on Goodreads when I mark a book as read. And if I find that my memory of the book overall is too fuzzy, I go read other reviews to help refresh my memory about the book.
Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
Regarding NetGalley, holy crap I'm hoping most of those weren't limited numbers but if they were they probably are looking for a higher read percentage 😂😂 that's wild - Athena @ OneReadingNurse
ReplyDeleteWell I know I have a lot of children's books I still need to get reviews written for on Netgalley (probably over 100, but I'm not counting them right now) and they were all available to "read now" when I got them. And I've read them, I just need to get those reviews written, but I don't really wanna just post a whole slew of nothing but children's book reviews without reviewing more grown up books too, since I have a lot of those reviews to post as well, so I'm just procrastinating doing all of it, like a rational person. LOL. And I do end up grabbing a lot of books that are available to "read now" because they just look so good and I have no self-control.
DeleteThanks for stopping by. - Katie
Great list! I, too, am a serial spine breaker. I read better when I can lay the book flat. It's one of the reasons I do better with a Kindle. Pages are always flat in a Kindle.
ReplyDeleteYes! like I want the book to at least stay open while I'm reading so I can use my other hand to stuff my face. It's important! Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteLack of shelf space is a really problem for a lot of us. Even when we weed out books, more just seem to arrive. It's a mystery why this is.
ReplyDeleteThey just randomly show up out of nowhere. Like magic. It's certainly not anything I'm doing to bring them into the house. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteAw, we do book store trips for rewards too! I hardly every buy anything for myself and let me kids enjoy. They get so excited about books! I was laughing at your confession (not at you) about Netgalley & questioning the publisher. I really do wonder that all the time. I was so OCD about my score when I first started out. I'm glad now because I never went nuts with requesting. Right now, I'm only about 4 books behind. I still get declined all the time! Have you thought about doing mini reviews? I prefer to read those anyways! It could quickly help you catch up.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter only just started getting excited about reading this year. Like we were at back to school night and two different teachers told me she loves to read and I was like "Are you sure we're talking about the same child, because this is freakin' news to me!" I have a whole library she has had access to her whole life, but apparently none of my 5000+ books are good enough for her. Thanks for stopping by. - Katie
DeleteI limit myself to just cookbooks on Netgalley and still can't get through them all and get them reviewed. I feel bad.
ReplyDeleteawesome sharing.
ReplyDeleteconfession #2: oh my!
Oof, that's a heck of a review backlog! Good luck. o_o;
ReplyDeleteNot having enough bookshelf space is just an ongoing problem for me. Even after I moved and had more space for shelves, those quickly filled up. I need to read more of the books I own to "weed" out what I don't want to own, but who has time for that? XD
ReplyDeleteI would not have that much self-control in B&N. That's why I have to stay far away from that place!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at your self-control! That's really impressive. I'm also amazed at how many reviews you have that are waiting to be done, and the length of your NG backlog; I'd have forgotten everything about the book by then. If I don't write mine within a few days, they're gone forever.
ReplyDelete