The second Tuesday of every month is my favorite day because it’s when I share what I read last month. After last week’s Show Us Your Books link-up, I started thinking about some of the things I love and hate about reading, because it is a love/hate relationship. Don’t get me wrong – the love side is infinitely stronger, but I ain’t a damsel in distress in a bad romance novel either. Ya know the type: blinded by love and unable to see flaws or poor plotting or annoying tropey crap, she gives her youth, beauty and time to a lousy book, blissfully, unaware of the far superior books out there … within reach and free with a library card.
Nah. I’m the hero.
Okay, sometimes I am in a damsel in distress. It’s generally not book-related though, but more like I can’t reach the cat food when it’s on the top shelf.
And sadly no hunky do-gooder rescues me when I drop multiple cans on my head (has actually happened) and knock myself out (has not happened, knock on wood) from trying to reach them on my own versus asking someone of reasonable, regular height for aid.
Cuz again: I’m the hero. With dents in her head.
Weird Book Quirks of Mine
We all got them, right? Here are a few of mine
I’m an End Reader
Okay, I don’t do too often these days but when I was younger … All The Time. I’d read the first few chapters to determine its overall worthiness, then skip to the last chapter to make sure it ended well. Girl picked the right guy or the villain got his/her comeuppance or whatever ending I deemed perfect happened. Now I only do this when I’m leaning towards DNFing (did not finish) a book, then I’ll read the end. If I feel meh about it, I quit, smug in my correctness that the book was a dud. If I find myself puzzled or curious or surprised, then I back up a chapter or two and read to the end. And yes, I may have read a book (or two) from end to front. I’m weird. Hence the weird quirks of mine title.
I am Nitpicky … Sometimes
Okay, nitpicky is apparently not a word but my blog … so yes it is. And I can be horrendously nitpicky about things. Some might even say stupid things. Like, not even necessarily incorrect things, such as grammar errors or misspellings, which are hella annoying, and the kind of things a good editor (like my friend, Jana) would catch. No, I’m talking about the liberties authors take with a story (which is their right but still … ) such as using a real location but then messing up landmarks, street names, etc. that five minutes on Google would fix. Or giving a person a job that they (the author) don’t truly understand and badly misrepresenting the work or massive plot-holes that I can drive a Mac truck through, if I was actually licensed and able to drive one.
I am Happily Unaware … Sometimes
Caveat: I will blissfully ignore all of the above IF the story is so good that I don’t care or don’t even notice the boo-boos or inconsistencies or outright mistakes. Yup, all I truly care about is a great story, so I will forgive you if you accidentally write the main character enjoys ocean views from her Pasadena apartment or your main character, a waitress at Denny’s, earns enough to rent a 1-bedroom apartment on the beach in Malibu (think high 2k to 3k) and isn’t a prostitute or drug dealer or secret heiress. I LOLed just typing that but I’ll believe if you amaze me with your vivid characters, tight plotting and crazy good story.
I Do Judge a Book by Its Cover
Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s like a law or something that one should not judge a book by its cover and one law almost everyone breaks at least occasionally. Me? I do it all the time. I like pretty covers or bold covers or weird covers. But not boring covers. This is not a great way to pick books, mind you. Still I do it. Regularly. Like every time I go to the library and peruse the New Releases section. Or even, gasp, when I’m reading your book reviews on SUYB. If it’s an unfamiliar title, I do look at the cover first BEFORE I start reading your review, although I do read your review even if I find the cover unappealing or misleading. Errr … mostly. Sometimes the cover so ugly and I so vain that it is a no can do.
NetGalley Has Made Me Super Petty
NetGalley has provided me with numerous books that I get to read, not only in advance of their publishing date, but also for FREE and I love them for this. And I also hate NetGalley with a deep, deep passion because sometimes they rudely deny me. And not on books that I am somewhat ambivalent about reading (and OMG I am so bad about judging book covers on NetGalley) but on ones that I lust after more than any muscle-bound celebrity. But deny me they do. And pout I do. And I morph into a toddler who refuses to read denied book until I’m finished pouting. And let’s be real: sometimes I am never finished pouting.
Okay I told you mine, now you tell me some of your book quirks. It’s cool; we friends. I won’t judge. Too harshly.
Tanya
lol i’m also happily unaware. give me a good story and i’ll take it, faults and all. remember the time when james frey got crucified by oprah for ‘lying’ about Million Little Pieces (that it was actually fiction instead of a biography)? then everyone was all “ugh, what a fake!” and boycotted him/his book? that was not me; I continued to read / talk about it because it was a fantastic story.
It’s always funny to me when people point out mistakes/errors in books that I love because I have no idea what they talking about. But then I nitpick a story that they love. 😀
I’m a “Judge a book by its cover’ kinda gal too… Which means I’m probably missing out on a lot – but I cant help it.
I just cant get into NetGalley – I just feel the pressure of having to read & then judge & I dont like a time line on me NOR knowing an author will see the review. It makes me feel like I HAVE to review in favor of a book. Just me.
My mom always reads the last paragraph in a book before she even starts it – which DRIVES ME INSANE!!! WHYYYYY????? I hate when I flip to see how many pages are in a book & accidentally see the last line or a character name on the last page & then I’m like, ‘its ruined’ = haha
Okay, good – another judge a book by a cover gal. I have read some real duds with pretty covers that tricked me. I have a true/love hate relationship with Netgalley. I tend to over-request, especially in when I first started, then feel pressured to read books that I may no longer wish to read (although you can now DNF a book). It does make me feel bad criticizing a book too, because I do appreciate and recognize all the time and effort it took to write it. I try to be nice but want to be honest too. I have accidentally read the last page because my kindle jumped to the end, but normally reading the end of the book is a last resort before I DNF.
Hmmmmm, weird book quirks… Bad editing bothers me. I am reading a book right now which is really good, and on one of the pages, I caught that the word “afternoon” was spelled with only one “o”. Why do I see these things? Why does my eye catch this and the main editor did not? *sigh*
Lol, on the “ocean views from their Pasadena apartment” 😀
I honestly rarely notice grammar errors and misspelling so when I do, I know they are really bad mistakes and/or I am not into the book. Because a book I love, I will autocorrect in my head most times. But it does bother me that books lately seem to have a lot more errors in them.
I’m not an avid reader so this is with a grain of salt. I didn’t like the book educated, because I thought she was ridiculously wordy. Really? Do you have to describe everything with poetic detail, “the wind, which was like a unicorn brushing softly against my cheek, ….” We get it, you’re smart. But you’re starting to lose me. I couldn’t finish it.
I have not read Educated but I hear you. That kind of thing would drive me nuts. I don’t mind overly descriptive or poetic detail, but non-fiction doesn’t really fit that mold for me either.
Occasionally I read the end of books, too, but usually only action stories and only to make sure my favorite characters are still alive in the end. I won’t lie… I’ve ruined a few great books by doing that. Oops. I hate love triangles and unreliable narrators. HATE. Almost to the point that I avoid all stories with those. Sometimes they slip through and I enjoy them, though.
Me too, Audrey, me too. And sometimes I’ve thoroughly confused myself doing that too! LOL! Love triangles annoy me too. At first it was okay, maybe even a little bit cute but then, like all things, it got overdone and became super, super lame. Same with unreliable narrators. When done well, it can be quite good but now every story seems to have an unreliable narrator and it gets old.
gasp @ the end reading! i don’t do that, but on my kindle i will search for certain words/names sometimes to make sure something happens (or finding out when it happens) or if someone dies/lives. i need to stop lol.
LOL netgalley makes me super petty too, if they decline me, i won’t read it (unless it’s one i was going to read anyway) and i’ll even add it to my nope shelf. no shame in my petty game.
also 1000000% judge a book by its cover, every damn day
I know, right? It’s such a bad thing to do. But I’m the kind of person who says she likes surprises, but mostly the kind of surprise that I already know is going to happen! LOL! I feel so much better knowing I am not the only person who gets super petty with NetGalley. Seriously, I hold big grudges when I get turned down!