We all have secrets. Things we don’t usually share. Things we may be a little ashamed of. Certainly, there are things I haven’t shared with you all on this blog. Dark things. Sinister things. Ominous bookish habits that you may condemn me for…
OK, enough with the dramatics. Today, I’m going to be confessing all of my bookish wrongdoings, misgivings, sins. I hope you don’t hate me for this!
(…But most of all, I hope some of you relate!)
1. I like battering my books
Am I psycho? A sadist? No, I’m just a bit messy and – I must admit – too scatter-brained to be careful with my books. I stumble, I trip, I bruise myself – surely, my books should reflect that! I say this as though I purposefully ensure my books mirror my own personality… In reality, I just transport them, rest things on them, use odd things as bookmarks – at the end of the day, they’ve gained a few dents, a few scratches, a few folded pages. I cannot count the number of times I’ve squeezed a 600 page tome into my backpack and it’s got a little damaged coming back out again. It’s just a habit now.
But I actually really like it. I like my books to look a little bruised. It shows they’ve been loved.
What is a story without characters? Nothing. So what is a book without character?
2. I’m not your typical book hoarder
Yes, I love to write about books, and read them, and the feeling of them in my hands. But I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that a shelf of books – already read, likely never to be read again – is a little sad. My book shelf is quite marginal, just a collection of the books I adored or the books I haven’t read yet. I usually donate the rest. If I’m not going to read it again, I should let someone else read it! (For a low-cost, too!)
Obviously, this is just me! You can all keep your marvellously beautiful and spectacular bookshelves – they give me all the aesthetic feels on Instagram and Tumblr!
3. I try to stay away from hyped books
When I was younger, I would stick to these books like a fly to honey. However, this is usually because I read these books before the hype. I was the hype. Take The Fault in Our Stars, for example, or Divergent. I read these books before they were all you could hear about, before everyone told you you had to read them. (Before the movies…)
You got it, I’m like one of those indie kids who ‘knew that band before they were cool.’
My issue with hyped books is the associated disappointment – they almost never live up to the hype. Take The Girl on the Train, for example: not a great book, but hyped up and called ‘the new Gone Girl.’ Or how about A Darker Shade of Magic? This is almost certainly an unpopular opinion, but that book does not live up to the hype at all!
Of course, there are anomalies. Take The Lunar Chronicles or The Book Thief. Here, the hype is justified. But this is pretty rare.
Instead, I’ve started doing my own thing: ignoring the hype, and reading whatever I feel like. Go me!
4. My reading tastes were flawed
For lack of a better term, I never used to be as woke as I am today. I would read problematic books and not even blink an eye, because I’m lucky enough for it not to have seemed problematic. In short, my activism was flawed, underdeveloped, erratic. But I am changing that. I am broadening my horizons and challenging myself to seeing things from as many perspectives as possible. Actually, blogging really helped me with this. I would see posts by fellow bloggers calling authors out for reasons I’d never considered. This is good. We need this to grow. To help other people grow. So as much as this is a confession, this is also a personal empowerment. I’ve grown a lot over my time reading, and – of course – I still have a lot of growing to do. However, I believe I am growing in the right direction.
5. Leaving books unfinished scares me
I just can’t do it. I hate doing it. I feel like I haven’t given the book a proper opportunity to shine unless I read the whole thing. Of course, this means a lot of time spent reading things I’d rather not be reading. I’m actually currently reading a book I’m not really loving, but I refuse to put it down!
6. I count the pages to the end of the chapter
I actually do this a lot. If I’m starting to get even a little bit bored, I’m off counting the pages till the end of the chapter. I do this especially with long chapters. I’m looking at you, Cassandra Clare, Murakami, Ishiguro! I’m a big fan of short, snappy chapters that keep me engaged. I’m looking at you, Maggie Stiefvater. You go, girl!
7. I judge a book by its cover
I know, this is sacrilege. But I’m pretty sure we all secretly do it. Sure, not all of the best books have beautiful covers. And sure, some of the most beautiful covers do not hide the best book behind them. However, if I’m unsure as to whether I want to read a book or not and the cover is a little tacky, that boy is not getting picked up. I’m sorry. I just can’t help it.
On the other hand, if I love a book cover, that book will more than likely make it into my arms. Because it’s pretty. We all love pretty.
8. I hate hardbacks
Sure, they’re nice-looking. I guess. But they’re just not portable! Or practical! Or worth the extra £10! Paperbacks are floppy, and you can crack the spines, and they fit nicely in my backpack. And they smell nicer, too.
Ahhh, I feel cleansed.
Do you have any bookish confessions? Are any of them the same as mine? Let me know in the comments!
Olivia x
I do hoard books I purchase and download them faster than I can read them. Sm lucky to get through one book a week. As a result, I have various hooks on variou devices, and I’m always buying more.
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I can definitely relate. It’s so difficult to control myself when it comes to books!
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Counting the pages to the end of the chapter, definitely! I like short chapters and sometimes it helps give a feel for what’s coming! I feel bad at first when my books get a bit battered, but by the end of the read I don’t mind that they look loved! Loved this idea for a post 🙂
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Thank god it’s not just me haha!! Glad you enjoyed (: x
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Great post! I loved all the GIFs you used. They made the post extremely attractive. This is definitely one the best posts I have read.
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Wow thank you so much! Well, if a picture says 1000 words, a gif must say at least 2000 😉
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Not just 2000 though, it should 10000 since they are composed of way more than just 2 pictures
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OMG, this post was so much fun to read! I’m the same way hyped books; I felt okay reading them as long as they were hyped up afterwards. If not, then the hype would just ruin it for me! I also prefer paperback to hardcover, because of the price and the fact that I’m not a big fan of the book’s jacket.
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Yaaaas I thought it was just me!! Glad you enjoyed!! x
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I love this post! Totally with you on a few of these. I can’t leave books unfinished either. Ok, sure it might be boring for a large portion, but what if something inredible happens and I miss it? And oh my gosh yes paperbacks are so much better. Unless it’s a book I literally can’t live without, I’ll wait a year for the paperback to come out. And the counting pages thing? Yeah, so guilty of that. Love that someone else does this too lol.
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So glad I’m not alone!! Glad you enjoyed :p x
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I’m with you about the second one: I don’t own that many books either. If a book is less than a 3 or 4 star read for me, I’ll put it on a to-donate pile.
And I never count the pages to the next chapter at all! It’s such a unique thing whenever I find someone that does it.
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That’s so interesting! You must live in such an uncertain world whilst reading lol! I guess in a way counting pages is like cheating, because if I know there’s only 2 pages left, I can usually tell that there’s going to be a cliffhanger or something haha!
Thanks for reading!! x
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Thank you for this post, it really made me smile! The one I relate to most is HAVING to finish a book once I start it – I just keep convincing myself that I should give it a chance and it might get better soon. I’m glad it’s just not me! I also agree that hardbacks are impractical and so expensive. I buy almost all of my books on my e-reader as it’s cheaper, which I sometimes feel guilty about. If I ever get rich I promise myself I will buy them all in paper form and support cute little independent bookstores! 😀
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Yessss!! I love the convenience of and how much cheaper ebooks are – big fan!!
Glad you enjoyed reading!! x
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Relate to so much of this! Like you say, being trucked round in my bag, read whilst precariously balancing lunch in the other hand and dropped when I fall asleep etc. mean none of my books look pristine either (and it’s a rare day there’s a proper bookmark in there!) I like having a hardback copy of books I LOVE, but otherwise I’ll always try and hang out for a more mobile paperback. And as for judging a book by its cover – yes, yes and yes again. So wrong, but I just can’t help it!
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Glad I’m not alone! 😉 thanks for your comment!! x
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This was a great read! I also count to the end of chapters if I’m getting a bit bored with the story! I love short chapters!!
I agree with you on the hardbacks, they look nice but they’re not practical for carrying around every day. I have a few hard back books but the majority of my bookshelves are paperbacks.
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Glad you enjoyed! I think I own 1 hardback, and that’s only because I couldn’t find a paperback edition *anyyyywhere* haha! Thanks for commenting!! (: x
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Ok, so first of all, love the intro! 😉
Hardbacks are totally over-rated. Sure, they look nice, BUT WHY ARE THEY LIKE ALMOST DOUBLE THE PRICE of the original book? It’s just wasting my money.
I don’t call a little battering “bad” for the book, I just say it has a lived-in feel.
Ok, so one of my bookish confessions;
1. If someone draws in a book I love, they are going down. No matter if they are one of my best friends, I will have to ‘declare war’ on them for ruining my books. Normally, if someone draws in pencil on a book I don’t really fancy, meh. But, if they dare draw or worse, HIGHLIGHT on my book, “oh, it’s on…”
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Thank you thank you :p
Lol I love your confession! And to be honest, I feel the same. As much as I enjoy writing in my books myself, it’s a little…*invasive* for someone else to write in my books haha!
Thanks for commenting!! x
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