Monday, June 8, 2015

Organized vs Not


It's been ages since I wrote a discussion post so excuse the "grasping at straws" topic. So, the other day I was reading Jenni's blog and she was discussing the books she read in May, as some of us bloggers do at the end of the month, and she then mentioned how she was still organizing the books she would be reading in June. It got me thinking.

See, this is me when I finish reading a book: Close book, either smile because I liked it, or slam it down on the table and say something rather nasty to it. (I'm looking at you, The Marbury Lens) Anywho, I then stroll into my guestroom/library and replace said book then peruse my shelf for a book I'm in the mood for.
I'm a total organization freak but when it comes to reading, besides obligation books, I'm a "fly by the seat of my pants" girl.

Then I started thinking about all those bloggers that get tons of ARCs and feel obligated to read the books that are being released soon so they can review them. As much fun as it would be to get free books, I think I'd go crazy having my reading choices so narrowed down. I'm such a mood reader that I have to read a book based on mood. You know?

Sigh. Not that it matters how we read as long as we read, right? I was just pondering as I often do.

What about you? Do you know what you're going to read when or do you just take it one book at a time?

14 comments:

  1. So, I actually don't like organizing what I'm going to read next. I'm a mood reader too. And, the books often change based on my mood or because I see a read-along I want to join, etc. With that being said, I still do it. I don't know why. I guess it's because there are books I need to read at specific times, like book club, book tours, etc. But, I don't read/agree to those often because I hate readling on deadline. And, I think it's because I like having a little bit of an idea of what I want to read next, even if it does change. But, there are some books that I've been planning to read for years and I still haven't read them because I'm not in the mood for them. So, mood does win, but I still organize (for the sake of my monthly posts, lol).

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love reading by mood. But I do find myself with a list of books that "have" to be read during a given time period. I'm okay with this as long as it's not overwhelming and still gives me room to read whatever too. And usually the "have to" books are books I'm excited about too, so it's all good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. While I do have books that need to be read by a certain deadline, I find that I'm more of a mood reader too. Most of my have-to books are books that I agreed to read because they sounded interesting, but every now and then I find that I'm not in the mood but have to read it anyway. Hate that! That's one of the reasons that I cut back on accepting new review copies. Too much pressure!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My reading choices for current or the following month are practically non-existent. I get a choice when I accept or decline arcs, or when I request them myself, but that's for about 3 to 6 months in advance. For anything closer, I read according to my calendar. Now, i can switch it around somewhat, but not by much or something doesn't get reviewed. It's a good thing that I'm a major control freak or I'd be in deep trouble.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sometimes I'm a mood reader and sometimes I'm an organized reader. I try to read the books from the library first since they have a due date, but I find I only read library books then cause I always have them. Sometimes I break away and read an old favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am a bit of both! I have a master list of the books I want to read for the year so I can win my Goodreads reading challenge and then I let myself choose out of those books and also anything else that pops up. I don't know how the bloggers that gets heaps of ARC copies do it to be honest!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am a total mood reader. Sometimes I have a hard time with the books that I get from Netgalley because I do feel obligated to read them, but if I'm not feeling it then I just put it down.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm a bit of both, too. I keep a list of books I agreed to review, but I really cut down on the number of books I accept for review because I have two or three book club books a month to read also, and that makes it hard to read what I happen to be in the mood to read. However, I did just go crazy on NetGalley and got three ARCs at once last week, so it's hard to stick to cutting back!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I make elaborate reading plans, then just do what I want. :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. Luckily for me, the majority of the books I request for review suit my mood perfectly! There are some that I have trouble getting into, but since I have other review books, I just pick a different one. Once in awhile, I'll be reminded of another book that I bought awhile ago and I'll sit down and read it in between the review books. I do like the idea of picking more "me" books instead of having so many review books, so I've been working on cutting back on the review books so I can get to them. I've got TONS of books on my Nook and Kindle app, plus bunches on my shelves, so it would be nice to knock a few of those out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm with you -- organized when it comes to everything (okay, many things) except picking my next read. I've tried listing/organizing what I'm going to read next, but as soon as I "assign" myself to read something, I don't want to read it anymore. I think what fakesteph says sums it up perfectly :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have some goals I set for the month- certain books I want to try to get to, but I'm more of a mood reader too, so I rarely hold myself to those goals. I would never be called organized. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I wish I were more organised, but I'm a bit of a mood reader as well. Luckily, a lot of the time, I feel like reading the review books I have, but I wouldn't force myself to read one if I really didn't want to that day. I do have trouble picking what to read a lot of the time though! Sometimes I don't even know what I'm in the mood for.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I’m a mood reader, too. But since I have a very small physical TBR pile, I take my time thinking what I would like to read next. This makes it so I can get books from the library if I need to. I like having a small list to pick from each month because I get overwhelmed by all the options. My monthly to read list is really there just to narrow it down. If I get a new book that I want to read NOW and it wasn’t on my list, I’ll read it. Cool discussion post!

    ReplyDelete