I skipped last week’s Top Ten Tuesday because I wasn’t feeling it, but this week’s theme is bookish brags and/or confessions, which sounds like fun. Let’s have a think…
Five brags:
- I read really fast! If you’ve been around here much, you probably know that, but it still catches me by surprise sometimes. In the past, I’ve read around 500 books in a year, though I can’t manage so much now while I have a full-time workload with self-employment, plus a part-time degree: last year I managed 400 books, if I remember rightly. Which is still a lot!
- I read a whole range of genres. I’m not sure if this is entirely a brag or just a fact, but it’s something that makes me happy and that I like to show off, so I guess I do think it’s a brag. I’ll never run out of reading material at this rate. (Looks nervously at TBR…)
- I have autoapproval from Tor on Netgalley. It’s great, obviously.
- My wife is a-okay with “has room for lots of bookcases” being a criteria for any home we rent or buy. I can, theoretically, understand that some people don’t want bookcases to be their primary piece of furniture. Theoretically. But I’m lucky enough that Lisa’s absolutely fine with my ever-expanding collection.
- An author I love had actually heard of my blog (and liked it). I just about dissolved on the spot.
Five confessions:
- I get jealous about how fast other people can read (or how much time they have to spare for reading). Like there are people who can read for more than 45 hours in 11 days every time Bookly do a readathon, and I don’t get how they fit it in around other obligations and hobbies. And sometimes I think those people are possibly lying about it. Which… kind of sucks of me, to be honest, because there are definitely people who think I’m lying about how much I read — and it really grinds my gears. I try not to give into this suspicion… but in that specific context, they do potentially have a big prize to win by lying, so I don’t think it’s quite the same as when people accuse me of bragging on social media.
- Sometimes, I’d rather play FFXIV. I say this as a confession, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think there’s a risk of wrapping one’s whole identity around being bookish, at least for me, so it’s good for me to recognise that sometimes I’d actually rather play a video game… and I definitely know there are readers who think that’s awful of me. I don’t believe in being a purist about how books are always the best. Nope.
- I think some book bloggers (and especially people on Bookstagram etc) are more interested in conspicuous consumption than books per se. The book hauls people post sometimes seem to be book hauls just for the sake of showing off. I worry about falling under that heading too, when I have my several-times-yearly trips to buy loads of books, or get spoiled for my birthday/Christmas. I try to keep my motive being sharing excitement, and to always ask myself if I want this book or just any book that I can show off. Sometimes the answer has been that I’m veering toward the latter, and then I put the book back. If I discover I really did want that specific book, it’ll be there another time.
- I suck at listening to audiobooks. I get so impatient with the pace. I almost always put them on about 1.5x speed when I can.
- I’m super bad at reading books to any kind of time frame. I’m a mood reader, and I stop reading altogether when I feel too much pressure to read something in particular. I always need to be able to just move with my whim.
Okay, it was harder to think of brags than I thought… but that was still fun. Very curious what other people have come up with!
/me mouths the phrase “Five hundred books a year” in silent awe
WOW.
Do you play FFXIV online? I installed it on a trial basis but lost interest after it couldn’t find a world or a party for me to join. This was last year so memories are hazy.
Haha! I was an undergrad English lit student at the time, which helped.
I do! FFXIV is all online. Sounds like you might’ve tried to join when it was really really popular, and the worlds were all congested? Or if you did actually create a character, then maybe it was one of the newer worlds that’s pretty quiet. They do try to incentivise people to spread out and move to the new worlds, but often people are reluctant to leave the server/data centre they’re used to, especially if they managed to snag a house or have a lot of in-game friends.
lots of bookcases, awesome!
I also speed up audiobooks, usually 1.3 though.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/10/08/my-top-10-bookish-happy-highlights/
1.3 works when it’s already quite fast-paced, for sure. Especially with anything non-fiction!
Your brags are sooo great! I would love auto approval from anyone on NetGalley. An author knowing your blog…incredible!
I do not get how people have so much time for reading either. I knit, bake, have a job, etc. I just don’t have enough time. Although someone told me her secret is audiobooks. Which I don’t do at all, not even at 1.5 x speed. I’m hard of hearing and that’s just not how I absorb things.
I don’t do anything under pressure. If I can’t be chill about something then I lose my mind.
I only really listen to audiobooks if I already know the content! Then it can be fun, because if I miss something I already know what happened, and it can just be a background thing while my hands are busy. I have a little difficulty hearing-wise too, so if I listened to something new, I’d miss it all.
I love that you read 500 books a year! It’s not something I aspire to because at one time I read 200 books a year for a few years and my memory retention went waaayyy down, so it’s just not for me, but it makes me happy to see others doing it and getting so much joy from their reading. I love it for you and I especially love that we get the benefits of it because I discover so many interesting books through your posts!
When I was reading 500 a year, I was doing English lit at university, so that had a lot to do with it! Also I was a bit less online back then…
I have the same impression of Bookstagram which is part of the reason why I stay away from it.
Most of the books I read come from the library, and I’m a fast reader, too.
If you’re open to trying something new, I find audiobooks easier to listen to if I’m doing something while I listen. So I wash dishes, cook, do laundry, take a walk, clean the house, ect.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
When I listen to audiobooks, I’m usually doing something else too (crocheting, or chill stuff in FFXIV that doesn’t involve talking to people or quick thinking). But because my hearing isn’t great and I can’t lipread an audiobook, it usually has to be something familiar. Even so, I get impatient with the pace and need to speed them up!
FIVE HUNDRED books? How in the world? I read fast, plus I have tons of time to read and I still only read about 215 books a year. Tell me all your secrets…
I used to avoid audiobooks, but now I love them. I listen while I drive, clean, and exercise and it makes those tedious tasks much more bearable! I do 1.25 speed. Usually 1.5 is too fast for me.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I was an English lit undergraduate at the time, I’m pretty sure. But I hit 400 books last year mostly by being a fast reader and always having a book on hand — and reading all kinds of stuff, including novellas and graphic novels.
I mean, 45 hours in 11 days is just over four hours a day, and maybe they have no lives outside of work and books (or they have teenagers that currently want nothing to do with them at the moment). They might also work jobs where they can read while they work (and if audiobooks count for those reading challenges, and they listen to audiobooks the whole time they’re working their full-time job, that’s 40 hours in just 5 days so…) I can easily see how it’s possible, but can also understand how it seems unlikely.
I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Here’s my TTT if you wish to visit – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-brags-and.html
Yes, it’s possible, and I even did it — twice so far. But every single time, and always clocking up waaaay more than the 45 hours? I have questions. Someone reported hours that would’ve required reading 16 hours a day. Maybe they do, with audiobooks, but… it’s just weird. But as I said, people think that of the reading amounts I can report, so I try not to actually judge.