What reading quirk do you have that you really wish you didn’t?
Meka: I don’t like reading the first book of a series when the second has not come out yet. Years ago, I read an awesome paranormal romance novel about a witch who was going back to her hometown where a vicious crime had taken place. The book was great and I couldn’t wait for book two. There was a teaser and everything. But alas, my hopes and dreams were never to be. The last time I checked that author’s blog, there was a post that she hoped to have book two out at some point. So now I save myself the rejection and refuse to read the first book if the series is not at least three or four books in. I probably won’t finish the series, but at least there is the knowledge that there are more books whenever I get to it. Sometime. Maybe. While I can live in a bubble of safety, it’s really rough because I am not as excited about new books when they come out in a series. I miss all of the anticipation and the squeeing, but I promise, I’m happy in my heart!
A few authors have snuck up on me because I didn’t read the blurb carefully enough. I likely wouldn’t have read the Marked anthology, for example, if I’d known that Lauren Dane’s story was the first in a series. So now I hope, and wait. This quirk sucks!
The other annoying quirk is that I cannot read negative reviews of books that I enjoyed. I enjoyed it, they are obviously wrong, and do not have the divine spiritual connection to this book that I experienced and stop talking about the book I liked, dammit! You don’t know them like I know them! All of this is a conversation I always have in my head.
E: The only one I wish I could get rid of, because I have probably missed some great stories, is I won’t consider any book with a certain type of cover. I don’t like Chick Lit so any cover that says “chick lit” to me gets an instant rejection. It requires a personalized recommendation from my book circle of trust for me to move beyond the cover reaction.
MinnChica: I’m a pretty laid back reader, so lucky enough, I don’t have any weird quirks that I wish I could get rid of. I think the only reading habit I have that bothers me after a while is the guilt I get when I decide to DNF a book. I open every single book with the hope that it’ll become my new all-time favorite read. When that doesn’t happen, I feel back for not giving a book the chance to wow me, even to the very end. However, if I do stick with it, I usually get mad at myself for wasting all that time. Lovely Catch-22 I’ve got going on, huh?
Cass: Are you implying something about me? ARE YOU?!?!
Okay, so maybe I wish that I didn’t brutally judge books by their covers. A terrible cover can (and will) prevent me from reading what often turn out to be amazing books (see: 90% of vintage SF/F). Correspondingly, amazing covert art can sucker me in to reading terrible books or “meh” authors again and again and again. I really never learn.
Joy: If I’m reading a book I don’t like, I bitch about it and procrastinate returning to it in a fairly dramatic way (heavy put-upon sighs followed by foot stomping, wandering room-to-room and loudly proclaiming how much said book sucks). On repeat. Every other paragraph. But surely that’s not so much a quirk as a proper book-suckage response. Right? *crickets*
Marlene: The quirk it would be easier if I didn’t have is how much I hate to be interrupted when I’m reading. I mean really, really hate it, and sometimes I’m impolitely obvious about it.
Lou: Reading in order. I hate it but it’s almost compulsion. I. Cannot. Read. Out. Of. Order. I just can’t.When I review, I also can’t read another review book until I write my review for the previous one. Why? My memory. It sucks.
Has: I can read when the T.V and music is blaring out loud – this is due to growing up in a noisy household and I’ve learned to tune out siblings arguing, and conversations happening. Because of this, if I am stuck into a book, my attention is focused on the book and not at someone trying to catch my attention at times.
Unlike Cass sometimes a bad cover will make me check it out and I agree with her that some fantastic covers can be bad books and some really awful covers can have a wonderful story. So don’t judge a book on its cover is a good saying. Although most bad covers tend to be crappy books LOL!
Do you recognize any of your own reading quirks or have some that we haven’t covered? We’d love to hear about them! Quirk on, y’all, quirk right the hell on!
I agree with reading a series in order. If I hear about a good book but find it’s part of an established series, I have to start at the beginning of the series. I love Goodreads for showing all the books including short stories and novellas in series order. I also have a compulsion to read the short stories and novellas in the correct order even if they don’t impact the storyline of the series.
I used to have a thing about reading books by the same author in original publication date order even if they’re stand-alone books. I don’t think I’m as concerned about that now.
I used to read the end of books when I was reading a lot of print books. I don’t do that with ebooks and I’m happier for it I think 🙂
Like Has when I read around people I get so focused on what I am reading that I completely ignore everything around me. Also like Marlene if I do get distracted out of the book at an important time I am not always nice. Its why I don’t like reading around others anymore. Which usually means I do most of my reading at night. That leads to another quirk, I have is the need to save beloved authors books until the weekend when I can stay up all night reading and not worry about the next day.
One thing I am really trying to do is avoid reviews of books that I really am already excited about and have plans to buy until after I have read the book. There have been books that I have waited impatiently for but then I read a review and I am no longer as excited to read it. Its not that the book comes off poorly in the review, its that it lets me know that the book is not what I was expecting it to be and suddenly I have lost the desire to read it. I find this quirk very annoying.
Hi Meka, I only refuse to start a series if I am warned that it has horrible cliffhangers. Then I will just wait until the whole series is written.
I won’t touch a book with a scary or ugly cover either, no matter how good everyone thinks the book is.
And Meka, I also agree with you, about reading a negative review about a book I have read and loved. It almost hurts, and I do wonder if that person really did read the same book I did. How can they not love it? I have actually unfollowed a blog because of one reviewer that loves to slaughter books. She does not read for fun, but only to find ridicule in my opinion.
Hm. Maybe I wish I had more time TO read? Or read faster? I guess that’s not a quirk.
@xaurianx: I actually love reading negative reviews of books I loved (or positive review of books I hated). In part because it is like an argument (something I deeply enjoy), but mostly because it helps me further attune my internal book recommendation algorithm for other people.