It’s so hard for me to keep up with all the “popular” and must read books. Especially, since I feel like I’m being pulled in two different directions. My friends in real life want me to read books like Divergent (which I read roughly five years ago) and The Selection. My blogging friends… well, I can’t remember what they want me to read BECAUSE THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY.
Besides being split between two worlds, I’m also being split between two times. My blogging friends with a lot of followers (read: a lot of ARC’s and publisher contacts) and my blogging friends who are new to the game. While my friends IRL are obsessed with books that come out ages ago, my newbie blogging friends are into recent releases or ones that are being released soon. And I can’t keep up with my blogging friends with access to a lot of ARCs.
A typical conversation with them goes something like this.
Them: “You should read blah blah by blah.”
Me: “Um, okay, when does it come out?”
Them: “September 2020”
When September 2020 comes around, I probably would have completely forgotten about the conversation that took place. And yes, I did exaggerate a little. Just a little.
I’ve never been very good at staying “in the know” so to speak. I was always the last one to hear rumors in high school. I just suck at keeping track of things. And it doesn’t help that my TBR pile has over 500 books in it. I still haven’t finished reading books I put there when I was in eighth grade and I’ll be a college freshman in the fall.
I guess the underlying problem is not so much my trouble with keeping up with what’s hot, but reading books in my TBR. I’m a mood reader and if I’m being very honest, there are times when I don’t want to read. When I was a kid, I would jump at every chance to read a book. I’m not like that anymore. At least, not since internet and TV took over my life.
It’s hard to find the time to read the books I want and the books everyone is talking about. And unfortunately, it’s not just a time problem. But an overhype problem too.
For the most part, I simply choose not to read whatever book is popular at the moment. Not because I’m lazy. Okay, so maybe partially because I’m lazy, but also because I have a very bad track record with enjoying books that are overhyped.
The Selection by Kiera Cass? Did not finish. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare? DNF. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas? DNF.
Now, you must be thinking something along the lines of how I’m a disgrace to readers everywhere. A nutcase. And that’s fine. I get it. But I can tell you right now, I genuinely wasn’t interested in any of those. They just all felt meh to me. They didn’t meet my expectations at all.
For all three, I expected to be blown away, to be entralled. But I wasn’t. The sad part is that they’re all up my alley. I love, love, love reading fantasy and dystopians. The fact that I felt pretty neutral about all three of those, is sad. And for that, I blame the horrible hype monster.
The hype monster is probably the main reason why I don’t really care what is popular at the moment. Whatever book is considered “hot” always changes too fast for me to keep up with. I’ll just sit here and read the books I want. And hopefully empty my humungous TBR pile one book at a time.
What about you?
How do you feel about staying up to date with must read books?
Do you try to read them or are you more like me?
For me I loved all those three books that you named that you DNF, but certain books that are hyped up aren’t that good to me. I like to stay current in the book world because I want to know what everyone is reading and what’s coming out. It’s exciting to get into conversations with other book nerds on the internet over new books that are coming out.
I’m the same way, Emz. I don’t keep up with the new releases and ARCs. I really believe books are over-hyped and I run in the other direction. So I’m always out of the loop on those conversations. I do feel left out, but I don’t have the time to keep up with it even if I wanted to. I also have roughly 500 books from NetGalley and hundreds of others I’ve acquired on my Kindle over these last three years. I have plenty to keep me busy without even mentioning physical copies.