Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Book Related Problems I Have

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, created due to a fondness for lists. Each week they post a new Top Ten topic. After that, it's bloggers UNITE! Participate with your own Top Ten post, have fun, and get to know your fellow bloggers.

Source: River City Reading

This week's topic is book related problems. I thought this one could be quite entertaining, so I made sure to put a note in my draft folder to get a post done for it regardless of how schizo my schedule was being at the time.

Half the fun of this is going to be seeing what everyone else comes up with. As for me...here's was gives me fits when it comes to reading...


1. Reading too Fast

Sometimes I get so caught up in a book's plot that I want to find out what's going to happen. Then I get antsy and start skipping over words more quickly than I should. This results in me finishing the book faster, but missing out on the subtle things that can really make a book amazing. It also has the pathetic result of having me confuse one book for another or forgetting what happens during the story line. I've tried to minimize this issue by keeping a reading journal to track my thoughts while reading a book.


2. Traditional vs. e-Book

I face an internal (and eternal) conflict with this one. I love my Nook. I also love that I have the Kindle app and now the WattPad app on my iPad. The easy access is great. But I also love having a book in my hands. I like owning the real deal, not just an electronic copy. I just want the easy of the e-book and the tangibility of the traditional book. Can't I have it all? The struggle is real.


3. Keeping a Charge on the Nook

The extension cord behind my nightstand is perpetually full. I have to rotate devices in the third slot. It's pathetic. I'm typically pretty good at switching between my phone and my iPad, but the Nook sometimes gets neglected. It never fails that it's when I'm in the middle of a book and finally have more than a few minutes to rub together that I find the battery has died. Gah!


4. Not Enough $$$

When I bought this house, I turned the bonus room into a library. I bought enough bookshelves to line it the way I'd always wanted. I love the look of a wall lined with pretty book spines. But...now I find that I don't have enough money to purchase all of the books I want to own. It's probably a good thing really, since I'd fill up the remaining bookshelf space in just a few months if I could purchase every book I love. Still...I just want to hug them all. Books need homes too!


5. Too Short Checkout Times

I am a pretty responsible person. I like to follow the rules and have everything just so. But I have become a terrible library patron. Thank goodness for the ability to process one renewal per book online through my library's website. I've kept books over their due date quite a few times in the last couple of years. Apparently, I need more than four weeks. Of course, that may be due to the fact that I'm a book hoarder and I check out between six and ten at a time...but who's counting?


6. Too Many Challenges

I am a total sucker for a reading challenge. I just love having lists to check off. I'm such a total nerd in that way. The problem is that I have to try and balance them all. I'm never happy just doing one at a time, so I wind up over-committing and then getting frustrated when I fall behind. I just can't help myself.


7. Missing out on Read-a-Thons

My schedule is pretty crazy. I work full-time in addition to going to school full-time, having a family, and running this blog. Because of that, I don't always have the time I want to dedicate to read-a-thons. This totally frustrates me because I love read-a-thons. I like reading with others and I like the social interaction that comes with it -- even though I'm totally an introvert. Plus...uninterrupted reading for hours on end? Are you kidding me? It's pretty much the best time ever.


8. Committing to a Series

I have a very rough time abandoning books. When I start a series, I have to finish it. I can't leave it alone. If the first book in the series is good enough for me to want to read the second or if it leaves off in any kind of cliffhanger (even if I really didn't love it that much), then I'm pretty much committed. I have to read the rest of the books in the series or I go nuts. That would be all well and good if I didn't have the problem that I have with issue #9...


9. A Mountainous TBR

This seems to be a pretty common issue among us bibliophiles. There is always another good book coming out and I just have to add it to my To-Be-Read pile. At this point, I'm adding at least 3-5 books to the list each month (and this is after slowing down substantially in the last 3-4 months). I cannot turn a potentially amazing book away. Right now, there are so many on my list that I could never read them all...ever. That's kind of depressing really. So much good literature out there. I want to read it all! Authors need to stop writing such darned good books. I just can't choose!


10. Never Enough Time

The biggest problem of them all. That crazy schedule I mentioned up in #7 results in not enough time to read. I'm ashamed to admit that it's already the middle of February and I have yet to finish a book this year. I've been doing too much reading for school and haven't been able to focus on any of the crazy good novels sitting in my nightstand. By the time I get everything done that I need to, I'm often exhausted. This means that picking up a book could very well lead to me falling asleep in said book after only a few pages, regardless of how awesome and amazing it is. Remember that "Eight Days a Week" The Beatles sang about? Ya...where's my eighth day? I totally need it just so I have more time to read.

What about you? What issues do you find yourself faced with when reading?