TOP TEN TUESDAY: BOOKISH BLOGGING CONFESSIONS

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday on The Broke and the Bookish is: Top Ten Blogging Confessions. I’m slightly confused about this topic – you’d think, based on the title, that it would be confessions about things you’ve done as a (book) blogger. But the example seems to be confessions of things you’ve done as a reader. So I’ll probably mix in a little of both!

1. I have read very few classics – modern or otherwise. I’ve never read 1984. I’ve never read Moby Dick. I’ve never read The Russians (nope, I have not read War & Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenin or Crime & Punishment). I have only finished one Dickens book. I’ve never even read The Great Gatsby (though in my defense this is mostly because I don’t like the story). 
2. I re-read. Even though I know I’ll never, ever, in a million years make it through my TBR list, I still take time to re-read one or more of the Harry Potter books or Good Omens when I’m in a reading slump or just need the comfort of a familiar world to lose myself in. 
3. I cannot abide broken spines. I will read an entire books while awkwardly holding it open at no more than a 45 degree angle so as not to risk any damage to the spine. Even if I have to skip all the words printed near the inside of each page. I CANNOT BREAK THE SPINE. So I love what seems to be a growing trend of “floppy” books. You know, the ones that are paperback, but the pages are somehow more flexible than usual so you can lay it nearly flat without putting any stress on the spine whatsoever. HUGE fan.
4. I have trouble picking a book to read and sticking to it. I’m like a magpie. “Ooooh, I think I’m going to read The Stranger on the Train. That looks fun. Oh,  package! LANDLINE! Oooh shiny.” Aaaaand I’ve forgotten the first book’s name already. 
5. I sometimes have a lot of trouble writing reviews of books. And it’s nothing to do with whether I liked it or not – I have as much trouble writing reviews of books I liked as books I didn’t. Sometimes I just get stuck.
6. I don’t care much for review copies of books. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take all the free books I can get. And getting my hands on advance copies of books I was dying to read… well what bookworm is going to complain about that? But on the other hand, I want blogging to be fun. I don’t want it to end up feeling like homework. And if I’ve got a stack of books I have to read next… it kind of wrecks the magic a bit. So I’ve learned to be very choosy about accepting review copies.
7. I didn’t read (much) for more than two years. When I graduated from university I just couldn’t with the sitting and the words and the focus and the keeping track of things.So I basically stopped reading…. for like two years. I mean, I read the odd book, but often it was a re-read, and even more often it was a re-read of Harry Potter. Don’t judge. I was tired, yo.
8. I don’t use the library. There was a bedbug outbreak in one of the downtown branches which, because of inter-library loan, apparently spread. I didn’t get it confirmed, but just the suggestion was enough to turn me off. I’m not a fan of critters. 
9. I can never pick just one book to take with me anywhere. When I was a kid, I really could have used an e-reader. I was like that scene in The Gilmore Girls when Rory can’t fit all her books in her bag, and Lorelai tries to take out 2 or 3 but Rory says she needs her bus book and the book she’ll read at lunch, and a book in case she feels like reading essays and another in case she’s in the mood for short stories. Like that. My parents had to impose a 4 book limit so I didn’t break my back.
10. I buy books online from big stores instead of exclusively patronizing local indie stores. I know, I know, bad book addict. But I don’t have unlimited funds, and when it comes down to one full price book or two (even three!!) online – well, that really isn’t a difficult decision for me.

So there you go, some bookfessions for ya. Your turn.

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