Yes, it is Monday once again, so let's look at the questions at Should Be Reading...
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are(or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up?
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it.
For some reason, I have nothing to rant about this week.So we will just go with one of the original questions...what are you reading?
This weekend I finished two books, Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson and Garnethill: A Novel of Crime by Denise Mina, both quite enjoyable books.
Mr. Robinson you might remember from my recent Robinson obsession, the 15 of his books I read, all in a row. Well, I ran out of e-books, as the early ones are not available in that format, but the local library was happy to help me out. I read one more book in the series, Past Reason Hated, number 5, so just 4 more to go!
Then I read Garnethill, the first book in a three book series by Denise Mina. I have read other books by Mina, six it seems, checking with my beloved Library Thing, but not this, her first book. Very good...creepy, funny, bleak, funny..with an outstanding lead character, Maureen O'Donnell. The next, Exile, is on the way. Now, having read those two, I will go back to the pile and pick a review copy book to read next. Don't get me wrong.
I love..or at least like...most of the books I get for review.
I like getting books to review and I take my obligation seriously.
Well, fairly seriously.
But while I never seem to quite catch up with that obligation, sometimes I look the other way and just pick a book I want to read, not one I feel I must read. If I did that, read just review books, it would seem too much like a job.
And I never want to feel like reading is a job.
At least not unless I am getting paid for it!
Now if I could just force myself to write some reviews of all these books...
i read a lot .. usually a book a week unless its less than completely absorbing .. then it may take several weeks ... yet i never think to review or share them with anyone ... i ignore bn.com's continual emails asking me to review the book .. leave comments .. acknowledge it .. ummmm .. nah
ReplyDeleteI understand their point..but it gets to be a bit much.
DeleteAlthough I love your rants, I enjoyed this week's post just as much. I agree that I don't want to have to read a particular book to review it.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel like it's a job to read the review books...but this year, I'm trying something new. If a book doesn't reach out and grab me, I say "no" to the publisher/author/publicist. What a concept!
ReplyDeleteBecause I don't want reading to seem like a job. I want to get as excited about the review books as I do for the ones I purchase.
Here's MY MUSING MONDAYS POST
Yeah, the writing the reviews is the hard part of this whole gig, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI usually write a review as soon as I finish it. I don't like the stress of thinking I have to read a book by a certain date. That is why I do very few book tours. I just like to read at my own pace, and enjoy my reading.
ReplyDeleteI have a jolly old time reading everything, but the writing...not there is the rub. I am ALWAYS behind, which plagues me, and it shouldn't because I don't get a red cent in return. But if we got paid, we would probably have a whole new outlook, and probably one that didn't include much fun. (And you have got to the be the biggest series pusher I've ever known!)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love receiving new books to review, this year I decided to start scheduling requests for only four months out of the year. The rest of the time, I pick what I want to review which gives me the needed balance for blogging to be fun. :-)
ReplyDeleteYup, that's why I stopped reviewing books. Like a ton of bricks removed from my shoulders.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel pressured to get ARCs read in time but I've relaxed a bit and requested/accepted less. Here's my MM: http://daystarz.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/musing-mondays-mar-4/
ReplyDelete