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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Top Ten Blogging Confessions

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Please don't judge me too harshly for my bookish, blogging, and readerly sins!


I'll buy a book I know nothing about simply because the cover is pretty. Some of these end up being amazing. Some of these end up as shelf decoration. And I'll definitely pass up a book if the cover puts me off.

 I KNOW. I KNOW. PUT ME IN THE STOCKS AND PELT ME WITH FRUIT.


I am pretty careless, generally, as a human. I LOVE books in pristine condition, but I'm a messy person and books fall down and I tend to cram things into my bag and I lose dust jackets and... argh. NOT SO PRISTINE ANYMORE. Plus, I read in the back all the time, and books + water + steam + careless Gillian = OOPS.


I was a huuuuge Twilight fan. I'm a Twilight hipster who read it before it was a huge thing, really, and I binge-read it and was completely obsessed with it for a whole summer as a teenager. COMPLETELY obsessed. I had a t-shirt with Edward's face on it. Yes, I have pictured. NO, YOU CAN'T SEE THEM.

 I LOVE the Acknowledgments! I always feel like the book isn't complete without them, and it sads me muchly that a lot of ARCs don't have them in yet. I love getting a little peek into the hearts of the authors.

 Yeah, I've forced my way through a lot of classics just for the sake of bragging rights/to build my general knowledge pool/I'm a slob. (I do actually love a lot of classics, FYI, as evidenced by this post.) But there ARE some classics that have definitely defeated me...

 
That book is long, y’all. And there are so many characters that just didn’t need to be there. Tom Bombadil? Yeah, there’s a reason he was cut from the movies. THE FONT WAS SO TINY AND THE BOOK WAS SO HUGE AND IT WAS SUNNY OUTSIDE AND I WAS YOUNG AND FULL OF ENERGY and I just couldn't I'm sorry


I will buy all the books in a series I haven't finished just so they can look better on my shelves. I will buy an entire series if I vaguely think I'll like it or plan to get to it or if it just looks super pretty. These are not always wise investments. I also must confess to being a book shopoholic and an impulse buyer. I am the Becky Bloomwood of books.


It is reeeeeally hard for me to give up on series. Even if I full on HATED book one or two, I will totally go on because I just WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. I'm terrible.


This is definitely the biggest flaw on the list, but it's also something I am definitely good at controlling and never let it cross into resentment (you know, usually). I mean, it's human to see someone get an ARC of a book you want and feel a twinge of jealousy, or see people going to an even on the other side of the country you'd sell your own body parts to attend. It's easy in this community to let that get out of hand, but I wouldn't be human if I didn't stroke the screen when a fellow blogger instagrams a pretty shiny book and mumur to myself, "Waaaaaaaants". (YES, THIS IS NORMAL.)

Bonus confession: I NEED romance! I live for it. I get bored if nobody's doing the kissing or thinking about the kissing or wanting to do the kissing. There are exceptions, but they're just that: exceptions. I'm drawn almost exclusively to books that promise some stimulation of my shipper heart.

Other dirty little blogging secrets: My Netgalley feedback ratio is HORRIFIC, I kinda dislike leaving comments on other blogs ONLY because I get so stressed out about what to SAY, I pretty much NEVER schedule my posts ahead, I have been behind on my TBR since birth.

25 comments:

  1. 5 & 6 are SO me! I thought I was the only one who actually READS the acknowledgements! Glad to know I'm not alone! :) And classics.. I love classics. But I do tend to originally pick them up, just so I can brag about having read The Iliad, or every single play ever written by William Shakespeare. It's a problem.

    ~Lynette @ Escaping Reality - One Book at a Time

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  2. I read the acknowledgements as well! I always find them quite interesting. I also get jealous sometimes! Great confessions.

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  3. I love this list, I relate to so much of it. I have always struggled to get involved more in the community however, so have you got any tips for a newish blogger like me? Thank you haha. Here is my TTT http://thereadingrose.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/top-ten-tuesday_8.html

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  4. I sometimes read the end early on in the reading process too. It drives my husband mad!

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  5. Love your list :)
    My books are all "well read" which means they're in a right state and look like they've been terribly abused. But I just love them too much and read them over and over.
    Cora @ Tea Party Princess

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  6. I always read acknowledgements too!! It's one of my favourite parts! I love seeing the authors thank other authors...because it's just cool that so many all know each other. It's a Secret Awesome Author Club. x) I also judge books by the covers a lot. Probably too much. But hey. Cover art is important!
    My TTT!

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  7. I'm a member of ex-Twilighters Anonymous too. I have a waterbottle - somewhere - with Edward on it. I also bought the "collector" books even though I already owned them. I guess that box it came in was worth something to me back then.

    I have to agree the acknowledgements are wonderful, too. Seeing all the people who helped the authors write the book along the way gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Like, these people helped you write this wonderful book because you are a wonderful person.

    Gotta have romance in my books too. I need something to ship! Otherwise the book just feels empty and hollow. Although, I have read some books that don't have ships and I've survived, but it's just not the same.

    Great confessions - here are mine!

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  8. I am relating to you so hard core right now. I am SUCH a cover snob, I read classics because they're a literary proving ground, I was Team Jacob and it took me a month of picking it up and putting it down to finally finish The Fellowship of the Ring! :) It's nice to know I'm not alone!

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  9. I'm not sure I need romance in my books... although I do extremely prefer there be some in them. :)

    I was also a huge Twilight fan, I also judge books by their covers all the freaking time, and I always seem to accidentally damage my books.

    So basically if I would have participated in TTT this week our lists would be really close to the same.

    Kay @ It's a Book Life

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  10. Haha, we both have book-cover-judging on our lists! I'm totally guilty of it and I don't even care. I love pretty covers, and bad covers make me wary.

    Also: I loved Twilight for a while there, too. I mayyyy have driven to Forks with my sister. (shut up it was summer we were bored) Thank goodness for it, though, because it also directed me to books that were SO MUCH BETTER, so even though I hate myself a little for how much I loved it initially, I can't hate it completely. Maybe it'll direct others to greater books, too. ;)

    And I think anyone who tries to say they don't get jealous of ARC's is flat-out lying -- we all get jealous! As long as we don't let that be a negative thing, it's all good. I like admiring pretty ARC's even if I can't have them. ;)

    Aaaaand yeah, I'm right there with you on the romance. There are very few romance-less books that I absolutely adore. GIVE ME ALL THE SHIPS.

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  11. Girrrrrl. You just spilled all my shameful secrets out. EVERYTHING ON THIS LIST IS ME. I AM NOT ALONE. lol

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  12. I love your list. I too put #1 on my list, because... it's TRUE. I am such a horrible Judge-y McJudgerson (it's even in my Myers Briggs personality profile: ISTJ). And I totally feel you on the NetGalley ratio - I got a shaming email last month because mine is so bad. And yeah, scheduling posts ahead - that's something that happens once a year. I'm just not that organized (online). Uggggggh.

    This week's topic has been great for commiserating. Again, loved your list. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. +JMJ+

    Believe it or not, I'm checking out as many of these confessions as possible because I'm looking for fellow Twilight fans who are willing to admit it! I fell in love with the series just this year, and although there are supposedly legions of Twi-hards out there, I've been hard pressed to find readers who are willing both to gush and to have intelligent conversations about the series with me!

    Speaking of series . . . Sometimes I buy books way in advance, because I'm definitely going to get to them . . . right? Well, some of them have been waiting for me to get to them for three years! But I like knowing that there are good books in my future. If all the bookstores in the country vanish tomorrow, I'll still be up to my waist in new stuff to read!

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  14. I don't read the last page first. Instead, I saw how many pages are there in a book first sometimes, but it drags on to most of the times and comes down back to where I was supposed to check at first. My deepest, darkest confession about blogging is I don't get the excerpts and everything because to me - it's like plagiarism and cheating. I see the goodreads reviews of what I have just read completely and the plot gets all twisted up, parodied or even just giving me lessons about the issues of the world in these days. It's just because of some people did it to fit their style or adventure. My style is very well-behaved and realistic, and my adventures are worth a picture in many, many, many perspectives on its own.

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    Replies
    1. Other than that, thanks for your confessions when it comes to blogging.

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  15. Just found you on youtube and can already see myself watching your videos and reading your blog :)

    www.allthesmallthingsandbig.blogspot.com

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  16. I judge books by their covers too. When i was in elementary school i could never figure out what types of books i liked so my teacher told me to read the last page first and now i do that quite frequently

    Great TTT :)
    http://perksofbeingreaders.blogspot.com/2014/07/top-ten-blogging-confessions.html

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  17. My Netgalley ratio is so bad, it's just...*covers eyes* Buuuuut, I will bring up the ratio. Eventually.
    I also like classics but I haven't read that many and sometimes I also want to read them just so I can actually say that I've read it ._.

    Great post! <3

    Kyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic

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  18. I terribly, terribly love this. I think this has been my favorite Top Ten topic ever. I'm finding some great new blogs to read...that's a good thing AND a bad thing, but I'm still glad I got to read yours. :) Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie

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  19. *whispers* I'm with you on #2 *scuttles away*

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  20. YES to loving/reading the Acknowledgements. Sometimes I read them even before reading the actual book. The way social media has allowed us to interact more with the authors has somehow made them more… human or personal to me the reader. I love getting peeks into their lives and realizing how much more this book is not only a story for me- but it's a part of THEM. Adds a different recognized level of sharing than I think I understood before I'd linked up with everyone online. And sometimes I read the last sentence- the last few words, but not the whole page… Other times (like if it's the end of a series that I'm dying to know the end of) I shy away like the last pages will burn me. ^^

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  21. "I was a huuuuge Twilight fan."

    *hugs and whispers* So was I.

    I mean, I made jewelry in honor of the book.

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  22. I could NEVER read the last page first. I've wanted to sometimes but I've stopped myself. And I find it hard to give up on a series, unless I DNF because I don't like it I follow through, in fact one of my confessions should have been that I buy whole series without having read the first book (usually only when they're on offer). I currently have The Infernal Devices, Under the Never Sky and Delirium trilogies all waiting in my TBR. I did just buy Shatter Me because the cost of one book is what I'd usually spend on a series on offer and I wanted to make sure I'd like it....and I HAD to own at least one of those covers even if I didn't...

    My TTT

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  23. 7. I love the movies from Lord of the rings, but I just can't can't can't read the books. They are so long and honestly.. boring.

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