“Each new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows.”
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I lie to myself practically every day, so why should those lies be any different than these lies? They certainly don’t deserve their own bullet pointed, color coded, sparkly sticker-d “BETTER ME” list to stare their judgmental stare at me from atop the refrigerator door! How about a big ol’ NOPE to any empty, and unrealistic Resolutions of 2017?!
~ signed, Resolutions Past
I just read an article/post on Buzzfeed that made me think “Here’s a realistic resolution that I can really get behind!” (yes, my inner voice talks like Dr. Seuss.) It IS going to be a difficult promise to keep to myself, though – some quirks run deep, and habits are hard to break. Bear with me on this long & winding road that is my thought process…
“A resolution is usually to avoid an evil,
but in most cases the evil is far more advanced.”
I was looking over my Books of 2016 (on Goodreads), and so many thoughts started going through my mind – “Ooo… I really liked that book, why didn’t I continue with the series?”, “OMG – that was on my MUST READ list – WTF?! Why haven’t I read it yet?”, “Shit, I promised so and so that I’d read that book s/he really loved…” (or some other version of a “OMG YUS!! I can’t wait to never read that!” promise), and 42 other questions that are tripping over themselves trying to be the first in line for some brain time.
So… In MY case, what is the main reason that so many books get neglected?
I think I waste so much precious reading time because I feel guilty if I stop reading a book as soon as I realize it’s boring AF, and/or I hate it! “I’ll give it a few more pages/chapters.” “Well, I might as well finish it now.” And, there is also that little FOMO twinge I get right before I shelf/window a book. You know what I mean –“What if it gets really good just after the point where I stop reading?!” Then I usually continue to bore myself, and hate what I’m reading even more.
This year I say “NO MORE!”  ⊗ My motto for 2017 ~ “Just ‘SHELF IT’!”
This year I am going to make a solid effort to put down any book that I’m not invested in by a certain point – TBD on a book by book basis.
I will [try to] not force myself to finish ANY book, under ANY circumstances [if I don’t want to].
I realize that life is too short, and my TBR list is too long to endure the pain of just getting to the back cover.
* You know that I will NOT shelf/window any book just because of this blog post. Every book will have different considerations, I’m sure.  If I’m feelin’ it just because I dig the author’s choice of font – I’m still feelin’ it.  I have no set of hard and fast rules anywhere in my life!!
And there will be certain exemptions, of course. Like I said in the 5 Signs You’re Reading A Bad Book post – Sometimes the actual story may not be the problem. I’ve picked up unfinished books at a different points in my life only to realize how amazing they truly are – I just wasn’t ready for them the first time.
I’m curious about what YOU do in a ‘bad book’ situation!
Check out the 5 SIGNS YOU’RE READING A BAD BOOK post, and answer the poll at the end – ‘You’ve reached the 100 page mark of your new book when you realize that you’re never going to ‘feel it’. What do you do?’
The Bloody Book Blogger 