World, Writing, Wealth discussion
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Can books become too much of a good thing?
I am a bona fide book hoarder! LOL Brace yourself Lizzie! I literally have 3,500+ books in my amazon cloud! About 90% are unread at the moment but I am trying to work my way through them the best I can. The reason for so many is I belong to two groups on here that have threads for free books and then I belong to a group on facebook that has free books/bargain books. So I grab what I can from all three places. Most of my author reads though are indie authors and I just grab what books I can as they become available.
If I see something I want free or not, I will grab it. My theory is if the book is priced low then I better grab it now as it might not be that price again for a long time. Another reason that I have so many is also because I have had my kindle since 2014, so my books have accumulated over time, but since I have joined more groups in the last three years, my reading material has tripled as I see what other people are reading and if it strikes my fancy then I will go after it. :)
I have over 900 in the Amazon cloud and around 750 on my computer. I bought my first e-reader in 2015.Not including those mentioned in my first post, I haven't read about 450 of them. I stopped grabbing everything that was free when my to read list on Amazon was over 500, two years ago, and started to be more discerning. I have no idea how many I have read on KU for free over the past few years.
My take is that your answer is there is no such thing as too many books.
Exactly! lol Never enough books and never enough time to read them! Except now....unfortunately there could be some time to read them since a lot of people are on lockdown. But thankfully we have books to read to get us through these trying times. :)
I have 400 on my reading device and thanks to goodreads,am constantly discovering more.In the pre internet era,my reading choices were pretty limited by what was available locally.
Now,I feel overwhelmed.So,I skim and abandon lots of books because I have too many more interesting ones available.
And yes,these days I do a bit too much reading.
And because I read in two languages,the number of books I want to read keeps increasing even more.
Interesting. Is Amazon your source for those books written in Urdu?
Amazon does not operate in Pakistan.But most Urdu books are available online.
Two languages means two times the books. I have a hard enough time keeping up with those in English :-)
Not really two times the books. There is little in Urdu being written these days which interests me.But I sure do enjoy digging up the older books which I never found in libraries and bookshops.And reading entire catalogues of favourite authors in Urdu.
Plus,translated works from other languages all over the world which I hardly ever found in the old days.
Too much choice also means reading some bad books.Best to abandon those quickly and move on.
If a book is interfering with your ability to breath (because a ninja assassin has jammed it into your mouth) then - yeah, too much of a good thing....Otherwise - anything goes.
Mind you, I'm quick to DNF.If a book isn't showing promise within the first 10-20 pages - then fuhgeddaboutit.
Marie wrote: "I am a bona fide book hoarder! LOL Brace yourself Lizzie! I literally have 3,500+ books in my amazon cloud! About 90% are unread at the moment but I am trying to work my way through them the best I..."Now that is a nice number.
Lizzie wrote: "I have over 900 in the Amazon cloud and around 750 on my computer. I bought my first e-reader in 2015.Not including those mentioned in my first post, I haven't read about 450 of them. I stopped g..."
Not bad,Lizzie.
W., I'm with you. It's a matter of time, now, and I won't waste my time on a bad book, with so many good ones out there.
W wrote: "Too much choice also means reading some bad books.Best to abandon those quickly and move on."Something it is very difficult for me to do. I have managed to put a few in the DNF pile, but somewhere along the way, when I was young, I learned the start a book, you finish it approach. I suspect it had something to do with not having access to lots of books.
Marie's approach of grabbing everything was me. I don't disagree with it, just my experience sent me a different direction. First, there were a lot of bad books and badly written books, which resulted in me becoming more discerning with my grabs. The 2nd thing was that in buying books that attracted me or the new one in a series, I started noting that many of them went on sale a week later or upon the release of the next book. Of course, the quickest way to keep up with that is to sign up for author's emails. But then, I would have to read those emails on the day I receive them in order to not miss out on many of those sales. I don't. Can't. Be it a phone or computer, it takes a lot out of my hands and fingers and causes pain and discomfort. So, I gave up on all but a few author's email lists, Bottom line, I hate paying full price, I want a deal. Watching for those deals takes too much out of me, so the end result is my attainment of more books has actually decreased.
I really need to stop being offered more months of free KU. I can't say no, but my to read list by authors that matter to me has gotten out of hand in the past 6 months as they have been kept on hold.
Lizzie wrote: "W wrote: "Too much choice also means reading some bad books.Best to abandon those quickly and move on."Something it is very difficult for me to do. I have managed to put a few in the DNF pile, bu..."
Life is too short for that,especially now.
I get guilt if I don't finish a book – so I guilt myself into reading through any backlog before I start something new!
Some books just aren't worth the time they take up, especially when you can read something better. I used to have that "have to finish the book" mentality. No more. Maybe it's age and having a limited amount of time left.
David wrote: "A good thing can never be too good."There are lot of good things in life that too much of is a bad thing - good bourbon (but drink too much of it and ...); really excellent cheese (until you get constipated); chocolate (until the migraine starts); cheesecake (until you get on the scale); carrot cake with creamcheese icing (until you have to admit carrot cake doesn't count as a veggie serving); Krup's frozen custard (until the cashier knows your name and credit card number without asking).
I think I need more carrot cake and less bourbon. lolToo much tv and not enough reading lately. I think that tells me in the future I may get KU a month to read up all those books I don't want to buy and then cancel it until the list gets long again. This last free month was month 7 and I just didn't have the urge to read near as much as I used to.
I love reading, am addicted really, but I find concentrating on a book very challenging these days. I keep trying, though.
Scout wrote: "I love reading, am addicted really, but I find concentrating on a book very challenging these days. I keep trying, though."Good for you.
Scout wrote: "I love reading, am addicted really, but I find concentrating on a book very challenging these days. I keep trying, though."My concentration on most things is not what it used to be. Maybe that is age or a result of disability that includes pain and insomnia. The doctor says the latter. It started becoming a problem about 10 months before I was told by my doctor to stop working immediately. I thought it was short term memory issues from stress, but I have never been the same since all that stuff. However, the inability to read for long periods is new; the forgetting what I have read started in 2013.
Lizzie wrote: "Scout wrote: "I love reading, am addicted really, but I find concentrating on a book very challenging these days. I keep trying, though."My concentration on most things is not what it used to be...."
I can imagine how that must be.
I go through periods of not reading (or writing) I'm just bored though, not because of illness.
Finding a gripping book is really hard. I find myself at the ho-hum point after about ten pages but mainly carry on. Sometimes that inspires me to do some writing of my own, but mostly I walk away and do something else
Not much else for me to be doing. Though working on getting some crafts started that I think my arms and hands can handle. I do try to get at least 25% into a book as I have noticed that my boredom is often somewhere before chapter 10 on most.
I have finished every book I have started and sometimes it is truly painful. But,I always do finish. The only thing I can think about when it comes to this question is when an author has developed a world and let it run far too long. I have also dropped authors when I think they are starting to tell the same story again or the ending becomes a genre ending.
Why, PPh do you waste time finishing bad books? Why not move on to better ones?
Scout wrote: "Why, PPh do you waste time finishing bad books? Why not move on to better ones?"Because I do not want to leave it unfinished. I may not read another book written by the writer and that is my response to the writer, but I do not want to let a book unfinished because it is there to be read. I completely understand why not to finish a book. Too many books, not nearly enough time and why waste the time you have? Every book has something to teach, even bad books.
I can see your point and agree to disagree on this one. I guess it's like with bad parents - you learn what not to do when you read a bad book.
Scout wrote: "I can see your point and agree to disagree on this one. I guess it's like with bad parents - you learn what not to do when you read a bad book."For me it's not about learning something from a bad book -- it's built in automatic response. I suspect at some point when I was young I was taught to read to the end. (I also never peak at an ending.) It's almost a compulsion; it's very hard to put a book into the did not finish pile and I can count them on my fingers. My daughter has convinced me that it's ok to skip the battle scenes. I am a bit more successful at that, but it's something I only started in the last few years.
I used to hate abandoning a book even if I was struggling with it, but I guess - not anymore. Read recently about 100 pages of Gone Girl and let it go. I can see how it deserves every accolade of literary critics: rich language, immersive to create an almost visual effect, just a little bit vulgar to show artistic freedom, but reservedly so - not to avert mainstream readers, but, boy, it's 100% chic-lit & romance with a thriller potential deep at the background. I know it probably develops later on, but expecting a thriller and ending up with reading all the tiny details of the onset and further development of couple's relations - not for me. I need at least some action :(
I used to feel the same 'guilt' at not finishing a book I had started but we are supposed to enjoy reading as it is one of life's great joys. Now I don't force myself to carry on, there are so many novels to get through and I guess every book can not be right for every reader.
I'm in the "can't get enough" category. I don't know if I've ever felt guilty for not finishing a book; I have such a large TBR list that I don't give a second thought to moving on if a book isn't for me.That being said, sometimes I do ride a literary train wreck to the end of the line just to see how bad it gets!
I agree with you, Jamie. I'm never sorry for abandoning a bad book, but sometimes one is so bad that I keep reading out of curiosity.
Scout wrote: "I agree with you, Jamie. I'm never sorry for abandoning a bad book, but sometimes one is so bad that I keep reading out of curiosity."LOL! I know, right? Some are so bad, I can't stop reading.
Jamie wrote: "Scout wrote: "I agree with you, Jamie. I'm never sorry for abandoning a bad book, but sometimes one is so bad that I keep reading out of curiosity."LOL! I know, right? Some are so bad, I can't st..."
I have a whole series that falls into that category. The lack of running even a basic spelling and grammar check in the first books is obvious. It's so bad I didn't even bother with the corrections you can submit through Amazon Kindle. I am actually ashamed to say I continued to read it, and will finish the series eventually.
How much do mistakes in grammar and usage bother you when you're reading? They bother me a lot, but I was an English teacher. If there are too many repetitive mistakes, I usually stop reading. You'd think with all the grammar and spell check programs out there, there wouldn't be so many mistakes, but sometimes it takes an editor to catch them.
Scout wrote: "How much do mistakes in grammar and usage bother you when you're reading? They bother me a lot, but I was an English teacher. If there are too many repetitive mistakes, I usually stop reading. You'..."They bug me. I got better with it when Kindle finally included a means of reporting them. However, grammar and spell check will not catch them all. I was doing a beta read and ran a book through and it didn't catch some of the typos or outright errors in usage that I did. Add to that, that when I commented on it to the author and she made my corrections while rechecking it for herself, she found some I didn't include. Part of that is because I was supposed to be reading for characters and plot continuity and not grammar and punctuation. After the beta read, the author sends it on elsewhere for proofreading.
I know that I cannot catch my own typos and really sucked at proofreading my own work professionally. I had one boss who was really excellent at doing so, but the rest were only average. Legal writing has its own idiosyncrasies.
Sadly, I can't think of any author I have read in a while that didn't have at least 1 to 3 errors. At this point, that is my they did good line. I even have a few printed books by well-known popular authors lately that included a typo. That really annoyed me, considering the cost of a hardcover book.
Scout wrote: "Can I become a beta reader?"Find an author and volunteer. I have done it for a few authors, but I only do it for one now because of the health problems. I started doing it through being on mailing lists and authors asking for volunteers.
Beta readers are generally looking at the mechanics of the plot, characters, world building. Are the chapter breaks appropriate? Does the story build excitement of wanting to keep reading. That final review of spelling and grammar falls to another group or an editor.
Amy is kind enough to send out her revisions. It's very difficult for me sometimes because trying to reread something I just read, after it has been revised with pieces being moved around, deletions and additions. That doesn't happen with every author. Most will send you a final version for free, but it's up to you to read it and figure out its changes. I generally set it aside and only read the final version right before I do the next book Beta read.
I am part of a local 'Apostrophe Posse.' We hunt down errant apostrophes and attempt to sort them out. We also share badly written news articles for giggles, because if we didn't giggle, we'd cry.You'd probably be an excellent proofreader, Scout. I can say from experience, that as a writer, I will sometimes read what I thought I wrote, not what I actually wrote, when proofreading. For a writer, it's about being too familiar with the work, which means sometimes unintentional mistakes remain uncorrected.
Mind you, if you were to proofread for Australian or English writers, you'd have to enjoy our use of the letter 's' when you'd use 'z,' and the extra 'u' we place in words such as colour and honour. I've also noticed that Americans hyphenate a lot more than we do, and sometimes don't have as many double letters in some of their words.
I am glad to have it, but I feel obligated to read books I can get for free. In the meantime, all the specials offered by various authors along with my regular buys in certain series (Amy Duboff. M.D. Cooper, Tom Shepherd, Lindsay Buroker, David Drake's Lt. Leary series) and some used paperbacks in the Kris Longknife series I have been working on getting , I have 52 ebooks and 23 printed books accumulated over the past 5 months awaiting my attention. (Or more, I didn't actually count.)
But, I can't pass up the chance to finish the Silver Ship series for free, or J.J. Green's various series. Now, I have had to add the Bad Luck Charlie series too. The problem with free KU, is the discovery of new series that I want to read. The list got so long I broke it down into 3 lists.
With the coronavirus situation, a lot of authors have provided free or 99 cent books. I am actually afraid to open any more emails, because of all the offers that I will find difficulty in passing up.
I was planning on buying a new e-reader, but that comes with 3 months of free KU. I called Amazon and asked if I could delay the start of the free 3 months and they said no. The last thing I need is 3 more months of free KU right now. But, when sales happen in July, if they are steeply discounted, I will have difficulty saying no.
Does anyone else have a problem saying no to books? Is it possible to have too many? I never had this problem when we had only 1 bookstore, the library, and I was unaware of Amazon.