Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is: Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have. I tried not to rant too much but failed at the end. Sorry!

Goodreads 

I love finding new books on Goodreads but the site has changed a lot and I now find it a little more unreliable than before. Books rated 4.2 stars often turn out to be not my cup of tea at all (one of the last books I read falls into this category). To be fair, this tends to be for YA/Contemporary books - especially if it's a romance and/or New Adult. I've said it before, experience dictates books classified as New Adult don't usually resonate with me. Actually, let's make NewAdult a separate point. TBC further down the list. However, getting back to Goodreads, I suppose from now on I will tread carefully when I see a book with a high rating. 

Exploring Other Genres 

I'm rubbish at reading outside of contemporary fiction. Maybe once a year I'll read a sci-fi/fantasy book. Occasionally, I'll pick up a non-fiction book. I do like memoirs but don't get to those enough either. I always say I'm going to diversify my TBR list - and I do note down interesting looking books outside of contemporary - but when it comes to parting with my cold hard cash, I'll usually stick to the tried and tested. 

YA Addiction 

I read too much YA. I know you should read what you like but I'm sure I'd benefit from reading more 'adult fiction'. I try to read one YA, one adult/other book each week but more often than not this turns into two YA. 

Too Many New Friends 

I should take a leaf out of Drake's book and introduce a 'no new friends' rule into my reading habits for the next few months. I don't take enough time to re-read old favourites or books published more than two or three years ago. 

Not Enough Debut Love

Having said that, I seem to miss debut novel releases and catch up on them a year later. I noticed this when looking through my 2014 read list in preparation for YA Superlatives. If I didn't have this blog then fine, I could read whatever. However, even though I don't have masses of followers and such like, I feel obligated to champion a few debut authors because getting published for the first time should be celebrated! 

E-Book Blackouts

Summer Roberts had rage blackouts. I have E-book shopping blackouts. On Sunday nights, I seem to leave it to the last minute to update my Spotify playlists for the train and sort out my reading for the week. As a result, I hit Amazon, iBooks, and Nook and panic buy. Then I start reading one of my new purchases and think 'what the hell?!' This is why you should only buy books from your thoroughly researched TBR lists. 

Review Laziness

More often than not I'll highlight passages and make short notes whilst reading so that I can refer to them when I write the review. Except I usually don't end up writing the review. For example, I really want to discuss After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I Was Here by Gayle Forman but I just can't muster up the energy to write a proper review/discussion. When I get home, after spending all day looking at a screen, the last thing I want to do is type something else. It's terrible but on the plus side, you know that if I do post a review I probably really liked the book (or had some time off). 

Bookseller Pressure

When I go into a bookshop - especially if it's a smaller one - I usually feel obligated to buy something because bookshop employees are usually really, really lovely. I should know - I was one! A lot of the time they won't have the books on my TBR list, so I browse the shelves and end up with a handful of books that end up on my bottom shelf or in the basket by my bed for YEARS. I cleared out a lot of them the other day for donation. Terrible waste. 

Diversity 

This is one of the worst things about my reading habits. I don't support diverse books enough when I really, really should if I want my future children to see themselves reflected in the books they're reading. 

New Adult 

I love books featuring 20-somethings growing up and making their way in the world. After all, I'm in the same boat. I love books set in the college environment. I wanted to go to an American university soooo badly, so I'm all for those novels. However, I haven't really found many NA books that I've enjoyed. 

I think it just has something to do with the label. It seems as though these books are often set in college or just after college and feature a hapless gal who is usually some kind of musical prodigy/dancer/artist/all round clever clogs with side-swept bangs and green eyes and lots of off the shoulder tops. She then meets a 'bad boy' either in the sense that he has tattoos and growls everything he says or he's the star of a sports team and a player in both senses of the word. They dance around each other for half the book before they finally get together and the rest of the book is just them hooking up - or even getting engaged! Yes, I've read ones where this happens, it's crazy (to me anyway). Occasionally they have to help out a sick parent or a child or something equally 'noble' but that's usually a very small part of the plot. 

I don't like to rant but that's how I feel. Now, if you can point me to a book classed as New Adult that does not follow that formula, send the recommendations my way and I'll happily give it a go.