I make no secret here that I am 100% a mood reader. I choose books based off of what I’m feeling that day or week. Before I came to terms with this I would start books and then just abruptly stop reading them about halfway through. (I still do this sometimes…) That was a huge detriment to my overall reading pace and enjoyment.
Another huge downside of mood reading is that I have been reading a lot of the “same” book for months now. I’m on a huge romance kick right now. Any kind I can get my hands on, though I’m partial to sports romance right now. This isn’t a problem per se. I’ve read 31 books so far this year and it’s only the end of May! And these aren’t tiny little novellas either. In fact, over half of those books have been over 350 pages. Some even over 500! But…30 of those have been classified in the genre of “romance.” Am I having fun? Heck yes. So I’ll probably just keep going how I’m going. 😛
I’ve noticed that my reading speed has increased as well. This past month I read 9 books. NINE! I don’t even know how I did that! Maybe the style of writing has something to do with it, but it truly goes to show that if you want to read more, you should just follow where your current enjoyment is. Read like nobody is watching!
I used to get so caught up with reading things people would be impressed with, or that everybody else is reading. There’s a strong sense of community that comes along with being a reader and it’s definitely more fun to get to fangirl about whichever book you’re on. However, I’ve found that if I read things because other people like them, I tend to burn out faster. So yes, I really do want to read that literary fiction you brought up the other day, but if I’m not in the mood it might take me months to get through that one book.
As much as I want to be a part of a book club that all reads the same book, that’s just not how my little reading heart works. I’d much prefer a book club that meets to rant about their current read, no matter what it is. I just like to hear people get excited about books. And maybe, that’s the mood I’m in too and I’ll be the next one to read it.
That all being said, I do acknowledge that if you just read the same thing it gets a bit monotonous. I’d love to dig my teeth into some good fantasy books to start working on my own world-building. I have a few physical books on my TBR that I am really ready to read. (One that I started a couple of weeks ago and strangely put down for a week…as I tend to do.) And there’s that ever present desire to read books that are like pure poetry and make me remember why I fell in love with writing and reading in the first place.
I’m not sure if I’ll get myself to read all those books waiting for me, but I’m hopeful. At the very least, I’ve realized that I really like reading on my e-reader. Reading just goes so much faster for some reason.
Hope you are all reading what you enjoy! Don’t be afraid to give into the mood reading every once and a while (or always).
Happy Reading!
Rachel
Subtle Stories 