If you review books either formally for authors and publishing houses, or even just for Amazon, this blog today is for you. I thought it would be fun to pose the question to you all and have you come up with the top five ways you know how you have too many books to review. Post a comment with your thoughts and I'll post who I think had the most creative answers by Sunday. But don't worry, I won't send you a book if you win. :) You just get a mention here.
Here are my top five ways I know I have too many books to review!
1. My bookshelves were buckling and I had to borrow from the savings account to buy more bookcases.
2. I get giddy with relief when I open a package and discover I already have the book.
3. My friends at church run when they see me because I've given them too many books.
4. I want to do a Snoopy Dance when my mailbox is empty.
5. Even if I quit my job and read full-time it would take me two years to read all of the books on my TBR pile.
Now tell me, what are your top five???
22 comments:
Pretty funny, Michelle! Although as a reviewer I feel your pain, i think it's pretty sad that when I finally have my own book out there for review, people are complaining about having too many books! RoFL
My top 5 ways I know I have too many books to review are:
1) My family is afraid to touch any book in the house, lest I scream I haven't reviewed it yet.
2) I've maxed out the number of rows on my Excel spreadsheet where I track all book reviews.
3) When I consider writing a Little House on the Prairie fan fic just to take a break from reading.
4) I consider bribing the mailman to reroute my mail.
5) I consider moving and not leaving a forwarding address.
Here's mine:~
1. I can't actually get to my computer to type a review because of the buildup of books on the floor in my study.
2. Over 50 people borrow books from my "library" with around 200 books out at a time and I still don;t have enough book shelf space
3. I have recruited my nephew, cool teenage friend and her mum to do reviews for me
4. I don't have time to input data on my new way cool Collectorz software which is going to make keeping track of my books so easy, because I need to read said books!
5. I contemplate giving my 10 year old daughter Ted Dekker's Adam to review - LOL!!!
Funny post! I review books informally, but I'm nowhere near feeling your pain. I still have room!
Ok i have just started posting reviews but do have the bulging bookcase
1. My mother (who I live with) Considers the mail delivery lady as a close friend and had a chat with her each time she delivers a parcle (this really happens she told her again this week shes her most regular visitor!)
2. The deliverly lady waves to you and if shes stopped as you past tells you if she has dropped something off or is going to.
3. You start to see the books are your friends.
4. Friends from church etc start coming around just to borrow books.
5. Your friend want you to leave your books to them in your will (dont laugh i have 3 friends fighting over who will get my books when i die! we figure if i get bumped of Naomi hired a hitman just for my books)
1) My stacks of unread books keep falling over.
2) I let my younger siblings read books first if they promise not to tell me anything about them - because I know it'll be weeks before I get to them.
3) Only the reviews with deadlines get done.
4) Books that I've wanted to read for years and went out and purchased sit unread on my shelves.
5) This becomes a necessity rather than a luxury.
1. Books keep falling on the floor from every available counter top.
2. My husband opens the mail box and raises his eye brow, again.
3. I realize that I still have a book I meant to donate to the library because it was mixed in the pile that fell off the china hutch.
4. I come up for air from the pile at the foot of my china hutch in order to answer the door for my mailman...
5. I'm reading at 2a.m. because I gave my word to post. Then blogger won't accept photos and I have to catch a plane. Then I get delayed in the airport and actually consider paying the highway robbery for internet to get the post done. Until my husband raises both eye brows!
1) When I turn on the TV, just to take a break
2) When the Book Exchange at church starts to develop a double-shelf situation. Let me clarify. My review copies go to the free library at my church. Double-shelving is when you have one row of books on the outside, and a second row toward the back that you can't even SEE!
3) I don't do reviews every week or even every month. I do them "between books" -- but I know I have too many piled up when I put off work on my own book to do overdue reviews.
4) When I skim or speed-read the middle in order to get to the resolution. My bad!
5) When my husband, the bookaholic, moans, "Oh no! Not another romance!"
5)
Just wondering, Michelle, can you recommend a speed-reading course?? I'm so far behind with my to-be-read stack that I may never catch up! It gets so hard to choose between books I "should" read and the ones I really want to read.
You KNOW you're reviewing too many books when:
1. You start sub-letting books for review.
2. Your bed frame is resting on
18" high stacks of books.
3. Your postman has sited you as the primary cause of his back injury.
4. Your husband has moved into the guest room so he can sleep at night without hearing giggles and gasps.
5. Your dinner guests found bits of printed pages in their pasta.
1) My baby's first word was not mama, not dada - but 'booka'! I was delighted. Hubby - not so much.
2) Hubby complains the house feels like a maze, only with books.
3) The mailman gives me the evil eye as once again he trudges to my door with book parcels too big to fit into my mailbox. And the UPS/Fed-ex/DHL guys are on first name basis with my friends and family.
4) My neighbors no longer return books mistakenly delivered. And I don't even realize.
5) I've now donated so many books, my local library calls everytime they're holding a sale and want contributions.
Haven't got to that point yet - I have just recently begun to review and actually would love to do more than I already am. I'm still excited when the mail arrives even though my bookshelves are already overflowing. I just can't get enough books and have a hard time believing the day will come when I don't want another one. The mailman told us that if we kept getting so many packages, the government might investigate to see if we were involved in something illegal. What a joker!
Michelle,
This is HILARIOUS!! I'm kind of new to this, so I don't think I can name 5, but I can tell you this...my husband NEVER calls me at work, but since books started arriving at the house in such massive numbers, he calls with a mail report to tell me how many books I received! To me, that is REALLY hilarious!!
And, I hate to say it, but hubby owns more books than I do! Right now we are literally being crowded from every corner with books, boxes of books, stacks of books! It is ridiculous!
But...that said...I wouldn't change a thing!! I LOVE it!!
Kim
By the way, I won a drawing here a few weeks back, and the publisher sent two books instead of one! Guess I got an bonus book for being nice, huh?
Top five signs I have too many books to review:
1. I actually consider quitting cold turkey from checking my regular stops for book giveaways.
2. Only the books with scheduled posts and no back-up option get reviewed and those are squeezed in like sardines on my calendar.
3. I have to do more than one post a day to get everything on my blog in the week it's scheduled.
4. I have books I bought or borrowed months ago and still haven't read because they aren't on my TBReviewed list. And worse the library books have run out of renewals and I haven't even cracked one of them open.
5. The library becomes my worst nightmare instead of my favorite place to visit.
Melissa
Oh I know you only asked for five but have to add this one - discovering a week later or more that you mistyped your PO Box# on a contest entry and you've had the thing for almost two years and memorized the number ages ago. Where must the brain have been that day? Honestly couldn't say - probably lost in whatever book I was reading at the time. LOL!
Melissa
Top 5 ways for me:
1)I'm getting overdue notices everyday from the library because I'm not reading fast enough
2)Letting my daughters read them so at least someone's read them in the house before they go back to the library
3)My "TBR" shelf on Shelfari is larger than my "I'm Reading" one
4)My bed has taken over where the nightstand left off (thank goodness I only share it with the cat)
5)When a book comes from PaperBackSwap I breathe a sigh of relief that it's a book I've already read and wanted to own!
1. Your postal carrier knows you by first name.
2. Agents / publishers stop asking if you want a book and just mail you a stack knowing you'll read and review every single one.
3. You faithfully post your review even while suffering from 100+ fever.
4. You need a database to keep track of your books and reviews.
5. Other reviewers tell you that you read too much.
Great topic!
1) I'm actually relieved when the mail comes and goes without two or three oversized envelopes.
2) I stop signing up for every blog tour that comes along.
3) I start sending those opportunities to my sister, who's also started posting reviews.
4) Books overflow from all corners of my office and bedroom.
and
5) My husband snags books to read before I can get to him -- and then there are the books I hand to him to pre-read :-)
Okay, I selected a winner based on which list made me laugh the hardest and was most creative. The winner is Rel with this line...
5. I contemplate giving my 10 year old daughter Ted Dekker's Adam to review - LOL!!!
Now THAT shows desperation!!!
Thanks, Michelle :) I feel like I should thank my parents and everyone who ever knew me for this wonderful honour - hahaha!!
And just so no one reports me to Human Services, I didn't ever follow through on my contemplation ;-)
way to go Rel,
I saw the reveiw of Adam and can see you didn't give it to your dd.
I need a spreadsheet to start tracking the order in which I received the books and their release dates.
I groan every time I walk past the growing pile of books and turn my head away from them, hoping they don't SEE me.
I pitch a mini snit when I realize I really do need to read a book for review purposes rather than the book I just bought for pleasure and have been dying to read.
Post a Comment