The Pros and (mainly) Cons of being a Mood Reader

Hey guys! First of all can we just preface this post with a round of applause for me (promise I’m not being bigheaded <3) because this is the first time since like October that I’ve had more than 1 post out in a month!! And this isn’t a recap!

Second of all – let’s introduce the post! So. The infamous tbr. Pages and pages of a Goodreads list; minutes of scrolling through the books I’ve bought on my Kindle. Books I want to reread (before getting to sequels or just for fun). No wonder us bookworms find it difficult to choose what books to read next – there are just too many?!

Although it varies from person to person I am 100% a mood reader. Monthly tbr lists don’t work for me, and nor does picking randomly – I need to be in the mood for a book or I just won’t like it?? So although mood reading does have it’s perks (e.g. 90% of the time the book will be at least a 3.5 star because I’m in the mood for it??), at the same time, there are definitely negatives. So let’s get into it! :).

THE NEGATIVES

5 pts to you if you get why I’m using this gif 😉

• Not getting through the TBR list: The biggest issue with me being a mood reader is that it’s so hard to get through the tbr list because I’m always in the mood to reread?? This might not be the case for all mood readers but oh my goodness is it a difficult choice to make. I have so many books I want to get through on my tbr and yet I’m always in the mood to reread old favourites or even old books that weren’t favourites. It’s a struggle because while the tbr list is constantly growing, I’m hardly making a dent in it.

• Sometimes it ruins books on my tbr list: take my most recent read, What If It’s Us, I gave the book 4 stars. And it was amazing (click the book title to read the full review)! But parts of it definitely varied for me in terms of my enjoyment, to the point where one part of it I gave 3.5 stars and another the full 5? So even if I know I really want to read a book and even if it’s been on my tbr for ages, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll enjoy it when I get round to it. If I’m not in the mood? Another example is ‘Moxie’ which I gave 2 stars the first time I read it and then 3.75 the next?

• Not reading when the hype is: one big thing is that I’m never in the mood to read new releases?? Which means I never get to books at the peak of their hype, and then I feel like I’m missing out? For example, Red White and Royal Blue sounds really good but I still haven’t read it. So when every other blog post in my reader was about this book and how amazing it was I didn’t know what anyone was talking about & every comment became ‘Can’t wait to read this! On the tbr!’. I tend to miss out on the initial hype which is a shame?

• Hitting a slump: the worst thing is when I hit a slump and am not in the mood for anything. Which seems to be happening at the moment. I just finished the Caraval series which was so insane, then Loveboat, Taipei which I really enjoyed, and then a reread of my all-time favourite The Hate U Give. So what do I read now?? Nothing’s appealing to me at the moment after such reading success?!
  On the flip scale of this though is when I’m in the mood for EVERYTHING. Then how am I supposed to pick?

How do you pick what books to read next? Are you a mood reader? Do you relate to anything I’ve mentioned?

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