Friday, June 24

Some More of This and That...

Book Buying Freeze

After telling Maili to squeeze (embezzle) extra money out of household expenses to buy books, I've managed to squeeze every last dime I could out of our budget and now am putting myself on buying hold for a few weeks. But, because I am a weak book junkie, I'm not sure I can do it. Avoiding stores that sell books might help, but not an easy task. Though I did go to Wal*Mart yesterday and managed to get in and out without looking at a book. But, why is it I can't get out of that store without spending a minimum of $80.

I know there are people who consider WM "The Evil Empire" at times myself included, it's not my first choice for shopping, but I needed a birthday present for a little girl from my son's class (his first real kids only party is this weekend) and the little girl's mom is a regular WM shopper, I figured if she needed to return the gift (a "Sky Dancer" and a "My Little Pony", it would be easier for her to return them to WM.)

Fallen From Grace

I finished this Wednesday night. It is an excellent book, and I'm passing it on to my sister tomorrow. I'm curious if the roles were reversed and the heroine was the prostitute, would a man not be affected by this and would he be able to get past it? I don't know--we may be liberated, but are men truly liberated enough to accept a woman's sexual history (good, bad or ugly).

The TBR Pile

Well, thanks to the trade group I now have a very nice TBR pile. I'm not like most romance readers, I don't keep hundreds of books on my TBR pile. For me, it's normally about 10-20. Now, it's 40-50, which is absolutely huge for me. After I buy a book if it no longer interests me, I move it out, usually to my sister (that way I can get it back if she likes it.)

Between buying books and books showing up in the mail, new books are appearing on an almost daily basis. I realized if I related my TBR pile to an inventory system I'm a LIFO (last in first out or maybe it should be LIFR, last in first read) reader. Not a great method if you have a lot of books, you never make it to the "bottom."

"I'm supposed to like this author..."

We all blog hop and check in on message boards and hear about hot authors we're supposed to absolutely love. But, sometimes we come across an author that it seems everyone else in the romance reading world loves and we are left with a great big HUH!!

I hate when this happens. I always feel like something is wrong with me and my tastes, and wonder what I'm missing. After finishing FFG, I picked up a "highly" recommended Harlequin Temptation and WHAM, I hate the writing style. This is the 3rd book by this author that I've read and I really wanted to like her books. And, no I'm not going to tell at this point, because I have a couple more that I'm going to try before giving up.

So with all these books...

Why can't I decide what to read next. This is probably why I don't keep a huge TBR pile in the first place, too many choices. I'm taking Junior to the playground this morning and then we'll spend the afternoon floating in the pool. I need a book for that, so I need to decide on something quick.

Have a great day (and weekend), and happy reading.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never used to keep a large tbr pile either. Usually 5-10 books, but then when I started a new job I realized I was averaging a book every three days and with only 5-10 in my pile I was going to run out quickly. So I went on a bit of a buying spree and bumped the tbr up to about 30. It's even out now, I read about 13 books a month and buy about 5-10 a month. Still reading more than I'm bringing in but at least I've got a bit of a cushion.

Oh and read Sex & the Serial Killer! So you can send it to me when youre done! ;)

Tara Marie said...

Hey Jay--Sex and the Serial Killer it is.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that doesn't have a truly massive TBR pile. I read 15-20 a month so I find myself buying books every month too.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, I can't get out of Walmart without spending 100 bucks.