Book Blogger Confessions #9

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Choosing your next book. How do you decide which book to read next? How do you balance “review” reading with “fun” reading?

For me, this isn't too big of a problem - I'm international, so I can't get ARCs or review copies from publishers. The only review books I get are eGalleys from NetGalley (and Edelweiss and GalleyGrab, but mainly NetGalley). So this isn't as big a deal for me as it is to someone who gets more review books than they can read.

I pretty much still have the luxury to read what I want, when I want. I don't often plan what to read next - I just read whatever I'm in the mood for. I usually read my ebooks when I'm at home and have a lot of time on my hands; when I go wherever and take a book with me,  I read the physical books I bought. I organize the eGalleys more or less by release date, but I don't really stick to any type of schedule.

But even though it's not as problematic for me, I think there are a few things you can do. One thing that's really important to me is to schedule ahead. I'm an insane scheduler - I have my reviews scheduled till mid August already - and I get not everybody can or wants to do that. But scheduling ahead just a little is a good idea, I think, so that you don't have a review book sitting there that you haven't started yet and need to have a review up for tomorrow. I don't think I could handle the pressure of having to read that fast - so I try to stay ahead of my schedule in order not to have to stress about an ARC right before the release date.

I also think it's important to read what you like. If you're reading books you feel like you have to read, ones you're only reading for a publisher but that you wouldn't normally be interested in, it's not going to be fun anymore - and if blogging takes the fun out of reading, it's not worth it, in my opinion. People like me, who get a lot of books from NetGalley, need to remember to only request what we really want to read. I still struggle with that, because NetGalley titles are just so tempting! And those who receive physical review books from publishers should keep in mind that you're not committed to reviewing any unsolicited review copies - don't pressure yourself to read something you're not interested in. I really think that reading being fun is the most important thing.

So that's how I think you can balance review books and your own books - schedule ahead, and don't pressure yourself into reading what you don't want to read. What do you think?