15 Day Book Blogger Challenge | Days 4-10

The 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge is hosted by April from Good Books and Good Wine, and you can find out all about it here. 

Soo, I've been failing at this challenge. Partly because I've been travelling and without Internet and partly because I'm lazy. But I really do like these ideas for posts, so I'm going to try to catch up and do the last couple of topics.

Day 4: What's the last book you flung across the room?

I don't think I've ever actually flung a book across the room. I'm obsessed with keeping my books in perfect condition, so throwing a book across the room would hurt my soul more than the book itself. There's a couple that have gotten dangerously close, though, and one of them is Kiss Crush Collide by Christine Meredith. It felt like this book was written with the sole intent of pissing me off. The main character is a spoiled brat, the romance storyline is solely physical because neither character has a personality, the fact that this romance occurs while the main character is still going out with another guy is not an issue, the details of the story don't match up, and on and on and on. I can't express my anger towards this book; it was just one big ARGGGH.

Day 5: Recommend a tear jerker.

Tear jerker, yay! I cry at everything, so there's quite a few books I could talk about here. But the book that has made me cry more than any other is Jo Knowles's See You at Harry's. Jo Knowles's writing is always atmospheric and raw and heartbreaking - I'm pretty sure I've cried reading all of her books. And See You at Harry's especially killed me. I can't talk about the actual plot a whole lot because that would spoil it, but it's about a family dealing with a tragedy, and it's heartbreaking and honest and horrible and amazing and just perfect. If you want a book that'll make you bawl your eyes out, this one is definitely it.

Day 6: Describe how you shop for books.

That depends on whether I buy books online or in an actual store. When I buy books online, I choose them carefully and consider how much money I should spend. I usually go through my wishlists and lists of recent releases to decide on a couple of books I want, and then I look at reviews to decide which ones I end up buying. When I go into a bookstore, I am no longer capable of rational thinking. I go into the YA section and start seeing books I want and just piling them on. Once I have a stack of books that I will never be able to afford, I go through them again and settle on which ones I actually want, but I still end up buying too many and spending too much money. Seeing the actual books in bookstores just makes it so much harder to say no...

Day 7: Talk about your blogging quirks.

- I NEED to write my review right after I finish a book - I don't let myself start the next book till I've reviewed my last read. The only exception is when I'm travelling; then I take notes on what I'm going to say in my review and start my next book, and write my actual reviews for all of them when I get home. That already kind of freaks me out - I don't understand how bloggers who are like 10 reviews behind do it, because I forget everything about a book basically as soon as I start the next one.

- When I buy or receive a book and feature it on My New Treasures, I immediately format my review for the book by creating a post with the cover image, description, and all the details I have at the top of my reviews. I don't even know why; it just makes me feel more organized, even if it means I have way too many drafts of reviews of books that I might never read or review.

- I almost never buy books from Amazon, but I use their wishlists to keep track of books. I have a bunch of separate lists, like one for books I want that have already been released, one for books that haven't been released yet, one for books where I'm waiting for the paperback release, one for books that I want finished copies of, one for books I'm planning on featuring in a Bookish Anticipation post, and so on. I know most people use Goodreads for stuff like this, but I like Amazon because you can add a note, and I always put the book's release date as the note.

- I can never start writing my review until after I've settled on a rating. I know I should get my thoughts down first and then base the rating off of that, but more often than not, I choose the rating first and let that determine the overall tone of the review.

Day 8: Quick! Write 15 bullet points of things that appeal to you on blogs.

1. Personality. 

2. A nice design with a font that's easy to read.

3. Discovering new books instead of just seeing reviews of books that everyone is reading.

4. Interacting with readers and responding to comments.

5. Enthusiasm and passion.

(Sorry, I'm too lazy for more than 5...)

Day 9: Why do you blog about books?

I love talking about books, and I don't know enough people in real life to discuss books with because barely anyone I know reads YA - connecting with other readers will always be the #1 reason to keep blogging. But even if there wasn't a single person reading my blog, I still love writing reviews and such because it makes me think about what I'm reading - I like trying to figure out why I liked or disliked something, and blogging has taught me so much on reading critically.

Day 10: How do you choose what book to read next?

Honestly, what I read when has very little to do with the actual content of the books - I try not to read two similar books in a row, but that's really it; the rest is outside factors. One big one is the release date and when I have to have a review up. Another one is format: I read paperbacks when I'm going somewhere and hardcovers and ebooks (no ereader, so I have to read on my computer) when I'm at home.

Wow, those were a lot of topics in one post - had a lot to catch up on! Let me know your answers to any of the questions in the comments!