At the end of February, I spent a few frustrating days searching for a new historical romance. Never mind that it wasn’t going to be released until the very last day of the month, I had heard that others had found it and I had to have it. Thus I drove to stores I rarely visited, even dragged my husband to a SuperWalmart on a busy Saturday just to see if it had been stocked early. I expressed my frustration at being unable to find it and I felt jealous towards others who had bought and read it already. And on the day before it was released, I found it at a local bookstore, fresh from a just delivered box of books. I was elated, overjoyed, giddy with delight at finally having that book in my hands. Of course I immediately bought it.
And I still haven’t read it.
I find myself wanting to read it, yet not wanting that feeling of delighted expectation to go away. This is a book I want to savor, one I want to read on a rainy day or a lonesome evening by myself. I’ve waited anxiously for months for this book to come out, yet now that I have it, I can’t bring myself to actually read it.
I’ve felt this way for many of the books on my shelf. There’s the last of a trilogy that I eagerly bought the day it was released. Over two months later and I still haven’t read it. Yet I really, really want to read it. The first two books were excellent. Again, I really do want to read it. And then this one book about a vampire brotherhood, and the Beauty and the Beast retelling, and this other “Crazy†one…. Yet I don’t reach for those when searching for the next book to read. I instead grab books that have been there awhile, ones that I’m not quite sure about, or just want to read and give away (which isn’t to say that I’m not picking up good books, because I usually am. I do have excellent taste, after all).
Perhaps I’m drawn to those books I feel will be mediocre to lessen any emotional let-down that a highly anticipated book may bring after reading. And I’m sure some of it is due to all the hype that the books have received. And perhaps my guilt over the mountainous to-be-read pile has me reading the less-anticipated books. Or perhaps I’m just fickle.
In any case, I think I’m going to have to let myself pick these books up. I thought enough of them to buy them when they first came out; I should allow myself to enjoy them now instead of later.
So what do you do when you finally get that book? Do you wait for the perfect moment or do you dive right in the moment you have a bit of free time? Or are you like me and just really fickle?
Who knew reading could be so complicated?
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Yep, I’ve had that happen a few times. Waited impatiently to get the book then when I got it, it just sat there. I’m gonna blame my tbr pile for this one. I think if I look at it look enough, it stresses me out, I feel guilty because there are other great books I want to read, then I go into freeze mode and play on the internet instead of reading, like, ahem, now. It’s pretty sad, actually LOL. I guess I should just be grateful that I do have so many books to choose from, depending on my mood, and actually read them.
Do both, I think.
Treat time vs. impatient lust.
There is something about having an uninterrupted time period, an anticipated book, and a sufficiency of lobster sandwiches ( insert pleasure food of choice here.)
I’m guilty of not reading some straight away even though I’ve been dying to get them. Sometimes it’s because I’m not in the right mood or I’m writing something in the same genre and don’t want to subconciously pick up another author’s voice.
I’m the direct opposite. If I’ve been cooling my heals for a new release, it gets read the same day I buy it. If it’s good enough to warrant a reread, I slowly savor it then.
My problem with a much anticipated book that’s part of a series (think that vampire brotherhood!) is that I get it the day it releases – or earlier if possible – and read it immediately. Then I have to wait at least six months or more for the next installment. What I should do is hold the book until closer to the next release, then the wait won’t be so long.
Who am I kidding?
I have no restraint for chocolate or books that have a huge anticipation factor. I dive in and read.
Sometimes I do exactly that. I want to read the book so badly, but it’s still set to the side. I keep thinking about it…just gotta read it. Have a pile of those now!
Oh, I know exactly what you are saying. I did that when I bought last Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse book. I raced out and bought it as soon as it came out then set it on my dresser like the Holy Grail. The Sookie books only come out once a year and I can read them in a day, so I want to draw out the anticpation as long as I can. Geez, sounds like sex.
I lack the self-control – even as I tell myself I’ll save it for a special evening, I’m reading just the first page. Sometimes if I’m approaching the end of a book I’m loving, I’ll put it down for half an hour so I don’t reach the end just yet – but that’s as restrained as it gets.
And I know, as I’m 42, this next comment marks me out as Officially In Need Of A Life, but my daughter and I have already had the ‘What do we do about the next Harry Potter?’ discussion.
We both think there’ll be something sad about finishing the last book, so do we try and read s-l-o-w-l-y and stretch out the book, or just do the fast & furious read as before?
There are a handful of authors for whom I’ll drop anything to read their new works the instant I get my hands on them. For instance, when Jacqueline Carey’s new Kushiel book comes out in a few months, I’ll be reading it at traffic lights, in the kitchen with the book in my left hand and a spatula in the other, etc. I’m the same way with the Harry Potter books, though in that case it’s because their releases are Events, and I want to be able to discuss them with everyone else who’s just read them.
That said, I do sometimes put off reading books I know I’ll enjoy. E.g. two of my favorite historical romance authors had new releases this month. I bought them nearly two weeks ago, along with a new-to-me author recommended by a friend and two other historicals that caught my eye. Historicals are what I write, and they’re my primary reading genre, but I’m so very familiar with their conventions and common character types that I occasionally burn out on reading them, and I’m in the middle of such a burn-out now. So I haven’t touched any of those books yet, because I want to be sure I give them their fair chance to impress me! Instead I read a nonfiction book (popular science about primatology/anthropology) and a historical non-romance (one of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels), and I’m in the middle of a Jennifer Crusie re-release. That break from historical romance is making them appeal to me again, and I’m pretty sure my next read will at last be one of those March books by a favorite historical author.
I’m fickle as hell because I can buy a bunch of books that I’m excited about and keep glancing at them for that perfect moment and then one week pass and those same set of books look blah to me and then I start wondering why I bought them in the first place. Go. Figure.
Because of my schedule, I usually go bookshopping on Tuesdays (in the business district) and Fridays (in the shopping area).
If it’s a book I took the time to reserve at the bookstore, then it’s gone by the end of the week, if not before midnight the same day.
i cant resist a new book by a favorite author…i have been known to drop whatever i’m currently reading in order to read, say, the newest nora roberts, and the second i recieve a new Diana Gabaldon or Sara Donati everything else blurs into the background as I leap upon it and dont let go until its done (or i have to go to school). I havent been able to do this with the last two harry potters, because they’ve come out while i’m at camp which SUCKS, but if i had been home you would not have seen me for about five hours after it arrived…
how can you wait?
its like buying chocolates at a chocolate shop and not eating ANY until you get home. impossible.
Great topic! And I so know where you’re coming from. I ’save’ up the books I really really want to read until I know I’ll have interrupted time with them. I just want to hunker down and read it from page one to the last page. But my self-control is so bad that I don’t actually buy the books until I have the time to read – because if they’re sitting there, I can’t resist!
I have done that with many books. I was so on fire to get Goddess of the Rose and Jewel of Atlantis the second they came out. I even called the bookstore to make sure a copy would be there. Where are they now? On my bookshelf still unread! I think I wait for that perfect moment, too. I tend to switch gears so fast- last week I picked up several more romances and now I’ve gotten on a nonfiction kick.
Nicole, I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who does this. I’ll be so anxious and excited for a new book by a favorite author to come out, and I’ll buy it immediately, but it’s as if once I have it, I can relax, and into the TBR pile it goes. The two most recent Pratchetts are still in there, as are the latest Amelia Peabody and Midnight Louie installments.
Thank goodness for discussion lists and boards–otherwise I’d never read anything until months or even years after it’s released.
I’ve had books sitting for a couple of years now that I just had to have, couldn’t rest ’til I got it. A very odd off-shoot of being a romance book-a-holic isn’t it?
I do the exact same thing. I rush out and buy or pre-order these books then when I get them I don’t read them right away. My reason is that I like to savoir them. They usually don’t go on my book shelf. They sit out in the open where I can oogle and drool over them for a while. If it’s a series that I really love then I put off reading it also because I’m afraid that the author is going to take the series in a direction I’m not going to like. But yeah, right now I have at least 3 had to have books laying on my TBR pile and 4 more books on pre-order. I’m so bad.
I usually wait to enjoy reading a book I’ve been anticipating. If it’s a hardback, I’ll read the cover pages first and then leave the rest of the book for that perfect moment. (Still haven’t read a Breath of Snow and Ashesand I got that for xmas)
Occasionally even I break. I bought the latest Laurell K Hamilton last week, MICAH and thought I’d just read a little bit…four hours later the kids haven’t been fed and I’ve finished it.