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Are you a mood reader? Reading moods


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Are you a mood reader? Do you have to be in a certain mood to read certain books? Or do you have a list of books to read and read them in order? Do you make a TBR for the month perhaps (a lot of people on BookTube do this)? Or do you read what mood strikes you?

 

I am a mood reader. I read a variety of genres and for a variety of age ranges. I really have to be in the mood for a certain genre or a certain type of book or I won't enjoy reading it very much. Sometimes I feel in the mood for a specific genre. Sometimes I feel in the mood for a lot of books and it's hard to decide. Sometimes I feel in the mood for only a specific book or a specific author. And usually after I finish one book, I then feel in the mood for another type of book or a book of another genre.

 

When I go to the library, I do get a certain stack of books that I then try to finish before they're due. Sometimes I find myself no longer in the mood for a few of the books I loaned, once I've read most of my loans. I'm currently in the "I don't want to read at all" mood, unfortunately (which is a whole other story). So I probably won't get around to reading those last loans (it's a shame but I don't want to force myself).

 

Some mood readers read multiple books at once, so they can read what they are in the mood for that specific moment. That doesn't work for me, I can only really read one book at once. I have tried in the past to read more than one book, but it usually ends up with me picking one book over another and just finishing off that book first. Gladly usually my reading moods last the course of a book. It's harder with series, sometimes I intend to read a series in one go or with only a few books in between, to then find I'm no longer in the mood for the series right now. It took me two months to get around to reading City of Glass, book 3 in The Mortal Instruments series (since reading book 2). But if I leave it too long, I'll have forgot what happened in the previous book(s) of the series (unless it's a children's series where it doesn't matter much and each book is a standalone story).

 

When I pick a book to read out of my owned books, I usually think about genre first. Sometimes I can't decide on the genre, and stand in front of my bookshelves and see what inspires me. Sometimes I read a couple of pages of a book, to then put it down again when I feel I'm not in the mood. Usually I don't read more than a couple of pages, unless I decide to read that book. By the time a couple of pages have passed, I must decide (sometimes one chapter).

 

Near my desk I have three shelves on which I've put my "TBR-soon". Books that for some reason I might want to get to soon or that I don't want to forget about, or authors I want to try out. I try to limit it to one book per author, unless it's a series that I'm currently reading, with a few exceptions (ie. my favourite authors sometimes get multiple books). Books I want to re-read are on this shelf too, but the majority of the books are unread books. If I'm going to pick a new book, these three shelves are usually where I look first. If I can't pick from those books or I want something different, I usually go to my room / homelibrary where the majority of my books are.

 

I have separate 'read-a-thon' shelves, on which I keep some children's books as well as some novella's, basically short books that are suited to the read-a-thon. I used to have these shelves for the monthly read-a-thons. Now that I'm no longer really doing those, I still have the shelves. I could merge the books into my 'TBR-soon' shelf, but it seems like a nice way to split it up. The 'read-a-thon' shelves are small, there is only space for some books (in comparison to my 'TBR-soon' shelves). Sometimes when I want to read something short, for example because I'm going to the library soon or because I want to not be in the middle of a book the next day for some reason, I go to my 'read-a-thon' shelves and pick a novella or short children's book from there (sometimes the shelf also holds picture books).

 

Whenever I buy new books, I think about them and split them up between going to my homelibrary, going to my 'TBR-soon' shelves and my 'read-a-thon' shelves. Every once in a while, usually once the 'TBR-soon' or 'read-a-thon' shelves are getting quite full, I clear up the shelves and decide to put some books in my homelibrary, that I no longer consider a priority.

 

Like I said earlier, sometimes I'm in the "I don't want to read at all" mood. Sometimes I'm in the "I want to read all the books" mood. Sometimes I'm in the "I want to buy all the books" mood. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of books in the world that I want to read. I'm definitely a mood reader.

 

Whew, that was a long post! If you read all that, my thanks go to you! Thanks for sticking with me :).

 

Do you have to be in a certain mood for certain books? Are you a mood reader? Please, share your story :).

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Mood, mood, mood.....all the way! 

 

At Uni I had to be reading a number of books at once, and while there I managed it really well. A year or two after graduating I just lost the desire to read books in that way, and reverted to one book at a time. 

 

I admire readers who set themselves challenges, but I am yet to want to start one myself. For the time being I will stick with what is working for me. :)

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Yes, definitely a mood reader. :D

 

I enjoy a series re-read at the start of the year, when I can read one book after another, know that I`ll enjoy them again, and just check my brain at the door while I immerse myself in a writer`s world. 

 

The rest of the time, I`m flitting from genre to genre. I`ll suddenly get an enthusiasm for memoirs set in Japan and read a few of those, then it`s off to an urban fantasy binge, a few vintage mysteries, cosy mysteries.... :)

 

Lately, I can`t quite `fix` on something, so I`m reading bits of journals or memoirs, or short stories, while catching up on newspapers. I find myself on Amazon yet again - or looking at what people are enjoying on this site - and thinking of adding to my vast TBR. 

 

BTW, Gaia, I like the idea of your `TBR Soon` shelves ( though, I have a `TBR Soon` dining table, which is a bit awkward to get to the back of ). 

Edited by Little Pixie
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Nice to hear you're both mood readers too :):friends3:!

 

15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

BTW, Gaia, I like the idea of your `TBR Soon` shelves ( though, I have a `TBR Soon` dining table, which is a bit awkward to get to the back of ). 

 

Thanks Sarah :)! I found I had some shelf space near my desk when I moved in here a couple of years ago, and it made sense to me to put 'TBR-Soon' books on that. Before then I didn't really keep a TBR-soon, I would always just browse my normal book shelves (which were in my bedroom / office / where I spent most of my time). Only on occasion making a pile of a couple of books (to then put half of them back again once I read the first book, because I was no longer in the mood).

 

But I find nowadays it kind of works for me! Like I said though, sometimes I just browse my normal book shelves anyway, but I do find it helpful. I think there are more than 100 books on there, perhaps 200 :P. I've never counted them. They're 3 long big shelves and stacked almost full lol. Doublestacked front and back and there are books on top of the rows of books too. Because, I want to read all the books! Your 'TBR Soon' dining table sounds nice too :), though I can imagine it's awkward since it's on the dining table.

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I too am a mood reader. I have to be in the right mood for a genre, and my default/easy mood genre is psychological or crime thrillers. If I want to read, but am not in the mood for anything else, thrillers are easy to digest and tear through.

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Another mood reader here, and one book at a time - I've countless unread books on my shelves, but very often I'll browse them and not feel inspired, so will revert to the library or worse, have to make another purchase ;)

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I'm a mood reader as well, and pretty much agree with Athena - I usually have 2 books on the go, my bedtime book and a commuting book (which is usually an easier read, and also easier to carry, big books are saved for the bedside so I don't have to cart them around), but my choice does depend on my mood; sometimes I might fancy a particular genre, or if I've just read something a bit more serious then maybe a short, light read eg cosy crime or a favourite series, will be next.  And yes sometimes I'm spoilt for choice too and can't decide, in which case an old favourite is usually fished out.  I do have a tbr list on Library thing, but don't stick to it that much although I do try to read one from that list sometimes.  My new year reading resolution was to read one old, one new, and it's working a bit, but I'm also trying to read new books fairly quickly as well.  I don't like to have a set challenge as such, as reading is meant to be for pleasure so I don't want it to become something I'm worrying over, as there are more important things to fret over than what book I'm going to read next!

Edited by Madeleine
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I generally crave big meaty fantasy books/series but if I get sucked into the library cycle, then a "quick, lighter read" tends to trump it and I find myself saying "I''ll just race through these ones and then I'll get back to what I was gunning for in the first place".  

 

Sometimes I think that's a BC (Before Children) throwback position from a few years ago  when I could just race through books, so it was the bigger the better, but when it comes down choosing my next book, I'm now not as keen to be reading the same book for several months, which is what tends to happen if I choose the 800+ pagers.

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100% yes. I finish a book and then look at all the hundreds of books I now have WAITING to be read and see which one I fancy. Biography one time, football subject the next, then a WW1 or WW2, or a music biog, or a historical account of something... I rarely read the same genre twice in a row.

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I'm reading May Sarton : at seventy, a journal - I read a few pages every night - and I just read...

 

` it often happens to me that a book lies around for a year and I have no wish to read it and then, suddenly, it is the food I need and I devour it happily`.

 

So good . :)

 

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  • 2 months later...

I am a mood reader, I think that is why I read a couple of books at a time, if one of the ones I am reading isn't grabbing me that night I will pick a different one up.  Its very rare that I don't want to read anything.

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