Bookish Musings - Becoming Mood Reader Reliant

Bookish Musings is a feature here at Beautiful Bookish Butterflies that allows one of us to share our thoughts and opinions, talk and discuss things happening in the book and blogging community or share a personal book related issue we have. Today, Amanda is talking about what it means to suddenly become mood reader reliant. Why does choosing a book have to be such a chore, and why is it such a difficult task?

Right now, in this moment, I should be reading something. I don't what I should be reading, or why, but I should be, because right now, that's what my brain is screaming at me to do. It's making my lie across my bed and stare at my bookcases or the pile on books on my bedside and it's telling me 'just choose a book, any book, it doesn't matter what book, any book will do!' but in truth, any book won't do, and I've hit that reading brick wall. Everyone's brick wall will be different; it might be that yours is 'I've got nothing to read' when in fact, you've got two bookcases full of unread books, a backlog of ARC's and you've got books shoved under your bed, or it could be the 'I'm just in a slump or a rut and I want to find the perfect book to get me out of it' but neither of those are what my brick wall is like. My brick wall is not knowing what I'm in the mood for, hence my brain is shouting at me and it all stems from becoming mood reader reliant..

I never used to be a huge mood reader, in fact, I used to make a tedious lists of books I would read each month, crossing them off, ticking boxes saying I've read the book, reviewed the book or 'othered' the book but either way, I would have a list of books and I'd pick off that list which would both help me work through my stocks of unread books and allow me to mood read, but somewhere between then and now, I've sort of ditched the list and become solely reliant on what books I'm in the mood for, which then leads me to this exact scenerio; not knowing what I want to read. It leads to me doing exactly what I'm doing in between breaks writing this post, I'm staring at my shelves looking at all the books I have and not having a clue what one to choose, what one to read or what one to even consider and it's driving me mad, a bit like this..


I mean, there are books I'll read, but I really want to read specific things right now, but for some reason or another, I can't. What were the chances that every single book that is either lined up to be read for my read-a-thon (it's currently the 22nd of May, so don't be confused, we're doing some time travel is all), read-a-long with a friend or part of my Summer TBR (which I guess I could break into, but technically that would be cheating until it's been published, which also sucks, because it's currently the 22nd of May and that won't be posted until June) would be a book I would want to read right in this moment? I'd like to think very slim, but right now, it's frustrating and it makes me very angry. Yes, I could edit that Summer TBR post and break into a book that's listed there, but I want to save them for then because I know they'll be fantastic reads for then, like, perfect timing, so what do I read right now?

I guess I could break into some of ARC copies, but truth be told, I'm really not feeling any of the ARC copies I've got, and it'd be unfair to force myself to read one that I might not enjoy because I'm not feeling it, when if left to the right moment, I might love it, which is what basically happened months ago when I forced myself to read Angelbound. Then of course, there's re-reading a book and let me tell you, right in this moment, there's a few I would love to re-read again, specifically, The Geography of You and Me, since I just got my physical copy from a giveaway (yay!) but I feel like it'd be wasteful to re-read a book when technically I'm not in a rut or a slump, I'm just confused and don't know what to read. Re-reading a book would just prolong the feeling of confusion so that I'd feel this in a day or two rather than now, and as Lincoln said, why leave 'til tomorrow what can be done today? (or felt, it just depends on the subject at hand) So, what do I do? Do I force myself to read something? Break into pre-planned reads? Re-read? Or do nothing?


I adore how I've basically just spent the last 30 minutes typing up this post asking for help that I'll get after the event for a problem I have right now instead of actually doing something about the situation, which just shows what kind of high level procrastinator I really am, but I guess I just needed to get this out of my system. At some point tonight, I'm still going to have to start a book (any god damn book right now) and just read it, or wait until I can somehow get a copy of Scarlet which I'm craving, (hope to tomorrow from the library, it was really very good) give into my need to re-read The Geography of You and Me, (which I really shouldn't do, I'll just get all the feels and cry again which isn't good) or bring in my Mother to make a decision for me- hey, that's a good idea, why didn't I think of that before, problem solved! (she ended up choosing Sister's Red by Jackson Pearce and because we've got some crazy time travel shizz going on, I'll be able to tell you what the future version of current me thinks of the book before a more future of version of me publishes this post. Confused? So am I, but here's what the Amanda who's just finished Sister's Red thought of it: It started off pretty well, the opening scenes were strong and well thought out, but then it just descended into a flurry of mope, woe is me and overbearing romance. It's a no from me. Well, that was hella confusing.

So after that windmill of emotions and confusion, let's ask some questions. Are you a mood reader and thinking you've become mood reader reliant? Or are you someone I used to be who made lists and spreadsheets to choose what to read next? Do you ask other people's opinions and ever feel in the mood for a book you don't currently have and find yourself heartbroken for the wait? Let me know.