#ShelfLove Challenge 2016
We’re co-hosting the #ShelfLove challenge again this year so join us and read more of the books you already bought!
July topic: Why do you read the books you read? Explore why you gravitate towards certain genres and/or authors. How do you pick the next book you will read?
Julie’s Challenge Update:
I tend to have a “type” of book I enjoy. I enjoy certain genres over others – like give me an awesome paranormal/urban fantasy in either YA or adult and I’m happy. Give me interesting characters with unique abilities and a fast-moving plot, and I’m happy. Give me a good romance back story or characters I can cheer for, and I’m happy.
There are certain authors that just get me, and just write in a way I enjoy to read. Rachel Vincent is one of them. Jeaniene Frost and Darynda Jones are more. Their series are among my favorites so they must be doing something right.
As for picking my next read, that one can be up in the air. Usually, it is a book club book – unless I’m being lazy/antisocial/not liking the title. Then it is usually whatever book grabs my attention from my TBR (owned, of course, this is #ShelfLove after all). Outside of that, it might be the recent SYNC download or a book available to me from the library. Or maybe something someone recommended and I just had to check it out. I honestly don’t have much of a system.
Speaking of SYNC, they are killing me in this challenge. I’ve been reading/listening to mostly those books I download from them, I mean free and all, and my phone can only hold so much since it is FULL so I have to listen quickly and delete the book before the next week’s books are available. Which means I’m not reading my shelves I’m reading newly obtained/borrowed/whatever you want to call it books. *hangs head in shame*
Lynn’s Challenge Update:
I tend to flit between genres. Recently, I’ve been reading Sci Fi as a palate cleanser from all the paranormal\urban fantasy (both good and not good) that I read this past spring. I tend to switch between genres; I have the attention span of a gnat. I try to never read the same genre two books in a row. And I especially never listen to audio in the same genre that I’m reading. That leads to major plot confusion when I can’t remember which characters belong in which book!
I do have favorite authors. And a TBR list that’s full of books that sound remotely interesting. I pick books because I want to be entertained. I want to feel like I’m right there with the characters, in the sword fight, the car chase, the first kiss. I think this is why Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies. It has everything I’m looking for in entertainment, in one place.
I don’t have any real method for picking what I want to read next. It’s usually whatever book is up on my library queue. Or the book club selection. I finished two books in the past two days (one sci fi that I loved, one urban fantasy that I’m not sure how I feel about). Now, I need some action/adventure, with little to no romance. But who knows what I’ll read after that!
As for my shelf love progress, Julie so helpfully pointed out the other day that I’d been counting books purchased in 2016. Which is apparently against the rules. Needless to say, I’ve gone backwards on the book count this month. But never fear. I am sure I can manage to pick the count back up. Eventually.
How about you? Are you keeping up with your challenge? Do you have a particular method for picking the next book to read? Do you gravitate towards a certain genre?
Link up your monthly challenge post:
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Don’t forget to enter the giveaway after you’ve linked up your monthly challenge posts.
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Julie, you can also download to your computer or tablet. My Kindle was too full to continue downloading this summer’s SYNC books, so instead I am downloading them to my computer. I don’t like how you can’t really “return” them. Up until about March I could, but everything I’ve read since then always comes back with an error.
Ok so it’s not just me! I can’t return them either. The only way I’ve been able to delete them from my phone is going to Overdrive’s settings and files, and delete all. It still lists the book, but says 0 files downloaded.
I have a lot of genres that I love. YA contemporary, dystopian, historical, horror, adult literary fiction, magical realism, and nonfiction books about religion are my go-to genres. I have been trying to branch out a little lately. So far, the results of branching out have been mixed.
I definitely tend to find myself falling back to YA whenever I stray away for a while – especially YA fantasy (and contemporary, to some extent – but that’s just since I’ve been blogging). I feel like I have to force myself sometimes to branch out into other genres because these genres feel so “comfortable” to me.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore – 7/10/16
Looks like you’re both making decent progress (though I’ve forgotten what your goals were!). I try to be careful not to be too strict about reading, because then it gets to be like work — so I always keep room for reading something at random, you know?
Nikki recently posted…Review – The Ancient Paths