A Bookish Dilemma. (Make that eleven bookish dilemmas. It pays to be accurate...)

Hello, hello, ye kindreds very dear! 

I know, I know, it's been an age and a half since I last posted anything on here, so this is not so very expected XD I'm always intending to reform on that score, and I sometimes even half-finish posts in the attempt... But do posts get posted at all regularly?? No. They do not. I think I need to get my post-er tuned... But getting back to the point of the story, (I really did have one when I started out, it just got piled under a little :P) guess you what? I have been TAGGED. Yes, really! For the Reader Problems tag, and by the so lovely Lizzie Hexam. This was very kind of her, and we extend a warm and happy thankyou for it in her direction. (Anyway, as best we can. Our compass has been known to whiffle around a bit when the breeze is training to be a gale when it grows up, but it means to land things on the proper doorstep.)

It's really very fortunate that she did, too, because that's usually what it takes to get me actually started on a post, and it is HIGH time I did one! So colour me doubly happy here ;) And in an effort to get this posted with a speedier turnaround rate than I usually tend to pull off, I have been scribbling away at it tonight. (This sentence produces visions of Jo in her scribbling suit up garret in my mind now. I wonder which way the bolster/cushion is turned?? Laurie, be a gem and test the waters, won't you?) Also I have been lamenting the fact that pictures seem to be an unavailable-to-me commodity on here of late. And trying to figure out the Why of it. And deciding that after all, a post without pictures in it is still better than no post at all. So here 'tis, in all its inky completeness!

Le Questions Und Their Answers. (Yes I am mix-and-matching on purpose here :P)

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

Ooh, good question. Probably by whichever one strikes my fancy at the moment. (Or by cover design; that happens too XD) Because there is this Thing that happens where a perfectly good book is wasted on me if read in the wrong mood... So it's only any good reading one that sort of reaches out and Gets me where I stand at that precise moment in time :P

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

Meh. I may skip to another book and come back to it later... In case I read it in the wrong mood the first time and just couldn't properly appreciate it yet, as aforementioned!

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

I mean I've never done a Goodreads reading challenge, but if I'm that close, I'd probably go for it! What are weekends for if not reading binges, after all??

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?

Ummm... Hum. Ideally or Real-ly? (Yes, I know this is many miles from the proper way of saying this thing, but it RHYMES this way. Ish and after a fashion...) Because in reality (THERE is the proper way, see?) there IS a mismatched series in my bookshelf... And I have not done a thing about it, despite it giving me a bit of a downish feeling when I look at them, because they are also not my favourite covers in the world. And they're Anne books to boot, which ought to be clad in pretty things if ever books were. But ahh and alas, brand new books with beautiful covers costs money, darling, (I imagine especially those exquisite watercolour looking ones that I should like to replace them with if I did,) and thrift stores are so handy about stocking bookshelves without breaking the piggy bank, so I sit by and let the thing lie as it does!

5. Every one and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

Hmmm🤔This is difficult. The thing is, it's usually a different person each time! Because tastes can't overlap everywhere, and while we might agree on some, hardly anyone ALWAYS agrees on every single book. And that's what makes bookish arguments one of my favourite things, (which is funny, because I despise any other kind XD) because both parties tend to be very firmly set on their views, and it's just so entertaining to have it out in good humour!

6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

Hide behind the book. I sort of just quiet cry/tear up in cases like that, so if I can just not show my face for a few moments, we're good to go here!

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads? Cry in frustration?!

Erm... Probably read the sequel, go back to the original book, and then the sequel again in case I missed anything the first time around. I'm a chronic rereader... (And rewatcher, in cases of movies... And I'll probably talk about it for days afterwards, because it's somehow become the center of my thoughts XD)

8. You do not want anyone. ANYONE. borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?

This does not apply to me XD I love lending books!! Although I might suggest they sign it out at the library so they could have the whole series at once, if it happened to be in one... 

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

Keep looking for the right book. Because they hook you, and you just can't help reading them when you find them. (Or they find you?)

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?

Zero XD I wait very impatiently for the library to get them in, because as mentioned somewhere in the upper reaches of this post, new books are EXPENSIVE. And the costs stack up fast. And what if you don't even like it after all that?? This is not a risk I am often prepared to take.

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?

This depends very much on the time of year (we be farmers 'round here, in case I haven't said that often enough yet XD) it'll probably take me longer in the spring and fall. But all bets are off if I get pulled in by the story right off the bat; then I snatch it in snippets whithersoever I can possibly stick my nose in it! Otherwise? Depends if I'm in the mood. And how much I've been reading recently. The more I read, the more I tend to want to read :P

And that, I do believe, was the end! Also the fastest I've ever answered tag questions before, these all just had such convenient answers to themselves waiting in the wings, apparently😄 And since the day is ending right on cue too, this seems like a good time to call it a wrap! As always and ever, the tag is here for the snitching if anyone feels like it, and I would be delighted to read your answers below if this happens to happen :)

And also. Have a brand new leaflet (okay, so it's just on the same stretch of page as everything else, but we will PRETEND there is a leaflet,) with the original list of questions for your benefit, in case of anyone out there deciding they would also like to take a whack at it...

And with that, I am hitting the Post It button, and diving under the covers. (Also I am suddenly being hit by the urge to sign off the way I did the very first time I posted on here, which I believe I shall. For old times sake, shall we say?)

"Goodbye, and may you always see a happy face in your looking-glass!"

~Emi

Le Questions (Minus the answers. This is like a potluck—and you're in charge of those ;)

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?

5. Every one and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads? Cry in frustration?!

8. You do not want anyone. ANYONE. borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?