I recently discovered the Reader Problems Tag on Into The Bookcases and immediately wanted to take part. I have so many reader problems – too many books to chose from so end up wasting loads of time trying to pick and the age-old so many books, so little time! So this seemed a perfect tag for me to join in with.

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

With great difficulty! Ha! Seriously, my TBR is around 5000 at the moment and that is books that I own, if I were to add all the books on my wishlist to that it’d easily be over 7000! I mostly read on Kindle these days and I have all my books in categories and sub-categories so it makes it easier to narrow choice down if I know what type of book I’m in the mood for. The time when it becomes impossible is when I’m not sure what I feel like reading, then I just sometimes feel quite overwhelmed. I’ve recently made a list of all the books I own that I absolutely have to read soon, so now I just start at the top of that list and see what catches my eye! I’ve only started reviewing books recently so I keep a list of my arcs with publication dates and always prioritise those above my own books.

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

This is such a hard question. I’ve always found it completely impossible to give up on a book once I’ve started reading but nowadays I usually have 3 or 4 books books on the go at once so if one of them is not grabbing my attention it can fall by the wayside. I don’t look on it as quitting, just putting a book on pause for a while (but if I were to be honest some books never get picked up again).

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?

Yes I always try to catch up. If there was still a few weeks left of the year I would just re-prioritse my life and maybe watch a bit less telly, if it was down to a few days I would read some novellas. It kind of feels like cheating but if the novellas were already on my TBR then they were obviously books I planned on reading sometime anyway so not really cheating. I wouldn’t be too upset if I didn’t complete the challenge though, it’s just one of those things.

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

This only bothers me if it’s a favourite series. I prefer my series books that I’m going to keep forever to match so I would try really hard to find the matching cover to the ones I already had. If that wasn’t possible I’d have to grin and bear it until such a time I could afford to re-buy the whole series in one go to guarantee matching covers. This is one benefit of reading on an ereader – you don’t have to look at the covers on a shelf all the time so it doesn’t matter if they don’t match.

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

It all depends on if I can find someone who also disliked the book! Otherwise it tends to be my lovely mum-in-law as she’s a bookworm to so she understands.

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

I try to avoid reading books that are likely to make me cry when I’m in public, but if I get caught off-guard I just try to avert my head so people can’t see me so easily, and just have to hope it doesn’t turn into noisy, ugly crying!

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?

Ideally I would re-read the book but it’d depend if I had the time. I usually end up googling or looking through reviews of the previous book to try and refresh my memory.

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

I’m very particular with my books and like to keep them immaculate so I really don’t like lending my books to anyone. I’m very open and honest about the fact that I don’t lend my books to anyone so people usually know not to ask me. I find it quite easy to say no because I only keep my most precious books now and there is no way I’m risking them being damaged or getting lost.

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

Reading slumps usually happen to me when I’m either under a lot of stress or when I’m not well, so I just have to ride it out. If it’s getting me down that I can’t get into a book and it’s been a while I’ll go back to one of my old favourites that is like a comfort read. Sometimes I’ll treat myself to a wish list book that I’m desperate to read but haven’t been able to justify buying and that usually gets me reading again.

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

It depends how much spare cash I have at that particular time! I’ve been known to buy 6 or 7 books at once on a big book release day. I add books to my Amazon wishlist all the time so whenever I have any spare money I just scroll through the list and pick whatever jumps out at me at the time.

Please feel free to share links to your Reader Problems Tag questions in the comments box, I’d love to read them.