Top Ten Tuesday #52 + Teaser Tuesday #13

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is *drum roll*: Top 10 Book Blogging Confessions. This should be entertaining for you guys. It's always entertaining when people have to confess things. And I promise to make it as interesting as possible (but the sad truth is that I am a person of very few secrets. The one downfall to always expressing oneself honestly, I suppose).

Confession #1: My mood can totally affect how I rate a book. I always, always, always try and be fair. I usually force myself to wait and write my reviews until I have got past my mood and can think through the pros and cons rationally; without emotions. It doesn't always help.

Confession #2: I'm not very picky about the condition of books that I buy. Don't get me wrong - I love a pristine hardcover with no blemishes; who doesn't? But if the spine is a bit crushed; if there's some nicks in the dust jacket, or the pages are discolored from age, I don't mind. If the price is right, I'll take it. I consider these books the Oliver Twists of my collection. Who knows how many bookworms have passed over them because they are a bit worn. It's clearly my duty to buy them.

Confession #3: I have thrown books across the room. Yes, I have done it before. Very, very rarely, but there have been a few moments in my life where I was so angry at the Author that I chucked the book good and hard at a wall. Of course, I immediately rushed over and apologized to the book while inspecting it for damage. It's not the book's fault that it contains things that upset me.

Confession #4: I do judge people based on what they read. Everyone has their different tastes, and everyone has their guilty pleasures. I have fallen prey to this myself - and deeply admonished myself. But I am very strict on what I consider literature and cheap entertainment in page format. And if someone is reading a book I consider cheap entertainment in book format, I will privately turn my nose up at them and think, They're one of those.

Confession #5: I actually do get upset when friends don't like a book I loved. I never ever take it out on anyone, and I never ever tell my friends this. But when I'm psyched about a book and a friend reads it, and then is all, "Oh, I hated it" or "It was okay" or "I couldn't get past the first 10 pages; it was a snore fest!" I secretly feel indignant, then irritated, then very, very sad. I always say to them, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it" or "Maybe try it when you're in a different mood?" or "It's probably not for everyone." Oh, I get over my sadness pretty fast - so if any of my friends are reading this, don't worry. I would rather know what you really thought of a book than lie about it. I eventually just come to the conclusion that you don't know a good book when it's staring you in the face and move on. ;-)

Confession #6: I sometimes don't feel like reading! I know, right? What kind of book blogger would ever admit such a thing?! Well, this is confession week, and I said I would confess the truth. On average, this is what my day looks like: I go to work for 6 hours, run a few errands afterward, clean Hedgie's cage, and after a shower I read until I have to go to bed. I can generally get my blogging done at work, so that's actually given me an extra hour or two of reading time. But, yes, that is pretty my day, every day, all week, month, and year. So sometimes I actually don't feel like reading! I consume books as fast as I can and as often as I can until I feel like I might scream if I have to read another one. Oddly enough, this hasn't permanently affected my enjoyment of reading as a whole. I just need a break sometimes.

Confession #7: When I loan books out, I am cringing the whole time. I very rarely loan my books out, and then only to friends I totally trust - and who I can hire a hitman to track down if they don't return my book. Why is this a confession? Because whenever my friends ask if I mind if they borrow a book, I always say no, when in fact I do mind. Even though I know they will take care of my books (or else), it's hard not to mind.

Confession #8: I can get over my series not matching faster than I pretend. I am one of those bookworms who likes me series to match. However, I'm not so massively picky about it that I simply won't buy the book I need in the series until I can find one that matches. It will annoy me every time I look at the series, but I can get over it. Eventually.

Confession #9: I don't like it when I see a stranger reading a book I like. I don't want to automatically go talk to them; I don't feel like there's this connection between us. I feel like they're intruding on my territory.

Confession #10: I don't really like being around other book people. This is mostly because I don't like being around a bunch of people period, even ones I have things in common with. I am the furthest thing from a social butterfly, and the older I get, the less social I become. I enjoy talking to other bookworms online, and I enjoy hanging out with my few select friends who also like books. But being around a crowd of bookworms? It doesn't make me feel like I'm suddenly understood; it doesn't make me feel included. It makes me the tiniest bit irritated because suddenly my passion has become what's popular. I don't like it when things I like become popular.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading

- Grab the book you're currently reading.

- Flip to a random page.

- Share 2 sentences on that page!

Slowly, we filed out into the deserted cemetery. This close to the river, people buried their dead aboveground in case of flooding. The tombs, arrayed in tidy rows like stone houses, gave the whole place the feel of an abandoned city. A wind blew through, shaking leaves free from the trees and stirring the grasses that grew up around the smaller grave sites. It was eerie, but I didn't care. The air was almost warm after the chill of the caves. We were outside at last.
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (pg. 100)