Miscellaneous Mondays: Bored Penguin Edition

I'm not the sort of person who likes to give up on books. Just like I'm not a person who walks out on movies or turns off the TV in the middle of a show--I really like to finish what I've started. That's why it's so very hard for me to NOT finish a book.

Last year I noticed that my ALWAYS FINISH rule was really holding me back. If a book is boring me to tears, it takes twice as long for me to finish it. That just isn't ok anymore. For one thing, I'm supposed to be a reviewer now, so I need to get books read and reviews posted on a regular basis. For another, reading is supposed to be something I do for fun. If it feels like torture, something is wrong.

Now I've come up with an out-clause to my ALWAYS FINISH rule. I can stop if the book is really boring, or really stupid, or horribly offensive in some way. Usually it will be because of boredom, because I'm not that easily offended. This is a major concession to myself, but I'm hoping that it's made me a better, more efficient reader.

This gives rise to a new issue, which was the topic of this past week's poll--should I still write a review, even if I didn't finish? Even if I'm explicitly honest about how much of the book I read, it still feels a tad unfair to cast judgement on the whole book based on the slice that I read. More importantly, are DNF reviews actually helpful to potential readers? 60% of our voters said that they sometimes find DNF reviews helpful, and NO ONE said that they never find DNF reviews helpful. I guess the general message is: Yes, I should be writing DNF reviews.

What about you? Do you ALWAYS finish books, or do you let yourself give up if you want to? Do you write DNF reviews? I know we've all been bored by a book at some point! Share your experiences in the comments!

This week's poll question asks: Where do you get your books? Take a second to vote on the right side of your screen! Multiple answers are allowed!

And for those of you bored with your current read, have an adorable penguin video. Happy Reading, everyone!

Miscellaneous Monday: A Tale of an Internetless Penguin

Well, my winter break has come to an end. I divided my break time between Mom's place and my fiance's place, and left my apartment mostly abandoned. I finally returned home yesterday to find that my Internet is down--see how everything goes to hell when I'm not around for awhile? Anyway, the tech guys are coming tonight to figure out what the problem is. For now, I have to deal with being on a very slooow school computer. I hope you'll forgive the sparse nature of this week's Misc. Monday.

First of all, I saw Once Upon a Time last night. It was the first time I'd really watched ANY TV in about three weeks. It was a good episode. Not great, not my favorite, but certainly better than a lot of other crap I've sat through for other shows. I like that the show takes the time to give background stories--fairly sympathetic ones--to it's villains. I like the character driven nature of the show, and the fact that the story itself can move slowly without being boring.

I also saw the season premier of Downton Abbey. I got addicted to that show last year when I found it on Amazon. It's the story of a wealthy English family and their servants. Season one spans the time period between the sinking of the Titanic and the start of World War 1, and it seems like season two is very focused on the effect the war has on everyone. I love it! If you like historical dramas, you should check it out.

Finally, I'm making a sincere effort to amp up my reading--hence this past week's poll question. The most popular answer was 51-100 books in a year, which made me feel pretty good about myself. Last year, according to goodreads, I read 98 books. I'm sincerely impressed by anyone who makes time to read more than 100. I challenged myself to read 112 this year, and I have a feeling it's going to be a close call. Josh is always teasing me that I read slowly, and he's absolutely right. I argue that I read thoroughly, and thus retain more. But, given the monstrous size of my TBR pile and all of the books that I want to review, I think it's time that I stepped up my game a bit.

Speaking of reviews, this weeks poll question asks how you feel about DNF (did not finish) reviews. Do you want to see analyses of books that the reviewer failed to complete, or not? Does it depend on the situation? Don't forget to vote! Thanks, and Happy Reading!

Miscellaneous Mondays: Brains and Brainlessness

Welcome to Miscellaneous Monday, the post about everything and noting in particular.

Secret Circle, Episode 3


As usual, I'm a week behind in this show because I'm forced to watch it online due to my work schedule. Episode 3 was titled "Loner", in reference to our protagonist. Cassie is a loner in the way that TV likes to portray loners. By which I mean she's alone voluntarily--there's nothing obviously wrong with her. She's pretty, smart(ish), and more importantly, people seem to like her, despite the fact that she's deliberately  stand-offish and a bit socially awkward. They like her on sight, without knowing anything about her. This bothers me a great deal, actually. The same thing happens with Bella in Twilight--she's the new girl in school, she's bland and awkward, and yet everyone can't wait to make friends with her. Anyone who remembers anything about high school knows that this isn't how things work. If you happen to be self-isolating or even a little shy, people mostly leave you alone. You might make a friend or two, but it is highly unlikely that the most popular kids in town are going to be clambering for your company.

I've come to the conclusion that this show is really two shows--a good fantasy show and a crappy (but marketable) teen drama, squished together like play-dough. Episode 3 was less bland than Episode 2, but it still gets caught up in silly and predictable relationship drama. I'm much more interested in the magic and murder than whether Diana and Adam's relationship will survive (HINT: it won't).

Supernatural: Brains!


For whatever reason, I always enjoy the flashback heavy episodes, and this was a good example of that. The Winchester brothers were brought up in the most insane and dysfunctional manner possible. Catching glimpses of that is always fascinating. Furthermore, this episode was yet another example of Sam's fondness for making friends (special friends) with monsters. You'd think that if you're going to hunt monsters, "Don't Have Sex With It" would be rule number one. But I guess if everyone followed that, we'd have a lot fewer paranormal romances.


The Book Buying Dilemma


I dearly love book stores, but they seem to be disappearing. For a very long time our city had two Borders: one large one, and a smaller Borders Express. We also have a B&N,  and one or two small independently owned places that cater mainly to used books and trade. The large Borders used to be my favorite by far. It offered great selection, was well organized, offered reasonable discounts, and the employees were fairly laid back but helpful. But, of course, both Borders shut down. I was left with severely reduced buying options.

Our Borders Express was taken over by Books-a-Million. At first this seemed like a glimmer of hope, giving me back at least one place to browse and buy. Unfortunately, the store sucks. Right away I had trouble finding the things on my list. Not because they didn't have those things, but because they put them in the oddest places. Several series were split up, with some of the books in "SciFi" and some in "Fiction". Or in some cases, the same author might be put in both "Romance" and "SciFi". It was explained to me that they put books in sections based on whatever arbitrary label they carry on the spine. The employees don't know and don't care how the books should really be classified, and they aren't even concerned with being consistent. Furthermore, my GOD are these people sales focused. Their entire mission is to selling you things, from their membership card to magazine subscriptions, most of which you probably don't want or need.

The end result of all of this is that I'm now without a bookstore that I really like. Our Barnes and Noble has terrible selection. The used book stores rarely seem to get new product. This leaves department stores and the internet. I love ebooks, and I do appreciate the ease of shopping online. But it isn't the same. Physical book stores allow you to browse in a way that no site, however impressive, can ever offer.

My solution? My loving fiance got me a new library card. It still isn't quite as nice as browsing new books to buy, but it's the best I can do for the time being.

Weekly Poll: Helpful Reviews

Thanks go out to those of you who participated in this weeks poll!

I chose this particular question because, after years of reading and writing reviews I've realized that there are about a million different ways to go about organizing a review. No one way is right or wrong, but there are definitely some styles that I personally find more helpful than others. For example, I'm very fond of the list format (31% of you agreed). People who are able to intelligently break their thoughts and criticisms into bullet points are awesome. I find this type of review easy to read and, when it's done well, very persuasive. Unfortunately, I can't seem to write "List Style" reviews very well--my brain doesn't work that way.

Interestingly, the poll showed that short, concise reviews are strongly preferred over long reviews. I don't really have a strong preference in this regard, but the results do make sense to me. People don't have time to read super long reviews. Plus, long reviews can often get repetitive. I often have to remind myself to limit the length of my reviews. It's hard to be concise when a book get's you really excited or angry.

Finally, objective reviews and emotional reviews both got pretty low votes. Personally I find overly analytical reviews to be dull and unhelpful, unless of course it's for a text book or nonfiction. On the other hand, I've read some reviews that are so emotional and subjective that they don't manage to convey anything meaningful. Angry reviews can be funny though.

Don't forget to participate in my new poll: Your Favorite Classic Monsters. Happy Reading!