An A – Z Why Choosing the Best Book of the Year is hard…
Part 2. Yep, even more nonsensical nonsense.
Yesterday I covered A – M. Today it’s N – Z. Lucky you.
n) Nobody told you these book blogging decisions were going to be quite as difficult, and unless you’re raving book nerd yourself you may think this is all utter dribble; tell me to strap on my big girl pants, take a deep breath and suck it up. Believe me. These problems are very real.
o) Overloaded bookshelves: What if I need to go through a few books to remember what they were like? Can I even get into that room to reach the book, let alone find it?
p) Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – Oh yes. That’s a real word. And having to chose only one title as my best book of the year is simply just as bad as contracting pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It’s an invented medical term. Like the one book bloggers suffer from. (See Sensory Overload Despair (SOD) for details). Also invented.
q) Queues, namely book queues. Think TBR mountains. What if your next five star read is in that heap, and you’re just about to pick it up after already being forced into making a ‘best book decision’? This might not matter to some, but it messes with my head, that’s for sure.
r) Rating regret – Yep, it’s a real thing. We loved it when we first read it, but had our standards slipped at the time? What was our reason for this rating? Months later, can you even remember?
s) Sensory Overload Despair (SOD) : All those sparkly, bright beautiful covers all vying for your attention. How could you possibly choose between them. Too much cover love can cause stress, anxiety, and possibly physical pain. This can result in withdrawal, challenging behaviour or meltdown. It’s a SOD.
t)Take a reading break? If you announce your book of the year, do you stop reading straight afterwards, because there is a fear that a better book could follow, and you’ve already announced your winner? Do you risk having to change your post every five minutes? Can you survive if you don’t read for the rest of December? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!
u) Understanding the problem in advance, actually makes all year round stress. Imagine if you had to chose from several 5 star reads you’ve read over the course and in a matter of days you have to whittle them all down to one single title. ? For me it’s just incomprehensible. Not to mention unnerving. Uncomfortable. Unfair. Unhelpful. I could go on… (Hang in there, I’m almost done with this nonsense…)
v) Verbose jabbering: Another problem with choosing one book baby of the year, is that you tend to play for time and start prattling on with endless lists of why book bloggers panic as the end of year looms. It’s not you. It’s me. Actually it’s probably just me.
w) Whoever thought of this ‘Name a single best book title’ lark, was obviously a sadist.
x) X? Clutching at straws here, but in the true spirit of Xmas, (see what I did there?) I’d have to say, book bloggers have a hard time staying active over the Christmas period, with all this overeating, boozing and entertaining – why make life harder than it already is?
y) You’ve read excellent books with that ‘WOW factor’ but they’re all absolutely incomparable. How do you compare a 5 star rating of a Young Adult book, like ‘THUG: The Hate U Give’ against a Killer Thriller like ‘Close to Home’? You can’t. They’re totally different yet equally worthy. Does that even make sense?
z) I’ve no idea what to put here for Z. I know. I know. Stop giving me the evils. I’ve just made you read all the way down to here and I’ve not got a clue what Z could stand for. But once I started, I needed closure. Like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory and Magnus Magnusson in Mastermind. I’ve started so I’ll finish. (Magnus Magnusson- was that really his name?)
Thinking hard.
Zero Time! Yep, if I wait until the correct time to do a book of the year post – December 31st everybody – I’ve basically got zero time to put it all together… Who knew of the stresses and strains of a book blogger?
What about you? Is there anyone out there who’s panicking about their final single book of the year choice?
No? Just me then.
If I don’t hear from you until the New Year (whatcha up to?), I’d like to wish all my readers a fantastic New Year!
Take it easy. Have fun. Read lots.
Oh, and party hard!
Luv Sassy x
P.S. Have you voted for our ‘Book of the Month‘ yet? Please pop by and visit our poll and our join in with our book challenge, over at Goodreads.
Handy links
Our Group Home Page: http://bit.ly/ReviewsReq
Our Reading Challenges: http://bit.ly/ReadingChallenges
Our Book of the Month Polls : http://bit.ly/OurPolls
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I love your “End of the Year Torture series”! You have the best sense of humor! : ) (And I thought I was the only one having these thoughts!)
LOL You’re killing me. I cracked up so many times. YOU are NOT alone in this!! I suggest some champagne to relieve the stress. LOL Happy New Year!
These are all SO relatable!! haha Happy 2018!
THank you, Erica! Happy 2018! Have I already replied to this? Hmmm can’t always tell from this angle lol
Not that I can see! 🙂