'Currently Reading' ...

Okay, if anyone has ever been on my GoodReads they will soon realise that I am crazy. And when I say Crazy, this is what I mean....

On my shelving system I have a lot of books, a lot is probably an understatement: 

Read (573) : Now to me this is nothing, tip of the iceberg crazy. In 21 years of life I have put as any books as I can remember reading throughout my life on this so far. I started GoodReads in 2009, and pretty much since then recorded a on-the-go record of my reading, so most of the detailed reviews come from the books that I have read since 2009. However, as I said, I have put a lot of childhood books on there, not to up my read pile, but more of a reminder of the books I used to read, books I may want to re-read, books I may want to share with my future children. So to me, this number is not crazy crazy... especially in the book world. However, I know some people will think it is. 

Next...

Currently reading (8): As you can tell from the title of this post, it's about books I am currently reading, so I will come back to this one. And this is quite crazy as it is. 

To Read (6852): Yes, you read that correctly 6852... that is six thousand, eight hundred and fifty two.... 

I am crazy. I will never read all those books. and I know it.... hell I don't own that many either... take away 6000 and you have a rough amount of the books I own (which is still a hell of a lot). My To Read is so high, for many reasons:

1. I like books.... I know, we already gathered that! But I will see a lot of books, and go 'hey, that looks good' and add it because hey... it looked good. I am not picky, I will try anything once and read a wide variety of genres. 
2. I started GoodReads in 2009... I know I already said, but at that time I was 15? Here is where my maths fails me... but the point is my book taste has also changed, there are many books on there that I probably don't want to read anymore... you are probably thinking, why doesn't she take them off... Well I really see taking the time to go through almost 7000 books, not the best use of my time... 
3. Free Books, okay this is probably not the best reason... GoodReads giveaways used to (nowhere near as much now) take up a few hours of my time a week. I used to scroll through to find any books that seem interesting and entered for a free copy. However, this meant that I ended up adding them all to me To Read list too... Now I used to add a lot of books that looked on moderately  interesting because I couldn't resist freebies. Now, I don't add books unless I am really interested... space is an issue. However, I read some books I never thought I would enjoy through that method and found genres that I would have never found before.
4. Okay... basically old me, had a lot of spare time...


My shelves on GoodReads are BIG, so choosing what to read is always a challenge. The challenge does not start with my enormous To Read pile though. It starts with Currently Reading...

I have 8 books I am 'Currently Reading'... I have put it in inverted commas because I am not really reading them right now... I never used to have so many books I was currently reading until I started university. I used to stick to one book at a time and that was easy and simple. But university meant I had to be reading several books at the same time. It also meant that I had to put down books often to pick up a new one, only to put that one down unfinished and start another.... see the pattern? When I started uni back up in January, I was currently reading one book, but had to put it down for uni and ever since then uni reading has got in the way of picking it up, and each one of them I have had to put down for another book for uni... So my 'currently reading' looks a little bit like this: 

How did I get into this mess?

Let's start by the one that has been on there for the longest amount of time:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

This book was added May last year, I was reading it ... for uni. Now the reason it is still up there is that it is all short stories. I have read all but three or four of them. For this reason I cannot see the point of taking it of the 'currently reading' shelve to To Read, as I have almost finished it... But I also cannot bring myself to say I have Read it... when I haven't... not cover to cover. Short stories are good, but I find a collection of them I never read all of them. Hence, quite often they sit in the middle ground of 'currently reading' until I feel like reading the last few stories... 

Allegiant 

Okay, I started reading this series over christmas break. In all honesty I am not enjoying as much as I hoped, it's okay... kind of overhyped. But that is for another day... This book I read probably only 20 pages until I thought, I really need to get on with uni reading before I go back for semester two. The book has sat there ever since. 

Now That I've Found You

A Review copy I received. I tried to read this before it's release date but as with Allegiant.. Uni took over my life. 

... And The Rest of the Books....

All the uni books, I have started and had to put down to start another one, or to start an essay, or to write a dissertation.... 

So I have Finished uni now, no more books to read. I am free to read my own books now! But this 'currently reading' shelve is interfering with my freedom. How do I choose which book to read when I have all this I have started, staring at me and judging me for putting them down barely read. So what do I do? Part of me just wants to wipe the slate clean, clear my 'currently reading' shelve and choose my next book with the freedom to know that there is no other book my time is committed to. But I feel like doing that I am committing myself to an endless cycle of books that I may not be 'currently reading' but in my head I know I am... I know that if I take them off, I will have to re-read all that I have already read... and hence, the book becomes not as enjoyable because I have to push myself through to get to the part I haven't read... in order to say that book is done. That makes me seem like I am not reading the books for enjoyment... but I am... all the books on my 'Currently Reading' pile are all books that look really good or interesting. But do I have the time to give them the attention a few years down the line, to the parts I have already read? So I am stuck... stuck between the books I have started, but not reading, and the huge pile of books To Read that is endless and feels like freedom right now. After university, I am yearning that freedom, that endless possibility of choice to what I pick up next. 

So what do I do?

How far into a book are you, when you are actually 'reading it'. I have books that I have read 10 pages off, books that I have read 100 pages off and books that I am over half way through. If I am only 10 pages through though, have I really started the book? 

So for peace of mind, do I clear all the books off that I haven't really started? If I am only a few pages in, will it make a difference to me re-reading just them few pages really. 

In that case off comes The Devil Wears Prada, The Marlowe Papers, Allegiant...

But the Borrowers, won't take me long to read... I can read that in a day, even though I am only a few pages through... And A Thousand Acres, have I only just begun or am I halfway there...  Do I include that I have actually started to re-read Uglies, even though it's not on my 'currently reading' shelve?

Welcome to the trials and tribulations of the 'currently reading' shelve, where your soul is tortured through books you have started and want to finish, but they are like tiny chains tying you down to them, even though you haven't read them in ages. When does reading turn from become a hobby, a thing you enjoy, to a indecisive battle between the millions of books that exist? I am just overwhelmed by the choices of books in the world, or am I lazy abandoner who doesn't like to finish what they have started? Or am I just reading too many books, because I using random household objects for bookmarks...


Maybe I am just making this more difficult than it actually is.... 
Sometimes you need to just pick up a book and start.... instead of contemplating over everything. 

My advice to myself... Just Read! 

Review: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek By Maya Van Wagenen

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for A Modern Geek By Maya Van Wagenen

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

Plot:

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, follows the journey of thirteen year old Maya as she goes from a 'social outcast' to 'popular'. That is the very oversimplified plot though. Maya has always been a social outcast and one day she comes across a 1950's guide to being popular and decides she will follow a different chapter each month and experiment to whether the advice given in the 1950s is still fitting today. From hair and make-up to confidence, Maya takes each piece of advice and tries to apply it to her life in the 21st Century. Through this she discovers what it really means to be 'popular'.

Review:

Okay, so I have mixed feelings on this book, I would give a 3.5/4 stars because of this. Let's start of on a negative note so I can end positively. I think one of the things that I didn't like about the book, which I have found many people have said on GoodReads, is that it is too 'nice'. By that I mean at times it was too sickly-sweet. I found that despite being perceived as not popular and bullied a little, Maya already has quite a happy life. However, that being said she does learn a lot through the process... ( we will come back to that). One of my bigger issues was that someone so young was dieting and worried about body image, even though the end doesn't promote this, the book still goes through chapters and chapters highlighting how Maya changes herself to make herself popular. The end doesn't follow this message, but Maya has still taken on advice to change herself and image, as to become more popular. Maya's age can be seen throughout her writing sometimes, however most of the time she writes really well. I think with age and practice though, she will become a better writer. There may be a few other small points that I wasn't happy with at the time of reading, but  I want to go on to the positives for now.

So first of, I want to say Maya must have been really brave to experiment with some of the ideas in this book, from wearing pantaloons to talking to people she has never talked to before. Maya jumps completely outside her comfort zone and encourages you to do so to. However, even though Maya does encourage the reader, I will probably not do much moving outside my comfort zone, maybe because I am lot older than the Maya, but I feel sometimes the book suggests you have to force yourself to impress others. I feel safer in my private cocoon. Anyway, despite the issues with some of the chapters, the end picked up for me... and although I wanted to shake Maya throughout the book and tell her that popularity does not matter, in the end she realises so.

One part I would have liked to know more about was the area she lived in, I don't know anything about the kind of life people live in that area apart from what Maya tells me and from Drills due to armed robberies across the street from their school and gangs, I want to know more about the area.

The end of the book is what really made the book for me... so SPOILER ALERTS FROM HERE ON....


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The last few chapters were what made the book, for me, able to reach 4 stars. Now this was because the body image ideal was thrown away and it was more about confidence and being yourself. When Maya does a week where she sits with each different table of people at her school, from 'social outcasts' to 'Football Fanatics', I loved the fact she was breaking the status quo. But doing so she wasn't just doing something to meet new people, but doing something that made a statement to the people around her. People can mingle, you don't have to be in one particular group to talk to a particular type of people. At my school, we did have 'popular' people, but the groups weren't like how American High School is presented on TV or in books. We just had friendship groups in the end, and they weren't exclusive either. But at Maya's school this 'ideal' stood and she was able to break it. Her  actions didn't just change herself, but the people around her. I also love the fact that she interviews people on what being popular is and whether they are popular. I would have loved more of this interview technique throughout the book, a bit like Candance Bushnell's Sex and The City , journalist idea. I would have liked to know what other people thought about clothes, hair, skin etc...

I wanted to also know more about her family as well, I felt that although the story was about Maya's journey that her family had some interesting characters and there is potential for more stories surrounding them?

Below I will insert some quotations I really loved and why :) :

This quote I really love because it is true. When tragedy strikes, the barriers disappear between groups of people. As a human response we respond to another persons pain and we can see this through just watching films and reading books. However, I would also like to add that big celebrations also break down boundaries, a happy event can allow everyone to express themselves. But we are all human is what Maya is really saying.

This one may be a little difficult to see, but is says 'Why is everyone so scared of one another?'. This I feel links a lot to the previous quotation. I like this one, because if you walk around, you find that people try not to talk or make eye contact with one another. ( I should know, I do this too) Especially in the UK and in big cities. Maya asks an important question. Why are we scared? or more importantly why am I scared?

This one is also not very clear, late night reading, equals late night quotation photographs. This one I found resonated a lot to me. I am the latter in the equation though.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, I feel it aimed a lot younger than me and I feel like some of the book was hard to relate to. However, the messages that Maya leaves at the end is easily relatable to teenagers. I loved some of the writing style, and some of the thoughts Maya puts across, and feel that she is an author to look out for in the future. I feel this books will be beneficial because of the overall message for teenagers, however I hope they don't find themselves dieting and changing their look just to be come 'popular'.  I feel without the book Maya would have experimented with some of the things in the book anyway and found her own voice and style as part of growing up. But I guess it is always helpful to have a guiding voice a long the way through Betty, which know Maya can provide to others.


Recommend to: teenagers who believe the concept of popularity needs to change and want to find out what popularity really means.


Popularity is just a social concept: the idea that certain people are seen as better for having more friends or being a certain way. Remember, it's not how many friends you have, it's the type of friends you have.