Meme-ful Musings: At the end of the month I’ll post a book-related meme that I think brings up an interesting discussion about books. Feel free to join in by making a comment below or linking back!
(Meme from: http://majibookshelf.blogspot.ca/2013/04/that-awkward-thursday-when-your-online.html)
Recently a good friend of mine came to visit me and somehow we got to talking about reading. I think I was talking about how I have so many books out from the library right now and how I was struggling to read them all before I had to return them. I think I also ranted on about how this one book I was reading wasn’t exactly grabbing my attention–but I could see that his interest was waning so I took the social cue to shut up and quickly changed the subject. It wasn’t that his reaction was rude–far from it honestly!–it was just that he didn’t seem to understand my “problem” or why I felt that way.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m the “reader” in my various groups of friends. I’m the girl that reads more books in one week than some of my friends read in an entire year. So when people want to know what book to read next or want to get an opinion on a popular novel, I’m the one they ask. But I can’t necessarily say that I get the favour returned all the time. Sometimes I do, but really only once in a blue moon does a close friend recommend a book for me. (Though to be fair, chances are that I probably read it already)
I lucked out in university that the girl who later became my best-friend and roommate also liked to read. I often told her to read this series or that one and we would “fan-girl” over the series as she read them. While I might not have remembered all the little details of each book, it was nice to share my thoughts with someone about the bigger picture or swoon over the newest book-boyfriend.
For me, I love talking about the books I am reading. The problem is: no one reads as many books as I do or no one reads the same books I do. Now that we don’t live together, my friend and I don’t sync up reading the ongoing series that we started together. So when I want to freak out about this or that, it’s often just a quiet reaction to myself as I am reading and/or a text message telling her to hurry up and read it! If it’s something I really can’t let go, I’ll try to explain it to my friend(s) but that causes me to tell spoilers–and honestly who likes those?
Which brings me back full circle to my original predicament: having friends who “just don’t understand”. I know I sound like the angsty, petty heroines I detest so much but it’s really the only way I can think to phrase it. There’s just something about sharing your thoughts on or reactions to certain books that adds to your reading experience. It’s probably why book clubs and blogging forums/communities started in the first place.
And I think that is part of the reason why I started to blog in the first place: because by creating a book reviewing blog, I was entering a community where people understand my reading habits. Here was a place I could write my thoughts about a book and hopefully get some feedback or find some recommended reads. So while I love all my friends and love that we connect in many different ways, I guess I love that I have this blogging community in my life too that enriches my reading experience in a way I never really expected.
So what about you? Are you the chronic reader in your group? Or are your friends just like you? If you have a blog, do you feel like it fills in that “void” that is “missing”?
Let me know by leaving a comment below!
I’m lucky in that I have a friend who has kind of similar tastes to me, so she uses me as her personal library (because I have all the books) and then we fangirl about books together. Blogging has been a great way for me to connect with other people who read the same stuff as I do though (after all whilst me and my friend have similar reading tastes, there are some books I read that she doesn’t!). We are the chronic readers in our group, so it’s quite good that there’s two of us!
Oh your so lucky! That’s great you can share that with someone else!
I am also my friends’ personal library haha I remember when I bought the Hunger Games boxset for myself, I lent them out to various people before I even got a chance to open the books myself (I had read them before I purchased them from the library but wanted the boxset for my collection).
Yeah it’s great, we’ll have to fangirl over skype when we both go to Uni! The book lending thing is kind of a one way street though, I give, she gets. My sister has even nicknamed my room “the library” because I have so many books! Oh that’s funny! It’s a good job you’d already read them. I won’t let my friend borrow anything I haven’t already read first, becuase I don’t want her to give me spoilers!
Yes, spoilers are the worst so I don’t blame you. It was torture waiting for my friend to finish one of the Bloodline books because she is a much slower reader than me and I really, really wanted to read it 😛
Definitely keep up the fangirling! Skype is a great way to do it–text just doesn’t have the same enthusiasm 😉
Yeah that’s another reason why I read first, I’m a faster read than my friend. I once started a book at least a week after she did, and still finished before her! No it doesn’t really, does it?
I don’t have ONE friend in “offline life” that reads like I do. My best friend in high school read quite a lot, but by the time we made it to university, she wasn’t as into it as I was. It’s really sad when you don’t have someone to gush over books with, and I must say it was one of the big influencing factors in my decision to make a book blog. I wanted bookish people to talk to!
And now I do. And it’s fantastic. 😀 I have SO many people to talk about different books with, and I’ve even met some of my bloggers in “offline life”, which is just awesome. I’m super thankful for blogging for filling that void – because I think it is one, when reading and books are so important to you and you can’t talk about them!
For sure! I think reading is always one of those things in life that need to be shared! Whether you agree or disagree about a read, it just makes the whole experience so awesome.
It’s just plain nice to find someone (or lots of someones) who “get” it 😉
This is part of the reason I started a blog – for chatting with like-minded people 🙂 I have a few friends who are really passionate about books, some who like reading but aren’t really into discussing it, and others who don’t read at all. So it’s nice to have so many people to talk to about books in detail!
You know, talking with other people wasn’t at the forefront of my mind when I created my blog. I think it was there subconsciously, this need to share things with others, but I was just trying to be helpful with reviews so I created my blog.
But in the years since, it’s really become this forum to talk to lots of people! And I love it! Like you said, it’s nice to find people you can discuss every little detail over when something needs to be discussed!