Goodreads has this nifty feature where you can compare how you’ve rated the books you’ve read to the books and ratings from any other user. Because I finally caught up on writing book reviews, I decided to look up every person whose blog I regularly read and compare our taste.

First, a caveat: I couldn’t find everyone, so if you didn’t get a friend request from me, add me so we can compare our taste!

Here are my current top 10 matches:

1. Debbie’s World of Books at 96%
2. Serenehours at 94%
3. Book Lists Life at 93%
4. Rhapsodyinbooks’s Weblog at 93%
5. things mean a lot at 93%
6. what Elisabeth is reading at 93%
7. Gimme More Books at 92%
8. Rhiannon Hart at 92%
9. The Well-Read Child at 92%
10. Everyday Reading at 91%—This spot was actually a 5-way tie but I went with who had the most books in common with me.

Would you make my top 10? Compare and let’s find out!

When I go to the library, I sometimes wander off to the YA area and randomly pick books off the shelf because I like the title or the cover, because I see a recent release, or because I vaguely recognize the book from one of the 472 book reviews I’ve read that week.

Right now, I have 7 of these random picks, and I can’t read them all before they’re due back at the library. Help!

Which of these titles are worth the time? And which should I return without reading?

• Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman
• I Know It’s Over by C. K. Kelly Martin
• The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
• My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
• Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee

So whaddya say? Yeah or nay?

Photo by cpalmieri.

Around the time my teachers started assigning books to read on a regular basis, I stopped reading for fun outside of schoolwork. This continued through college, and it took a long while even after college before I sought out reading again.

Whether you’re just out of school, in school but struggling to maintain an extracurricular reading life, or reeling from some bad reads, everyone hits a rough patch from time to time. Here are some ways you can bring back that lovin’ feelin’.

1. Mix it up. Been reading a lot of fiction lately? Switch to nonfiction for at least one book. Never tried a graphic novel? Now’s as good a time as any. Burned out on books in general? Try a magazine. Absence, heart, fonder, you know the drill.
2. Pick with abandon. You know, you really should read Moby Dick before you die. And War and Peace. And The Brothers Karamazov and …ARGH! Enough. To restore the fun, take the “should” out of your reading—at least once in a while—and pick a book for no other reason than it has a pretty cover or you like the sound of the author’s name. If you’re feeling super reckless, close your eyes and pick a random book on the shelf.
3. Go back to your reading roots. Before you ever read a book and well before reading was an assignment, someone read to you. Out loud. Hark back to that happy time in your reading life by putting on your jammies, crawling into bed, and listening to an audio book. Or have your partner or a friend read out loud to you.
4. Get out of the house. Find a local bookstore and check out their schedule of author visits. Pick one that sounds interesting, then put it in your calendar. Even if I decide not to read an author’s book after hearing them speak, the author’s passion for their creation makes me want to go home and read a good book.
5. Whatever you do, don’t read. Think of a book you’ve been wanting to read for a while, then get a copy of it and put it in a prominent place in your home—on the coffee table, on top of the TV, in your baby’s crib. But this is important: Don’t read it! You’re not allowed to read that book, or anything else, for at least one full day. If you’re like me and still have remnants of a rebellious teenager deep down, you won’t be able to resist what’s forbidden.
6. Reread a favorite. This works well when a string of bad reads have turned you off reading. I’m currently rereading the Harry Potter series, and this last month of solace has recharged my reading batteries. I can’t wait to find my next favorite!
7. Know when to say when. Master the art of quitting a book that’s not grabbing you. Forcing yourself to slog through something you’re not into is a surefire way to destroy your love of reading. Your reading time is finite, so spend it on books you enjoy.

Your Turn: When reading’s become a chore, how have you brought back the fun?

Photo by billhd.

I used to finish every book I started. When I wasn’t enjoying a book, I still choked it down like grandma’s dry-as-a-brick meatloaf.

But it dawned on me one day that if I read every book on my (still growing) TBR list, I’d never get through them all.

Here are some things that have helped me stop reading the books I’m not enjoying so I can read more books I will enjoy.

1. Make a rule—I have a 50-page rule. If I’m 50 or more pages into a book and it hasn’t grabbed me yet, I give myself permission to stop. The times I’ve kept on trucking anyway thinking maybe it’ll get better, it never has. Never. If 50 pages seems arbitrary, you could read the first chapter of a few books to decide which ones you want to continue. (Great idea, Lenore!)
2. State your mission—Spend a couple minutes articulating why you read, then write it down. Because if you discover that you read mainly for fun, why continue with a book that isn’t fun for you?
3. Do the math—A math problem for you:
   • Suppose you finish about 1 book every other week, which is 26 books a year.
   • You have about 50 years of good solid reading left in you.
   • A train coming from town A at 45 miles per hour and a train coming from town B at 55 mph are each carting 500 really great titles you’ll want to read.
   • How many more books will you be able to read in your lifetime?

   (Hint: Forget the train bit. I always hated those stupid train questions in school.)

   Answer: You have 1300 books left. If that sounds like a lot, take a look at your TBR list and/or your overflowing bookshelf, then think back to all those times you’ve heard about a book and thought you’d like to read it one day. And what about all the new books that will come out in the next 50 years that you might want to read too? 1300 books is nothing. Do you really want to make that mediocre book one of The Last 1300?

4. Take a break—If a book is just okay so far, put it down for a day and read something else, whether it’s a magazine or a book from another genre. I like to switch from fiction to nonfiction or vice versa. After a day, do you want to go back to the first book? If you’d rather stick with your current read, that could be a clue that the first book isn’t worth your time to finish.
5. Have a replacement ready—Sometimes I keep going with a mediocre book because I don’t have anything else waiting in the wings. Finishing a book in that situation always leaves me feeling like I do after I polish off the rejected licorice and buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies just because there was nothing else sweet in the house. So keep an extra book handy at all times.
6. Keep greatness in view—When I’ve read a string of good-but-not-great books, a subpar book doesn’t seem that bad in comparison while I’m in the middle of it. But if you keep one of your favorite books on your nightstand or coffee table, it can be a visual reminder of why you shouldn’t settle. The time you spend on a bad book is time you could spend reading your next favorite.
7. Borrow or buy cheap—Back when I bought most of my books full price, I felt obligated to finish them because I spent good money on them. When I started using the library and buying used books, it got a lot easier to stop the not-so-great books. So check out your library or your local used bookstore, or try a book swapping site.

Your turn: What helps you let go of a book you’re not loving?

Photos by Linda Crook and Ley_photography.

Like a lot of YA readers, I’m so anxious for the next books in the The Hunger Games and Graceling series that I’ve developed a bit of a nervous tic that crops up every time I come across any mention of them. In fact, typing that last sentence took me 5 tries to get right.

But I recently realized that of all the fully released YA series in the world, I’ve only read three: Twilight, Gemma Doyle, and Jessica Darling. Kind of pathetic for a YA wannabe, I know. The problem is that when I go to my list of books to be read, I tend to pass up the series in favor of one-off titles.

Reading a full series is a time commitment. Like marriage, but with a book. And even though you could be having a good time while you’re in it, you might get to the end of the series and find yourself at the bookstore ogling some sexy little one-night-stand, wondering: “Why did I waste my time on that old ball-and-chain when I could have had three completely different nights to remember?”

Here are the series currently on my list:

• City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)
• Tithe (Modern Tale of Faerie)
• Uglies
• The Wee Free Men (Discworld)

Can you help me get over my commitment phobia? Tell me which series are worth my time. Or tell me if my list is missing another great YA/teen series, or if any of these just left you saying “eh.”

Photo by judepics.