How’s My Reading Life? | First Quarter Reading Q&A

[@eileennielsen5165]

WOW! You've read alot so far, Jenn! I am frustrated I can't get more reading done, but just have to let it go, I guess. It takes me HRS. to take care of myself physically. I have numerous Auto-immune illnesses, have NOT been the same since Spinal Neck surgery, no stamina, chronic pai, blah, blah, blah. I just want to read almost all day, and drink my tea of course 😁 I have a TBR that will last till my 674 birthday. I CANNOT do book buying bans, no way, just no way. No control. I start hyperventilating when walking g into a bookstore. I get giddy going to the library! When my best book friend and I plan to go out for lunch and a bookshop; I LITERALLY am to EXCITED to sleep the night before, MAYBE 2 hrs. It's INSANE! I have little friends I buy bks. for because I WANT them to love reading. I buy bks. for my granddaughter because she loves to read also and we discuss some of the same bks(she is 18).I am collecting R. Pilcher's books. I have the Blue Bedroom and it is going on my night table. I have always had a blue bdrm. so aside from being by Pilcher, it intrigued me. All of hers do. Can you briefly explain PANGO bks. to me? I was VERY " bad"this month buying bks. I haven't gone grocery shopping yet, and I won't be able to buy much... HAVE to buy milk though... for my tea. Seriously, it's only the middle of the month! I'm getting worse. I should go read now... Thanks Jenn! 🤗. 😋

[@jensreadinglife]

Someone else responded that she looks at buying books as “enjoying life’s pleasures” and that is how I’m going to look at it from now on! We should embrace what we love, right? I hope you enjoy The Blue Bedroom! As for Pango books, it’s a website to both buy and sell used books. I’ll be sharing the books I got from there soon so I will talk about it a bit more in that video.

[@MeMyDogAndBooks]

Love how the book buying ban is going - I wanna see the book haul

[@jensreadinglife]

It’s coming soon! Probably in two parts because it’s so much! 🫣😂

[@RobynLG]

I also think it’s fun to do a quarterly review. Monthly is fun, but widening out the timeline is interesting to look at.

[@shelliclarke5563]

I wholeheartedly agree about Some Writer! Such a warm reading experience. I promptly read The Trumpet of the Swan and really enjoyed it. It is rare for me to read new releases.

[@jensreadinglife]

I’m so glad you loved Some Writer so much, Shelli! Yes, new releases are often disappointing. I’ve finally learned to be very discerning about them.

[@MeMyDogAndBooks]

Aww loved seeing you do this tag and thanks so much for mentioning my channel and for the lovely comments!

[@jensreadinglife]

Any time! 😁 I’m so glad I discovered you here, you brighten my Booktube with your lovely personality!

[@MeMyDogAndBooks]

Oh I have that edition of Heidi on my amazon wishlist it's adorable!

[@jensreadinglife]

I just ordered it with a gift card I received! I can’t wait to have it on my shelves.

[@ACanuckinAlabama]

Only finished 7 books by the end of March and finished another last night. That’s a lot for me. 12 in a year (or less) was average when I was working full time and other excuses I won’t bore you with! My fav so far is The Women by Kristen Hannah, my DNF was Three Men in a Boat (yawn) and my least favourite was The Trail by Ethan Gallogly. Love your channel Jen!

[@jensreadinglife]

I’ve heard good things about The Women so I may check it out this summer. Sounds like you are having a very good reading year so far!

[@MJ-in-Canada]

You asked for tips on how we curb our book buying impulses. If I see a book that interests me, I check to see if it’s in my public library. If so, I borrow the book. If not, I buy it.

[@jensreadinglife]

I do try to do that as well! I love the library!

[@cassandra3399]

Hi Jen, I throughly agree with your opinion of some new books. I distrust new books and love to stick with the tried and true. I also loved the Rosamunde Pilcher short stories and don’t usually go for those but hers are wonderful. And hands down, DE Stevenson is my favorite! Hers are light but with depth! So good! I also reread Heidi and loved it, then watched the Shirley Temple rendition of Heidi. ❤😊❤😊

[@MargaretPinard]

Backlist for the win! (Or at least as a substantial portion in the mix 🤗)

[@jensreadinglife]

I should rewatch the Shirley Temple Heidi movie…I haven’t seen it since I was a child. And D.E. Stevenson and Rosamunde Pilcher are such comfort reads for me. Love them both!

[@RobynLG]

You’ve read a lot so far! Some years are like that, some aren’t. 😊 I’m always looking forward to hear all about your latest reading adventure!

[@MargaretPinard]

Book buying ban is about as effective as a diet for me... not very good at self-privation. So I've given it up in favor of embracing pleasures in life! 😬

[@jensreadinglife]

Oohhh…I love this. Embracing the pleasures in life is my new book buying motto going forward! 😁

[@kimswhims8435]

Not sure if it helps with book buying bans but people going over their old haul videos from a year or two before, to see if they have read the books that were hauled or where the books have ended up, might encourage you to curate your collection as you go. Great tag btw.

[@jensreadinglife]

I’ve actually done quite a bit of curating which is why it’s gotten hard for me to let go of books without even trying to read them first. Though I did just pull four or five books off my shelf to get rid of so that’s something! 😁

[@joyceredman2136]

So far I have read 11 books as of today. My favorites so far are Winter Solstice, Hopkins Manuscript, Detection Unlimited (Fiction), Private Equity (nonfiction) by Carrie Sun. Did not like The Stranger by Albert Camus. Got some really good books from library book sale in which I picked up books written by some authors not from Europe nor USA (Syria, Korea, Japan, India) as a way to reading more books based in other countries. But I also found the Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart! I am going to one more "charity" sale and then I am done for the rest of the year.

[@jensreadinglife]

Library book sales are the best! And it sounds like you are having a wonderful reading year so far. I hope you enjoy The Ivy Tree!

[@miriamelizabethreads]

Loved hearing about your first quarter of the year! I'm not good at book-buying-bans either!😭

[@jensreadinglife]

I like @margaretpinard’s take on buying books which is “enjoying life’s pleasures”. I think that will be my new motto! 😁

[@miriamelizabethreads]

@@jensreadinglife I love that! And I don’t want to feel guilty about it. For some people, their “thing” is buying clothes.. for others it’s makeup. For others it’s plants. For others it’s not buying physical things often but maybe going on more vacations than the average person. I love buying books, I will always love buying books, and I’m truly grateful that I have the ability to enjoy this hobby!

[@jensreadinglife]

@@miriamelizabethreads same! 🥰

[@thomasceneri867]

YA recommendation: The Mennyms . It’s a series of four, but I’ve only read the first . It’s wry, quirky, and unusual . It’s about a family of dolls who are pretending to be human and live in a house.

[@jensreadinglife]

That sounds very interesting. I will have to look it up. Thanks!

[@JustAnotherFriedEgg]

Hi Jen, really enjoyed this video! I’m not on a book buying ban but a limited buying one. To limit how much I am buying, I only buy new new books if they are published in the year we are in (2024) or if they are book I’m needing for work and can’t find second hand. Then everything else I have to buy second hand, I have the view that a good book is worth the wait so don’t force my self to look but keep a list of those I want to read and then when out and about if I see one I’ve noted down I get it. It’s helped me go from buying 3:4 books a week to the 4ish a month if that. It means I’m reducing the books in my physical TBR and only bringing in books I want to read and not any old book I like the sound of

[@jensreadinglife]

That is a wonderful way to do it! I’m going to keep this idea in mind. Thanks! 😊

[@KatandTooManyBooks]

I love this tag! It's a great way to be accountable! Thank you for the tag! I'm excited to do it.

[@jensreadinglife]

You're welcome! I look forward to your video.

[@insearchofwonder]

Great job on your goals! As for book buying, what if you made a rule that for every book you buy, you have to get rid of one on your shelf? I've done that before with clothes and stuff like that.

[@jensreadinglife]

I’ve tried that before and I think it would work if only I hadn’t already curated my books down to things I have read and loved and ones I really want to read. I think I just need to embrace buying new books and know that at least I’ll never run out of anything to read. 😄

[@MLLatUtube]

I would never make it on a book buying ban! I mostly buy for my Kindle, but lately I have been picking up physical copies of my favorites. I am giving away physical books as much as I am buying them so I feel good about that. By the way, I saw some Ngaio Marsh books behind you - I love her books! Hope you do too.

[@jensreadinglife]

Yes, I love Ngaio Marsh! I’ve read a number of her books but all out of order so now I’m going to start at the beginning and read them from start to finish!

[@thomasceneri867]

Yes, book buying is a BIG problem for me! I have no advice. I have also been buying books from England because I watch Miranda Mills’ vlog who lives in England, so I’ve been buying from Persephone books and Blackwell’s and Slightly Foxed . AND I’ve gotten a subscription to The British Library’s Crime Classics where they send one classic mystery a month with wonderful extras. Yes, it’s a problem. 😂

[@jensreadinglife]

I did not know the BLCC had a subscription! I need to look into that.

[@MargaretPinard]

Thank you for the tag!

[@jensreadinglife]

You’re welcome! 😁

[@gerridauer9092]

I was excited to find a beautiful copy of The Blue Bedroom at an estate sale in my neighborhood. I had heard you talk about it in a previous video. So it’s on my TBR book cart. Thanks for the recommendation. 😊

[@jensreadinglife]

Oh what a wonderful find! I hope you enjoy it! 😊

[@glendaslanina9939]

Hi Jen…a big thank you for your recommendation of Some Writer! I love E.B. White’s writings and this little biography endeared me to him even more. 👏🏻🌷

[@jensreadinglife]

Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s such a lovely book. 😊

[@MMjones6459]

I thought about telling you to throw your DNF book in the trash because the cover was so misleading. But then thoughts of censoring crossed my mind. I still think I would toss!

[@jensreadinglife]

It’s very, very tempting! Maybe I should put a little disclaimer inside the front cover. 🤔

[@JayFernandes-b8c]

I’m really sorry to say that even though I REALLY enjoy you and your posts, I think you could increase your followers if you dropped with all the Middle Grade books - although I read voracious at that age and can appreciate it, I really think you might want to wait on the focus on those books when you are more in the grandma phase….??

[@jensreadinglife]

Thank you for your thoughts. I do really enjoy reading Middle Grade books and I have a middle grade aged son so I’m really in the thick of that at the moment. Hopefully I have enough other content that you’ll keep watching. Middle grade will always be a part of what I share though not entirely what I share. 😊