Sunday Salon – Reasons for Not Reading

Published on by Margaret

I’ve been thinking about books I own but haven’t read yet and wondering why I haven’t  even though some of them have been sitting on my bookshelves for a long time.

There are a number of reasons, apart from the fact that I keep getting more books before reading all the ones I’ve already got. They are:

  • Books that are part of a series and I haven’t read the earlier ones – such as Ian Rankin’s Exit Music
  • Books everyone else raves about and I can’t get into such as Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  • Books that are just so big, like A S Byatt’s The Children’s Book
  • Classic books – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • Books I’ve forgotten I’ve got – like Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett – I don’t even remember seeing it before!
  • Books bought  to make up a 3 for 2 offer – such as Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
  • Books by an author I like, but haven’t got round to reading yet – The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin
  • Non fiction books that require concentrated time devoting to them – such as Jonathan Dimbleby’s Russia

Looking at them today I’d like to reading them all as soon as possible – well, maybe not Cloud Atlas for a while – I’ve started it twice in the past.

16 thoughts on “Sunday Salon – Reasons for Not Reading”

  1. It’s funny, isn’t it? I have the same issue! There are books I’ve bought that I was so excited about when I bought them and they have lingered on my TBR shelves for months. For me, I think it is the fact that so many books come into my house all the time and things get lost in the chaos. Sorry to hear you haven’t liked Cloud Atlas…I love that book so much, but it is a challenging read. I think once you get into the book, it moves more quickly…but it is definitely not what I would call a “light read.”

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    1. Wendy, Cloud Atlas has become a bit of a ‘should read’ book for me. I know so many people love it and I just can’t get excited about it. Maybe next time will be the right time for that book for me.

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  2. I love the comment about books you’ve forgotten you’ve got. Every now and again I will come across a book that I simple have no recollection of even hearing about, let alone buying. My immediate reaction is one of panic. Is this something that I have been lent? The dreaded “you must read this” when you have absolutely no desire to read anything like it? If so, who lent it to me and how can I return it without admitting that I haven’t read it?

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    1. I know what you mean about books other people have lent you – I have a few of those too still waiting to be read and returned. I feel obliged to at least start those books!

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  3. Maybe rather than reading Exit Music (last of a series) you might consider The Complaints (first of his next series). I enjoyed it a lot.

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    1. Maxine, I’m working my way forwards with Rankin’s Rebus books, so it’ll be a while before I get to Exit Music. I couldn’t wait until I’d read his other books and read The Complaints last year – I enjoyed it a lot too and hope it’s the start of another series.

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  4. I think I need a formal expulsion policy for books in my TBR. But what should it be? Two years? Started and abandoned twice?

    It never fails for me….as soon as I decide that a book in my TBR is never going to be read and I give it away, that book will be a choice of my Bookgrouplist or I will see a rave review of it!

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    1. Debnance, I’ve been thinking that as well. I think I’ll have one more go at Cloud Atlas and if that fails it’s going off the list. Any book that I give away is bound to be one I want to read again sometime – that’s why it’s so hard to part with them.

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  5. I like the way you looked at your books. I have been thinking a lot about the unread books I have but my mind has been aimless. This gives me a better way to organize them. Perhaps that will be the incentive I need to get going on them. But somehow, the new books always call to me.

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  6. I read ‘Portrait of an unknown woman’ a couple of years ago, isn’t it about Thomas More’s stepdaughter, I loved it. Hope you enjoy it soon.

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    1. Mog, I’ve got Portrait of an unknown woman’ down off the shelf. It is about More’s step-daughter and Hans Holbein – set in 1527. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m going to start it tonight.

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  7. I’m not a book buyer, but I experience something similar with my TBR list and my library queue. I am so excited about a book when I add it to the list, but if I have to wait in a long queue for it at the library I’m often not in the mood to read it by the time I get it. I also have several titles that have been on my TBR list since 2008. I was excited about them when I heard about them, but now I can’t even figure out what made me add them to the list.

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  8. I have so many unread books and most of them, if not all, fit into the categories you listed. Since I’ve moved, a good deal of my books are stacked on the basement floor since there is no room for them upstairs. The old adage out of sight, out of mind is very fitting because I haven’t read a book from those books since I moved over two months ago!

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  10. Haven’t managed to read Cloud Atlas either despite numerous people telling me how great it is and how I must read it, but I am ashamed to say that I can’t always be bothered with books that I have to work at. When I haven’t much time to read, as at present, I want something that I can get into and enjoy, not something that gives me an inferiority complex!
    Having said that I am reading David Mitchell’s latest book and finding that okay, although I have been told that it is not typical of him so maybe that means nothing!
    I also have the Vanora Bennet on my shelves unread, although I have read both her subsequent books and enjoyed them.
    If you want a real page-turner, read the Ariana Franklin – I read it in a couple of days and loved it!

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