Discussion: Anticipation Killers

I need to get this off my chest and I thought, what better way than talking to fellow book bloggers. For the past few years I've been noticing a trend on my tbr shelves. I'll add a book to my most anticipated releases, I'll talk about it, think about it, dream about it non-stop and buy it as soon as it's released. That's all wonderful, so you're probably asking what the problem is. The problem is that I don't end up reading them until months or even years pass. I've come up with a few reasons why this might be happening to me:

1. Hype: This happened just last month with Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. It was my most anticipated book of the YEAR so I obviously went out and bought it the week it was released. But it also turned out to be the Booksplosion book of the month. Even though everyone absolutely adored it, there's now so much hype around it that I'm scared to read it.

2. Expectations (goes hand in hand with hype): Then there are the books where I create these extremely high expectations and once I actually get the book I become scared that they'll never live up to them. This happened with The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, Dearly Departed by Lia Habel, and Across the Universe by Beth Revis (I still haven't read any of these).

3: Time (More books come out, less time to read them): The amount of books that are released every Tuesday is frankly getting a bit overwhelming. Tiffany and I were just discussing this the other day. Even if we were genuinely interested in every book coming out, there's no way we would have time for all of them. The young adult market is growing every day and I just feel like I can't keep up. I could be missing out on a real gem that might have the potential to become a favorite and this kind of terrifies me.

4. Friends: This one's pretty simple and to the point. A new book is announced that sounds awesome, I talk about it all day to my friends, I buy it, friends want to read it, I'm in the middle of something else, I let them borrow it and then I never see it again until months later.

5. Permanence: Once I read them that's it. Reading a book for the first time is an experience and once it's over you can never get that back. Yes, you can reread the book, but it's never the same as that initial first time you met those characters and experienced that story. I just want to make sure I read the book for the first time at the right time in my life. I'm currently going through this with To All the Boys I've Loved Before [Edit: since writing this post I've read AND ADORED To All the Boys]. It's staring at me from my shelf but once I read it, I know there's no going back. That's it, it's over. I flew through all three of The Summer series books in April and loved them so so so much. I want to pace myself with this one.

Does this happen to anyone else? Am I crazy or do you guys go through these stages? Do you guys have a system to reading your most anticipated books? Do you pace yourself or do you devour them the moment they're in your hands? Let's discuss!

Discussion: A Million Series, No Time

Yeah, my TBR is pretty legendary.

Recently I've felt a little weary of series because I know I don't have time for all of them. I feel torn because if a book is a standalone, I'll often find myself wanting more of the characters but when it's a series, I never keep up with the next books. The only series I actually kept up with and finished were the Hex Hall series and the Unearthly series. They're both some of my all time favorites but lately, even when I like the first book, I won't pick up the second one because there's always another series I'd rather start.

This happens a lot at bookstores. I'll be looking around and I'll see the sequel to a book I enjoyed but end up buying the first book in a new series instead. I feel like I already know that world and I want new worlds. But I've been sticking more with contemporary since most of them are standalone books. I also get a little frustrated because some books don't even need sequels yet there they are, being released a year apart.

I know a lot of us (especially book bloggers) suffer with this (Mel talked a little about this in her post, Life of a Reader) and I want to know how you deal with it. Do you keep track of the series you want to finish during the year? Do you keep track of their release dates and stalk the stores? I need a new system to help me out next year because I really do want to finish/continue my series.

This gif relates how I feel about series so accurately. When I hear of a new series I feel like throwing everything but then I pick the book up and add it to my infinite shelves. You can't expect me to just LEAVE IT THERE.

Here are just a few of the ones I want to continue:

       
   

I could sit here ALL DAY and the list would be infinite but there's no time for that (I need to go pick up a sequel)! What do you think? Do you like all the series coming out or do you feel like there should be more standalone books? What first book have you loved but still haven't read the rest for lack of time?