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Bookish Rants or Raves: Bookish OCD
Filed in Bookish Rant or Raves , The Crazy Lover Posted on July 29, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
16 comments
Ok, so I have a confession to make. I have a bit of OCD when it comes to numbers and even though nowadays it’s much more controlled, there was a point in my life when it was seriously annoying to my friends.
I love odd numbers and don’t really care for even ones. So for example when the volume (in the car radio, doesn’t matter the car) is at an even number it bothers me! A Lot! There was a point in my life when I had to ask the car owner if I could turn it up or down one point so it could be an odd number. I did that even in Taxis LOL. Well, nowadays it still bothers me, but I do my best to ignore it, I promise.
All this got me thinking about some OCD habits related to books. Alphabetizing your shelves, organizing by color and so on…
I don’t do any of that, though I do have two things that I do. One is that I tend to peak at the end of the book when I’m reading and things are starting to feel hopeless for my favorite couple. I swear i try to avoid it and it’s easier to do it when it’s an eBook, but when it’s a print one? Damn, 90% of the time I can’t resist it =/
The other thing is a pet peeve of mine that I had to work around a couple times but I rather not. I HATE reading a series out of order! I really HATE it! It disrupts my reading mojo and I simply avoid it as much as possible.
I had to do it two times and both were because I got a book further in a series for review and I didn’t have the previous ones or didn’t have time to read them. One of those instances it all went ok and since it was a PNR and each book had a HEA, it was easier to deal with and the author ended up sending me the first 2 books in the series as well and I actually want to read them.
The other time it was a disaster! I got the fifth book in a series at NetGalley and actually bought the previous four and was planning to read them. But I ended up not having time for that since the release date was coming up and I wanted to get the review up close to it. I read it and now I don’t feel like reading the rest because it is an Urban fantasy series and it kind ruins the rest of it to know how things are right now. I will read it eventually but the timing is off =/
Now I wanna know about you guys! Do you any Bookish OCD behaviors?? If you do, please share! I’d love to know more!
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I hate to read out of order too and Iam doing at the moment! But yeah it's PNR so book 1 had an happy ending, so I can deal with it. But otherwise no way.
Sometimes I think my fav hobby is re-arranging my books, I have done it everye way possible.
In reading order, size, colors, height etx
I do the two thing you listed too. When I'm in a middle of a book I like to flip to the last few pages to see how the story ends. Also for paperback books I never bend the spine. I read it very gently and like to keep the spine crease free.
I always read the end of a book first. Even when I'm reading one of my beloved romances and I know that there will be a HEA I still read the end first. It just makes me relaxed and that way I can enjoy the book so much more.
I also like to order my books like in a library. All books by one author together and then sorted after pub date (books from a series stand together).
OMG YES I peak at the ending too! I try to only read they very last page! (you know the one with the little paragraph, that you yell at cuz you dont want the book to end) but sometime i end up reading it backwards because my curiosity gets the best of me! Ive gotten better at it! I now managed to get at least half way through the book (most of the time) before I peak! but I cant help it esp if something bad is happening to a character at that point in time i want to KNOW if they are gonna die on me!!
I also have my bookshelves separated by series and the authors books are all together..I havent managed to do them all in ABC by series and author yet..bc I own 3 bookcases worth of books..but it has been thought about..it would take me a LONG time to accomplish this..but Im happy the way they are set up now 🙂
WOW you all made me feel so much better! I thought I was alone in my obsessions hahahahahah
@Sabrina
YES! Reading the end allows me to relax and enjoy the book more hahahah =D
I dont mind spine creases though…
The only time I peek at the end of a book is if I'm not enjoying the book itself. I'll peek to see if it's worth reading to the end.
My OCD moments with books are how I organize the on the shelves or in the computer. On the shelves it's alpha by author last name and then by title/series name. I have a separate shelf(or two)for those rare print series that are multi author(happens in category romance sometimes). The ones that irritate me are when they switched book size in the middle of the series(usually from mmpb to trade size or from paperback to hardback). They need their own shelves also.
For ebooks, I separate the into folders by type of story(shifters, Christmas, contemporary, etc.). Then alpha by title or series name. May have to do something different soon. Couple of the folders are getting a little big(maybe a m/m, m/f and menage folder for each type).
Oh, and heaven help my daughter if she borrows one of my books and dogears the pages. She did that once and I wouldn't let her touch my books for six months.
Other posters have mentioned this – it drives my husband crazy! I read the end of the book first. I always have and if the story is good, it never detracts from the story. Sometimes if I don't like the ending at all, I won't like the book.
Really, I've done this since I was a little girl – I guess I have a problem with delayed gratification!
Thanks sharing everyone =D
@Beth
LOL love your shelving system, its so annoying when the formats of the books in a series change =/
ahhahahah Your daughter had it coming =P
@Julia
LOL I cant resist it either! i agree, sometimes a book can be good not great throughout but the ending is amazing… then I just end up LOVING the book =)
I am the opposite OCD regarding numbers. I like even numbers. My favorites are 4 and 16. As regards to books, I don't really have a strict way of organizing them, but I like my books to look perfect (very little spine creasing), which is really strange for me because I tend to get them used. I do try to hunt for the best condition ones though, especially if it is a keeper.
@Rosie
Thats funny! my faves are 11 and 5 =D
I dont mind the creasing and used books at all =)
Thanks for sharing!
I obsess over shelving.
First and foremost, I need them to be grouped thematically. Depending on the space I have to work with, I will be dividing books up not only by genre, but by setting, theme and characterization of the protagonist. Nonsensical to anyone who is not me, but it does help me pick books to reread based on my mood.
After themes are sorted out, there is the issue of appearance. Can't have a hardback book right next to a mass market paperback…..so they are stacked and flipped and arranged to look appealing on my shelf. Takes awhile to get it right. I constantly find myself fiddling with it – or even going out to find a book of a specific size/shape to fill a void.
Hi Larissa 🙂
I love to read the books in order too! actually I've several books here without book 1 and I can't read them yet…
oh no, I can't read the end first – it ruins the whole book for me…*g*
greetings, Ina
@draconismoi
LOL I love your OCD with organization!!! =D
@Ina
hhahaha same here!
awwww =) it doesnt ruin it for me, but i totally understand =D
lol i sometimes read the backpage…most of the time that doesn't help but it's usually when something really bad goes wrong…or i'm getting bored..
and I know what you mean about the series hun! I can't stand to read a book out of order!
I have actually one i think it's the ninth book in a series that i haven't even started yet…so I'm going to read the entire series before I read it.
Hopefully I end up liking the series lol.
LOL I hate when that happens =P and now you have to get the other 8 books =/
omg I hate reading series out of order! I will wait and wait and track down the rest of the series first then go back to the one I have..
I wish they would make a list on every book so you know what number you are on!