A few weeks ago, I decided to add a little feature in the sidebar of this site to showcase the books I’ve been reading. I was back and forth about whether or not to do this, for a variety of reasons (see below), but ultimately my love of book-sharing won out.
Which brings me to my first dilemma as a book-loving Jewish woman:
To recommend or not to recommend. One thing I never want to be responsible for is lowering anyone else’s standards. There are a million shades of “clean” or “appropriate” that work with different people’s sensitivities, depending on so many factors: background, current environment, experiences, priorities, needs. Therefore, any book that I feature (pretty much any book I finish) is what I would consider appropriate for a 21+ year old frum female reader of blogs…but I can’t be too sure at all, as I just don’t know you personally (my loss). If you’re holding in a more sheltered place than I am, more power to you. So read at your own discretion.
To finish or abandon. This one isn’t much of a dilemma for me — I probably drop twice as many books as I finish. Although recently, that’s been less of an issue because I’ve gotten better at zeroing in on the book I need right now.
To browse or read reviews. Until recently, my typical library routine went something like: get lost in Goodreads, find random titles that look good, search the library catalog, put a hold on a stack of new books, pick them up at the library, read a couple and abandon the rest. It worked fairly well but I started to notice over the summer that my library stack was feeling more like a pile of homework than anything else. I cut back on the number of books I check out at one time and (so daringly) started to browse the shelves and let serendipity take over. This has worked out quite well, actually. The last two books I read (Unfreedom of the Press, by Mark Levin, and How To Treat People, by Molly Case) were plucked from the New Books display.
To spend or save. I’m going out of town for a few days, so should I save my next book (a great, big novel) for the airport or should I just start (and maybe finish) it now?
To borrow or buy. Libraries forever! I almost never, ever buy a book unless I’ve read it and loved it. I will make a very rare exception for a book that intrigues me and isn’t in the library. This book was one of them.
To read or sleep. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Are you a book-lover? Read anything good recently? Please share recommendations below!
I would definitely recommend checking out this whatsapp group – https://chat.whatsapp.com/G4PByWoMq4g81qPX9mZ7Ig
Very much a big fan of books as well!!
do you rate/review the books you read on Goodreads? I like seeing the handful of books in the sidebar but it would be even more helpful to see older ones too, and ratings are useful.
I actually did have a Goodreads account back when, but I deleted it because it was becoming such a time suck for me. Now I only use it to read people’s reviews. Any book that I post in the sidebar is one that I finished and think was worth the read. However, if you are looking for feedback about specific books, or even for a book list, pleease don’t hesitate to ask in either the comments here or an email. I wish I could come up with a better system — maybe I will reopen that Goodreads account?