Thoughts of a Bookworm #2: I am a book addict

Throughout my reading life, there has always been something that has made me happy beyond measure. It's the feeling which I get from buying and collecting and placing new books on my shelf. It is even that great excitement when I have gone into my favourite bookshop and be able to walk around to buying that book that I've been eying up after half an hour browsing.

But then the pandemic happened and my reading habits changed for the worst.

At first, when the lockdown was first announced, everything was fine. I still had my last year studies at university, which were coming to a close and I had my sister with me. So, I would say I was pretty lucky compared to some of the other people that were facing the same problem of the pandemic. It is only when I finished my degree and began looking for a new job it seems my life took a little spiral and I have only come to realise this in the last few months.

Then the book requests started to enter my inbox. The inbox that I haven't looked at in over a year due to being so busy. And it was amazing at first, I was back in my element among all the things that I truly love. I had this outlet to take away some of the troubles of the present and the future.

It is only then that I had discovered Netgalley. If you don't know what NetGalley is, it is this amazing platform that reviewers, booksellers etc. can use to get early eARCS of upcoming releases for a review. As you probably will have noticed this has become one of my go-to places to get upcoming releases for blog content. That was when my love became an obsession. It wasn't just about reading books to provide reviews but having one leg up in reading the newest releases before they even came out. But the difference is that it's digital and all backed up to my phone and ereader. The real problem was Twitter.

I love Book Twitter with all my heart. It is a great community and allows for you to jump in and out, as well as keeping up with the latest book content from the publishing world. I truly love some of the people with who I follow and interact. They are amazing people and I look up to them and admire what they have done for the community. The only problem is that they tend to showcase physical books. And if any true reader understands, once you have your heart set on it, that is all your money gone without a second thought. I think I might have spent hundreds of pounds since I first entered this book space. I know what you're thinking, ouch.

So, I bet you're starting to think what happens now? How should I go about recovering from this form of shopping addiction even though it is the only thing that is keeping me sane right now? For one, I need to think about what I already have. Currently, as it stands, I have counted 247 books on my TBR pile. Most of these have been bought in the last year as a way to curb my boredom. But things are changing in little ways and looking up and I've decided that instead of buying books I will be adding a pound to my savings for every book I have read off my TBR pile. I know that this is not a way of recovering the money that I have spent, but it is a motivation to use what is already in front of me.

Are you an addict? Do you love books so much that it has taken over your life like mine? You are not alone.

What's not to be perfect?

Happy New Year! Like as I have said last week, we are going into something a bit more depressing. To start off this post I have decided that before I do go into specific details, I thought it would be a good idea to look at New Years resolutions. What is yours? I know for a fact what mine will be. It would have to be about how I always leave work until I have to do it. So this coming year my method for to stop making this habit would be to maybe make the habit of doing it earlier than what I once did. Just remember guys, never make a New Years resolution if you can't keep at it. Otherwise what is the point of actually making one? Anyway the book I am going to be focusing on this Tuesday, would be a book called The Perfectionists. It is about how five girls devise a plan against this boy called Nolan Hotchkiss and of course there will be a murder, betrayal and a bit of poison. I have to be completely honest about how i felt about the whole plot, before going onto other re

Thoughts of a Bookworm #5: Goodreads Choice Award is Fake

Hello! So, I know that it has been some time since I was last writing to you all. But I saw an email the other day and it really got me that I couldn’t not share my thoughts on it. As we all know it’s that time of year again. The fairy lights are beginning to twinkle, the days and nights are getting darker and colder and we are all starting to look ahead to the next year. But what comes before next year? Well, the Goodreads Book Choice Awards of course. One of the biggest events in a bookworm’s calendar. But personally, I think the whole thing is an insult to the whole book community. Obviously, when I was younger I didn’t think any different to most bookworms. However, I have come to realise that it isn’t necessarily what is the best book of the year but rather a popularity contest. More so now than ever with the insurgence of ‘BookTok’. Honestly, I don’t think we will ever get a book worthy of the title ever again. It has become a pure vanity project. Take me back to the Tweenies o

Happy 1st Birthday, Crossing Pixies!!

Yep, it has rolled to that time of the year where everything first began. A concept, rather than a figment in reality. So how did this all start? Well, to put it simply, I wanted something better; something more innovative (well, I'm slowly getting to that point) and I wanted to prove myself that I could stick at something. As well as including my passion for the love of books! But what is Crossing Pixies' story? It all began in the second week of the 2014 summer holidays, on a Tuesday, which was the basis for most of my post history. Weirdly enough, if you were here reading this blog from the start, Crossing Pixies itself has had a lot of faces. In more ways than one. It had a lot of different names within the first few months. Some that even I can't exactly remember! But the name that I do remember was the first -- The Big Book Marathon. Which now looking back I realise that it's not the easiest to find a name. The main concept was to review books for a single