Marquise > Status Update

In the part of the year that's all about "I'll do this, and I'll do that," this is a tricky one. The only thing I can think of is not letting social media hype - whether positive or "internet's poop book du jour" - guide my TBR. Especially since I rarely end up reading them.

Not exactly new for 2026, but I will not feel obligated to finish a book that I don't like. Life is too short.

I will not be listening/reading with my eyeballs two books of the same genre simultaneously.

I am going to read less books!!

Not care what anyone else thinks; this applies more to my writing but reading too as I always feel like something’s wrong with me if I like/dislike a book everyone else seems to dislike/like. In other words, I’m a work in progress. 👍

I will NOT force myself to read a book I donr like anymore

I will read less old Harlequins - in 2025 I have read many of them in between the more serious books. The concentration on less books is better.

I'll be spending less money on luxuries like books and takeaway. Luckily, I already own quite a few books I still need to read.

What's your anti-resolution, Marquise?

I don't do resolutions, but I like Fred's.
What about you, Marquise? You can't just dangle this in front of us and leave us hanging. 😂

Beth wrote: "In the part of the year that's all about "I'll do this, and I'll do that," this is a tricky one. The only thing I can think of is not letting social media hype - whether positive or "internet's poo..."

Internet's poop book du jour! 😂 We likes that, we likes that very much.

The influencer wannabes and the 'tubers/'tokers have taken over this site as they have everywhere else. Superfluous reviewing and overhyping books are now the norm. Ugh!

Fred wrote: "Not exactly new for 2026, but I will not feel obligated to finish a book that I don't like. Life is too short."

Yeah, have had that "anti-resolution" for ages now. Learnt the hard way.

Alli wrote: "I will not be listening/reading with my eyeballs two books of the same genre simultaneously."

You'll be reading them with other people's eyeballs instead? 😇

Book gluttony is a problem for many of us here, isn't it? Wanting to read too many at the same time and then paying for the overstretching ourselves to take it all in.

Betsie wrote: "I am going to read less books!!"

No, no, no, can't be! That's not an anti-resolution, that's a suicide pact. 🫠

Sarah wrote: "Not care what anyone else thinks; this applies more to my writing but reading too as I always feel like something’s wrong with me if I like/dislike a book everyone else seems to dislike/like."

A toast for embracing your hipsterism! 😂

There's never going to be two exact takes about the same book, and even when there's coincidences, there's always something different. It takes a while to build confidence, but once you feel you've found your sea legs, it's all cruising speed ahead.

Zeynep Nehir wrote: "I will NOT force myself to read a book I donr like anymore"

Hey, Zeynep! Welcome to my lil' chat corner.

Oh, boy, just how many people here force themselves to finish books they are hating? o.O This anti-resolution is rather popular.

Emiliya wrote: "I will read less old Harlequins - in 2025 I have read many of them in between the more serious books. The concentration on less books is better."

Harlequins? o.O

Now I know I've been blind all of 2025, because I didn't realise you had been reading those books. I don't judge people's tastes, by the way, I'm just surprised because you never struck me as the type to read Harlequins.

Thibault wrote: "I'll be spending less money on luxuries like books and takeaway. Luckily, I already own quite a few books I still need to read."

No, no, no, can't be! Too many are expressing their suicide pacts here. 🥺 How will you live without books and food? You'll be malnourished body and soul. 🥺

Morphing_kashi wrote: "I don't do resolutions, but I like Fred's."

Anti-resolutions, m'dear! They're like the contrarian twin of resolutions. 😂

I'll count Fred-sensei's as yours, then.

Thibault wrote: "What's your anti-resolution, Marquise?"

Morphing_kashi wrote: "What about you, Marquise? You can't just dangle this in front of us and leave us hanging. 😂"

Not keep adding secret book boyfriends to my literary harem now that I'm going to be a proper married woman? 😂

I will not listen to "Lonesome Dove" that everyone but me has loved. I watched the movie. I will break my rule that I if bought it I will listen to it.

Merry wrote: "I will not listen to "Lonesome Dove" that everyone but me has loved. I watched the movie. I will break my rule that I if bought it I will listen to it."

Uh! I did like that book, but didn't love it. I had heard that the film is great, maybe I should give it a try.

Will not read another
Gabaldon, Diana *
book.

Charlton wrote: "Will not read another
Gabaldon, Diana *
book."

Man, just WHEN did you start with her books? They're more ancient than me. 😂

I'm doing better at quitting bad books but can improve.
Won't be reading Alix Harrow or Sarah Beth Durst again.
V E Schwab has one more chance to impress me.

Audrey wrote: "I'm doing better at quitting bad books but can improve.
Won't be reading Alix Harrow or Sarah Beth Durst again.
V E Schwab has one more chance to impress me."

What did get those two authors blacklisted in your book?

Their writing style is not my jam. Harrow tends to insert her political opinions in stuff, which I don't want to know, and Durst is way too sappy for me. I'll get diabetes if I read her again.

Audrey wrote: "Their writing style is not my jam. Harrow tends to insert her political opinions in stuff, which I don't want to know, and Durst is way too sappy for me. I'll get diabetes if I read her again."

Hahaha, Durst is for a younger audience that loves fluff and feel-good stories, I think. :)

Don't recall what I thought of Harrow, but that inserting of politics/ideology seems to be becoming more common.

Marquise wrote: "Charlton wrote: "Will not read another
Gabaldon, Diana *
book."

Man, just WHEN did you start with her books? They're more ancient than me. 😂"

Ha! I read Outlander 10 yrs ago. I read the blurb and thought this might be kinda cool. Going back in time, fighting their battles. Made me think of Timeline by Michael Crichton, but no the romance arggh! ruined everything!

Marquise wrote: "Betsie wrote: "I am going to read less books!!"

No, no, no, can't be! That's not an anti-resolution, that's a suicide pact. 🫠"

But who is going to die? The books or me? Or both? ;)

Betsie wrote: "Marquise wrote: "Betsie wrote: "I am going to read less books!!"

No, no, no, can't be! That's not an anti-resolution, that's a suicide pact. 🫠"

But who is going to die? The books or me? Or both? ;)"

You! 😄

Charlton wrote: "Ha! I read Outlander 10 yrs ago. I read the blurb and thought this might be kinda cool. Going back in time, fighting their battles. Made me think of Timeline by Michael Crichton, but no the romance arggh! ruined everything!"

The romance is what sells those books and what loses it fans. Now that I think about it, I've never met a male fan of Gabaldon's.... And I do know a handful of male romance readers. 😂

I have to be careful to not fall into the hype for young people's books. I really wish users would add an "under 25" advisory to their posts.

Scott wrote: "Reading updates and long reviews. Why? Goodreads, itself. No explanation needed…"

Joining the Don't Wanna Give GR My Content Anymore collective? <3

I feel the same, I have a handful of reviews and am already reading my first book of the year, but . . . I simply can't seem to be made to post it all at swordpoint.

Audrey wrote: "I have to be careful to not fall into the hype for young people's books. I really wish users would add an "under 25" advisory to their posts."

Hahaha! Too late, my dear. The influencers and the young padawans have taken over this site and all of social media reviewing spaces. :D

I haven't decided yet 😁 But planning my reading better, so that I don't get stressed by arc's, book clubs and buddy reads might be nice. Is it doable, though? 🤣

I want to stop piling up my physical TBR and feeling guilty everytime I look at it. I just want to have five to ten unread books in my house. I also need to get rid of some of the read ones, but that task will wait.

Fun question as usual! For me, probably stop reading more on a series when it starts getting old.

Alexandra wrote: "I haven't decided yet 😁 But planning my reading better, so that I don't get stressed by arc's, book clubs and buddy reads might be nice. Is it doable, though? 🤣"

Hurry up, the year's going to end in 359 days. 🤣

I feel you, the self-imposed stress is the reason I no longer make reading plans. It's so easy to end up with a larger pile than we can manage because there's so many great stuff out there and we don't want to be left behind by our friends having fun.

Ангелина wrote: "I want to stop piling up my physical TBR and feeling guilty everytime I look at it."

Easy! Replace piling up your physical TBR with piling up your eBook TBR like I did. 🤣

Sigh... I wish I had a solution for that myself, but all I managed to do was not to pile up on the ARCs, and that's it. Biiiiig victory for me, though.

Phil wrote: "Fun question as usual! For me, probably stop reading more on a series when it starts getting old."

George R. R. Martin traumatised you for life, too? 🤣

Naw, I stopped after the fourth 😎

Phil wrote: "Naw, I stopped after the fourth 😎"

Sensible fellow, you! And wise. 😎

Might be a weird one, but no more reading challenge. I know I read a lot, I don't need that imaginary pressure to motivate me.

Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) wrote: "Might be a weird one, but no more reading challenge. I know I read a lot, I don't need that imaginary pressure to motivate me."

Imaginary pressure! That's so perfect you should patent that and collect royalties. ☺️

I stopped doing the challenge back in 2016 or so(?). I don't even know why I took it up, I never needed that. Peer pressure and FOMO, maybe, it was still a novelty and everyone was jumping onto the Reading Chellenge bandwagon.

I have endless to-do lists in my life: reading is my escape and the challenge turns it into another to-do, I've grown to just hate it.

Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) wrote: "I have endless to-do lists in my life: reading is my escape and the challenge turns it into another to-do, I've grown to just hate it."

Yeah, that's basically my mindset now. I'm a super-organised and super-scheduler type of worker, and that trait tends to encroach on my pastimes if I'm not careful.

That's also why I have this strategy to NEVER rate & review non-fiction books that have to do with my professional field. Strict division of work and pleasure for me here, all the non-fic I do add to GR is for pleasure, too. It helps me a lot to keep stuff compartmentalised, or I'll end up micro-managing my own hobbies and that'd be disastrous.

At the risk of copying others, I am not doing a reading challenge this year because of feeling an obligation to complete it! I just want to read things that intrigue me. Also, I'm going to try and stop reading books that I don't like and stop forcing myself to attempt to complete them. I often feel like I've failed if I can't complete a book. Am working to try and stop worrying about that. Some books just aren't for me, and I need to accept this fact.

Meredith wrote: "At the risk of copying others, I am not doing a reading challenge this year because of feeling an obligation to complete it!"

Good idea, Merry. That's one reason why I tell you to not add books I like automatically, because you and I have very different worldviews and you might end up not liking the books I loved.

Marquise wrote: "The influencers and the young padawans have taken over this site and all of social media reviewing spaces. :D"

True, but I have become much more discerning.

I think we get in this habit of forcing ourselves to finish books we don't like from school. Our subconscious is telling us to finish or we'll get a bad grade when really we're under no obligation.

Audrey wrote: "I think we get in this habit of forcing ourselves to finish books we don't like from school."

Would you believe me if I told you that I actually enjoyed and looked forward to these mandatory school reads? I was the only one and looked at weirdly by my classmates.

In my case, my now gone habit of forcing myself to finish books I dislike comes from "book poverty." We didn't have age-appropriate books at home, I'm the youngest and much younger than my siblings, so they took all their books with them when they left for university. Also, we lived in the countryside, our village didn't have a library, the nearest one was next town over. It was an adventure to go get a new book, so every book and magazine I got my hands on was read and reread excessively.

What is scarce is much more valued, now with eBooks and libraries accessible digitally and free books and etc., books aren't a scarcity they used to be. Save for perhaps in some countries for reasons that don't have to do with book scarcity per se as much as price and access.