Merry Christmas, I’m terrible: The Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag

Well isn’t this just classic.

No way to wrap up a year quite like a reminder of what an awful reader you are!!

Just kidding. This tag is adorable and I remain overwhelmingly (and ill-advisedly) confident and we are thriving and having a good time always. ALWAYS, I SAID.

Literally everyone on Earth has done this tag (which is truly the cutest thing ever), so I hardly need to explain it and yet I will anyway, both because I’m self-obsessed and I need to lengthen this intro a little.

Basically this is a list of “naughty” reading habits and you say whether you did them or not and then calculate your numbers and boom. You know whether you’re on the naughty or nice list. It’s like a magazine quiz except it lowers your self-esteem.

So a magazine quiz.

I was tagged to do this by Melanie @ Mel to the Any and Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads and Bakes!! What a couple of cuties. The original is by Jenniely, and also why is her blog so pretty?? I’m freaking.

Let’s get into it!!

1. Received an ARC and not reviewed it

Uh…yes. Literally all the time. I usually don’t even try to read an ARC by the release date, unless it’s a HUUUGE release (like Archenemies) or I’m on the blog tour. And sometimes not even then.

Maybe I’ll try to fix this in 2019?? But realistically probably not.

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2. Have less than 60% feedback rating on Netgalley?

Okay, so. Up until about a month ago I had only used Netgalley twice, for e-ARCs I had been directly contacted about by publishers. But then a month ago I was like “I should use Netgalley!!” And I requested books and got approved for two of them.

And then I remembered I don’t know where my Kindle charger is (for my six-year-old Kindle). And also my Digital Editions account broke.

Basically my rating is sitting pretty at 50%.

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3. Rated a book on Goodreads and promised a full review was to come on your blog (and never did)

Uhhh. I have, currently, 16 books on my to-review shelf. Which is not technically me saying I will review them on my blog. But it is saying there is a review to come. In spite of the fact that there isn’t one.

Oh boy.

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4. Folded down the page of a book

NEVER!!!! I would never do this. I have used receipts, (clean) tissues, and myriad inanimate objects ranging from pairs of scissors to corners of blankets to uneaten granola bars. I have left books propped open for hours on end. I have even, on occasion, used a bookmark.

But I have NEVER folded down the page of a book.

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5. Accidentally spilled on a book

I am not one of those “””good””” or “””smart””” people who doesn’t eat or drink while they read. I do everything while I read. I eat lunch and chug coffee and even, often, brush my teeth.

And yes sirree I have DEFINITELY spilled on a book. Little spills! You know. Thumbprints of melted chocolate or drips of coffee or whatever.

But spills all the same.

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6. DNF a book this year

Ugh I almost got away with it! I have only DNFed nine books in my entire lifetime, and one of them was at the beginning of this year. Curse you, past me!!

It was The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, and I could just tell if I kept reading it it was going to change the way I thought of Carrie Fisher. Which, never.

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7. Bought a book purely because it was pretty with no intention of reading it

I have dozens of copies of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I own the collected works of Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson. I have multiple copies of at least 12 different books.

Suffice it to say: Yeah, I’ve done this.

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8. Read whilst you were meant to be doing something else (like homework)

This is how I LIIIIIIVE. Binge-rereading during finals, getting to ARCs in the middle of midterms, sneak-reading books during conversations and meals and family time.

I mentioned earlier that I have been known to read while I brush my teeth. Are you really surprised by this?

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9. Skim read a book

I almost never DNF books, but I doooo HAVE to do this from time to time. How the hell else am I supposed to get through a book like The Girl King, which is like 900 pages long and sososo boring?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

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10. Completely missed your Goodreads goal?

Not even once!!! I am always reasonable, and I change my goal to reflect reason if necessary.

(Have to keep this answer in mind when I’m tempted to set my 2019 goal to 200…WHAT IF I COULD PULL IT OFF THOUGH.)

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11. Borrowed a book and not returned it

No!!! I don’t borrow books from people often (if ever) (because I don’t know many people who like to read) (which is tragic in many ways, including this one, but also includes the upside of I Rarely Have To Lend People My Books). And also tragically, I don’t really have a local library at the moment.

People have not returned my books in the past, though. GRACE, IF YOU’RE SOMEHOW READING THIS: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID.

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12. Broke a book-buying ban

I’ve been on a book-buying ban called “being a college student with $11 in her bank account” for most of this year, and I’ve only broken it with gift cards/deals/etc. Which is why this hurts. Because I was so good this year.

And yet…not good enough.

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13. Started a review, left it for ages, and forgotten what the book was about

Honestly almost every review I’ve ever written. Just trying to write them three months later and never taking notes and reading synopses and summaries and desperately trying to remember.

That’s my style, baby!!

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14. Wrote in a book you were reading

Okay…sometimes if I’m reading a book that is really terrible, and there is a particular line that is really, really, soso bad, I will underline that line. Or sometimes even write an angry little message in the margin.

I’m not proud. Except that I kind of am, because I’m like a book vigilante.

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15. Finished a book and not added it to your Goodreads

ARE YOU KIDDING. How would you even do this?? I would die of stress. I would simultaneously combust. I am obsessed with Goodreads and can’t even go 15 minutes after finishing a book before updating.

How would anyone do this??? And why????

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16. Borrowed a book and not returned it to a friend

Oh. Kind of answered this already. So again, no.

But also again: GRACE, I’LL TAKE THAT BOOK BACK ANY TIME NOW.

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17. Dodged someone asking if they can borrow a book

How does one do this??? I wish I knew. If someone asks me to borrow a book it is usually a) one of my siblings doing it over text message (which is completely unavoidable. I could pretend I dropped my phone in lava or a toilet or some other non-electronic-friendly substance, but then I’d send them a meme like two days later and completely reveal myself) or b) my roommate or someone I sit next to in class or a close friend.

Basically always impossible to avoid.

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18. Broke the spine of someone else’s book

What??? Like some nightmare-creature? Of course not. Even when I read my own paperbacks, I practically do it with gloves and tongs and complicated equipment and only open the book fifteen degrees and have to stick my nose in it to have any idea of what any word is.

And that’s with my own books.

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19. Took the jacket off a book to protect it and ended up making it more damaged

How do you really damage a hardcover with no dust jacket?? They’re powerful. They’re like bricks. There is no harming them for they are utilitarian and strong.

Dust jackets, on the other hand, are flimsy fairy wings that will tear if you breathe on them too hard.

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20. Sat on a book accidentally

I’m not sure when this happened, but I’m sure it has. I read in bed and take Instagram pictures on my bed and sit in my bed, and I read on my couch and empty my backpack on my couch and sit on my couch.

So statistically speaking it’s near-certain.

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The Verdict

Naughty: 12

Nice: 8

Well, we all saw this coming. I’m not even mad. Feel like the bad girl of book blogging.

TALK TO ME!

Are you on the nice list or the naughty list? Do you agree with any of my answers? Disagree? Want to burn me at the stake for my bookish sacrilege?