Home Story: Reviews for fun?

When I started this blog it was because I just loved books so much that I wanted to share that with as many people as possible. I've always been the kind of person that would try to get all her friends to read the book I just finished "because it was just amazing, and let me tell you why!" With a blog I could talk as much as I wanted about these books and if people got bored they could just stop reading. I could continue to say what I wanted and never know the difference. Every one's happy! The more I got into this blogging thing, the more I realized there were people everywhere that felt the way I do about books. There are a million book blogs on the web! (of course this is not an official number, just one of Tonya's meaningless statistics). As I read these blogs I became interested in how some of these people got Advance Review Copies of books. This sounded wonderful and I wanted in on it. Well, now I am. I have received a few ARCs and have a couple more on the way but after those I'm done. I'm not saying it hasn't been wonderful to get all these free books (and some of them before their actual release date) but it feels more like work than fun. Reading should be fun. This is how I want to feel about books:But this is how I have been feeling lately:

It reminds me a little of when I was in school. I read all the time in school. I spent more time in class reading than I did listening to what the teachers were saying. The problem was, I wasn't reading anything related to what the class was about. I never read required reading in school if I could get away with it. For the most part, those books sucked but even the ones that didn't for some reason I just couldn't read. What's the problem? I have a personality disorder. If something feels like work I don't want to do it. If it's fun I'll do it all day long. Being required to read something I wouldn't otherwise read on my own, just not fun. I remember in 8th grade (I think that's the right grade) we had a chance to read both Tom Sawyer and Homecoming. I'm sure they're both wonderful books but for some reason I have never finished either one. I read half of each. It was enough to pass. I know, weird. Looking back I probably would have really liked Homecoming. From what I remember of it, the story was wonderful and heartbreaking. I may go to the Library and see if I can find it...

Ok to the point! What does all this mean? It doesn't mean I won't be reviewing books anymore. I love doing this too much. It simply means I am only going to read books I want to read or am signed up in challenges to read (because those are fun too). I means that I get no more free books (BOOOOOO) but I will have time to read the 6 books I have sitting on my shelf looking at me right now. It means I may have a chance to finish the Twilight series and annoy Stephanie Meyer's fans some more!