The Game Is On!

Hello people! Today I want to present to you my new pet project! Sadly, no real pets are involved. But we’re talking about books, so not so bad, right?

Anyway… One of the sentences that I repeat more frequently is: “I have nothing to read!”. But you know what? I lie! I know… lies aren’t good and I shouldn’t say them. But often I found myself in dire despair, saying those horrible words: nothing to read! Gasp! Just thinking about them throw me in a dark place, but… but it’s not the truth. I have many, many books. My e-reader is full and my shelves are full of amazing unread books. But more often than not I can’t choose. That’s the sad truth.

Sometimes I choose a book because I feel like it, I choose following the mood of the moment, sometimes I choose an ARC that is waiting for me, sometimes I find the right book for the right moment, but more often than not I need some help. Usually, I take part in a lot of reading challenge and read-a-thon. I love them, I have a lot of fun and I discover always some new interesting books and people. But this year I haven’t participated in a lot of them. It’s that the new work, the new home and my boyfriend who now lives near me and not at 2000 km (literally) of distance, have influenced my reading habit. And it’s not that I read less than before. (Ok, I am reading less, to be completely honest. I am reading less of some of the past years, but I am reading more than the last year). But I feel more the pressure. I love Goodreads’ challenges. I really, deeply love them, but you have to keep up with the reviews and the update, especially with the team’s challenges. And it’s this pressure that I feel more.
And so they weren’t so fun anymore and I decided to stop for a time (I know I would go back to them, eventually, but not know).

So… what can help me choose the next reading? A board game! No, I am not crazy. I thought about this for some time and now here I am to present it to you all!

I have decided to do a board like the one you can use for the games. Let me tell you that I am not so good with a pencil, and my drawing skills suck, so don’t expect something beautiful or fancy. I made it to be useful. But here it is:

The idea is quite simple: I roll the dice three times and I choose three different books that set in the categories decided by the dice. Once I have read all three of them I can throw again the dice. Every 5 (maybe) set completed (for 15 rolls of the dice total) I could buy some new books. The only exceptions to this are the ARCs.

I have put generic indications on the board, like “finish a series” or “read an ARC” or “a thriller/mystery” and so on, and I am not too strict on their interpretations, for example, “a short book” can be read as a book that has a low number of pages, or it can be a book that, even if not really short, it’s a fast reading, a book that you can finish in one day (real life permitting!).

So far I am liking it and with the first roll of dices I made six six six… why I am not so luckwìy with the dices when I am really playing at something????
And I get:
1) A short book  – I have read an Italian chick-lit for this one.
2) A long one – I am reading Traitor’s Moon by Lynn Flewelling. And I am loving it!
3) A thriller – I haven’t decided yet for this one. But it would be my next physical book!

I haven’t used this method a lot, but I think I would keep up with it and so far it seems fun!

So… what do you think? And how you choose your next reading? Let me know!!!

Happy reading!
S.