The Pros & Cons Of Being A Mood Reader

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much of a mood reader I am and the fact that it has its upsides and its downsides. I know my fellow mood readers will agree with me when I say that it can sometimes be impossible to read a book when you’re a mood reader and just not in the mood for it. You try to start it and then find yourself getting impatient and/or walking away from the book. However, at the opposite end is when you’re really in the mood for a book and can’t put it down for anything. 

Which brings me to what I want to talk about –

The pros and cons of being a mood reader.

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Mood Reading Pros

Enjoying books more often than not.

Mainly, I’m a genre mood reader. I go on genre binge readings where I’m really into fantasy or dystopian or contemporary and can’t bring myself to read anything else outside of the genre I’m in the mood for. I’ve found that when I’m on a genre binge I tend to enjoy most of the books I read and come across ones that I don’t like less often. 

Sometimes mood reading can make it easier to find something to read.

This is a double-edged sword because it isn’t always true. However, sometimes I find it easier to find books to read when I’m in the mood for a certain genre. I have a list of contemporaries for when I’m in the mood for them and the same goes for every other genre I like. For example, I’m currently on the biggest fantasy binge and have yet to not be able to find another book to read in months.

You know what books to avoid.

I feel like this point might go hand in hand with my first pro, but I’ve found that I can more easily avoid books I know I’m not going to want to read at that moment. Of course, that isn’t always the case given that during my fantasy slump last year I tried to read Nevernight and that didn’t work out at all. BUT most of the time being a mood reader comes through for me on this.

Mood Reading Cons

It almost always leads to a slump of some kind. 

When I really get in the mood for a genre I pick up book after book after book in said genre to the point where I almost always end up in a fantasy slump or a contemporary slump or even sometimes a reading slump in general. Last year I went through the worst fantasy slump due to mood reading and then this year, so far, I’ve been contemporary slump central. I feel like mood reading can lead to slumps easily because after a while of reading a lot of the same you can burn yourself out.

You can almost never stick to your TBR.

I know I’m not the only one for this. Us mood readers have a really tough time sticking to our TBRs more often than not. We’ll make a list or say we’re going to read this book or that and then a lot of the times other books distract us and make us forget we ever had a list in the first place. I’m guilty of always venturing from my TBR. I try but it just isn’t plausible for me.

When mood read strikes and you have review books – AKA the worst possible thing.

This happened to me for the first time ever at the beginning of the year. All of my review books aside from one were contemporary and all I wanted to read was fantasy. Just the thought of it sent me into more of a contemporary slump than I was already in. Honestly, I feel like this is my worst mood reading con because you know you can’t ignore the review books, especially when they’re ARCs, but all you want to do is ignore the review books and read what you’re in the mood for. Really it’s a no win situation.

Now onto the part where I discuss this with you guys.

Are you a mood reader?

What are your pros and cons? Do we share any?

Also, have you ever run into mood reading head first while having review books?

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