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The Dreaded Bookish Mind Blank | Discussion

wilberry-14

I have a bookish dilemma, my friends.

I think about books a lot. In any given moment, chances are that I’ve either thought about reading or will be thinking about reading within five or ten minutes. I’m a bookworm through and through.

However, I’ve noticed that I often experience what I’m going to call “bookish mind blanks.” Whenever I walk into a bookstore, it’s as if I’ve forgotten every book on my TBR that I would have liked to purchased. Similarly, the titles of all of the books I’ve ever loved and enjoyed suddenly vacate my brain whenever someone asks me for a recommendation. It’s kind of like writer’s block or blanking out when taking an exam. For some reason, my mind just cannot get hold of any of my bibliophile knowledge.

In short: when called upon, my bookishness often fails me.

Does anyone else experience these weird blanks? Do you struggle to give recommendations on the spot because you can’t think of certain book titles or authors? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY

holly

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44 responses to “The Dreaded Bookish Mind Blank | Discussion”

  1. Ana Avatar
    Ana

    For sure. It bothers me especially when I read tags that ask for favourite books or characters and whatnot. I simply cannot call anything to mind.

    I guess it’s like I live the moment to the fullest and then forget all about it because I want to focus on what comes next? I don’t know, it’s so weird. I wish I could remember stuff like that.

    I wish I had a favourite book!! But each experience is different to me so I can’t really compare.

    So yeah, you are not alone at all 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      OMG you’re I didn’t even think about book tags, but it always happens to me then, too! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way sometimes 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Ana Avatar
        Ana

        I know, right? I thought I was the only one ehhe.

        Like

  2. Ali (@thebandarblog) Avatar
    Ali (@thebandarblog)

    I can’t say that I have this problem, but I do agree with you about thinking about books 24/7!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      haha I’m glad!! #bookbloggerproblems 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. Maya Avatar
    Maya

    This is so true! When someone asks for a book rec, I go completely blank and become the most unhelpful person in the planet 😂😂 And when I’m in a bookstore I can never decide! Especially if the books are expensive. I usually end up choosing a book I’ve never heard about but has positive goodreads reviews by bloggers I like.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Ugh mind blanks in bookstores are THE WORST. It always takes me eons to go shopping because I can never remember any books that I wanted to buy. Goodreads is always a life saver in those situations! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  4. Ocean Bream Avatar
    Ocean Bream

    Yes, me too! It’s so weird, and it’s not just with books. It’s when one is put in the spotlight about anything. ‘What is your favourite food?’ ‘What is a good website to trawl?’ – for the most part, there are so many amazing books in so many amazing genres that one can’t just choose one. It would be as thought one was generalising an entire world.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      That’s so true! Whenever anyone asks my what my favorite song is I never know how to respond. I usually say that my favorite food is breakfast food in general, especially granola. And don’t even get me started on mind blanks during exams or presentations… they’re the worst!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. thereaderiswarned Avatar
    thereaderiswarned

    Recommending a book or books seems to me to necessarily be a slow task, I certainly can’t name things off the cuff.

    But a friend once asked me for some good locked room mysteries to get her started, and so I was able to peruse my shelves and compile a list pacing myself as I went. It felt like recommending books needed craft in it self.

    I think, in a way, reading exists in such an interesting space that it’s difficult to access that space on the spot!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I definitely agree, and you phrased it in such a great way: it’s a sort of craft. Recommending a book that someone truly enjoys takes time and a fair amount of knowledge about that person’s tastes and interests. Recommendations shouldn’t be rushed!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. thereaderiswarned Avatar
        thereaderiswarned

        Absolutely. Just like racing itself is not something to be rushed!

        Like

  6. Shanti Avatar
    Shanti

    Oh yes, this totally happens to me! This weekend I discovered that someone I’ve known for 6 years is a total YA fangirl and was SO SAD that I hadn’t realised and then wanted to ask her about books and promptly forgot them all. I’m quite good at it if I’m in front of goodreads or my bookshelf or I’ve read about it in the last month: otherwise, nothing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Also, that’s super exciting that one of your friends also loves YA! I love unexpectedly finding out that people are bookish. It hasn’t happened often to me, but when it does I get incredibly excited. 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  7. Miss Dino Avatar
    Miss Dino

    I have that, but in a different more irritating form. It’s when I go to the library with the book I want in mind, and the book isn’t avaliable there! Also, I hate when I go to the library with the book I want in mind and instead of getting the book I want, I just get some random book.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      That used to happen to me all the time when I worked at my town library in high school. I would just pick random books off the shelves that looked interesting instead of actually reading the books already on my TBR list… definitely not helping! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Miss Dino Avatar
        Miss Dino

        I still do that now! I wish it wasn’t a habit of mine, but it does help me find the good books I do find, so I can’t say that I’d completely stop doing it.. My TBR is filling up so much, and I just can’t push it down, all the books on it are so good! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Lucybird Avatar
    Lucybird

    I remember specific favourites, but not so much specific recommendations for others, usually I flick through my goodreads and it jolts my memory- and once I find one I find it opens up my blockage

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Goodreads is such a life saver when it comes to book recommendations! 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  9. dandelionsmith Avatar
    dandelionsmith

    I’ve definitely been there. Oh, how frustrating! Although, authors are easier to remember. I was delighted recently to find an illustrated book about astronomy by H.A. Rey, the author of the Curious George series. (It was for my grandson.)

    Lately, though, I keep a list of TBR titles on my phone, and also a list of recently read titles. That helps prime the gray matter.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      That’s a really good point about authors being easier to remember than individual books, especially when I’ve read a bunch of books by the same author. Keeping a phone list is a really good idea!

      Like

      Reply
  10. lucindablogs Avatar
    lucindablogs

    Definitely – I thought this was just me! Someone recently asked me what my favourite book was as a child and I literally couldn’t think of anything that I’d read and really enjoyed before the age of about 16! I had to visualise my bookshelves to try to come up with something. Maybe the problem is that because we read so much lots of stories get blurred together?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I tend to visualize my shelves a lot too when I’m trying to recommend books to people 🙂 I definitely think you’re right about stories blurring together. Many of the books that I read in middle school and early high school seem like such a blur now that I’m in college! That’s one of the reasons why I love rereading books so much– all of those fuzzy details suddenly become so much clearer.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  11. hitandrun1964 Avatar
    hitandrun1964

    Definitely been there and done that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Cristina @ Girl in the Pages Avatar
    Cristina @ Girl in the Pages

    This happens to me ALL the time. Whenever I need to come up with book recs or even just allow myself to go to a store and buy books, I tend to blank out on all of the books I’m dying to choose from; they just sort of blur together.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I’m so glad I’m not the only one! 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  13. thewhimsicalwordsofanagreeablebookworm Avatar
    thewhimsicalwordsofanagreeablebookworm

    It seems like I’m either entirely invested in the book world at one time or not even aware of it at all. There is no in between XD I hate when this happens because I just can’t find any inspiration to write or read anything.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I can definitely relate. It’s worse now that I’m in college and have no time to read for fun during the semester. It’s like I have to flip my bookish switch off and then flip it completely on again whenever I’m on break. During breaks I suddenly turn into a turbo bibliophile and read everything I can get my hands on. I really miss reading for pleasure when classes are in session!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  14. DaniellaWrites Avatar
    DaniellaWrites

    I work at a bookstore and that happens to me at the worst moments. It’s especially frustrating if I know that I KNOW a perfect recommendation for a vague request and it just won’t come to me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Ugh that must be so frustrating! I worked at a library when I was in high school and the same thing would happen to me then, too. Why can’t all of that bookish knowledge just stay put?! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  15. Erin Thompson Avatar
    Erin Thompson

    The Goodreads app on my phone has saved me from that very same problem. I don’t know what I would do without it now.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      For some reason I’ve never downloaded the Goodreads app… I definitely need to fix that ASAP! 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  16. tattooedpages Avatar
    tattooedpages

    oh my gosh! Yes! you speak my symptoms.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      haha I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels this way! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  17. Marta Avatar
    Marta

    You’re not alone 😛 I often have to check goodreads to search for books that I’ve read so that I can add them to tags … I’ve never had any problem with recommendations, tho, if I think someone I know might enjoy a book I had read, I just let them know it before I could forget haha

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      haha that’s such a good recommendation strategy! I should just start recommending books to people out of the blue before I forget them 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Marta Avatar
        Marta

        I hope it works out for you too! It use it mainly for my aunt, she loves contemporaries so every time I read one and I think its’ cute and all that she likes, I usually tell her about it and and I’ll probably end up lending her the book too 🙂

        Like

  18. Joe's Company Avatar
    Joe’s Company

    Happens to me all of the time! I keep a running list on the notes app in my phone so I know what I need to get. If I don’t, I’ll leave without getting a single book I went in looking for and come out with an armload of unexpected and random books.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Keeping a list on your phone is a great idea! 🙂

      Like

      Reply
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  21. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Avatar
    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    This is the absolute worst! I hate it when someone asks me for a recommendation because my mind always goes completely blank, even though there are five million books that I adore. For some reason, in the moment, I always struggle to think of one. Why?! It’s so frustrating!

    Like

    Reply
  22. bookdrblog Avatar
    bookdrblog

    Nice post! I always end up having to pull up my Amazon wish list in book stores, it’s hard to remember what books I need!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I definitely need to start doing that too!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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