Noticed my friend Imyril of the excellent There's Always Room For One More... blog picked this book tag that was created by Headless Books and it seemed a fun topic - what happens when you finish a book.

Do you keep a list of the books you have read?

ooh yes I had back in 2007 a little black book where I wrote a one line review. These days I’m recordings everything on Goodreads which has the advantage of I can read my comments without deciphering my handwriting!

If you record statistics, what statistics do you record?

I like to ensure that my reading is getting more diverse so I regularly use my list to see how close to an equal split between male and female writers I’m achieving. I am now also paying a bit more attention to how many writers of colour and LGBT authors I’m reading too. It’s a really helpful regular checkpoint every couple of months and does help me think about what I’m reading next.

Do you give star ratings for books, and if so, what do you score books out of and how do you cone about this score?

I don’t score books on my blog. I don’t think it’s fair as I review each books on its own merits. I think the onus is one what I liked and what I thought could be better. As I read different types of stories I think it would be confusing. This is supposed to be fun.

But on good reads I do and that’s generally about how I feel when the book is finished. A good read is four and a great read that gives me a book hangover is five. Lower scores indicate how far I felt from that. Scoring is personal

Do you review books?

I confess on occasion I do. I started out with mini paragraphs on the old SFX forum. I was kindly invited to review for the old GeekPlanetOnline website by the amazing Dave Probert and as that site went on hiatus I decided to start my own blog. I review every now and then…ish

Where do you put your finished books?

Not as easy as it used to be to answer this. Books I want to review go on a mini pile that help remind me of the week’s reviews to do. I find it a lot easier to get a review out no later than a week as the feelings and impressions I get from a book can get muddled.

After that it’s either going on the appropriate shelf by category or on occasion for the Pile of Doom for a charity shop. These days I’m very conscious I’ve only so much space so a big question is how much does it mean to me to keep a book (ARCs though I keep safe!)

How do you pick your next book?

I have another little pile for each week. This is based on blog commitments but also things I want to get around too. But I’m a mood reader so I may just browse a shelf and see if there is something else that jumps out. Having the huge TBR pile in your living room I no longer do it looks at you and makes you guilty.

Do you have any other rituals for when you have finished a book?

I like to just take a little moment to relive all the feels a book gave me and then come back to reality. Tap the cover closed and take a breath.

Let me know in the comments what you do!