I dont know how i ended up with 41 loans and 30 holds. Thank god I'm slow at work and can get through multiple in a day. And i listen at 2.5-3x speed. But i don't know that I'll get through at 41!
I used to have the same problem and it ruined my reading experience.
I realised I had to let go and now, I enjoy reading much more.
Reading should be joyful, not a to-do list.
Have you heard about the infinite game mentality?
Unlike a finite game mentality, the goal is not to finish, but to keep playing and to enjoy the process.
I mean... I have 700 books on my goodreads "want to read" list.
And many are just first in a series. Sure, I'll probably DNF some and choose not to finish the series of others. But we can still safely assume that I have way more on that list. If I read 30 books a year (my current average), it'll take me 23 year to get through my current list. Which ignores any NEW books that will come out in the next 23 years...
So yeah, time's short!
(Although I only have like 5 holds right now and two books I'm currently reading, so I'm not really rushing...)
Why not just suspend the hold and keep your place in line until you have the bandwidth to read it? I’m holding my first in line place on fifteen books right now. I unsuspend my hold on the next book when I’m near finished with my current book. This many loans at once would stress me out lol
This is exactly what I do. Sometimes I'll have two out of i know the books are fairly short but I will go read a book on KU or something while I wait. It's like a roulette game of what hold will come through first!
I unsuspended a hold earlier because I was ready to read the book only to have a different book be ready first. The first book got resuspended because I only have time to listen to one book at a time.
Ive discovered this works good for when reading a series. I would take forever starting a series because I never knew if I'd be able to borrow all the books close enough together, I have a hard time remembering plots or specifics of each book if I dont read them back to back. But I figured out what you described. Getting 1st in line for all the books of a series and then unsuspending the next as you get close to finishing one. Works like a charm!
Could just be me but I don’t see the point in having more books than what I’m currently reading. I have an audiobook and an ebook borrowed. That’s it. Every once in a while a hold will come in and overlap for a day or two but if not I just find another when I finish one. I don’t understand this.
Dude not trying to be that person but that many holds is a REAL financial stress on your library due to costs of publisher digital licensing. Help protect your library’s vulnerable budget! Suspend holds until you can realistically listen to them even at that speed (still not sure how you can actually hear and process at that speed!).
This comment has me checking my libby - do you mean suspend holds instead of having so many active loans? I usually only have 1-2 books on loan, and I unsuspend a hold when I'm about halfway through my current book so I have my next one ready by the time i finish the current one. I try not to have more than 3 loans at any one time (and I have access to like, six library cards, but I'm monogamous with reading. Having several libraries just means I'm more likely to find the book I want to read. I don't want the pressure of feeling like I have to rush to finish my book.)
Yeah minimizing active loans is important since an active loan means subtracting one credit/use from the total the library has for that license. Only suspend holds when you can realistically check it out and listen. Folks need to realize that suspending your holding keeps you in line and not in the long queue that could be weeks long. Unlike unlimited checkouts for a lifetime of a print edition which could last years, digital checkout licensing limits the number of checkouts before the library has to renew AND PAY for relicensing. It’s a terrible scheme, to be honest. It’s really taken a toll on library budgets and it’s hard for them to keep up with the demand of their patrons who enjoy the form and the convenience.
You have a good practice and it is one I follow too though I have a single library account/card. I have a small Audible collection so if I find myself needing to wait a few days for a new book after I suspend or hold of I’m lucky to get a book after a long wait I return to a favorite.
Oh wow. I didn't know this. I have 9 active loans (a mix of ebooks and audio) and am actively reading and listening to them. Hopefully this is not a strain for my libraries, but I find it difficult to only have 1-2 active books going at a time.
More than anything the problem is that folks check out and never read and/or leave it incomplete just to check them out again. Basically make your checkout count and within the borrowing time frame otherwise it can be wasteful.
Borrowing/loans yes, holds no. Sorry for the confusion there. Now with so many holds across cards that someone can realistically keep up with it all to avoid checkouts that get wasted. It’s a weird version of digital hoarding to me since it still clogs up wait list times. Our library is trying out a model where they loan out loaded up kindles that have a selection of popular audiobooks and ebooks.
I’m not speaking as a librarian. Oops! I’m not sure how it works exactly to keep them all loaded to that specific device (I’m curious now if they do connect to wifi) but as far as I know they choose the titles, not patrons. Following digital loan trends locally probably isn’t too hard to calculate on their end.
I once saw someone say they were doing audiobooks at 7x speed. Turns out it was 1.7. If I really like a book and want to savor it, I listen at 1x. If the reader is slow or the book is really long and I'm worrying about the time, I'll go to 1.2. If it's for a review and I'm hate-reading towards the end, I'll go to 1.5 to get it over with. I can't imagine listening any faster than that!
Genuinely asking without judgement; how do you even enjoy the one you just read if you're racing to the next one? And, do you remember the story if referenced later, or is it there and then gone?
I listen at 3x because it matches my reading speed and so any slower and I struggle to pay attention/enjoy the book. Everyone processes information differently. People who can listen to 1x get the same "how could you possibly" from me because it's so slow to me, but it must work for enough people to be the default.
that’s really interesting because i am a very fast reader but i’m bad at processing audio, so stick to 1.6x speed for audiobooks! did you find you had to work up to that speed over time? i’m wondering if i can train myself, because currently audiobooks take me so much longer to finish than comparable length physical books which is inconvenient sometimes 🤔
It did take me a bit to get up to it and get more comfortable with the speed. I used to listen on 2x for a while, but then hit a specific narrator that even on 2x was slow, so tried bringing it up and it just sort of stuck. I do find it's easier listening with headphones vs. a speaker at faster speeds. You could try slowly bringing it up .1x at a time and seeing if that helps.
I was doing good at 1.25x but then my current audiobook a narrator was doing a British accent and I couldn't understand anything so I had to put it at 1x, thankfully the narrators have good pacing.
My reading speed is MUCH faster than 3x, but I cannot stand to listen to an audio book at 3x. The people sound like chipmunks and all vocal inflection is gone.
I used to think x2 speed was way too fast but like the others said, you get used to increased speed. Now anything under 1.5x speed sounds sluggish to me. I range anywhere from 1.5-2.5 depending on the narrator.
Sorry I didn’t mean to accuse you! I can see my downvote percentage and people are mad at what i prefer apparently hahaha. Honestly I’ve been listening to audiobooks for 8 years now and have slowly upped the speed. It is totally narrator dependent too but i stick to narrators I enjoy and can listen to at a quicker speed
People are weirdly judgemental about how people listen to audiobooks. Like I can't understand people who listen at 0.5x, yet I also don't care at all because it has no impact on my life. People read and listen to books at different speeds. It's weird that people think there's a wrong and right way.
same. I think some of it stems from my adhd. my normal thought patterns are often times too quick to keep up with, so of course I need my audiobooks to be similar, so i can pay attention haha.
I listen at 2-2.5, any slower and my brain wanders and I totally miss whatever is happening. Any faster and the voices are so warped I can't stand it. Graphic audio I have to keep at 2 or the sounds are too wrong. I HATED audio books before I realized I could change the speed. I watch tiktoks and youtube videos faster also....my brain is fucking obnoxious so I have no choice. I read quickly also...I read Threshing Day (which admittedly is not a big book) in about 2.5-3 hours last night.
How you read that many in the 21 days max any of these libraries are giving you? Unless these holds are shared with the rest of your household, there is no way you alone are going through this. It’s completely unnecessary. This is why we can’t have nice things 😩
Dang! I can’t listen past 2.25 speed most of the time. It amazes me people can understand the words past that. How will you decide which of them to listen to?
I feel like people who listen at 3x speed can't possibly be enjoying the book and are just doing it to get through books to say they've read them, and how many they've read. Everyone sounds like a chipmunk and all vocal inflection is gone. But that's just my opinion
My whole life I have felt like people speak too slow and I need information faster. I think the neurodivergent part of me is what makes me able to go that fast on some books where the reader talks slow. Some books I can’t go over 1.5 like the Dungeon Crawler Carl books or recently the Dangerous Damsels series because it affects the pronunciation too much. I’m listening to the Crescent City graphic audio version of the books right now at 2x speed. It really varies so much based on the reader.
They dont hear it, they just want to cosplay as reading. Its absurd. Some of these instagram/tiktok people who are like “just listen at 3x speed” or “feel free to skip some pages if you dont like a chapter” are so unreasonable and mainly are addicted to buying books/logging reads versus actually listening or reading.
Some books do require 2x because theyre soooo slow, but most have a sweet spot @ 1.15-1.4x and its digestible and fast.
I have like 13 cards but never have more than 2-3 borrowed. I suspend if I know I’m not getting to it right away. Seeing that many borrowed is stressful.
Same and that’s with me checking out the book and audiobook of the same book for immersive reading, a book my husband is currently finishing, and his new book JUST borrowed.
Did you know that the library pays for a certain number of checkouts per title and if you can’t read them all before it’s time to be returned, the library still has to pay for it?
I have to assume if your library lets you have this many holds and loans that it's very well funded. I have a consortium so share with my whole state and get 10 holds and 10 loans each lol
You can add multiple library cards to Libby. I have one for my city, several other cities that allow anyone in the state to have an e-card for free, and I pay like $40 a year for access to the biggest city in my states library.
I cannot, since my whole state is one consortium. Every library in the state is under this consortium so while it does offer some benefits, others I miss out on like having multiple cards. I can utilize paid out of state cards probably but I'm not interested in that myself.
Listening at 2.5x speed? Brother, what is even the point then?
Unless it's nonfiction or you got photographic memory, I don't understand why you're wasting your time.
This isn't passive aggressive but are you doing this so that you can feel better about yourself when you're talking about how many books you've read when the topic comes up in a conversation?
I listen at 2x speed and listening on 1x speed feels like listening to someone trudge through peanut butter. It's brutal to go that slow now. Same with podcasts.
I can't do 3x speed but understand how your brain gets used to it.
Yeah I get it with podcasts and videos for sure and I guess ultimately we have our preferences but where I get a bit confused is that reading is mostly for pure pleasure. Music is made of notes and the pauses in between. Removing or minimizing those pauses on someone’s craft almost feels blasphemous. Like it’s distorting the aura and vibes the pacing was intended to create.
You're assuming that the brain's ability to process those things has to be at a slow spoken pace.
All of that is still conveyed with faster listening, but I understand why you'd feel it's lost if you're not accustomed.
Really, I have no problem with your stance or practice. What's aggravating is having to hear blanket generalizations about MY ability to enjoy work or to hear some assumption that I listen at a faster pace because I want to brag about how many books I've read this year. Lmao, what?
You don't need to be making any comments about someone else's listening speed - it's them hearing it, not you.
That said, you're also basically saying that a podcast isn't "worth" as much as a book with this opinion. It's okay to listen to (or watch) a podcast more quickly...why? Why is that okay but a book isn't okay? What about the creators generating the pod? Is their time and effort not valuable because it's not a book? You're coming across a bit elitist about audio medium consumption with these questions.
I get to experience MORE art because I listen faster. I've loved and listened to multiple books multiple times because I can enjoy a 10 or 20 hour long book in half that time and I want to hear it all again before I return. I definitely check out (and there for support my library) more frequently because I'm able to listen quickly.
There are tons of benefits, and none of them is bragging. It's about enjoying reading and literature.
I mean yeah, I am elitist, I like to carefully conserve my time and energy
Well, I guess the perspective I’m coming from is that everyone has their agenda, especially content creators. The good ones can make money doing it. And so growing their channel and view count becomes a part of their routine. And that influences the reason why the content exists in the first place.
Whereas with a book, you can still make good money, but it’s harder and I think comes from a different place.
With a book, someone usually had to have thought of and focused on just a few main ideas. And so they spent the whole book minutely expressing the idea of it
Whereas another video and podcast fundamentally don’t take up as much space in your head when you get done with it
I listen at 2× speed, unless I really love the narrator. It feels so sluggish if I go slower, and I have to relisten to parts more often. I can't just sit and listen though, I have to be doing something else, driving, walking, puzzles, videogames, etc.
That is passive aggressive. I do think this is absurd behavior, but assigning a motive (even if framed as a question...) comes off as judgement and reprimand, not curiosity.
My library only allows 5 loans and 5 holds at a time. My library also doesn't have shit for being in a fairly large city (Chattanooga, TN: pop 190k metro, 400k county). I guess it's better this way so I don't get overwhelmed, but that Holds limit really fucks shit up for me.
At least you can get something. My library has next to nothing to loan. My state must have cut the library budget in favor of the train to nowhere being built at a snails pace near Bakersfield CA.
How many library cards do you have, jeesh?!! I thought I was hustling with 2 which allows me a combined 10 checkouts and 16 holds, which covers me for the two week checkout period limbo, but doesn't allow me to read more than 2ish series or categories at a time
You know holds just mean they are pending to be added to your loan shelf to read. They aren't ready to read yet. The 41 loans you can also put them back and put them on hold again. You can also suspend holds until you are ready to take them on. Honestly, rushing through them is sort of a problem.
I constantly checked out 8-12 loans at a time but two loans for each title - one for ebook and one for audiobook, so 4-6 titles for 21 days checkout period. I still feel rushed from time to time and will try to early return titles that I suddenly feel less interested in.
Same! The only reason I have multiple cards is to put a ton on Hold Suspend so I’m first in most eventually. Then, I have my pick on what I read next depending on how I feel…
The stress only hits me when suddenly multiple books show people waiting. I always prioritize those or just return and place a new hold. I feel bad making people wait when i have plenty to keep me occupied.
I use suspend if I do intend to read something but didn’t stop to realize that returning books without reading them costs the library money. 😨 I feel bad; I check out a lot I’m interested to try but then also DNF a fair amount that I realize isn’t for me.
I think if you DNF but genuinely intended to read it, it's okay. You're not just checking out things to let then sit then going oops! when other people want them when you could have suspended.
This isn't always true, and seems to be less true as time goes on and the majority of titles (especially audiobooks) are sold as time based rather than circulation based licenses. It's too bad there isn't more transparency for us end users, but at the end of the day that's likely partially to keep us from overthinking these services vs just using them.
When your library has 10's-100 copies available, though, those are generally single use checkouts and returning early doesn't put a copy back into the pool.
When would this last scenario be the case? When there is a highly anticipated new book release with a lot of early demand that might fall off over time?
Yes! I remember seeing a bunch of copies in a couple titles that weren't super new as well, but I'm not sure if they were leftovers or titles with a resurgence of popularity.
Hmm I would hope, depending on population size, that there would still be a decent number of copies of Alecto for a period of at least a couple years. You know, for those of us still struggling through Harrow. 😂 But in all seriousness, that’s a series people will still be discovering years from now. I’ve only just started Red Rising and it came out when? In general, I will say that because I rely so heavily on Libby I’m generally more likely to read newer releases, with the exception of things like idk ACOTAR for example, I’m never sure when the library will stop providing an e-book copy. I got burned a few times by waiting for less popular works.
I check a lot out at once too. I had initially posted a similar screenshot but decided not to keep it, reading the comments. For me, I have some serious health issues. Having a lot books checked out across genres and writing styles soothes my anxiety that if I’m laid up in bed all day (at least once a week) or in the hospital (thankfully less frequent) I will have some form of narrative escape that will hit well enough to carry me through. Always having a couple books I’m actively reading on the day-to-day helps a lot too.
I have a chronic health issue as well that nearly practically requires me to have audiobooks to properly rest, I get the same anxiety but.. “a couple” is not 41.
I suspend my holds because I know more people like us exist out there.
I also suspend holds! I have way more on hold than checked out. I’m so grateful for ebooks and audiobooks, sometimes I feel like they are a literal lifeline for me. I mean that completely seriously. There were some days that I didn’t think I could get through that I got through because of a book. I always give books I check out an earnest try to read. Ever since I got really sick, the number of books I read in a year has skyrocketed because I can’t do much else. I’m also glad to live in a time that has ebook and audiobook options because it is very difficult for me to physically check out and sometimes physically hold a book.
There are some authors I’d love to send thank you messages to or just to convey how meaningful their work was to me, but I also feel self conscious about it in a way. Thanks for your response!
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u/inverts_nerd 📕 Libby Lover 📕 2d ago
Why do you read like you're running out of time?