My Problem With Anthologies

I’ve never really been a fan of anthologies sooo it was particularly silly of me to request 3 different kinds when I first joined Netgalley!

My feedback ratio has been abysmal from almost the beginning, so I’m attempting to force my way through the remaining two collections on my ARC list.

I couldn’t understand why I was put off reading them. I’d chosen three different genres- horror, dystopian and fantasy. I love these so why did I keep skipping over them?

There are so many brilliant reasons to read anthologies:
*Bite size stories you can start and finish in a matter of minutes.
*A fun way to discover authors new-to-you without a heavy time investment.
*A wide range of writing styles.
*Higher chance to find a story you enjoy.

So why don’t I like them?
I’ve narrowed it down to these points:

1. I’M A MOOD READER.

I enjoy a variety of genres and can easily tire of reading the same one repeatedly. I tend to switch genre after two or three books at most. This depends on plot rather than length. I could read two 500 page stories from the same genre back-to-back, but 1000 pages split into several tales feels too repetitive. Weird huh.

2. ONE BOOK AT A TIME PLEASE

How do you guys read multiple books? My memory and concentration span are terrible. Once I start a book I have to read it to the end. If I started a simultaneous read I’d have all my characters and timelines so confused I’d never be able to follow them.
It’s bad enough I frequently go back a page whenever I pick up my current read, sometimes I fall asleep reading but other times its just flown right out of my head.
So when I start an anthology I will try to finish it in one, no back and forth.

3. CONTINUITY

Anthologies give me too many opportunities to stop reading. I like my books to hook me in and hold my attention to the very last page. I need the just-one-more-chapter reaction to cleverly placed cliff hangers, the urge to guess ahead, a race to discover how it all ends. I won’t give up in the middle of a novel, but in an anthology with so many endings it’s too easy for me to put it down for later… though later never comes.
I have a mountainous TBR to conquer so if I put down a book I probably won’t pick it back up.

Do you enjoy anthologies?

What am I doing wrong here?

Help!!

Author: Roxanne Michelle

Wannabe writer from a nowhere town in Somerset. Stop-starter of all projects great and small. Here to talk books and screens. View all posts by Roxanne Michelle