Tag THURSDAY: January 25, 2018

So the lovely Kelsie @ Bilbo Bookins has started doing a weekly Tag Tuesday post where they do a random book tag. Of course, I didn’t see the post until Wednesday, so here’s my Tag Tuesday Thursday!

Reading Habits:

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
No way man, I’ll read anywhere at all. Which is typically fine, except when it means I accidentally spend 3 hours on a stationary bike because I was too into a book to realize time was passing…
2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?
Bookmarks! I just made myself stop dog-earing my books and use bookmarks, but I absolutely will not use random scraps of paper. I have no real reason, it just bugs me. The only non-bookmark thing I’m willing to use is a business card.
3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or a certain amount of pages?
Oh sure, if it’s an interesting book I can set it down mid-sentence and not have a problem picking it back up again. Don’t tell my husband though or he’ll never let me get away with “just let me finish this page” ever again.
4. Do you eat or drink while reading?
Wait you expect me to put my book down long enough to eat a whole meal? Are you nuts? I’m always that person ignoring my dinner companions because I’m reading and eating. In fact, come to dinner with me and my mother and you can be ignored by us both!
5. Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
I actually have issues with certain ambient sounds so I keep the tv or some music on at all times. I just make sure it’s something I’ve seen before and it doesn’t distract me at all. As for music, I can be rocking out and singing along and still keep reading, so that’s an easy one.
6. One book at a time or several at once?
I used to be a strict “one book at a time” sort. It actually wasn’t until the past couple of years that I let myself read multiple books at one time. Now I actually like it a lot. My only rules are: no books in the exact same genre, and if it’s more than two books one has to be a reread.
7. Reading at home or everywhere?
Oh I never ever leave my house without a book (sometimes two). I read while I walk, I read while I wait anywhere, I’ll even read in the movie theatre if I don’t like the film.
8. Reading out loud or silently in your head?
I tend to read silently just because it’s faster, but there are some books that the writer’s voice is so enjoyable I will read long passages aloud to myself or to my husband.
9. Do you read ahead or even skip pages?
Nooooooo. No. NO.
10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?
See if I buy a book used and the spine is broken it doesn’t bother me at all, but when I buy a book all new and pretty I can’t bring myself to hurt it!
11. Do you write in your books?
I never write in a book, but not because I don’t like it. I just have really bad handwriting and can’t write small enough. If I want an annotation in a book I put it on a post-it and stick that to the relevant page.

Readabits:

1. When do you find yourself reading? Morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you get the chance or all the time?
Oh I’m an all-the-time reader for sure. That said, I do a lot more afternoon/evening/oops-I’ve-stayed-up-all-night reading, but that’s mostly because my sleep schedule is a joke.
2. What is your best setting to read in?
I’m not really sure I have an ideal setting, but that’s just because I don’t really have enough options to come up with one.
3. What do you do first–read or watch?
If I hear that a book is being made into a film to show I will prefer to read the book first, but a lot of times I don’t even realize something I’m watching was a book until I’ve already watched it, so I don’t have a hard and fast rule.
4. What form do you prefer–audiobook, e-book, or physical book?
Oh I completely prefer physical books, but not for any decent sort of reason. They just make me happy. I can’t feel at home in a place if I can’t see books somewhere. I do read ebooks though. It’s really just audiobooks that I don’t use and that’s just because I can’t focus on them very well.
5. Do you have a unique habit when you read?
I do a weird thing with the pages while I’m reading. I don’t know how to explain it. But I’ve been trying hard to not do it anymore because it’s technically damaging the page. Other than that, I mark words I like and write them in a notebook later with their definitions and etymology and the sentence from the book where I saw the word, but I wouldn’t call that exactly unique.
6. Do book series have to match?
I mean my head says no, but my OCD says yes…

On Using Bookmarks

Can I just say, I’m so happy I’ve started using bookmarks!

Like I was never a bookmark user, mostly because I would lose them, so I would just dog-ear my pages (top corner for marking my place, bottom corner if there was a quote or something else on the page I wanted to talk about later). To be clear, I don’t think this is a bad thing, if that’s what you do that’s cool. But like, sometimes I would come to a book that was brand new or just so special to me that I couldn’t make myself dog-ear so then I’d just have to try and remember where I was because I never had a bookmark…

But now… I am officially a bookmark user! And I have to say, it makes reading feel somehow more special? It’s so aesthetically pleasing to use a bookmark. It’s like drinking tea out of a cup and saucer just for the Aesthetic and the little clink sound when you set the cup down. (Who does that? Not me, never heard of that…) And of course since I’m not dog-earing I’ve started using little sticky tags to mark quotes and sections I want to consider later. (Also aesthetically pleasing, hello nerd aesthetic.)

I know this is a really silly thing to make a whole post about, but to be honest I’m stalling a bit and anyway where else could I announce that bookmarks make me feel special without being stared at like a weirdo?

The Cookie Read-A-Thon Kind of Daily Challenge, Day 7: Favorite Reading Spot

I’m doing The Cookie Read-A-Thon, started by Mary @ Books & Cookies (on her tumblr blog though). Learn More

I’d like to take this opportunity to send a little shout-out to lost favorite reading spots: It’s been a long time, I miss you, you were the perfect comfort level…

I’ve had several favorite reading spots in my life, each one a little odd.

When I was 3 I used to have this little plastic shopping cart (you know, like a kid sized, brightly-colored thing) and I used to sit in it, legs hanging out over the edge — looking quite a lot like a turtle or beetle that’s been flipped over — and read for hours, oblivious to the fact that I should have been horribly uncomfortable.

When I was in elementary school my favorite reading spot was the shadowy spot under the trampoline in the church gymnasium. They had one of those big rectangular ones that folds over on itself and they would store it in the back corner of the gym, as well as a bunch of gym mats that were folded up underneath it. I loved to lounge on the mats under there where it was all dark and creepy and I could look up and watch everyone playing while I was reading. I’d still go under there if I could.

In middle school it was a tree. The church had this perfect climbing tree and I could get on this specific branch and lay back and when I looked up it felt like being in a tent made of leaves. It was the perfect aesthetically pleasing reading tree, and I would spend ages up there reading and occasionally eavesdropping on people who didn’t realize there was a child in the tree they were talking under…

In high school I discovered the joys of reading at a desk. I mean it wasn’t like I’d never sat at a desk and read before, but I guess I hit the perfect height or something because it suddenly got way more comfortable. I’m talking about those school desks with the seat attached to the table part. I even had an old one (from like the 60s) in my bedroom at home! It was the perfect combination of comfortable and uncomfortable, and I could rest my arms on it while leaning back and reading. When we lost the house I lost that old school desk, but it was a good spot; I hope whoever has it now loves it.

After high school was over and my then-boyfriend and I got our first apartment, I spent hours every day on the balcony reading (and smoking and drinking, but that’s beside the point). I could lean back against our front door, legs stretched out so my feet touched the railing, and breeze through some novel, occasionally pausing to people-watch or daydream. And as long as I remembered to move my legs when people wanted to go by, it was perfectly comfortable.

I don’t currently have a favorite reading spot, but that’s mostly because I don’t have a lot of options. I don’t really leave the house at all (last time was months and months ago and only happened because I was really sick and went to the ER) so I mostly just read on the couch or in bed. Not a lot of variety, no need for a preference. But being me, when/if I find a new favorite reading spot, I will inevitably be so excited I’ll have to post it on the internet.

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite reading spots over the years!

Book Buying

So I went to Half-Priced Books with $40 thinking I’d get a few books since there was a 15% off sale, then maybe go to the Candy Shop and get some gummi bears for the giant bottle of vodka I have.

Two and a half hours later I leave the bookstore with 90 cents and two stacks of books I can’t even carry home on my own.

Now I have 4 stacks of books I really really really want to read…