I’m back once again with another Book Tag. I found this on ZeeZee with books‘ blog and decided to pick it up as people often ask me how and where I read.
It’s a simple book tag that basically asks me all sorts of questions about my perfect reading environment and how, when and where I prefer to get the most of my reading done.
Follow along and think about what your answer would be and whether it’s the same as mine…
Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
Not really. If I had to put a heat map on where my two main places are, they’d have to be on my patio in my garden. This is because the time I do most of my physical reading is in the garden when the sun is absolutely beaming – in fact, this is probably my happiest time at home. Cold coffee, book and sunshine!
My other place would likely be the sofa as I sometimes try and get some reading done in the morning when I first wake up. I used to get up and sit and watch tele with my coffee and cereal but have decided to ditch that and get a bit of reading in instead as it’s far more productive and relaxing.
Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/a certain amount of pages?
Well, I’d tell you that I can’t just stop without coming to the end of a chapter but last night, in fact, I did. It’s an odd one, the more I am enjoying the book, the less likely you are to convince me to stop halfway through a chapter. However, if it’s not a book I’m that bothered by, if I need to stop for something, I’m happy to just slap a bookmark in at any old random point.
When starting to read, I try and set myself a mini-goal of a certain amount of chapters read – it all depends on how long the chapters are, how much time I have or how much I’m enjoying the book. But it does help as sometimes when maybe I’m not enjoying a book but want to get through it for review purposes, it helps me finish it.
BOOKMARK OR RANDOM PIECE OF PAPER?
Before I started my mini collection of bookmarks, I believe I was folding the corners (don’t burn me at the stake!) But now I very much use a bookmark whenever I’m reading as I’ve built up quite a collection. In fact, I have a hierarchy of my favourite bookmarks and these are put into books depending on which I want to finish the first/enjoy the most to the ones I’m not as bothered about finishing/enjoying the least. Yes, this means I read multiple books at one time.
MULTITASKING: MUSIC OR TV WHILE READING?
Nope. It needs to be deadly silent. This is one of my big frustrations: my inability to read whilst the TV is on. There are so many times when my partner has been watching some trashy tele and all I’ve wanted to do is pick up my book and fall deeply immersed in the world but I just can’t concentrate and always find myself watching the television instead. I guess it’s something to do with TV taking far less concentration to take in.
DO YOU EAT OR DRINK WHILE READING?
Yes, I love to eat and drink whilst I’m reading. If possible I love to have a coffee on the go whilst I read or, if a warm day, something nice and cold.
I’ve recently become addicted to biscuits (thank god I exercise regularly) and so will often bring myself a biscuit to eat. I also eat my breakfast with a book quite often.
READING AT HOME OR EVERYWHERE?
Interesting one. Again, if you looked at a heatmap of where I do the majority of my reading it would be outside my home. You see I listen to a lot of audiobooks rather than physically reading. I get a lot of these listened during my drive and then walk to work and on my lunch break 30-minute walk.
I do all physical book reading whilst at home, I never take a book with me (unless going on holiday of course).
ONE BOOK AT A TIME OR SEVERAL AT ONCE?
Several at once. Always.
Why? I find that sometimes I want to be reading different genres at different times. I’ll often have an easy read accompanying a fantasy read and maybe a classic all at the same time.
Other times I will be reading a book, see something that looks amazing or has just been released that I simply must read and decide to pick that up and plough through that in parallel with another book.
If sometimes I’m reading a book that hasn’t quite piqued my interest I feel I would be far more likely to DNF it if it’s the only book I’m reading. But if I have another book I’m enjoying I can almost break up the other book by reading that one. Do you see? Makes sense.
READING OUT LOUD OR SILENTLY IN YOUR HEAD?
In my head. I don’t want people to think I’m utterly crazy on the bus ride to work. This isn’t CBBC’s reading time with Tom Hardy or something.
DO YOU READ AHEAD OR EVEN SKIP PAGES?
No! I’ve heard of people doing this when they gauge that the chapter they’re reading isn’t relevant to the plot. However, my final reviews of a book take into account the plot and the characters. If I skip through a chapter that completely changes my opinion on a character because it didn’t have enough key decisions being made as to who is going to war with who, my final review could be completely affected.
BREAKING THE SPINE OR KEEPING IT LIKE NEW?
Keeping it like new. When you’ve got as many paperbacks as I do, you can tell the difference between different spines. Some will flop open and are an absolute delight to read – others are incredibly stiff and probably need a little bit of cracking. However, where I can, I try not to bend the spine past the point where it feels comfortable to hold.
DO YOU WRITE IN YOUR BOOKS?
What on earth is this blasphemy you speak of? No! I feel like when you’re reading a book, you’re reading someone else’s work – you wouldn’t scribble on a painting! Even if it was a painting that had been copied hundreds of thousands of times and loads of people had a copy of it.
I hope you enjoyed this book tag
So that’s the end of the questions. Did you find that you answered the questions the same or were they completely different? let me know via the comments below or via my social media channels below.
If you’re interested in taking part in the book tag, do feel free to tag me on my social media channels below when you do it. Or I can send you the questions.
