Just Read, Read, Read!

Today’s BookBlogWriMo prompt is “How You Read”

I’m so glad Book Bumblings asked.

I could write pages and pages on the topic.

Which is precisely why I’m posting so late. I’m wondering which parts about my reading shouldn’t I mention. 

Books and E-Books
Paperbacks, Hardcovers, Books, E-books, Audiobooks!
I’m a sucker for them all.

I’ll even read newsletters and magazines and articles and blog post on the internet. What’s more? I actually subscribe to a ton of other websites that e-mail me periodically and thus it ensures I never run out of reading material.

When it comes to reading, I’m the greediest person you’ll meet!

I’ll read everything.
Books or otherwise.
I’m eating chips? I’ll read what’s on the packet.
I’m at a restaurant? I’ll read the menu to occupy myself until the food arrives.
I’m travelling and (for some reason) am not reading a book? I’ll look out the window and read billboards, names of buildings, names of shops as well as stuff that is advertised on buses.
I’m walking on a road? I’ll read T-shirts of the people who pass me by.
[Fun fact: On more than one occasion, I have been given a weird look for going out of my way to read an exceptionally clever T-shirt. My friends will vouch.]

It is an inborn thing

As a kid, a bunch of my friends and I  often used to hang out at each other’s houses.
I especially loved going to this one friend’s house. Not because she was particularly awesome or because she had a nice house (although yeah, both things are true. She is really awesome and she does have a nice house) but because her elder sister was a reader and she always had those bigass novels lying around. The kind that I always dreamt of reading once I grew up a bit (Update: I read them now).
I used to pick them up and look at the covers, read the blurbs and before I could proceed my friend used to used to snatch them from my hand saying, “Hey! You’re here to play with me!! Stop reading those stupid books.”
I would beg to her to let me read.

Yeah… I don’t blame her.

So Many Books, So Little Time

Life is too short to be choosy and consciously decide how and what you read.
And yet over the years we all have developed those reading habits or quirks, and we all have specific things we do while we read.

(Fun fact #2: I once wrote a post to help non-readers become readers, if they wish to be. And I don’t know, I just feel that if you guys like this post, you might enjoy that one)

Here are some of mine:

• I’ve always been the kind of person who reads several books at a time.
One on my phone, one on the reader I use on the laptop, and one or two physical, paper books.
I’ve never had the problem of mixing up story settings or characters; mostly because all those books are of different genres altogether.

Lately though, I barely get time to read books so I’m only reading one or two books at a time.
Even so, I continue to read a lot of articles and blog posts on the internet.

• When I’m reading on my phone and I come across quotes I like, or things from books I’d like to remember, I take a screenshot.

• Most of the paper books I’ve read, I’ve borrowed them. From the library or from friends. One of the reasons is that my mum doesn’t let me buy too many books.
And yes it annoys me, but then I’ve made my peace with it.
I’ll buy loads of books when I own my own house where I’ll have a huge library and nobody will complain how there’s no place to keep the books.

• I don’t do any kind of writing on books, not in the margin and nowhere in the middle either. I don’t even highlight stuff.
I dislike spoiling books like that.

• Whenever I pause my reading of a particular book, I have noticed how I never (or rarely) stop at the end of chapters. I’ll usually stop in the middle where things have slowed down a bit and there’s a lot of description.

• How I choose what to read: It is pretty much upto me.
I’ll definitely read books written by my favourite authors. If I like the description or I’ve heard a few good things about it on the internet, I’ll read it. I only take recommendations from 1-2 friends of mine; I’m usually the one giving the recommendations.

That’s pretty much all.
You have no idea how much I haven’t put in here. I’m in fact planning to put some of it in tomorrow’s post about “Where I Read”.