The last year has changed so much about our lives, including, for me, how much reading I do; it's like I just can't focus on a book anymore. Still, I'm finally back in the swing of things, if not at the same volume as before, & I'm really relieved to be able to rediscover my love of reading along the way.
Awhile back, Stephany of Stephany Writes wrote a post titled "25 Things About Me as a Reader," & I am straight-up stealing that idea today. I don't know if this will be interesting to anyone but me, but it seemed like a fun list for me to think of.
Here's a bit about me, my books, & my lifelong love of reading.
1. As a little kid, my favorite books were Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, Tell Me a Mitzi, & The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear.2. From my tween years until just a few years ago, my mom was a librarian, which meant I became very unaccustomed to paying library fees. Oops. But also, it means libraries truly feel like home.
24. These days, my favorite author is Brandy Colbert, who writes YA fiction. I've run out of books by her to read, though!
25. Now that I no long have a Book of the Month club subscription, I get most of my book suggestions from Alma, Stacked, and Shibani of Bombay Taxi.
I'd love to hear some reading-related facts about you. What are you reading? How do you read? What do you hate reading? Tell me things!
3. My favorite genres are true crime, YA, & thrillers. For the most part, I cannot stand romances, & I'm not big into sci-fi or general nonfiction.
4. The first series I remember loving as a kid were the Baby Sitters Little Sister books by Ann M. Martin. I loved them so much that I didn't even want to transition into The Baby-Sitters Club books!
5. On a phone interview for my first job out of college, the interviewer (now a close friend) asked me about my favorite authors. I was doing so little reading at the time that I blanked & couldn't think of anything, so I quickly pivoted to talking about my love of magazines. It worked only because I was a magazine journalism major at the time!
6. In high school, I wanted to watch Christian Bale in American Psycho. My boyfriend at the time told me he'd watch it with me after I read the book it was based on, but I was so scared of the book that it took me years to get through it... & thus to watch the movie!
4. The first series I remember loving as a kid were the Baby Sitters Little Sister books by Ann M. Martin. I loved them so much that I didn't even want to transition into The Baby-Sitters Club books!
5. On a phone interview for my first job out of college, the interviewer (now a close friend) asked me about my favorite authors. I was doing so little reading at the time that I blanked & couldn't think of anything, so I quickly pivoted to talking about my love of magazines. It worked only because I was a magazine journalism major at the time!
6. In high school, I wanted to watch Christian Bale in American Psycho. My boyfriend at the time told me he'd watch it with me after I read the book it was based on, but I was so scared of the book that it took me years to get through it... & thus to watch the movie!
7. After finishing American Psycho, though, I fell in love with Brett Easton Ellis's writing, misogynistic though it certainly is. His Rules of Attraction remains my all-time favorite book, though I think I've read everything he's written.
8. Early in 2010, I realized I hadn't read a single book for more than a year. I set a goal of reading one book a month for the next year, & I held myself to it, which brought me back to my love of reading.
9. I've almost entirely stopped reading paper books & primarily read on my Kindle.
10. That's because I most frequently read in bed, in the dark, while Mike is asleep next to me.
11. I often read multiple books at once, switching between serious & frivolous, fiction & nonfiction, so that I'm always in the midst of a book I really want to read at any given moment.
12. I go back & forth with whether I feel like audiobooks "count" as reading. But the way I see it (for the most part), I listen to audiobooks at times when I couldn't otherwise be reading, like when I'm driving or cleaning. They don't take away from my actual-reading; they're like bonus reading.
13. I've discovered that I don't really like listening to fiction on audiobook. My preference is to turn to audiobooks for long nonfiction, especially true crime – almost like long podcasts.
14. I don't buy books anymore. I'm too prone to buying them and never reading them, especially now that I'm a Kindle user. I still have about two dozen unread books from my six-year membership to Book of the Month.
8. Early in 2010, I realized I hadn't read a single book for more than a year. I set a goal of reading one book a month for the next year, & I held myself to it, which brought me back to my love of reading.
9. I've almost entirely stopped reading paper books & primarily read on my Kindle.
10. That's because I most frequently read in bed, in the dark, while Mike is asleep next to me.
11. I often read multiple books at once, switching between serious & frivolous, fiction & nonfiction, so that I'm always in the midst of a book I really want to read at any given moment.
12. I go back & forth with whether I feel like audiobooks "count" as reading. But the way I see it (for the most part), I listen to audiobooks at times when I couldn't otherwise be reading, like when I'm driving or cleaning. They don't take away from my actual-reading; they're like bonus reading.
13. I've discovered that I don't really like listening to fiction on audiobook. My preference is to turn to audiobooks for long nonfiction, especially true crime – almost like long podcasts.
14. I don't buy books anymore. I'm too prone to buying them and never reading them, especially now that I'm a Kindle user. I still have about two dozen unread books from my six-year membership to Book of the Month.
15. The books I do have are shelved in rainbow order, not alphabetical order by author or title. It just looks prettier this way!
16. Five years ago, I committed to reading more books by BIPOC authors. And last year, without even meaning to, I read only one book written by a man; all the rest were written by women. Now, I'm trying to work in more writing by nonbinary authors, as well.
17. I don't own nearly as many books as I used to, & now I try to only purchase/own books that are particularly meaningful to me or that I know I'll read again. Once I've read a book, I typically give it away to a friend or pop it into a Little Free Library.
18. I used to keep a detailed spreadsheet of what I read each year, but it got exhausting, so I stopped. Now, I just meticulously track everything on Goodreads.
16. Five years ago, I committed to reading more books by BIPOC authors. And last year, without even meaning to, I read only one book written by a man; all the rest were written by women. Now, I'm trying to work in more writing by nonbinary authors, as well.
17. I don't own nearly as many books as I used to, & now I try to only purchase/own books that are particularly meaningful to me or that I know I'll read again. Once I've read a book, I typically give it away to a friend or pop it into a Little Free Library.
18. I used to keep a detailed spreadsheet of what I read each year, but it got exhausting, so I stopped. Now, I just meticulously track everything on Goodreads.
19. I don't keep track of my DNFed books, but I estimate that there are probably 150 of them from the past few years. I give up on a lot of books, honestly.
20. I almost never re-read books I've already read...
21. ...but I have read the Harry Potter series (only) four times.
21. ...but I have read the Harry Potter series (only) four times.
22. I'm not great at being in a book club. When my friends & I had one, I frequently arrived at meetings not having finished (or, in some cases, even started) the book we were gathering to discuss.
23. I am prone to hoarding books by borrowing a bunch of ebooks using the Libby app & then putting my Kindle on airplane mode so I can make my way through them all without having to return them to the library. Technology glitches for the win!
23. I am prone to hoarding books by borrowing a bunch of ebooks using the Libby app & then putting my Kindle on airplane mode so I can make my way through them all without having to return them to the library. Technology glitches for the win!
24. These days, my favorite author is Brandy Colbert, who writes YA fiction. I've run out of books by her to read, though!
25. Now that I no long have a Book of the Month club subscription, I get most of my book suggestions from Alma, Stacked, and Shibani of Bombay Taxi.
I'd love to hear some reading-related facts about you. What are you reading? How do you read? What do you hate reading? Tell me things!
This is so interesting! We are such different readers. :) I had not heard of any of your childhood favorites (!), and I reread all the time. I do have 4 books going at a time, and I also have read HP multiple times (I don't know how many, but I'm in the middle of another reread right now...). Anyway, thanks for sharing!
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