Tuesday, May 3, 2011

do you have rEaDiNg HaBiTs?

I originally asked you guys this last summer. I don't know about you, but several of my reading habits have undergone drastic makeovers over the last (almost) year.

I used to have this rule that I wouldn't begin a series until all the books were out, or until the second-to-last book was out. The reason? Pretty much the anticipation... if I got started reading a series and I had to wait like over a year for the next book to be published, I seriously would go out of my mind. I can't let the story go! I will seriously stay awake at night wondering "what's going to happen next? WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!?"
And actually, the majority of the books I read this year are the first in a series/trilogy. I think I just realized that if I waited around until all the books in a series were out, I'd have nothing new to read! So that's one thing that's changed.

And because I am such a major planner, I try to plan out which books I'm going to read, in what order. Very rarely will I just pick up a book and just start reading, because I like having an order (as weird as that may sound). The problem with this is that I buy a lot of books thinking that I'll read them down the road, and then I don't get around to them, and they just sit all by their lonesome on my shelves. I think I need to try and be a bit more spontaneous.
Anybody else plan out the books they're going to read in advance?

This is kind of a bad habit, considering that I read a lot, but...I have to have a snack when I read. I don't know, but something about reading and eating just goes together. It's hard though to try and jumble a book in one hand and a cookie in the other, or a handful of goldfish, or (uh-oh) cheese puffs! It's especially tricky when I'm out in public with my book and I get the munchies...

I still have a hard time reading during the day, as weird as that may seem. It is just so much easier for me to concentrate at night...and nighttime seems like the time most associated with imagination! You know, I just can't imagine Edgar Allan Poe composing some of his most famous poems outside in the midmorning, with Mister Golden Sunshine out in all his bright glory. I know, moving on...

Oh! and one other thing that has almost entirely changed. See, I used to operate this way...no matter, I had to finish a book. Had to. Right then and there. I could not put it down, find something else, and then go back to it later. I had to plow on through. Now, though, I find it a lot easier to say 'no thank you' to certain stories that I just can't get into and set it aside for later (or not). But yeah, that's almost completely different than how I started out. Now, if I can't get into it, I set it aside. No big deal. I've actually done that 5 times already just since January. Just sayin'.

So what about you all? What are your reading habits, and have they changed over time?
 
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