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Reading Habits


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Every single person differs in their relationship with books, personally, I'm an on and off kind of person. Either I read 12 books in a month ( a huge amount for me) or 2 books in a whole year. Obviously my habits depend on a huge amount of variables such as the stress I'm under, the pressure from my school and especially my spike in interest that comes from no where as I turn into a sort of mad man who's thirsty for knowledge and has no regard to sleep or any other general need of a human.

But I'm more curious about the reading habits of other people as I've never discussed this, which fuels my curiosity in a very weird way.

I mostly depend on sharp spikes in interests, which in my opinion is the worst way to read a book, I believe similar people exist and I'd like to also know their opinion on how they, in a way cope with this feeling and keep themselves motivated to complete a book.

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  • 4 months later...

I was reading a magazine and there is a couple of pages all about books. New releases etc. And they always interview someone asking about their favourite books. Someone said (famous but cant remember) that she was a binge reader. Now I think that's how I would describe myself. I read and I read and I read. This can last months then I'll get to a point where I cant/dont want to read and that can last weeks or months. But I would think a lot of readers are like this because we have all experienced reading slumps. But we all deal with that in a different way. I personally let it come back naturally because when I'm in that mind set the thought of reading puts me right off. 

 

I believe no matter what kind of reader you are, as long as you find enjoyment in it then that is all that really matters. 

 

I also dont think it's weird to be curious of this. I find it rather interesting too. 

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I don't think it's weird either, reading habits are interesting! 

 

Personally I always feel like I need to have a book I'm currently reading. Even if I'm not particularly in the mood to read, and I'm only going to read a couple of pages at a time, I like to always have something. Then sometimes I feel really motivated to read, I'll just grab any spare moment in the day to read even one more page, and sometimes I'll read very slowly, maybe leaving a day or two in between picking that book up.

 

23 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

I believe no matter what kind of reader you are, as long as you find enjoyment in it then that is all that really matters. 

 

I absolutely agree. There isn't a wrong way to read. As long as you're enjoying it, you're doing it right!

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I dont think having spikes in reading intensity or enthusiasm is unusual. 

 

I often binge read about a certain subject or author.  And I quite often don't finish a book if I'm really not enjoying it. Sometimes, particularly if it's non-fiction, I'll skim read to the bits that interest me. I'm becoming lazier and far less self-disciplined the older I get and mostly read books I enjoy now rather than books I think I should read.

 

Like Hayley, I always like to have something on the go to read, even if I'm only progressing a few pages at a time.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ebb and flow is my reading style! Some months I will be struggling to read a page or two a day, and then other times I am flying through whole series at a rate of knots. 

 

I have to work hard not to get fretful if I enter a dry reading spell. If I feel a slump descending I will usually snuck a old favourite into my reading to keep things ticking over. 

 

The word I actively avoid is 'should'. I will allow myself to be pulled toward a book or author, and not worry myself about what I 'should' read. Life is too short to worry too much about it.

 

 

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I cannot live without books. I read at every opportunity, kindle and actual books. Out and about my soul lights up to browse charity shops, markets, those great book exchange boxes in the supermarket. 

I am so greedy i often have several books on the go. 

My biggest puzzlement is how can non readers live like that? I mean what are they missing out on! How can one grow in wisdom without reading. 

I also get great comfort from going to another place in my mind in reading. It is my best relaxation. 

 

I cannot believe i have only just joined here - I've never joined a book forum before. I suppose i thought of reading as such a solitary pursuit. 

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1 hour ago, Munipenny55 said:

I cannot believe i have only just joined here - I've never joined a book forum before. I suppose i thought of reading as such a solitary pursuit. 

 

Welcome to the forum!  For me, reading itself is very much a solitary pursuit - wouldn't have it any other way - but I love sharing reading/books with others in between!

I so agree with you about not living without books - to do so is virtually inconceivable. 

In response to the OP, I tend to read fairly consistently, rarely if ever without a book on the go (tend to read one at a time, occasionally a non-fiction and fiction running in parallel) mostly somewhere between 1500 and 2500 pages a month, although I tend to spike to the upper end of that fairly consistently in December. 

Edited by willoyd
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  • 11 months later...

I love reading books anytime. No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax. The more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary.

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  • 8 months later...

I don't remember a time when I couldn't read and have been choosing my own material since I was four. I read every day and always have a book on the go. I cannot imagine life without it. I have had reading slumps in my life but fortunately not too many. I've become faster at reading in the last several years - an online friend of mine asked me to take part in a reading challenge, 12 books in a year in certain categories. I completed it in 5 months and haven't looked back.

 

I won't waste my time with a book I'm not enjoying but I don't shy away from 'difficult' books either. I like to choose a very wide variety of material and always love to discover an author I've never heard of. 
 

I positively get the jitters (the yips) if I don't read enough in the day and I have to positively restrict my buying habit. I normally buy online but do like to browse a bookshop from time to time.  I love being part of a forum like this so that I can find out what other people are reading and discuss books.

 

 

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I am just about the same! I have many friends who are virtual non-readers,and they cannot understand how and why I choose to read so often. Well it is one of lifes great pleasures,to me. I cannot undertand why some of them choose to spend the same amount  of time watching sport/playing sport/or whatever their choice may be. Each to their own;reading is,and always has been a total pleasure for me!*

 

 

 

* Ever since i first asked my Mother, what those funny symbols were on the morning cereal packet, and she patiently started to show me what 'letters' were, and how they could be used.She too,was a great reader herself!

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1 hour ago, timebug said:

* Ever since i first asked my Mother, what those funny symbols were on the morning cereal packet, and she patiently started to show me what 'letters' were, and how they could be used.She too,was a great reader herself!

 

That's where I got my habit from.  I remember distinctly being bought a comic and copying my mother by turning the pages and thinking I was reading. I imagine said comic (Twinkle! sadly no longer available) was more pictures than text being appropriate for a three year old, but that's what I was doing. And my mother read to me a great deal too showing me the pictures as we went and obviously I saw the prose. 

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On 26/07/2021 at 10:31 AM, lunababymoonchild said:

I imagine said comic (Twinkle! sadly no longer available)

I used to have a copy of Twinkle that belonged to my sister. I haven't thought about it for a long time but your post reminded me how much I loved it! I must have been very young but I remember loving the pictures, particularly ones of ice skating!

 

On 26/07/2021 at 4:14 PM, violar said:

I think the most important thing for me is keeping a back log of books ready to read. I find that if I don't know what I want to read next, it can really interrupt my reading habit.

I also do this, although usually I've got such a huge backlog that I don't know what to read next anyway :lol:

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