I wanted to try something new on my blog, so I scoured the internet for a fun reading tag and decided on one about reading habits! Here’s some of my preferences, let me know about some of your reading habits in the comments:

1) Do you have a favourite place to read at home?
At home I’m very particular about reading on love seats. I like sitting lengthwise on love seats so that I can tuck my toes into the arm of the couch on the other side and rest the book on my legs. I hate reading on full length couches because I can’t prop up my book. Yes, I’m a little dramatic about it, but I currently only own love seats, so it works out.

2) Do you use bookmarks or just use whatever’s available?
I try and use bookmarks, but sometimes you have to be crafty if you don’t have one nearby!

3) Do you stop reading at any point in the book or do you have to finish the chapter?
I prefer to stop reading at the end of a chapter, but I spend a lot of time reading on public transit, so it rarely works out that way!

4) Do you eat or drink while reading?
Definitely yes. I love having a cup of tea while reading and a snack food like popcorn or goldfish crackers! I also read during a lot of my lunch breaks, so I’ll eat my soup while I read, which takes some coordination not to spill anything!

5) Do you listen to music or TV while reading?
No. I prefer quiet, but my partner likes to listen to music a lot, so I have adapted to listen to his music on low volume in the background. But I think the only reason I can tolerate it is because I don’t know the words to his music. If it was my own music it would be too distracting.

6) Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several?
I used to be a purist about reading only one book at a time. But over the last 6 months I’ve started reading multiple books at a time. I always have 1 audiobook on the go and somewhere between 1 and 3 paperbacks. Depends on the genres, but if it’s an essay book or non-fiction, I like to pair it with something more fast paced.

7) Do you only read at home or everywhere?
I read literally everywhere! My favourite place to read is in my hammock in the park next to my house during the summer and I also really like reading in the bath. But I also read a lot on public transit, walking home from work, during my lunch break, on hiking and camping trips, planes, trains, you name it! Never trust someone who has not brought a book with them!

8) Do you read out loud or silently?
Are there many people that read out loud? The only time I read out loud is when I’m camping because my friend always requests a bedtime story!

9) Do you read ahead or skip pages?
I never skip ahead. I am a bit of a skim reader sometimes in that I don’t necessarily read every word or sentence, but it’s honestly just a speed reading technique and I don’t think I’m missing anything. I hate to skip ahead – on particularly tense chapters, I’ll actually cover the last few lines of the chapter with my hand so that my eyes don’t jump ahead and ruin a chapter cliff-hanger or reveal!

10) Do you break in the spine, or try to keep in like new?
I really try not to break the spine and I put a lot of effort into keeping my books in really good condition. I will always lend out my books to friends because I want to encourage my friends to read and especially to read books that I’ve read and liked so we can talk about them. But it hurts a little because I know they are never going to come back in quite as good condition as they were in before, but books are for reading right?! So I try and get over it!

11) Do you write in your books?
I don’t write in my books, but I usually have some sticky tabs available and I will tab quotes that I really like.

12) Do you prefer reading physical books or ebooks?
A lot of people feel strongly one way or the other, but I actually really like both. If I’m being honest, I prefer reading on my kindle because it’s so lightweight and it has a backlight, so it’s easy to read in bed, in the bath, at night, etc. But I also really like collecting books. So I tend to read multi book series, books with nice covers, and books that I think I’m going to really like in hard copy so that I can add it to my shelf. The rest of the books I will either read on my kindle or borrow from the library.

Well, that’s it for the book tag, let me know about your reading habits and preferences in the comments! Do you agree with me? Do you have particularly strong feelings on any of these habits? I’d love to know!