BBAW: Reading Habits

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Not usually, no. If we have leftover baked goods lying around then I will occasionally settle in with one or two. I'm actually much more likely to have a drink next to me than a snack. All that invested emotional energy, the occasional sweating of bullets...makes a girl thirsty!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

It doesn't horrify me. I just don't do it much. I marked up my textbooks like crazy and if I give a book as a gift I do love inscribing it with a short message, but otherwise no. The funny thing is Ilove used books with writing in them, love perusing past owners' thoughts and handwriting. It makes them more valuable to me.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?

This is a tricky question. My gut reaction is: bookmark. On a brand new hardcover, it's almost painful to crease the page. But when I was a teenager I dog-eared the corners without thinking twice about it. And those copies are the ones I love the most now. There seems to be a rhythm to my re-reads. So that going through a second or third time I frequently find myself stopping at the same places. And, over time, specific pages were dog-eared so many times the corners hardly held up on their own at all. I've noticed that if it's a paperback and I'm loving it, I'll casually dog-ear instead of bookmark and I can only assume it's because I know this one's gonna be one of the special ones and dog-earing it is the mark of honor.

Laying the book flat open?

Now that horrifies me. *shudder*

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Fiction. To quote my old friend CK, "So let it be done. So let it be written."

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copies. A friend of mine once said listening to an audio book was great but she still finished it feeling like she'd cheated on the book with a cheap floozy. I still laugh when I think of that and it pretty much sums up exactly how I feel.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

If bedtime is the only deadline I'm facing then I will always read to the end of the chapter. But if I'm snatching passages here and there throughout the day I can, and will, put it down whenever I have to. Those hurried snatches are infinitely better than nothing at all.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

Sometimes. Usually I like to feel my way through it and then encounter it again in another book and see if the answer I puzzled out was correct. If I'm still unsure, I look it up.

What are you currently reading?

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. It's so good I'm snatching hurried passages whenever I can!

What is the last book you bought?

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. She's an auto-buy for me and I look forward to her release days twice a year with much anticipation.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

For the most part I'm quite faithful to the book I'm with. But if the night's dragging and a sexy stranger comes along, my attention has been known to wander. From time to time. But I never forget who's taking me home.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

Nighttime, in my bed, book propped on my bent knees. DH on the pillow next to me.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

I don't have a preference if the book's well done and stays true to itself. If it's a standalone with a killer ending, I'm perfectly satisfied. And if the author has more story to tell about characters I've fallen in love with then I am beyond tickled to read more installments in the series.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

*dies laughing* Where do I start without sounding like a broken record? I am known for shoving stacks of Ellen Emerson White, Robin McKinley, Juliet Marillier, and Sharon Shinn books into people's hands. Lately I've been doing it a lot with Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, and Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey mystery series. Finest kind, every one.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

Alphabetical by author's last name. Chronologically within each author. I flirt with other options but, in the end, I think I'll stick with the old standby.

There you have it. I'd love to hear your answers to any or all of these questions!