I’ve been reading for many many years. As is normal whenever you do something for an extended period of time, I’ve developed many habits, both good and bad. Some are more recent, and others I’ve been trying to improve for some time now. So, I have decided to share some of them with you because I’m curious to know if these are normal or unusual in the reading community.

😄 Good Habits 😄

I mostly read ebooks

Many might not consider this a good habit, but I do. Do not get me wrong, I LOVE physical books but I have always read more ebooks because they are infinitely more practical. Unfortunately, I don’t have the space or the money to buy physical books to my heart’s content, so it really wasn’t my choice either (not that I mind though). Also, I read ebooks much faster and I can take them anywhere I go.

I take notes

This is something I’ve started doing as of recently. Now that I’m blogging (and I’m extremely new to it) I’ve seen that it’s better for me to take notes for my reviews. Also, because I mostly read ebooks, it’s so easy to highlight and quickly type my thoughts, because let’s face it, it’s very hard to stop and write something when I’m reading a physical book. I really like this new habit cause it’s fun being able to go back and read my thoughts while reading. I am very passionate, so I get very mad and outraged and constantly vent in my notes.

COMMERCIAL BREAK: in regards to this, I’ve been thinking of sharing some of my notes on different books. Would you guys be interested on that? Or do you think it might be a little boring? If you like this idea, which books or genres would you prefer?

I always use bookmarks

I am very proud to say that I always use bookmarks and I rarely lose them. Obviously, when I read on my phone I don’t need them but, when I read physical books I always use one. I can’t start a book without one because I can’t dog ear, fold pages or use any random piece of paper.

I know which are the books I will enjoy

I don’t read books I know I will not like. I am aware that most book bloggers read every book they can in order to give our peers as many options as possible. I understand that and respect it, but I’m not like that. At the end of the day, I read because I like to read, so I won’t waste my time with something I’m not liking or that I know is not the type of book I will have fun with.

I have a small TBR

I suck at sticking with a TBR (like the vast majority of readers). Because of that, I don’t really bother to add many books to it. I know this might be cheating, but I just don’t like having a large list of books that I know I won’t immediately read. What I decide to pick up depends solely on the mood I’m in. Because of all this, my TBR is mostly made up of books that haven’t released cause if I don’t add them, I would completely forget about them.

😬 Bad Habits 😬

I can’t read several books at the same time

Many of you might consider this to be a great habit, but I don’t. Constantly I am faced with the dilemma that I am required to read specific books but I want to read others as well. I always need to figure out which ones to prioritize because I cannot read more than one story at a time. When I’m submerged in one world I can’t just dip into another one because my interest will stick to only one at a time.

I don’t read the synopsis

This is a habit that I’ve acquired very recently and I HATE it, so I’m trying to correct it. I have always been the type of reader that reads the synopsis and countless reviews before reading anything. Now, for some reason, I just grab a book and go with it (which means that, as of recently, I’ve DNF’d many more books than I usually do).

I suck at ratings

I never know what an ‘appropriate rating’ is. Now that I’m blogging it’s even more difficult. For me, rating a book is very subjective. It depends on my mood, the conditions in which I read said book, whether I actually enjoyed it or not… There are many factors that go into it. Also, every time I rate a book a few days later I change my mind and want to adjust it. I just think it’s a very complicated process, specially paired up with the fact that I don’t like to ‘trash’ books (which is why I rarely give 1 or 2 star ratings). Most of the time I stick to the following parameters: 3 stars – it was good enough, not my favorite; 4 stars – I really liked it and definitely recommend; 5 stars – I loved it/had an amazing time reading it. But still, it’s hard (and I often break my own rules).

I reread way too much

My reading slumps are a tad bit weird. When most people just don’t read, I reread (the list of books I’ve read more than once is outrageous). There are some books that I consider to be comfort novels, so whenever I’m not feeling my best or I am not in the mood to read something new (which happens more often than not) I immediately grab one of them. I am not against rereading (I enjoy it a lot), but there should always be a limit. Apparently though, my brain doesn’t really understand what that means.

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I really want to know some of your good and bad reading habits, so let me know! Do we share some of them?