Do you know who created this tag? Let me know! I want to give credit, and I couldn’t find that info. If you’d like to see Jenna from 3 months ago answer these questions (yes I’m still editing and releasing videos I batch filmed when I first started the channel) then here you go! If you’d rather read, continue below the video.
1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
Not really? When I was a teenager I preferred reading on my bed, but of course now that I’m a married adult I don’t usually do that because that means having a bright light going on while someone else is asleep 2 feet to the left. Usually I end up reading on the couch in the living room.
2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?
I LOVE bookmarks decorated with my favourite characters. I have a Captain Jack Sparrow with a tassel that looks like his beaded hair piece, an LotR “Coronation of the King” Aragorn one that used to have a “one ring” hanging on it, but I used it for a costume and lost it, and I have a Tramp (Disney’s Lady and the Tramp) with a dog bone on it.
3. Can you ust stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or a certain amount of pages?
I stop when I have to stop (usually because I’m too tired or I have to leave the house for something.) If I say I’m saying up to read one more chapter or finish the chapter, I’m actually planning to continue reading for 2+ more hours.
4. Do you eat or drink while reading?
Yes! As long as the book is mine, I’m not afraid to possibly get a few stains on it. (I know, I just horrified somebody.)
5. Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
I like listening to music while reading to drown out other sounds, but if I had the TV (or YouTube videos) on while reading I would get distracted and not end up reading much. Do people actually watch TV while reading?
6. One book at a time or several at once?
These days I tend to have multiple books going on at once, but I have an odd rule of not having multiple of the same format. I don’t read more than one physical book at a time. If I’m reading more than one ebook at a time, one is ePub on my iPad and the other is Kindle on my phone. I may also have an audiobook in progress at the same time.
7. Reading at home or everywhere?
Everywhere! If I might have the opportunity to read, a book is coming with me!
8. Reading out loud or silently in your head?
Silently whenever possible. Obviously if I’m reading my daughter’s books to her I read that out loud. I’ll also read my own books out loud if I’m just supervising her and she’s showing signs that she wants me talking. (Sometimes she thinks it’s funny. Sometimes she yells and demands I stop.) But if I’m just reading for myself? Silently.
9. Do you read ahead or skip pages?
If skipping ahead means jumping ahead to find out what happens and then backtracking, no. If it means skimming or entirely skipping sections, yes. Boring POV in a multi-POV book? Skimming or skipping that! Poetry/Songs fully typed out? Nope! Chapter of pure, dense exposition? I’ll take my chances continuing blind.
This is why I never finished A Song of Ice and Fire. I was skipping POVs I didn’t like and realized I was skipping too much of the second book, so I gave up. Also, Treebeard is the most boring chapter in all of LotR. Sorry, not sorry. I read it once. I will never read it again.
10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?
I love the look of a new, unbroken spine, and I’ll try my best to keep it that way… but mass/pocket paperbacks are disproportionately thick with weak bindings. Want to hold that thing one-handed? The spine is going to break and crease. It’s inevitable. Trades fair better. If you managed to break the spine on a hardcover, either it’s ancient or you’re a beast.
11. Do you write in your books?
Sometimes. When I was in school, if the book was mine I took notes directly in it. Especially during university English classes, which let you take the books to the exams and any notes written directly in the book were fair game. As a teenager I was also a fan of catching editing errors and marking them. These days? Not so much. I don’t mark physical books frequently anymore. I do make liberal use of annotations features in ebooks, though.