Over the last 10 years, as I’ve entered adulthood, I feel like I’ve also learned a lot about myself as a reader. I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I spent many weekends in my local Walden book store as a child. But in the past 10 years, a lot has changed. I started a book blog. I spent three years as a bookseller both part-time and full-time. I’ve attended BEA twice and attended a couple of book festivals in LA, DC, and Virginia. So I thought it’d be interesting to share some of the things I’ve learned about myself as a reader.
I am a mood reader.
TBRs are essentially meaningless to me. I very rarely follow them. I’m a mood reader 100%, and my mood will influence how much I enjoy or dislike a book. For the most part, my moods are genre-based, like I’ll be in the mood for a fluffy romance or a suspense-filled mystery. Occasionally, I’ll be in the mood for something more specific, like a specific troupe.
Being a mood reader has its pros and cons. It does occasionally influence my ARC and eARC reading habits though, which is why I prefer to give myself at least a month to read an ARC prior to the release day.
I prefer to binge read series.
I read so much that I forget plot points and character names easily, which is why I much prefer to binge read series. Also, I hate major cliffhangers. I can’t stand it when there’s a cliffhanger at the end of a book, but I have to wait a year to read the next book. I don’t know how people read each book as they’re released year by year without having to reread. How do you guys remember what happened in the previous book? Please tell me your secrets.
There are, of course, exceptions. I have two copies of Aurora Rising pre-ordered. There’s no way I’m going to wait until the series is complete to read it even though I have a feeling there’s gonna be a cliffhanger of some sort.
I’ve learned to DNF books.
I used to hate DNF-ing books, but I’ve come to realize that there are too many books I want to read not to DNF a book on occasion. When I DNF a book it generally falls into two categories. One is my “not for me” category. Usually, that means there is something about the story that just does not work for me at all. My second category is “shelved for later.” This usually means I’m not quite in the mood for it but will probably enjoy it later. All of my DNF books go into my “attempted reads” shelf on Goodreads.
I enjoy rereading.
Some people choose not to reread books because there are so many awesome books out there, which is true. However, I really enjoy rereading. Most times I’ll reread a book because I’m in a specific mood or because I just want to revisit my favorite scene from a book. I also often use rereading as a way to get out of a book slump. Visiting a favorite seems to help with those pesky book slumps.
I’m a monogamous reader.
Generally, I only read one book at a time. I tend to read and finish a book over the course of two to three evenings. On weekends when I have absolutely nothing going on, I’ll finish a book in a day. So it’s much easier to read one book at a time. Plus, since I forget plot points and character names easily, I will probably get confused if I mix too many books at once.
What kind of reading habits do you have? Are any of yours similar to mine? I’d love to chat about them. 🙂
Colleen's Conclusions
I’m a mood reader. I probably could read more than one book at once since I remember what is going on, but one book always gets focused on. I’ve also learned how to DNF books because that was part of the reason why I got into so many slumps last year. I have actually gone back to a few DNF books though and liked them later on. It’s early so I can’t remember an exact title, but I didn’t like Save the Date by Morgan Matson and wrote that author off. But I LOVED Since you’ve been gone and Second Chance Summer. So I will now give STD a second chance sometime.