I thought that it would be fun to do a tag again. These past few weeks I’ve been back onto the reading bandwagon again. I think it’s due to the fact that there is so much more light out now that spring has arrived. I am currently reading the Infernal Devices books by Cassandra Clare which are the prequel to the Mortal Instruments series I read last year. I am roughly halfway through the second book now and I think I may actually like this better than the original series! Right, enough chit chat, let’s get to the tag.

Before and after pick of my bookcase last summer.

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

Yes I do: my couch where I have a reading light. But I actually prefer to read in my desk chair with my feet propped up on the windowsill. But this winter I have found that I also really like sitting on the floor with my back against the heater.

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Both. I use a bookmark now, which was a freebee with a purchase from the ABC bookstore in The Hague. However, for years I used Parisian metro ticket stubs to mark where I had left off. They are by far the best random bookmark you could ever use.

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or certain number of pages?

I just stop reading often enough, when I’m on a train or reading while waiting for an appointment. However, when I read because I have time I find I stop at a chapter or any other natural break off point in the story.

4. Do you eat or drink while reading?

Tea!!! Lots and lots of tea. Food wise I don’t have a specific reading food, but chocolate would be part of it if I had.

5. Do you watch TV or listen to music while reading?

I listen to so much music already so no need to guess there. I always have some music on: on the train, at home. So yes, also when I’m reading. It helps me to block out other sounds and noises from the street in front of my house (I live on a busy pedestrian street with bars in a city center) or when I’m on the train (talking people ARGH).

6. One book at a time or several at once?

One at the time. This is the first year where I have two books going on at the same time. I am reading a short story collection with Victorian vampire fiction on the side. I’m nearly halfway in and the goal is to finish that before the end of 2015. But I tend to start a book, then finish it, before I pick up anything else. I’m so bad at this that if a book is part of a series, I want to read the entire series in one go. If one can binge read book series, like one can binge watch TV series, then that’s what I prefer to do. Mainly because I can become very invested in a story. If it latches on to me, I simply do not want to let go.

7. Reading at home or everywhere?

Everywhere! I bring a book wherever I go. I read at the gym, waiting rooms, the train, in restaurants, at the park: as long as I can sit and have good lighting I can read. I have even managed to read books while waiting for concerts to start. The place where I tend to read the least is at home. It’s really something I do when I’m trying to kill time because I’m simply stuck in one place for a while.

8. Reading out loud or silently in your head?

Silently in my head. I do manage the occasional chuckle or oh no! But I read very quickly, especially if the book is very fast paced. Reading out loud would mean my eyes go faster than my brain can utter the words. So yeah, I just read in my head. My average reading speed is 30 – 50 pages, but with an easy read like the Infernal Devices, I easily manage more than that.

9. Do you ever read ahead or skip pages?

I used to when I had to read books for my studies. The only reason how I managed to read Wuthering Heights in one 6 hour sitting is because I skipped everything except the dialogue. Nowadays, I will start reading a book and then after a while I will start flipping through pages to see how many chapters are left or how many pages it really has. But I read everything from cover to cover no matter what I read. I will even read the annotates and blurbs in the back. I know my mom often reads the final chapter when she is halfway through a book to see what happens and if she doesn’t like it, she will actually stop reading the book.

10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Again, I used to. For studying and writing essays it was a must. But nowadays I try not to. Some books are simply too heavy when you’re at a certain point in the book and break of their own accord. I always hate when that happens. I think spending 5 years working at a library and seeing what people can do to books has put me in a position where I felt like I do not want to be that person. Especially if it’s a book I bought with my own hard earned money.

11. Do you write in your books?

No absolutely not. I used to highlight and underline passages from study books of course. But I never annotated them. I also don’t dog ear. I still have a few books that have colored strips of post its sticking out of the pages because I used them for my studies. It’s a shame though. I read Pride & Prejudice a while ago and remember the one thing I loved most about it was the language. I should have annotated and underlined that so I could have turned it into a blog post! I loved it enough though that I’m sure I will be re-reading it some time. So if this space still exists a few years from now I’m sure I will be able to do such a post. Other books which I read with I now wish I had annotated are Catcher in the Rye and On the Road. Such classic epicness is just too much to be held between two covers.

Feel free to do this tag if you’d like. You could leave your answers in a comment below. I’m curious!