I CAN’T STOP DOING BOOK TAGS.
I found this tag here.
Today you learn all about how I read.
Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
I do – the floor at the foot of my bed.
It’s the only free space in my apartment and my therapist told me I’m not allowed to read in bed anymore.
Bookmark or random piece of paper?
Usually it’s a random piece of paper.
Or I pretend I’ll remember what page I was on…which is stupid, because I NEVER DO.
Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/ a certain amount of pages?
Sometimes I give myself a page number goal and try to read until then, e.g., “You did 50 pages; that’s 1/10 of the book.”
It creates a certain amount of anxiety. I still do it.
Do you eat or drink while reading?
Both! Unless I’m eating something complicated like lasagna. That requires my full focus.
Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
Nope.
My college friend used to ask, “Is it cool if I turn on a movie while we study?”
NO, IT IS NOT, STACI.
I grew up in a house with constant sound.
Given the choice between silence, jazz, politics, or sports, silence always wins.
One book at a time or several at once?
See, the thing is I start a book, regret it, and pick up something else, then repeat that cycle five or six times. Don’t ask how many books I have going.
Reading at home or everywhere?
Everywhere – otherwise I would have to make small talk.
Reading out loud or silently in your head?
SILENTLY IN MY HEAD. The WORST days in school involved the whole class taking turns reading the book out loud.
I wrote my THESIS in the time it took you to stumble through a paragraph, CHARLES.
Do you read ahead or even skip pages?
Sometimes I can’t help myself and peek at sentences a few paragraphs away.
Then I get mad, like, “UGH, WHO RUINED THE SURPRISE?”
…I did.
Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?
If it were up to me, the spines would NEVER BREAK.
I don’t buy many used books. They’re all creased and beat up. I don’t like that.
Do you write in your books?
I wrote in books for school and for a “Sisterhood of the Traveling Book” Club that resulted in the loss of one of my favorite books.
I’m also not an underliner. Or a page folder. I like coming across favorite quotes without warning.
Narrative Paradise 