Reader Survey

Hey frands, welcome to April! (OMG, already!?) I have a little questionnaire/survey for you today and it’s totally not because I didn’t have a review ready to go up. It’s definitely just because I wanted to answer some questions about reading that I’ve probably answered before over the years. Yep!

I found this on Goodreads.

+ The worst reading experience that you have ever had?

I’m not quite sure what type of scenario this is referring to, but I’m just going to go ahead and say, dragging myself through the awful Dark Tower series and then getting to that completely bullshit ending. If I hadn’t bought nice, matching editions of the books, I would have dumped the whole set off the deck.

+ The best reading experience you have ever had?

Any time I get to just be on vacation and read and not deal with adult responsibilities.

+ Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?

Oh man. I don’t know! I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that I’ve considered life-changing. Mostly books that are impactful or really engrossing just make me want to read more books by that author.

+ Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of?

Into the Darkest Corner had me really paranoid. To date, that’s probably the book that’s creeped me out the most. I don’t read a ton of horror or thrillers.

+ What do you use as a bookmark?

Bookjigs or magnetic bookmarks, or, occasionally a sticky tab.

+ When do you usually read? At home, work, while cooking, in the morning, noon, afternoon, before you go to bed…?

Any dang time I can! Most frequently before bed. But I’ll bring a book with me if I have an appointment so I can read in the waiting room. On the weekends I like to lay in bed and read after I wake up, if I have the time. Sometimes I’ll throw an audiobook on in the car.

+ Do you remember the first book that you read?

No lol. I assume it was some sort of picture book. I know I read the Hobbit at an early age and Goosebumps books too.

+ Which do you prefer – paperback or hardcover?

Paperback for portability, but hardcover for durability. Paperbacks are cheaper though, so they’re more commonly found on my shelves.

+ What are you currently reading? What page are you on?

The Hero and the Crown and Pride and Prejudice. I’m far too lazy to go get them to check pages numbers. I just started the former and the latter I’m about 2/3 through.

+ Do you ever leave “a mark” (deliberate and/or not deliberate) in your books? For example, write in them, underline quotes, coffee marks or food crumbs, etc.

Ok, first of all, regardless of whether you annotate books, can we all agree that allowing coffee/drink stains and crumbs into your books is unacceptable!? I’m not an animal. Jeeze. I care for my books, even if they show the signs of being well-loved, like cracked spines and bent covers.

I do annotate on occasion, but only books I’ve already read before and ones that I feel like there might be passages I’d like to highlight or comment on. And I always keep a separate copy just for annotating so I have a ‘clean’ copy to read in case I don’t want to see my notes next time.

+ Does the title, amount of pages and the cover affect you when you are considering a specific book?

Not really. When browsing the store or library, the title and/or cover are usually what catch my eye and get me to pick up a book to see what it’s about. But if I’m interested in the plot and dislike the title or cover, I’ll probably still get it. I’m not intimated by big books, though I do tend to put them off longer because they’ll take longer to read and sometimes I just want to get through a lot of books in a month and feel like I’m really attacking my TBR.

+ Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending?

No!

+ Has knowing the ending of a book (example, through spoilers or a movie) ever made you decide whether you will read the book or not?

Maybe? Watching the movie generally won’t stop me from reading a book if I’m interested in the plot still. But sometimes if I’m on the fence about reading a book, I might read reviews with spoilers and that might dissuade me from reading something if I know there are details I won’t enjoy. It’s probably rare though, as I can’t think of a specific example at the moment.

+ Is there a book that you have read more than five times?

Yes, quite a few. The Hobbit and Pride and Prejudice are at the top of that list. Blood and Chocolate, Sabriel, and definitely the first couple of Harry Potter books. I think there are probably a few other favorites I’ve read 3 or 4 times. Maybe if I went through and looked at my shelves I’d think of a few more. But I’m not going to do that right now.

+ Have you ever been in an accident where the book was the cause? (for example, almost getting hit by a car when reading while walking, or having stacks of books falling on you from a bookshelf…)

Goodness, no. I’m not a protagonist in a YA novel or romcom.

+ Do you sell/give away your books or do you keep them, even though you don’t like one of them?

I’ll only keep a book I disliked if it’s a really beautiful edition. Even then, it’s likely to get unhauled someday. I sometimes swap books on paperbackswap.com or give them to someone I think might enjoy them. I do occasionally sell them to a local bookstore for credit or donate them to my library to sell.

+ Do you bring with you the book when needing to use the toilet? Do you ever read in the bathroom?

LOL no. Honestly, I’m not on the toilet long enough to read. And I don’t take baths, which is the only other time I can think that one would read in the bath. (Don’t worry guys, I do shower.)

+ Do you have some kind of book system, where you write down what you are reading, have bought, will read, will buy and etc.? (Goodreads doesn’t count)

I don’t actually keep my Goodreads up to date in terms of books owned – though I do make sure it’s accurate as far as what I’ve read for the year. I use LibraryThing to keep track of the books I own and what I’ve read and haven’t. I also keep a journal and a spreadsheet with the stats of what I’ve read. I have a massive wish list (with many sub-categories) on Amazon and some screenshots of books on my phone for books I want to buy.

+ Do you keep a reading diary/journal?

See above.

~

Do we have any reading habits in common? If you feel like answering these questions, go ahead and tag me or link your post in the comments so I can check it out!