45 Things About Me as a Reader

May 27, 2023 / No Comments

  1. When I read a fiction book, I usually read it in one sitting, or maybe two.  I simply just can’t stop when I get started with a book.  I have to plan ahead and make sure I actually have time to finish the book when I think about starting it.  I have read into the wee hours of the morning countless times.  
  2. I neglect my family when reading.  The big ones just laugh about it.  
  3. I cannot read when something actually has to get done. 
  4. I strongly dislike being interrupted when I am reading.
  5. I need a quiet environment when I am reading. I cannot read with background music at all because music is never really in the background for me. The music part of my brain is too active, and there isn’t space in my brain for music and words together.
  6. I love reading out loud to kids of all ages.  I credit my read aloud skills to participation on the speech team in high school. 
  7. I believe picture books are for everyone.  I love reading them as an adult, and even checked them out of the library when I didn’t have little kids to read to. My teenagers still pull out picture books for a de-stress break when they need it. Reading a good children’s picture book for the first time makes me happy no matter how old I am. 
  8. I like to be cozied up in a blanket with a feather pillow when I’m reading, and this holds true whether I’m reading in a hammock, my bed, on the couch, or in a chair. 
  9. These days I sometimes need reading glasses.  Sigh. On the bright side, I’m looking forward to establishing a collection of crazy reading glasses. 
  10. My perfect summer day involves a book and my purple hammock swing underneath the apple tree in my backyard. 
  11. I have an extensive collection of Children’s picture books, and no one in the house is sad about it (except Dr. Peds does sometimes get frustrated at the number of baskets filled with picture books that take up floorspace on his side of  the bed in our bedroom).  The Kidlets and I have so many memories tucked into children’s picture books.  Even though we do weed the collection from time to time, there are many hundreds of books that we just can’t part with.  When we found out that Peanut Maximus was joining the family, I was most excited to get to read all the picture books out loud again!
  12. We have bookshelves in every room and hallway except the bathroom and kitchen.  They are all overflowing.  
  13. There are also stacks of books on an astonishing number of flat surfaces.  The landing on the way upstairs has a bookshelf along with a stack of books on the floor that is nearly as tall as me. 
  14. My favorite way to store children’s picture books is in wicker milk crate baskets that have a strong wire frame. 
  15. My bookshelves are organized by genre and topic, and then by author.  It is a system that wouldn’t make sense to most people, but I almost always can find my books.  The kidlets don’t follow my system though, so any shelf they’ve been reading through isn’t organized. 
  16. I store all my To-Read books on a specific shelf. 
  17. My nightstand is covered in so many books that you can’t see the top. 
  18. I store hardcover books on my shelves with their dust jackets, but I carefully take the jacket off when I’m actually reading the book.
  19. I really appreciate small bookstores that cultivate a collection of books I might not otherwise come across.  
  20. I greatly miss the comfy seats in Barnes and Nobles of the 1990’s. 
  21. When I was in elementary and middle school, my mom would go to the mall on a shopping trip, and she would zip from end to end visiting all sorts of stores, but I would spend pretty much the whole time in the bookstore. 
  22. I enjoy reading professional books about music pedagogy and teaching writing. 
  23. I find reading books about English grammar to be the fastest way to fall asleep at night, and bonus, they are full of helpful reminders.
  24. I am a much faster reader of fiction than nonfiction, but I appreciate both. 
  25. I am most likely to listen to an audiobook when I’m in a car, or sometimes on a walk.  Occasionally an audiobook makes a big nasty cleaning project go much quicker as well. 
  26. Sometimes I feel like a shorter audiobook is better an a longer one.  This might be because I read faster than I can listen to an audiobook, and I often feel like the audiobook drags on.  Getting interrupted during an audiobook drives me a little crazy. 
  27. I am more likely to listen to a nonfiction audiobook, but I like a good story too.  
  28. Audiobooks have sometimes been a great way to get through a book I needed to digest but didn’t really necessarily want to pick up to read conventionally. 
  29. I’m a big fan of middle grade fiction, and I will read across multiple genres.  
  30. I also enjoy a good young adult book, but lately I’ve struggled a bit to find young adult books that are appealing to me.  Maybe this is because I’m not a young adult?  Young adult literature often seems to be affected the most by trends in publishing.  
  31. I usually have a poetry book in the car to read when I’m waiting to pick up kids.
  32. If know that I’m going to be interrupted, poetry books are my go-to because I rarely feel frustrated starting and stopping them.  Plus, poetry just brings a little joy all throughout the day. 
  33. I love the smell of fresh ink when I open up a brand new book.  
  34. I am most likely to purchase poetry books and professional books, or a book that I can’t find at my library.
  35. I am most likely to reread a book of poetry than any other type of book.
  36. My favorite bookmarks are usually simple and made of thick paper.  I dislike any kind of tassel.  I do like magnetic bookmarks, though. 
  37. I LOVE book darts to mark passages and pages.  I take special enjoyment in marking my favorite poems with book darts as I’m reading through a book of poetry.  
  38. The most used reference books around here are kids topical encyclopedias, dictionaries and grammar books. 
  39. Years ago I inherited my grandmothers double volume Compact Version of the Oxford English Dictionary.  The pages are paper thin, and you need to use a magnifying glass to see the entries.  I was fascinated with this book that sat on a bookcase in my grandparents’ office when I was a little girl, and I believe my grandmother gave it to me because I actually used this dictionary in the college library to write a paper on word entymology, and that tickled her pink.  Also, no one else probably wanted a two volume dictionary in a special box.  It even has a little cardboard drawer for the magnifying glass!  This dictionary now lives in my office.  Admittedly, I don’t use it often, but it does make me happy. 
  40. I love a good story that draws me in. 
  41. The make or break element that makes a fiction book good for me is character development.  If I care about the characters and I’m invested in them, it doesn’t matter how slow the plot moves.  
  42. One of my favorite days of summer is the annual public library book sale.  I attend on the Friends of the Library members-only day and always find several bags of treasures to bring home.  
  43. I am super grateful for libraries.  I love them so much!  I use them so often.  Who could afford to read so much without a library card?  I loved working in a library during the summers of my college years, and I love visiting libraries wherever I am. 
  44. Likewise, I love peeking in Little Free Libraries whenever I”m out walking or sometimes driving.  I have found so many treasures!  We have our own Little Free Library on the corner of our yard, and it is amazing to watch the books fly in and out of it.  Some of the books are things I would never read, and sometimes I find magnificent books that are on my To-Read List. 
  45. For the past several years, I have been using Goodreads to keep track of the books I want to read and the books I have read.  I rarely review a book there, but I do always rate the books I read.  Not every children’s picture book I read makes it to my Goodreads account, but the ones I want to  remember do. 

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