What are your reading preferences?
My favourite hobby of the moment is reading. I took a break from fiction in December and January as I was reading a lot of books on puppies and dogs in preparation for Milo’s arrival. I missed reading fiction. I missed recording book review videos. I missed chatting about books in general.
As I was reflecting on how much I missed reading fiction in particular, I noticed a few things about my reading habits — picky bookish things that I like (and dislike). I decided to create a Reading Preferences Tag so we could chat about all these little details. If you’re not familiar with tags, they’re essentially a “tag, you’re it” concept where anyone who comes across the video or blog post is invited to answer the same questions.
So here I am — absolutely thrilled to be chatting about books again — with the four questions from my tag. These are open-ended questions with lots of room for interpretation. I originally filmed this as a YouTube video but I’ve also summarized the questions (and my responses) below!
Question 1: How do you choose the next book you read?
I mainly choose books based on availability (since I no longer buy books I haven’t yet read) intersecting with my mood. The easiest way for me to gauge availability is to scroll through Libby's "available now" or "skip the line" lists until I see a title or author that I recognize — these are usually books that someone recommended to me or that I’ve heard of at some point.
Before deciding to read a book, I’ll also check the average rating on Goodreads. I’m a bit more picky when choosing a novel because I have a very hard time DNF-ing fiction — I usually stick with books with an average rating above 4 stars. Of course, average ratings are not infallible. I’ve read highly rated books on Goodreads that I’ve been “meh” about, but the few times that I’ve read books with an average rating below 4 stars, the payoff hasn’t been there for me.
Question 2: What format or genre do you prefer?
I generally don’t have a preference between e-book and physical books. That being said, since I use the library, I have a slight preference for the Libby app as I find physical books from the library can be hit or miss in terms of their condition. I’ve borrowed physical books that have been dog-eared, underlined, highlighted, and annotated (with notes in the margin), not to mention the crumbs and stains within the books.
For some reason, I can’t seem to focus when I listen to audiobooks. I don’t have this issue when listening to podcasts so I think it’s something to do with narrators reading books aloud that is hard for my brain to process.
This year, I noticed that I have a strong preference for a standalone book versus a series. I find book series (like TV series) to be too big of a commitment. When I do decide to read a series, I have two strong preferences: the series has been completed (i.e., all the books have been written), and I can read the books in succession until I’ve completed the series.
Thee below preferences might be related to why I don’t enjoy series as much:
I usually don’t enjoy reading books of the same genre in succession.
I usually don’t enjoy reading books by same author in succession. (And on that note, aside from Becky Chambers, I don’t really follow authors that closely — for example, I’m not really interested in reading any author’s entire backlist.)
In terms of genres, I'm currently into sci-fi, thrillers, and historical fiction. My only 5-star read so far this year was The Rose Code. (I also loved Atmosphere, The Correspondent, and To Be Taught, If Fortunate — these were all 4.5-star books for me!)
Question 3: When / where / how do you read?
Gosh, I have so much to say about this. I love chatting about habits and routines in general. Right now, I have three pockets of time during the day when I cozy up with a book:
I read for around 15-20 minutes at the gym on the stationary bike or elliptical trainer.
I’ve been LOVING reading on the couch after lunch with a snack. If I’m really enjoying the book or if it’s on a shorter skip-the-line (7-day) loan, I might squeeze in a few more pages — by reading during lunch or after my power nap. Usually I read for 20-30 minutes in this “lunchtime” window but it could go up to 40-60 minutes.
I read for around 30-40 minutes in bed before I go to sleep.
While I might really want to read at other times during the day, I usually hold off as there are just too many distractions (and I prefer to read with no distractions).
I prefer to read fiction and memoirs every day until I’m done the book. I usually read nonfiction (excluding memoirs) more sporadically. Shorter or easy-to-digest books might take me a day or two, and longer books might take a week and a half, but generally, my sweet spot to finish a novel is 3-7 days.
Question 4: (How) Do you keep track of the books you read?
Tracking the books I read definitely enhances the reading experience for me, but I’ve had a hard time finding a good system. I currently track the books I read using google calendar but the info is pretty minimal (title, author, date started, date completed).
I do want to document/reflect on what I read (versus jumping into another book right away), beyond what I’m tracking in google calendar. In the past, I’ve tried making notes — in the calendar entries, in a google doc, in a spreadsheet, on my phone — but none of these habits stuck. My favourite experiment was when I was recording book review videos regularly for a while but I fell out of the routine and I'm finding it hard to get back into it again.
This is probably the question I’m the most interested in as I’ve been struggling to find a sustainable system for a while now. I welcome any suggestions! I’ve been very curious about keeping a reading journal but I'm hesitant to commit. I’m going to wait until I’m done with my sticker collage journal this fall before deciding.
This month’s reflective questions
Fittingly, this month’s reflective questions are the ones from the reading preferences tag:
How do you choose the next book you read?
What format or genre do you prefer?
When / where / how do you read?
Do you / how do you keep track of the books you read?
Here’s the link to my YouTube video in case you want to answer in the comments there! Or you can message me directly here.
Happy reading!
