Categories
Top 5 Tuesday

My bookish habits. All bookworms have them, right? ~ Top 5 Tuesday

Featured Image - Top 5 Tuesday

Hello my lovelies. Today, I’m being very brave and sharing some of my habits with you. Not all of them. Just my bookish habits. 😉

Last year, I sporadically joined in with Top 5 Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm. Although the lovely Shanah comes up with the topics a month at a time, I always seem to be rushing to write a post in time to join in. 😉 I made it today though. *phew*

If you’re interested in participating in Top 5 Tuesday, all you have do is write up your post and pingback to one of Shanah’s posts. Make sure you pingback to her post and not just her blog so she can add you to the list of participants.

So on to this week, as you may guess from the title, Shanah has come up with the topic – TOP 5 BOOKISH HABITS

We’ve all got them – habits – some are good, some bad and some are downright embarrassing! 😳😊 This week I’m airing my reading habits. NOT the embarrassing ones, but the normal ones. I hope they’re normal. What is normal, anyway?! *ahem* 😉

OK, so without further ado, on to my bookish habits …

I tend to only read books in my preferred genres.

I admit it: I’m a habitual paranormal romance reader.😍 Shocking, right?! You never would have guessed. I sometimes venture into the urban fantasy world and even dip my toes occasional in the cozy paranormal mystery pool but that’s as far as I go.

I decided a number of years ago that I was an adult, which meant that I didn’t have to spend my free time reading books that I didn’t want to {grumpy old woman hat on}. I really enjoy romance stories, they’re my ideal escapism, but I need a gripping backstory to keep me interested. By adding the supernatural aspect, it creates that barrier to reality that my sensibilities feel safe with. Tropes that would trigger my emotions, overactive brain and my anxiety of a more violent or brutal nature, don’t plague my thoughts if it’s cushioned by a “paranormal” setting or character. That’s not to say grittier stories don’t get my emotions whirling but they don’t keep me up at night.

Goodbye print: Hello ebook.

I’ve always been a bookworm but since getting my first Kindle I’ve abandoned paperbacks for the ease of the ebook. 😱 Are you shocked and horrified?

My excuses include: my poor wrists can no longer hold books comfortably for long periods of time, my old eyes relish the ability to enlarge the text on the page and my ever curious mind loves the search options available at the touch of the screen. That’s not to say I don’t read paperbacks, it’s just that my habit is to always look for the ebooks first. If ebooks could come with that wonderful paper-bookish aroma then I’d be set for life. *sigh*

I can’t resist adding the narration – it’s morphing into an obsession rather than just a habit.

The increased popularity in audiobooks hasn’t escaped my attention. I took advantage of an Audible offer back in the summer 2018; my audiobook listens have been increasing each year ever since. 🎧

At first, I found it hard to just listen to an audiobook: I kept falling asleep! 😴 But I started to download the Audible narrations when I bought ebooks through Amazon – they usually offer the narrations at a reduced rate. To begin with, I alternated between reading the kindle version during the day and listening to the story on Audible before bed but now my favourite way to “read” a book is to listen to the narration while I read the story. It’s like a play in my mind and if the narrator is really good, it adds another depth to the scenes and characters laid out by the author.

I like listening to music when I’m reading

If the story I’m reading doesn’t have a narration, I need to have something playing in the background. Music is my first choice.

If I’m on my own in the house, I’ll put the telly on and turn to Kerrang! But if I have to consider other family members 😉 then I put my buds in and listen to the tunes I’ve saved to my tablet. I’ve only got a paltry 190 songs saved, I haven’t got any specific playlists for individual books, series or authors, they’re all on continued shuffle so that I don’t know what’ll play next.

I can read anywhere but I do have some favourite reading places

I realise this could be a Top 5 Tuesday post all on its own! 😜 But I’m going to group them together here…

I love snuggling down in bed and loosing myself in a good story. Sitting with my feet up on the sofa with a cup of tea at my side is another favourite. I don’t start work until 9am and I’ve learnt the hard way that if I get to work early, the Head or teachers are always so busy with stuff to do that they’ll ask me to help – I’m a compassionate soul and a team player so I never say no – so after I’ve dropped off both my girls to their schools, I’ve got about 45 minutes to myself. 😉 I park the car in the Park & Ride next to work and I sit in my car reading. Reading for half an hour before the chaos of working with kids is a nice way to start my day.

Well, that’s it for this week. They weren’t too weird, were they?! What bookish habits have you got? 😉

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my post. Now that you’ve read mine, why not hop along to some of the other amazing blogs taking part in this week’s Top 5 Tuesday.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and read (or listen to) some fantastic books.

Bye for now.

Flora x

Pinterest Pin - Top 5 Tuesday - My Bookish Habits

By Flora

I'm in my late forties, my interests are varied but since menopause hit a few years ago, I find myself becoming a "grumpy old woman" all too frequently - where has my infinite patience gone!?! Lol!
I bought a Kindle in the summer of 2013 and haven't stopped reading since. If you want to know more about me, check out my blog - www.florasmusings.com

18 replies on “My bookish habits. All bookworms have them, right? ~ Top 5 Tuesday”

Love my Kindle and audio – so convenient, I love reading by a pool on holiday or at the beach (I live at the beach) but rarely can as I have kids so I mainly read on the sofa or the bed.

I have my eye on a huge chair or an egg chair as we’re doing the garden.

I totally get these habits the preferred genres and favorite places. It can be tough to drag me away from Young Adult fiction and I love reading in the living room on one specific couch with my favorite blanket 🙂

I read in trains a lot. And I totally get that you take that time before school for yourself. I do that too if I’m ever earlier at the office than usual. 🙂
I’m not good with reading while the tv is on but I tend to listen to music when I’m on the train to drown out the chatter by the people.

Oh no, what nasty habits you have. 😉 Just kidding. I think a lot of readers tend to stick to their preferred genre. Until last year, I certainly did, and midway through the year I decided to try different things and gave myself permission to DNF them. I still prefer fantasy, but now I’m more willing to take other recommendations, too. xD

I’m there with you on e-books. <3 I love that I can carry 200 books in my pocket. Plus, added benefit, I'm mostly noseblind, so I'm not even missing out on the paperback smell. I'm so impressed that you can listen to music while reading! I get distracted and forget what I'm reading lol.

I totally agree with us being allowed to stick to a genre if we want to! We read enough mandatory books (that I didn’t like) in school! Aging sucks most of teh time so it should come with some perks Flora!

Don't be shy, leave a comment!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: