What are your bad reading habits? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

What are your bad reading habits?

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Just wanted to add some variety.

What are your bad reading habits?
Mine is buying too many books every time I go into the bookstore and never finishing the ones I already have. I have walls and walls of books yet almost 1/3 of them are still unread. :hopelessness: I am working on finishing the ones I have already, but there are times when temptation gets the best of me :no:

Also are you an E-book reader or do you prefer the paper version? :biggrin:

I've gone digital now. I just sold or donated hundreds of books from my school years. I can at least search through the texts on Kindle. Books take up so much space and go moldy. They're heavy. I find them to be a burden. I know people enjoy the touch and feel of a book, but I never felt that way.

My bad habits is that I've become one of those "checklist," pragmatic people. I rarely read books now. I read mostly blogs and articles I find online. The Internet completely changed my relationship to books and learning. If I don't get a synopsis quickly, I move onto to something else that will.

I also have a really bad habit of reading a synopsis of books/stories/events on Wikipedia. Most of the time I just need very general information. Sometimes I need to dig deeper in which case it's rare. Most of everything I need to find is online.
 

desertskates

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
My worst habit is not wearing my glasses, lol! I only need them to read, and this has been a recent development, so I often forget to put them on. Not good.

My favorite habit is an odd one, but I like it. I often have cheapy paperbacks, and I travel a lot, so I write my first name and my country and city inside the cover and leave it for the hotel library or a used bookstore. I've seen others do the same. It's always fun to buy a used book and see where it came from :)

Another bad habit though, cookbooks! I have over 90.
 
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fleeting

Queen Anissina
Medalist
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
I'll get invested in a book, then have to go do something... And then I forget where I put it, because I was so engrossed in the story! Then I'll spend about 20 minutes looking every place I can think of in my house, and then realize it was in plain sight all along :biggrin:
 

Amei

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Also are you an E-book reader or do you prefer the paper version? :biggrin:

Depends on the writer - I have a favorite author (Jen Lancaster) that writes a lot of footnotes to her books and I can't figure out how to find the footnotes on the Kindle - so her books I will always buy the paper version.

Other than that - E-book all the way, there are lots of free books available for download - some of the books are not my taste but most are pretty good and a lot of times you can read the first book in a new series by a non-popular author for free and it will get you hooked on the series.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I read in the bathroom lol
I binge read - there will be weeks when that's all I will do... and then I'll go months without reading a book, even when I'm not finished with a book.
I read several books at a time - sometimes getting them confused.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
My worst habit is not wearing my glasses, lol! I only need them to read, and this has been a recent development, so I often forget to put them on. Not good.

My favorite habit is an odd one, but I like it. I often have cheapy paperbacks, and I travel a lot, so I write my first name and my country and city inside the cover and leave it for the hotel library or a used bookstore. I've seen others do the same. It's always fun to buy a used book and see where it came from :)

Another bad habit though, cookbooks! I have over 90.

I love the idea of leaving a used book for someone else to enjoy. Re: cookbooks, how could that ever be considered a bad habit? :biggrin: Before Epicurious invented the 4-fork review, the best indicator of a keeper recipe was the amount of finger marks/smears on the page in the cookbook!
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
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Dec 29, 2013
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I plan on starting a small buisiness one day and you can bet it will have a 'leave a book take a book' section with couches to hang out at. Would it be wrong to suggest a donation...if maybe only into a jukebox of some sort ;)
 

Snow63

Pray one day we'll open our eyes.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
I read a lot in the dark (my reader has internal glowing light). My poor eyes :no:
I often read while I'm eating :biggrin: That's really awful habit :hopelessness:
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
I read the endings of books to see if I want to read the whole thing.
How Horrible! :unsure:
The thing is, I still enjoy the heck out of reading even when I've already 'spoilt' it for myself.
 

Snow63

Pray one day we'll open our eyes.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
1) I have to finish. Every. Darn. Thing. Even if I hate it. Especially if I hate it, because I feel uncomfortable making a judgement about something I haven't finished. And since it's so awful, I want to rant about it to my friends! But I can't do that if I haven't finished, right...?
Pretty much this. I always try to convince myself that the book is BAD. Even awful. Never works :no: I still have to finish it.
I wasted so much time on bad books that I can't even think about it. Poor me.
 
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TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
I read all the time. And I can't go to sleep without reading something first.

I also have to finish a book no matter how bad it is. The good ones I read at least twice, the best ones I reread about once a year at least. The only book so far I can remember I couldn't finish because I hated it so much was Catch-22, which is weird because it's a favourite of so many people. I made it through about 20 pages.

I also read really fast. I always get books as presents and recently my husband gave me The Leftovers and Orange Is the New Black as an anniversary present on a Friday afternoon, and I had finished them both by Sunday afternoon :biggrin: I'm nothing compared to my brother though, he can read a 400-page book in one evening. I have no idea how he does that!
 

SoundtracksOnIce

On the Ice
Joined
May 16, 2013
I don't have any reading habits I think are bad but I'm sure others might. I have multiple books on the go (which doesn't bother me) and I reread lots. In fact I would say at least a 60-40 split favoring rereads - maybe even 65-35.

I also carry multiple books with me - at least four in my purse - and take a full carry-on sized suitcase of books on weekend trips. Sometimes two. I tend to read quickly (average adult paperback takes me about 1.5 hours) and there's nothing worse than getting a craving to read a book I won't get to see for four days.

And I read everywhere. Any place you see teens using their phone you will see me reading. I have been known to spend an hour soaking in the tub reading a book (adding water when it cools off!)

As a kid, twice my punishment when I misbehaved was I wasn't allowed to read for the day. Oh, and I once racked up a forty dollar overdue fine at the library when I was thirteen or do. After that my mother restricted me to forty books at a time.

Oh - I take it back. I once was reading a Mary Higgins Clark and an Irene Hannin book at the same time. Both books had heroines named Emily and the love interest in Irene's book had the same name as the heroine's late husband in Mary's book. That screwed with me!
 

peg

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
I love the idea of leaving a used book for someone else to enjoy. Re: cookbooks, how could that ever be considered a bad habit? :biggrin: Before Epicurious invented the 4-fork review, the best indicator of a keeper recipe was the amount of finger marks/smears on the page in the cookbook!

I used to live in an apartment building where people would leave used books on a bench in the lobby. I read a lot of things that I normally wouldn't have picked out, simply because they were there and I didn't have to think about making a decision. :p
 

Kitt

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Country
United-States
If a book doesn't hold my interest, I don't finish it. Life is too short, and there's too much else to read (or do!)

But even if I do finish a book and even really like it, I won't remember too much about it a year or so later. So I can re-read and still enjoy. This has been a trait of my sister and myself all our lives, so it's not just old age! :)

I do like historical fiction if the author has done the research, in order to experience other life and times.
 

merrywidow

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
I'm one who can't stop buying books, have about 800 still to read on my bookshelves & I'm 79. Just came home with 9 from the Book Exchange in a neighboring city. (I trade). My worst & most frustrating bad habit in my old age is simply falling asleep.
 

skatedreamer

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Joined
Feb 18, 2014
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United-States
I finally broke down & bought a Kindle b/c I do most of my reading while commuting; noticed that I was reading less b/c paper books can be awkward to handle on a crowded subway (also got spoiled using my iPhone). The Kindle is definitely easier to deal with, especially w/ only one free hand.

New bad habit: wasting time searching for free and/or inexpensive content. The good news is that there's lots of stuff out there, especially classics in the public domain.
 

louisa05

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
I finally broke down & bought a Kindle b/c I do most of my reading while commuting; noticed that I was reading less b/c paper books can be awkward to handle on a crowded subway (also got spoiled using my iPhone). The Kindle is definitely easier to deal with, especially w/ only one free hand.

New bad habit: wasting time searching for free and/or inexpensive content. The good news is that there's lots of stuff out there, especially classics in the public domain.

Oh, yes, I waste a ton of time doing that.

Check your local library, too. Mine is part of a statewide consortium for eBooks. Most of what I read on Kindle is from the library. And no trips there and at the end of the lending period, the book goes away--so no worries about fines. You can manage it all online.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I'm one who can't stop buying books, have about 800 still to read on my bookshelves & I'm 79. Just came home with 9 from the Book Exchange in a neighboring city. (I trade). My worst & most frustrating bad habit in my old age is simply falling asleep.

Haha, I'm right there with you. I finally cracked opened Jeffery Eugenides' "The Marriage Plot" yesterday which I bought some two years ago.

So stupid question. So would a case for buying an actual kindle (as opposed to getting the app for your iPad) is that it doesn't have that blue backlight that tends to keep you up at night? I.e. is a kindle more bedtime friendly?
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Oh, yes, I waste a ton of time doing that.

Check your local library, too. Mine is part of a statewide consortium for eBooks. Most of what I read on Kindle is from the library. And no trips there and at the end of the lending period, the book goes away--so no worries about fines. You can manage it all online.

I tried the library when I got an iPhone. At that time there was a huge demand for e-books & the library didn't have very many so availability was extremely limited. Chances are that's changed, though, so definitely worth re-visiting -- thanks for the suggestion.
 
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