Reading Habits

If you’re a long time reader of the blog you’ll already know this, but I’m a HUGE reader. Since I moved my review content to alltherightreads.com you may have missed it if you’re new. It’s always funny to meet people in real life that know me from the blog and have been following the journey for a while because those people are aware of my chaotic reading. In real life, no one is aware of how deep this rabbit hole goes. 

In fact, if you know me ONLY in real life, you’d probably only know these things:

1. I love to read.
2. I’ll read anything. 

You Probably Wouldn’t Know:

1. How many books I really read in a year
   1. Average is about 137 per year over the last 5 years
2. What genres I don’t read
   1. Erotica is really the only one
3. My favorite tropes
   1. Chosen One
   2. Found Family
   3. Fake Dating
4. My favorite authors
   1. Tom Leveen
   2. Jodi Picoult
   3. Fredrik Backman 
5. My last 5 star read
   1. Conviction by MC Hunton
6. Immediate icks when reading
   1. Dates in chapter headers 
   2. Audiobook mispronunciations 
   3. Cheesy or forced dialogue
   4. Pregnancy “fixes” everything
7. What section of a bookstore do I go to first
   1. Mystery/Thriller

Why does this information stay secret?

It’s simple, really. Most people don’t actually care about those details. I can spark an entire conversation with another reader in real life just with the two sentences I said you’d know. Nothing else matters! We may differ on every single one of the 7 secrets I mentioned … but it doesn’t matter. I can hold a conversation with someone who reads 1 romance book a year as easily as I can someone who reads 500 mystery stories. Books are EASY to discuss as a medium and they open your mind immensely. 

Why do I bring this up?

Because too many of us, I’m afraid, ONLY talk about books online. I’m one of the lucky ones who spends entire DAYS talking about them in real life and online. If you only try discussing them ONLINE, it can be incredibly toxic. The online book community can be really judgy. They will want to know all 7 of those secret answers and they may even tell you that your answers are wrong. The online reading community has these metrics in their brain for what is “acceptable” and what isn’t. Read too few and you’re “not a real reader”. Read too much and you’re “speed reading” or “cheating”. Read romance and you’re “just reading the easy stuff” but read classics and you’re “missing the new authors”. Everything comes with a side of attitude and a sense of “doing it wrong”. 

If you’re a reader (as in you’ve voluntarily read at least 1 book in recent memory and you enjoy talking about books) I HIGHLY suggest you find a person in the real world to talk about books with for a little while. A friend, a bookstore clerk, a librarian, or even someone shopping or browsing in the same section as you at a library or bookstore. It’s a WILDLY different experience than talking about books online … and that’s OK. 

Of course, you’re also welcome to talk about books in the comments here! I’m a safe space for all readers (and anyone who isn’t the same won’t have their comments allowed, it’s as easy as that). 

So … what are you reading?