An out-of-schedule post! Since readers are a diverse sort, I’m taking a clue from Ed White’s post – 20 questions about reading habits, which originally comes from a tag post I can’t find the original source of.

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

At this point, I read pretty much exclusively at my bed, though I plan to grab a comfortable armchair specifically for reading and maybe create some kind of reading corner once I move out to live on my own.

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Back when I was reading physical books, I had a business card from one of the hotel I stayed in back in 2010, and used that. If I was reading a physical book, I’d use it again for in-progress book but random pieces of paper if it was to mark a section for future reference.

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter / a certain amount of pages?

At chapter end. Furthermore, e-books that lack page breaks at chapter start bug the hell out of me. As I mentioned a couple of times, I often read before sleep or in train, so the time estimate for the next chapter is something I use a lot on ebooks to see if I should go for another chapter.

4. Do you eat or drink while reading?

For books? No. For newspaper, though… I read that almost exclusively while eating.

5. Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?

In most cases, no. I sometimes do listen to music while re-reading or when reading through my own drafts.

6. One book at a time or several at once?

One, with breaks between series. I tend to have weird crossover dreams if I weave many series at once, reading multiple books would probably end up worse. Furthermore, I have bad memory for names, so I’d be confused reading more books at once, unless the names would be VERY distinct.

7. Reading at home or everywhere?

While I prefer the comfort of my bed, I often read in bus/train when going for a hike – especially if I’ve taken that route several times before. The hotel is also a place for reading – it may be the only entertainment at hand and a good way to cool down after a day of wandering the hills. Furthermore, as the picture above shows, I’m not against whipping out my Kindle when taking a break.

8. Reading out lout or silently in your head?

Silent, always. Loud would feel… weird.

9. Do you read ahead or even skip pages?

No – well, maybe I may skip or backtrack when reading my own drafts, but that’s it. I may consider skipping a lengthy descriptive passage on a re-read, though.

10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Not applicable to an e-reader.

11. Do you write in your books?

Again, not really applicable to e-readers, though I use the highlight feature and sometimes add a comment to it on Goodreads.

12. When do you find yourself reading? Morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you get the chance or all the time?

At home, it’s usually the evenings, but I may pick up a book at any time of day during the weekends. And, when it comes to reading during my travels, that’s usually early morning or the evening.

13. What is your best setting to read in?

Quite is good, but I can filter out a lot with a good book.

14. What do you do first – Read or Watch?

For the rare cases when I both read the book and saw the movie, the movie mostly came first and I wanted to see the original after. This is caused by the fact I read less-known books which aren’t usually made into movies (at least not yet).

15. What form do you prefer? Audiobook, E-book or physical book?

E-books all the way. They’re way more comfortable for extended reading due to light weight (my e-reader is ~150g with case, my debut novel in paperback is 1150g – I can barely imagine holding it for more than a chapter at once). Audiobooks would have me do something else as well, and I’m bad at multitasking, so it’d probably become a white noise sooner rather than later.

16. Do you have a unique habit when you read?

I don’t think so – unless you count being grumpy at interruptions.

17. Do book series have to match?

I am honestly not sure what is meant by the question.

Ed’s bonus three questions

18. Favorite Genre?

Fantasy

19. Sub-genres?

Mostly high/epic fantasy. Coming of age, good vs. evil, and romace are good sub-plots/themes for me.

20. How often do you read? How many books, on average, a year?

By my Goodreads profile, this fluctuates around 25 books a year (not counting my own drafts or beta swaps).

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So, that’s another look behind the scenes. You’re welcome to take on this and share your reading habits – see what you have in common with your fellow bloggers, and where you differ. You’re also welcome to comment and ask me questions about my answers.