Top 10 Reading Quirks

Hi everyone! I want to apologize for the lack of book reviews this week. Don’t worry, I’m not in another reading slump. But I’m breezing through a huge epic fantasy series called the Moontide Quartet. And I don’t want to write separate reviews for each book, so instead I’ll write a review of the entire series when I’m finished with the final book. So let’s do another list today! In this post I’ll be showing you some of my reading quirks: when do I usually read, what’s my favourite setting to read, and so on.

1) Bedtime stories

I mainly read at night, before I go to bed. That’s for several reasons. First of all, it’s good to turn off electronic devices some time before trying to fall asleep. So no computer, TV, or smartphone for me with their harmful “blue light”, I prefer looking at paper and getting lost in stories. The second reason I love reading at night, is the lack of distractions. No people around me (other than a snoring boyfriend), no traffic outside,… Just silence.

2) The sound of silence

This one is of course related to the previous one. I know there are people who have playlists on Spotify to use while reading, but I just can’t do that. I need silence, so I can focus on every word and savour all the details in the story. Even instrumental music doesn’t work for me.

3) Drinks, but no food

I don’t like snacking while reading. I’m scared that crumbs will get stuck between the pages, or that I’ll stain the pages with greasy fingers. I do however always have a bottle of water next to me, and sometimes, when I’m reading during the day, a glass of some other drink. I just put my book away before grabbing my drink though, so I can’t accidentally spill liquid on it!

4) A special reading light

This one is the ultimate evidence that my boyfriend is the best. I used to read with my night light, but that one wasn’t very strong. So I had to squint and could only read for a short time. When I told my boyfriend about this, he disappeared into the basement. About an hour later, he reappeared, with a piece of wood with a lightbulb mounted on it. He put the wood upright behind the headboard of our bed and voilà! A bright reading light for me!

5) A custom page holder

This is another example of my boyfriend’s awesomeness! He recently bought himself a 3D printer and one day, he was acting all mysterious about it. Turns out he was making me a page holder. And not just any default model, but a blue one with the Ravenclaw crest on it. He knows I’m a big Harry Potter fan and a proud Ravenclaw. So now I have this amazing gadget to help me keep open my book.

6) Shine a light

I’m a big fan of bookish candles and my shelves are overflowing with them. At first, I didn’t want to burn them. I’m a huge hoarder and I keep thinking “now is not the perfect time, I have to keep this for some other day”. Which resulted in never burning them. But since I keep buying new candles and it’s getting hard to find space to put them, I’ve decided to start burning them anyway. And what better time to burn a bookish candle than while you’re reading a book?

7) Checking how many pages a book has and accidentally spoiling myself

This one is such an annoying habit. I know I can look up the page count on Goodreads or Book Depository or any other online resource, but I usually want to know while I’m reading. So I turn to the last page to check how many pages there are… and then I accidentally read an important word or phrase on that final page… No matter how hard I shout “nooooooo” and how hard I try to forget what I just read, that spoiler is out of its box and I’m angry with myself.

8) Bookstagram

For those of you who don’t know: Bookstagram is basically a community on Instagram of people who make photographs of books and talk about their love of reading. I discovered this community about a year ago and I’ve been posting daily ever since. I don’t know many readers in real life, especially not people who love the same books, so having people to talk to online is so much fun!

9) Mood reader

Ah, the eternal struggle of picking your next book to read! I have a stack of unread books on my shelves, with the books I’ve owned the longest at the top, and the newer ones at the bottom. And I try to stick to it. You know, just pick the book at the top and start reading that one. Unfortunately, I’m a mood reader. So I’ll stare at that stack and go “nope, not in the mood for that one, not that one either. I’ll pick… the one at the bottom instead”.

10) Browsing bookstores

I love going to bookstores! Whenever I see one, I’m drawn to it. Once inside, I browse all the young adult and fantasy shelves, both in Dutch and English. But I have to confess I rarely buy books from physical stores… I mainly read in English and bookstores here in Belgium generally don’t have a wide range of English books. So I look around, but most books are ones that I’ve either already read or that don’t appeal to me. And then I leave the store and order books online.