Reader Quirks

By FPL_JessicaH

Readers are strange creatures. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense the things we do. When looking at my own reading life, I can tell you some of the odd quirky things that I find myself doing. For example, I hate reading hard cover books, but I love the way they look on my personal bookshelves. This means I have to find work arounds for reading hard covers. Really, this is just such a silly problem to have! Another thing is, I don’t love romance books but if I read a book and there’s no romance, I don’t like it as much. Look, I don’t make the rules here.

This got me thinking about what some of the quirky things my colleagues do here at the library when it comes to their reading habits. After some conversations and many laughs, I felt the need to share. I hope you enjoy all the shenanigans. Or who knows? Maybe you’ll relate to some of these strange things we do as readers.

Library Staff Quirky Reading Habits

• I read different formats for different genres. For non-fiction I listen in audio, for science fiction I read on an e-reader and for general fiction I read the physical book.
• I got into gardening not because I love gardening, but because I love reading in a garden. I had to become my own gardener.
• I check out both the e-book and physical copy of books at the same time. I don’t read the physical book, but I like having it. Also, if I get just the physical book and the e-book isn’t available, I won’t read anything.
• I read really boring books that take me 6 months to finish, but I love them, and they end up being my favorites!
• For some reason I have to read laying down on my stomach. It's super uncomfortable, and my arms fall asleep all the time, but it’s the only way.
• I love buying used books that have still have the library stickers and barcodes on them.
• I'm reading a book where all the chapters are less than four pages long. When I arrived at Chapter 27, I realized I really don't like the book! But now I am 27 chapters in, and I can't quit because–hey, I'm 27 chapters in. I feel trapped.
• I am slightly obsessed with cookbooks. They have to have a beautiful photograph of each recipe so I can see how it could look, even though it won’t look that way when I cook it. I don’t follow recipes exactly, rather I use them as templates and then substitute or add different ingredients.
• I don't like using bookmarks for graphic novels and manga. I prefer to finish them in one sitting even if I can stop at a chapter. But if I'm reading a traditional novel I will literally stop reading in the middle of a page and put my bookmark in, regardless of if it's the end of the chapter or not.
• I like to read series, but often don't read the last book in series I really like because I don't want it to end.
• I frequently judge a book by its cover and tend to read books without reading the back.
• I've been known to read the last few pages in a book to check that I'm getting a somewhat happy ending.
• I won't start a series unless all the books in the series are published or close to being published.
• I'll read a ten-part 1000 pages per book series no problem but won't pick up a standalone book if it's over 250 pages.

If you enjoyed this blog, check out Music to Read By, opens a new window where my colleagues talk about what music they listen to while reading.