50ish Things About Me as a Reader

Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy linked to this older post from another site and it was interesting to read about the reading lives of other people. It fascinates me how there is diversity among us bookworms.  I recently heard someone say that about all they want to read is biography and I thought "Eww."  I'm all for biographies and memoirs---but only if they are about someone I'm interested in or value.  

Did I pre-order Barack Obama's latest memoir? Yes, yes I did.

Would I ever purchase a biography about Kim Kardashian? 

 

We all have unique reading preferences and styles.  If you have a bookish list about yourself, please share in the comments. I'd love to read it!

1. When I was ten, I read the book "Not Without My Daughter" and getting through four hundred pages of an adult book felt like the biggest accomplishment of my life.
2. I volunteered at our local library thirty hours a week the summer I turned twelve or thirteen.
3. I have never read Catcher in the Rye.
4. Did not finish: Jane Eyre. 
5. The only books I have ever pre-ordered were Barack Obama's and Jeff Kinney's.  That mix probably says something about me on a psychological level. If you figure it out, lemme know.
   
   
   
   
   
6. I'm a teacher and HATE when other teachers or parents try to make a child choose a book "at their level." 
7. If I weren't a teacher and had to pick a second career, it would be something like librarian or bookstore owner.
8. People who fold book pages down make me cringe. But by all means, you do you.
9. I'm a purist about folds -see above- but have dropped crumbs onto my pages plenty of times. Yes, you can read without snacking, but why would you want to?
10. Baby-Sitters Club books were my JAM. Quite certain I read them all.  

    

    Look! A photo of my entire childhood!

    
    
11. Apparently many bookish people hate book covers that have the movie tie-in.  They aren't my fave but it doesn't bother me.
12. I used to hate e-reading and only wanted paper books. Covid changed that and I downloaded the Libby app so I could get digital books from my library. I love that as long as I have my phone-I have a book with me.  Now I read probably three fourths of my books on my phone and the other fourth as a physical book.
13. My husband gave me a subscription to Book of the Month as a gift last Mother's Day and it has been the best gift in the world.
14. I've only been able to finish one Stephen King book. He's a great writer, but I'm easily distracted and apparently unable to sustain attention long enough for his books.
15. James Patterson makes me question things like: How many hours are in a day? How many hours are in James Patterson's day? How does he write so many books? Is he using a ghostwriter? A billion ghostwriters?  How much of he and Bill Clinton's book did each of them write (because I quite enjoyed it)?  

    

    Nothing to do with James Patterson but this
    tweet is s.a.v.a.g.e.

    
    
16. Some schools are turning their libraries into "STEAM Rooms" and I wail and cry about it.  Can we not have both a library and a STEAM room?
17. Starting last April, mid-pandemic-shut-down, I started keeping a list of each book I read.  It's just in a cheap little notebook but this is fun and helpful to go back through the months and see what I've accomplished with reading. Also helps me find authors that I love.
18. Fantasy is the hardest genre for me to read.  Evidently my brain prefers realistic settings and characters and when things start flying or casting spells it's hard to keep up.
19. Thus, I've only ever read the first Harry Potter book. 
20. That classic children's book "Love you Forever" is stupid and I hate it.  So is The Runaway Bunny.  

    

    Bunny Mom is a stalker. Hard pass for me.

    
    
    
21. In the Not-Stupid category: Sesame Street "Monster at the end of this book". Other people have copied the idea since, but Sesame Street is the OG.
22. If you teleported me to the library I went to as a child, I could still walk you back to where the Berenstain Bear books were kept.
23. As a kid, our school library had the cards you had to sign your name and date in.  
24. I'm real bad about racking up library fines.  
25. I go through reading spurts. Many times I read every day but sometimes there's a week where I don't read for pleasure at all.  
    
    
    
26. I currently have eight books on hold on my Libby app.
27. I generally like movies based on books.  Maybe not as much as the book, but I enjoy seeing someone else take the same book and create their own vision from it.
28. The latest I've stayed up to finish reading a book was two a.m.
29. Our biggest bookshelf broke---because it was cheap---so until we replace it with something sturdier, I have piles of books just sitting around randomly.  Ahem. MORE piles than would normally be sitting around.
30. I threw one of my kids a bookworm birthday party and it was adorable.

    

    Look how little he was! *sniff, sniff*

    
    
31. "The Bad Seed" and "The Good Egg" are the BEST children's picture books and I will fight you on it.
32. D.E.A.R, Drop Everything And Read, was my favorite part of the school day. 
33. Greg Boyd's "Is God to Blame" and Brian Zahnd's "Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God" changed my theology and my life.  
34. Bookstore cats are cool but can we get a trend of bookstore Golden Retrievers going?  
35. In middle school I read all of the Janette Oke books I could get my hands on. She writes Christian western romance.  When you go to a fundie school you take what you can get, ok?

    

    Oh those fundie years. 
    Comic from the awesome Naked Pastor who has
    tons more to make you laugh!

    
    
36. In high school we read The Scarlet Letter. I didn't understand ALL of the symbolism until the teacher pointed it out.  Was I dense or does no one understand it on their own in high school?  Dense probably.
37. I hate what Amazon is doing to independent bookstores so much that we are not going to renew our Prime membership.
38. I've never been to a book signing.
39. I get annoyed when people talk to me when I'm reading.  I. am. clearly. busy.
    
40. I use any scrap of paper nearby as a bookmark.

    

    You say "receipt", I say "bookmark."

    
    
41. I have read all of Chevy Stevens books.
42. Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey remain on my "have never read this" list.
43. I loved the Divergent series along with Hunger Games. And their movies.
44. Amazon functions as my "TBR" pile. I add books to the wishlist and then buy them from an indie bookstore or request them from the library.
45. Audio books don't hold my attention.  I've only been successful with one or two. I think if my brain isn't looking AT the words on the page, it starts to wander and before I know it, the chapter is over and I've got no clue what happened.
    
    
    
    
46. I discovered the Shopaholic series by accident...browsing the library for a Karen Kingsbury book years ago and saw Kinsella.  
47. Even though I'm a sensitive person, books rarely make me cry.  Except that children's book about a sled dog who dies during the race. 
48. I have a running list of independent bookstores to visit once Covid settles down.  Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, Hawaii...I'm coming for you!
    
    

Okay, that's close enough to 50!  Anything from the list that is true for you too?