Discussion Post: Ten Random Bookish Confessions

I’ve seen some posts like this floating around (sorry I don’t remember specific bloggers’ names!) and thought, what the heck, it’s an easy (and hopefully interesting) post. I’m in the middle of a blogging slump, which is driving me crazy, but with finals and college apps, I don’t really have the time or energy to get out of it.

1. I can’t skim books.

I see bloggers saying all the time “I just skimmed it”—and I don’t get it. This isn’t a snotty “how could you dare skim a boring book” thing; I don’t care if other people skim. I just can’t get my brain to skim fiction books. (Textbooks, though…)

2. I reread ALL THE TIME.

Probably a quarter (or a third) of the books I read this year were rereads. I LOVE rereading books. Sometimes I just reread a favorite, but other times, I reread because of a series. I can’t just read the second/third/etc book in a series, I have to read every book that came before. It’s ridiculous, but it means that I get to appreciate every series as a whole (every, single, freaking time a new book in the series comes out).

3. I’ve used the same bookmark for almost three years now. (But if I’m not using it, I use a random scrap of paper.)

One of my best friends made me a bookmark at the end of freshman year, and I’ve been using it ever since. It was “laminated” in packing tape, but even so, it’s starting to show its wear. Up until that point, I was a “random scrap of paper” person, using folded-in-half post-its mostly.

4. I read in class (but not while the teacher is talking).

Most of my reading these days happens at school…which is one of the reasons I don’t read very much. Up until this year, I had a ton of free time in class, which meant I could read about a book a week. Nowadays, I read a lot less.

5. I can read for hours, but it’s not always a good thing.

If I’m on break, I can spend half a day reading one book, not even really moving. I’ll have fun while I’m doing it, but when I look back, I realize that I didn’t get as much out of the book as I would have if I had read it more slowly.

6. I take good care of my books…but I have no idea how to keep spines from breaking.

I don’t dog-ear pages; I have mostly stopped getting crumbs or food stains in my books. But I can’t keep spines from breaking. I just can’t.

7. I love sharing books (but I keep getting burned).

I love owning books, so I like to share them with other people to validate owning literally every book I read. Through middle school, I never had a problem with lending books to people, but recently, I have stopped getting books back.

8. I can only read one book at once.

If you’re one of those people that can be in the middle of three books at once, props. I can’t. I tried when I was younger, but I always ended up reading one book and ignoring the other.

9. Fan art freaks me out.

This is nothing against fan art artists! I love you guys. But I take my own mental images of characters really seriously and am terrified of losing them, so I never risk looking at fan art.

10. I don’t read hardcovers with their dusk jackets on.

I love hardcover books! I love how dusk jackets look! But when I’m reading a hardcover, I take the dusk jacket off. This keeps the jacket from being destroyed and makes it easier for me to hold the book itself.