Recently I’ve realized I have a whole list of unspoken rules, so to speak, when it comes to reading. They’re not rules that I thought of, planned, or even necessarily agree with fully (which yes, sounds weird), it’s just the way my reading goes.
It occurred to me this morning that maybe some of y’all have unspoken (or even unthought of) reading rules, too, and posting about it might prompt a fun discussion. So let’s chat! I’ll list my “rules” below, and then y’all should share yours with me. 😉
- I (nearly) always have a Fiction and Nonfiction book going at the same time. Reading in tandem is important for me because then I can have my brain working on two very different subjects throughout the day.
- Unless it’s for review or on the weekend, I don’t read fiction during the day. This is something I’ve just recently noticed and I’m quite surprised at how exceedingly wrong it feels to read for fun during normal work hours. Where did this mindset come from?
- I never read two books from the same genre simultaneously. A contemporary mystery and historical fiction? Sure. A study on Freedom and learning about Third Culture Kids? No problem. But two books that have vague similarities? No, no, and no.
- It’s completely reasonable to have a lot of books happening at once. (How’s that for being grammatically proficient?) For instance, I currently have a fiction audiobook, physical fiction book, two physical nonfiction books, a fiction ebook, and the Bible on audio as part of my daily word-intake. It didn’t sound like a lot until I just wrote it down…
- Track everything you read. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that jotting down a thought or two about a book and adding it to Goodreads is exceedingly important for helping me remember exactly what I thought about a book. One sentence is all it takes to jog my memory and have me gushing forth information that I read seven months and three-big-changes-in life ago. (Another one of those stunning grammatical masterpieces…)
- Share the joy. I used to read. Now books and the people that come along with the books are a way of life. Chatting with people about books, authors, covers, ideas, and plots is a way to make life so much more rich, full, and well-rounded. Nowadays if I like a book, y’all are going to hear about it. If I don’t like a book? Well, people who I know in real life are going to hear about it because I can rant up a storm – something I avoid doing on the internet. 😉
And now it’s your turn! Do you have any bookish rules you follow? I’d be delighted to hear them!
Noveltea 
This is interesting. I’m trying to alternate fiction and non-fiction too.
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I figure it’s a good way to get more balance with reading. 🙂
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Wow….you named so many rules I tend to hold myself to. I almost always have at least two — right now I have five — books going at once. But NEVER the same genre — too confusing! I NEVER read fiction ’til after “school hours”– and I’m not even in school. I feel guilty (for what, I don’t know!) if I do. Unless I’m sick — then I tend to read really light fiction. But, with that being said, I seldom read during school hours at all, unless I am teaching my siblings. Mostly during the evening or the early, early morning 😀 And I always write down what I read. I just opened a Goodreads account, and I love being able to post reviews there, instead of just on Amazon, but I’ve kept a notebook for years, filled with titles, authors, the date I finished it, and how many stars I gave it.
One other rule I have is to never, ever, ever start a series of book on any book but the first. No matter how good it looks. And never start before I have the whole series. If I don’t like it, I can sell it. If I do, then I don’t have to wait for the next book. Unless it is a series I am reading as it comes out, I want all. the. books.
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Ah yes, when I’m sick I do read books any time of the day or night. 🙂 And who knows, maybe someday I’ll be able to read fiction during the day, but I’m not sure how profitable that would actually be… Oh yeah, and one more time I read fiction during the day is on vacation. It’s just when I’m home doing the normal stuff that I don’t.
And yeah… series. I should, really, seriously SHOULD be better at not reading a series out of order because I’ve pretty much ruined some for myself, and I’m working at being better about it, but sadly I don’t have that rule for myself and I read out of order a lot. It does mess up books though when I do that, and I don’t generally recommend it. 😉
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