Bookish Musings - Amanda's Reading FAQ's

Bookish Musings is a feature here at Beautiful Bookish Butterflies that allows one of us to share our thoughts and opinions, talk and discuss things happening in the book and blogging community or share a personal book related issue we have. Today, Amanda is answering some popular reading questions, including how she chooses books, how often and when she decides to read and what type of reading she does. Get ready for some answers.

As an avid reader and blogger, I have a lot of habits and when it comes to them, I have little routines, little rules, little things that compliment me and my everyday running of life, and today, we're going to sit down and have a natter about them. I'm going to be answering some of the popular questions and if you have any others, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

How I Choose a Book

Choosing what book to read next has always been something I struggle with. I constantly find myself staring at my bookcase, hoping that one of them will jump out, or looking at my list of digital books and being stuck for which one to start next, so instead of a tbr list, or going by feel, I tend to create little routines for myself each month. For example, in January, I found myself following a routine of digital book, book that I bought myself and a book that was a gift, and this routine worked really well, it helped me narrow down my choices, and then I went and followed my feelings. This was more than fine throughout January, but by the time Febuary came around, things changed. I found myself taking part in The Iron Fey read-a-long, marathoning my way through the Skulduggery series and reading contemporaries inbetween; this was something entirely new to me, because it meant finishing a series from start to finish in one month and marathoning, which I 'never' do. I ended up rushing through so many. In March, I then changed the routine again, and decided to carry on with Skulduggery, but concentrated on reading digital contemporaries in between, which helped my get my percentage on NetGalley back up, until I just requested more; damn you NetGalley. April came around I decided to have a slightly horror-themed month because I had two weeks off and plenty of time to 'not sleep' if I got afraid, while also getting through some highly recommended reads. Every month is different for me, with a new routine and that means every month on the blog is different too. Currently, I have a list of books for my read-a-thon and am choosing books to read based off that list and so far, it's working.

How Often I Read

I tend to concentrate my reading to two periods of time. The first is of a night, anywhere between 8pm to deep into the night; the latter time depends entirely on what the next days plans are, how tired I am, or how entertaining the book actually is, and I tend to keep it to reading of a night rather than during the day. Until lately, I was very self-conscious of people being aware that I'm reading, even in front of my Mum, who is a reader herself, so of a night-time, in the privacy of my own bedroom is where I tend to read first and foremost. The second place I read is on the bus, and only until recently also, I was nervous about that too. Of course, people judge you and look at you, and the book you're reading and some even have slight sniggers at you, but I have gotten over that fear and usually aim to read on my lonesome bus journeys while listening to some music. I've also taken to reading in the bath too.

How Much I Read

I usually aim to read at least two books a week, and each book is usually between 200 to 400 pages, and I try to do this in six days of the week. I never read every night because I normally have plans to see my best friend on Friday nights, which if anyone has noticed, is the reason why the blog, twitter and goodreads tends to be very quiet on Saturdays, and even when I don't see her, I always have a night off during the week, because it stops me feeling like I'm reading too much. By having a night off, I have time to watch some TV, or waste my time on Tumblr, but it gives me something else to enjoy, and it helps me avoid reading slumps. Each night I do read, I try to give myself a target of either one hour of reading, or 100 pages per book, and at the moment, I like to concentrate on one book at a time. For reading on buses, I try to aim for 40-60 pages per day, depending on the length of the journey or the how long I'm in traffic for. I always try to aim for at least 70 pages per day, if all else fails.

How Do I Marathon Books

If you'd asked me this question in January, I would have said no. Ask me now and I feel a little different. I don't know whether I may have started to come to terms with marathoning book series or not, but my biggest example is the Skulduggery series; I used to read a book a week, following in order of the series, yet I also read other books alongside that, so I'm really not sure whether I do or not. I also did the same with The Iron Fey read-a-long in Febuary; I read a book a week and read others alongside, so did I marathon them? Did I not? You guys are going to decide that for yourself. I've also read The Curse Workers series within a month, Gallagher Girls within two and I plan to start marathoning Vampire Academy after my read-a-thon, as well as being part way through Percy Jackson series.

Those are some of the most commonly asked questions answered for you all. If you have any others, or have specific questions about genres I like or authors, then leave your comments down below and I'll more than happily answer them. Do you have any similar habits to me? Do you have any different opinions? Leave your thoughts and we can have a comparison.