My bloggy friend Betsy @ Betsy’s Random Assortment of Thoughts shared this list of questions about books and reading habits and of course I couldn’t resist playing along! Those of you who are regulars know that I am unable to pass up a good “meme” especially if it’s about books! If you play along, let me know so I can read your answers, too!

Do you have a certain place at home for reading? I don’t have a designated spot per say but there are pretty much only two places that I read at home: in bed at night before going to sleep or on the couch, when I am so horribly obsessed with a book that it can’t wait until bed time. I would love to have a little reading nook someday by a nice sunny window, surrounded by pretty but at the moment, the couch and bed are where it’s at!

Bookmark or random piece of paper? I love a good bookmark and have a few favorites but I often misplace them and will use any old piece of paper I can find at that point. My husband uses tissues because apparently paper and bookmarks are both too much hassle to track down but the lack of perfect flatness bothers me so I don’t like to use tissues unless it’s an emergency. Can you even IMAGINE an emergency that would necessitate that? “There’s no TIME for bookmarks, RUN!”

Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or certain number of pages? I do like to at least stop at the end of a paragraph or scene so that picking it back up later is easier but it doesn’t need to be at the end of a chapter necessarily. I don’t really have a page requirement but I try to get in a good 30 minutes of reading at night before going to bed at the least.

Do you eat or drink while reading? Not usually, mostly because I read in bed and hopefully I’m not snacking any more if I’m getting ready to go to sleep. I also don’t like to have to put the book down or pause reading just to eat or drink something so even if I have a drink or food, I probably won’t actually pay much attention to it.

Do you watch TV or listen to music while reading? Only if it’s like a nonfiction required reading that I find is dragging. When I was in college I would watch tv while doing homework and do the reading / work during commercials and actually found I was more productive that way than if I just sat there with the work in silence, especially since commercial breaks are so long and plentiful!  But I prefer to read most books in silence.

One book at a time or several at once? Typically one at at time. If I’m reading more than one it’s because I haven’t settled into a book yet and I’m still choosing between a few. Eventually one book will win out as the most interesting and gain my full attention. Sometimes I’ll read a non-fiction book and a fiction book at the same time or a required reading book and a fun book, or say a book has a pretty dark topic, I might read a lighter book afterwards for a bit before trying to go to sleep, to prevent bad dreams.

Reading at home or everywhere? Usually at home but I’m not above pulling out my phone’s Kindle app if I need a distraction while I’m out – like if I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment or a kid’s activity to end.

Reading out loud or silently in your head? Well I do read out loud when I’m reading to the kids and sometimes in college I’d read my text books out loud to make myself focus on the material (if my roommate wasn’t home because that would be mean) but usually I read silently… I think most people do, yes?

Do you ever read ahead or skip pages? I am prone to skimming pages when they get a little heavy on description or historical background that doesn’t interest me but I don’t tend to look ahead for spoilers or anything and I do try not to skim because you can accidentally miss a lot that way. But if you get all Nathaniel Hawthorne on me, I may not be able to help myself.

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new? I’m not a spine breaker but I do detest dust jackets and will often remove them before reading a hardcover book. I will be overjoyed if I discover that the actual book has the same cover as the dust jacket (or sometimes a better cover) so I can throw it away and move on with my life.

Do you write in your books? I try not to, pretty much ever. If I want to make a note, I’ll grab a sticky note and write on that. This is one of the things that I love about kindle reading – I can take notes without ruining the book or cluttering it with sticky pads, which is great for book club when I might want to bookmark passages or make notes for the meeting.

Okay now it’s your turn: Pick your favorite question above and leave me a comment with your answer. OR if you answer all the questions on your blog , leave me a link so I can check them out!