Pauline Baird Jones: How do you read?

What my novel, GIRL GONE NOVA, looks like on my iPhone.

I saw this blog post title in my Twitter stream and it sparked something in my brain, mostly because I love to read and I love talking and/or writing about reading. Almost the only time I got in trouble in school was for non-approved reading (using a textbook to “hide” a novel, yeah, I was clever). If you follow my news feed on Facebook at all, you know I’m sucker for the cute, book type sayings.

My brain took two tangents on this topic. How do you read? 

Do you read paper books? With an eReader? A tablet? Your computer?

My answer is: all of the above. I like books. I like reading. I like having a book with me when waiting moments pop up. (When you are a mom/wife/whatever, waiting moments pop up a lot.) I am fortunate that I had Lasik some years back, so I can still read on my small iPhone screen for those times I forget to tuck in my Kindle.

I like books coming to me anyway I can get them. I like a bargain, because that let’s me buy more books. When I was a young bride/mom/etc, price mattered a lot. I used to visit this used bookstore, but I had this huge problem. If I loved a book, I couldn’t let it go back to the store. So I tended to have a diminishing supply of books to trade in.

At first I kept all those books I’d collected, but then they started to overwhelm our shelves and my life. That would be one reason I LOVE digital books. I still buy paper books, though not as often. I find it…tiring that I have to hold it open AND turn the pages. I mean, what is up with that?

My iPad, Kindle White (really cool, btw) and a paper book (because my kids love Jasper Fforde, too, so must share).

And part two of my brain tangent is: how do you read?

Do you read several books at once? Do you dive in, get lost in the story, and only emerge when forced to by life or reaching the end? Do you read widely or have one or two favorite genres? Fiction? Nonfiction? A mix of both?

Do you call yourself a reader? Or do you read but don’t call/consider yourself a reader? 

What was the last book that so delighted you that it was hard to let it go and return to the “real” world?

Do you “save the date” for favorite authors? Stumble over them and are glad you did? Have you ever lined up to get a book on release date? An autograph from a favorite author? How do you find the books you read?

For me, because I read so fast, reading morphed kind of naturally into writing. I only write books I’d like to read because it takes me a while to write a book, so I have to like it or dang, it’s painful. If you don’t like a book you’re reading, you can toss it against the wall (or delete it), but when you’re the one writing it, hitting delete is really painful. There is only one book I didn’t enjoy writing (A Dangerous Dance – read the Behind the book interview to find out why), but the rest of them, I really liked writing them, was sorry to see them go.

How do you read? 

All comments are entered into my monthly drawing for a $10 AnaBanana Gift card. Winners announced the first blog post of the new month.

Perilously (reader-ish-ly) yours,

Pauline