Reading habits

Hello everyone! This blogpost will contain 10 facts about my reading habits, weird tendencies while reading, favourite spots, times of day, etc. Well, let's begin!

1.

I find most inspiration to dive into a good book in the early morning hours or on the days where I have a tightly planned schedule that shouldn't allow me to spend lots of hours reading. Conversely, when I have the day off and I intend to pick up a book along with a nice cup of tea and just enjoy the long hours before me curled up under a blanket with a book, these are the days I read the least. Ironic, isn't it? (Of course it differs - sometimes, luckily, I find the inspiration and delve into stories for hours and hours).

2.

Unconsciously, I think that bigger books (+500 pages) tend to scare me off. This is not a deliberate choice, but when I cast a glance at my bookshelves, most of the unread books I have left standing (some of them for several years) are the longer ones. This year, I have made a goal to pick more of these up. It's quite weird that I choose around the bigger books, because I actually love when there are enough pages in a book to really get drawn into the universe. And often with short books, I'm left wanting more.

3.

My eyes get tired easily when I read (does anyone experience the same and maybe have a way to avoid this?), but even though this is the case, I often tend to lie down in my bed under my duvet when I want to read. Often, this is not a very good idea, as I get sleepy and a bit too relaxed, even though it might be morning or the book is amazing. To avoid this situation of having to put the book down (as I often end up getting too tired to actually 'understand' what I'm reading), I am now reading in the kitchen where there is plenty of light with a large cup of tea. This works better for me as I stay concentrated for a longer period of time, but still... I kind of long for making myself comfortable in my bed instead. 

4. 

Sometimes, I stop reading when the following chapter is a really, really long even though I am in no rush to put the book down. This might be a mental thing, as shorter chapters make you feel like you move forward quicker and I often end up reading "just one more" several times because "oh well, it's just a short one, so why not...". Actually, I probably end up reading the same amount of pages as one long...or maybe sometimes even more?

5.

Sometimes I have such a hard time choosing which book to read next that I end up postponing the choice for a few hours or sometimes even for days, instead of just picking one up. I have so many unread books on my shelf - all books that I want to read at some point - and it really shouldn't be that difficult, but somehow I end up overthinking it because it has to be just right for my mood, plans, etc.

6.

I spend so much time when I was younger rereading the same books all over again (Harry Potter series + the 4 x 4 books by Tamora Pierce) that I sometimes wonder just how many more books I would have read by now, if just sometimes I had picked up a new one. 

7.

I made a TBR-jar about half a year ago, and though I enjoyed making it, writing all of my unread books down, I haven't once picked up a note from the jar, added the new books on my shelf, or removed those that I actually read. But it seemed like such a good idea!

8. 

I almost always take a book with me when I leave my apartment, even though I know that I won't possibly get the time to pick it up. But it's nice to have the opportunity... right?

9.

For a long time, I was kind of bummed out because I felt like I did not read fast enough and did not read enough books compared to everyone I follow on Goodreads, on blogs, BookTube, etc. until one day I decided that this was simply stupid. I love the concept of the reading challenge on Goodreads, but at the same time it really annoyed me (and stressed me out!) when announcing that "You are one book behind schedule" or something similar. Now, I merely use it to keep score of what I read and to get inspired by what everyone else picks up, instead of letting it get to me - which I guess is the whole purpose of the thing.

10.

I am constantly annoyed by the fact that my bookshelves look messy and unstructured, and I keep not doing something about it. The amount of beautiful books that I own keep expanding and I hate that I cannot display them properly. One reason for this is of course lack of space. Another reason might simply be laziness because of the the lack of a better solution.  At the same time, I constantly browse on the "Storskrald" groups on facebook for larger bookshelves in the hope that the right one will just pop up somewhere close to where I live. 

I hope you enjoyed reading some facts about my reading habits. Do we have something in common when it comes to reading or do you have completely different ways of structuring your hours of reading?