Who are you as a reader? – The Preferences

Who are you as a reader? – The Introspection

Welcome back! 🙂 Yesterday I shared my adventures in learning my history and beliefs about reading and books. I shared some questions that readers can ask themselves about why they read and share memories about their earliest reads. Continuing with the idea of understanding myself better as a reader, the next part is to look at the preferences and expectations that I have. These have developed over time from the books that I have read, the people I have interacted with as well as the experience of reading a book, no matter what genre it may be.

About Preferences and Expectations

The following are questions related to reading preferences and expectations. It might be helpful to refer to your library to help find patterns if they aren’t clear in your mind. As before, if there are questions here that I could have covered, do let me know in the comments. 🙂

Helen was the one who asked me what I look for in a book when we were talking about reading. That was the first time I had ever been asked that question. In our conversation, I mentioned the big themes in books that are promoted nowadays – feminism, dystopia, freedom, equality… and how, instead of these bigger ideas, I look for the mundane things: qualities that I can learn from, examples of strength, resilience, ways in which the characters (and with memoirs, real people) have faced obstacles and grown. Using the stories, I am hoping to gain experience in my second-hand way. It is usually the degree of these qualities and experiences that dictate whether I will like a book or not. 

Maybe, I think a little too much now that I am a reviewer, but the fact is that I want to take away something from the book. When I was younger and reading books like Twilight, the feeling of a forbidden romance gave enough pleasure and meaning to my reading experience. However, it is not surprising that I have grown in my taste for books and need more than just the forbidden love to like that book. You would say that every book has something to offer and there is more I can learn and take away from it, but let’s face it, we all learn different things from different books. And this is what I value right now.

Ask me in twenty years and the answer will be different.

What I look for in a book helps me find the books I want to read and hope will meet my expectation. I am usually not the person who you can social engineer to read a book by repeatedly showing me advertisements (thanks goodreads and facebook) and bookstagrams about it. There has to be something in the synopsis that appeals to me. I can’t always pinpoint what that is but usually, I am a pretty good judge of whether I will like something. 

Take the crime and mystery genre, for example. I used to love reading it as a teenager, reading Jo Nesbø‘s books and Lars Kepler (The Hypnotist). Nowadays, I don’t enjoy it as much because as much as the personal struggle of victims and officers has meaning, I don’t see what I could take away from it in general. But I’m generalizing here. There was a crime noir book that I picked up this year (Return to Hiroshima) and loved it!

I also learned that I really enjoy reading dystopian novels. Books with magical realism appeal to me in a unique manner, though I always have a hard time keeping the logical and ‘why’ side of my voice down. In my late teens, I lost myself in Georgette Heyer’s regency romances and I have not picked them up in a long while. 

Which leads into one of those reviewer dilemmas about am I really good at choosing books because I give most things 4/5 or do I just love all stories? We will come back to ratings in future posts.

I expect the genres that I enjoy to evolve more over time. They have already changed a lot in the last decade and my book blogging habit, the way I read books and what I want to gain from them changes as time passes.

I found a blog post by Nick Wignall called 19 powerful techniques to build a reading habit. I highly recommend his article; I am only focusing on 1/19 of it here! His first point is to quit more books. To not be afraid to DNF (‘Did Not Finish’ if you are not familiar with reviewer/reader lingo). One should not sit through books that they do not enjoy. Put that time towards something else – another book that has been sitting in the TBR pile for a while.

Do I DNF books? Honestly no. I drag myself through the book, hoping that I will be able to find something. I might mindlessly read it, skimming through the text, hoping something will catch my attention. In general, I know the genres that I will usually like. My friend Lindsay mentioned in our conversation that food and romance together make a book an instant hit for her. For me, it’s the genre and the message of the book. I love trying to find the small and big things through the plot but I will only try so hard.

There isn’t a DNF shelf on Goodreads for me. Unless I find a book that I commit to review and DNF it, there will probably never be a DNF shelf. I keep track of my books there for myself and periodically review the books that have been there too long in the TBR pile and delete them. New ones come out every week and if I haven’t gotten to something in two years, there is a good chance I won’t. Unless one of my friends recommends it and then I can add it in later. It’s all about how I see my organization of books and what I want to do with it.

Let’s talk about reading mediums now – physical books, ebooks, audiobooks, am I missing anything? I grew up reading physical books so it is not surprising that they will always hold a special place in my heart. I have spent some time thinking and researching the future of books (check my post on future of ereading) as well as asked friends to talk about what they think about books vs ebooks (my author friend, Rich, shared his take in this post). I read a lot more ebooks now than I used to. I buy a good many of them as well because they are cheaper and give me instant access. But, hardcopies are  precious. I have requested signed copies from authors. For books I want to keep, I have bought hardcopies. For books I have listened to via audiobooks, I have found the hardcopies or ebooks.

I think each format has its own place and time. I read audio books during commute and mundane activities. I curl up with an ebook during the evening. Bedtime reading is usually a physical book to remove the time spent on a device when time to sleep approaches. I cannot choose one over the other. 

I mentioned books I want to keep earlier – why does one want to keep books? Is it sentimental value? Is it the need to reread it again? I have read Jane Eyre and Friday’s Child multiple times, not anytime recently but more so a couple years ago. I am sure that every iteration reveals new things about the characters, some being re-revealed because its been a while since I visited that world. There are many books that are on my To-Be-Re-Read list (TBRR).

Why do I want to reread them? Because I loved their setting. I loved walking alongside the characters and I grew with them. I want to grow with them again, feel their pain and joy again. When that will happen, I do not know. 🙂

So what does all this tell me about myself?

A lot! I think you know a lot about me too now. 🙂

In the quizzes I took over the last week, the results I got included being an open-minded reader and the reader who is always writing in the margins. I am that kind of reader but I am not just that reader.

I am the one who wants to collect all the books I want to reread and spend a year dedicated to reading them – I even threw out 2023 to Ariel as a random reserved year.

I am the kind of reader who loves more than anything to talk books with anyone who would listen.

I am the kind of reader who would share my books without having read them myself because I know my limits of reading. Many years ago, I just had to read my books first but it’s not like that anymore. As my access to books has grown and my passion for reading led by my interests rather than my family’s, I have matured as a reader.

When you answered these questions, did you learn something about yourself? Are there other questions you would ask yourself that might let you know you better? Some people like reading while listening to music. Are you one of them? Why is that – what does music bring to your reading experience?

You don’t have to answer any of the questions. You don’t have to know yourself at all. But aren’t you curious about the kind of book you are? Only a reader can tell.

If you enjoyed my posts (link to Part 1) and give this exercise a try, do share your experience below. I would love to hear from you! 🙂

Happy reading!