Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Here are some of the things that make me instantly want to read a book.
1. It’s written by one of my favourite authors.
This doesn’t mean I’ll automatically love a book, but it certainly raises the odds of that happening!
2. Someone in my inner circle recommended it.
Once again, this isn’t a guarantee I’ll like it, but it is a good sign for sure.
3. It’s about prehistory, hunter-gatherers, and/or Neanderthals
There aren’t enough stories about those topics if you ask them.
4. The narrator breaks the fourth wall.
When done well, there’s nothing like a narrator or protagonist speaking directly to the audience as if they’ve known all along we’ve been following on with them on their journey. I get a thrill every time this happens.
5. It is hard science fiction.
I am in awe of science fiction writers who are able to write this sort of thing. Someday I’d like to join their ranks.
6. There are biographical elements to the story.
Autobiographies and biographies are some of my favorite types of nonfiction to read because of how much you can learn about a person and the era they lived in by following someone’s life from beginning to end. I also enjoy fictional stories that are anywhere from loosely to heavily based on the lives of real people.
7. It is a banned book.
There’s something about banning books that makes me want to read them. Maybe it’s part of human nature?
8. The plot includes humorous moments.
I read a lot of heavy stuff, so I’m always on the lookout for lighter fare to balance out my literary diet.
9. It includes happy pet rabbits who do not die at the end!
Those disclaimers are needed due to how many books about pets have a tendency to end with the pet’s death.
When I see a happy little rabbit featured on a cover or mentioned in a title or blurb, the chances of me wanting to read that book skyrocket even if it’s in a genre I don’t usually pick up like romance or World War II fiction.
I adore rabbits, but they don’t show up very often in cheerful scenes in adult literature. (Luckily, children’s books do not have that problem, so I still have plenty of rabbit fiction in general when I want it. 🙂 )
My all-time favourite plot line is rebirth. That is to say, the audience is introduced to a morally ambiguous character (or even a downright jerk) who learns the error of his or her ways and eventually make a genuine and permanent change in their behaviour for the better.
Of course, I still draw boundaries about what I’m willing to read and watch. I do not consume stories that make excuses for violence, hatred, or any form of abuse.
r/1500isplenty
r/Meditation
r/AskFantasy
r/AbandonedPorn
Let’s start this conversation off with some quick definitions.
One of the most consistent aspects of my reading preferences since childhood is that I’ve always preferred short stories to full-length novels.
I often finish short stories in fifteen minutes. Sometimes I finish the shortest ones in less than five!
If your book buying budget is small or if you prefer to try new authors before buying their work, short stories can be a fantastic way to expand your reading horizons.
Sometimes full-length books weigh on my mind long after I finish their final pages, especially if they have excellent world building and character development.
When I was growing up, I either already knew where the books were or quickly figured it out after visiting a new place for the first time. Sometimes this involved me grabbing a book from my grandparents’ personal library and hiding out underneath the piano to read and nibble on a few crackers while the adults talked.
I read while sitting in waiting rooms, queued up in line, or seeing if a store clerk could find that one last pair of jeans in my size.
One of the nicest things about taking buses, trains, planes, or other forms of mass transit is that you can have a short or long block of time to do all sorts of quiet things in your seat.
Obviously, this is one of those cases where an audiobook is going to be much easier to “read” than a paperback or e-book.
Every once in a while, I have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. When this happens, reading a book is a nice, quiet thing to do until my body decides to cooperate and go back to dreamland.
I’m going to leave it up to you to fill in the blank here. My answer to this question would be TV shows that I’ve lost interest in. While I understand if a show has the odd episode that doesn’t meet my expectations, I’m not the sort of person who will keep watching something that lost my enthusiasm one or more seasons ago.
As I’ve mentioned here before, I was homeschooled for the first several years of my education. One of the best parts of that experience was being able to read after my lessons were finished. There were times when Wyoming was far too snowy and cold of a place for a child to be wandering around outside in, so I read the entire afternoon and evening away on some of those wintry days.
I no longer remember which genres I read during that thirty-book month, but I do remember the genre I became obsessed with shortly after that: poetry.
Over the last decade or so, I’ve found myself gradually becoming more interested in nonfiction than I ever was before. My favourite high school English teacher used to talk about how much she enjoyed reading about things that really happened.