Reading Habits: Rereading

I am a perpetual and incurable rereader. I reread as often as I read something new, though, and right now I'm in a loop of rereading.

I don't always reread a whole book- sometimes its a favourite passage, or chapters, or the last half, or any combination thereof. Sometimes its an audiobook of a book that I read. I'm on my sixth listen-through of The Raven Boys- this is what happens when I own audiobooks. (Well- sometimes. I still haven't finished Jane Eyre, but that's mostly because I have a low tolerance for Rochester and his antics and his entire personality.)

I like it just as much as I like reading a book for the first time, though the experience is different. I love uncovering something new when I go back and read it again. I love noticing the foreshadowing (I see what you did there!) and seeing how a story's structure comes together. I guess it comes down to the fact that one of the things I like about books is the storytelling? Its what makes me enjoy reading a book to which I already know the ending.

Rereading is why the idea of being in a reading slump is pretty unfamiliar to me- I have phases (like right now) where I just reread random things, sometimes for weeks on end, but I don't ever really have a time where I'm not reading anything at all. And that sometimes leaves my Goodreads challenge in disarray. (Dear Goodreads, please do something about a reread feature. Sincerely, Kelly.) What I call a reading slump is more of a "why can't I find anything new to interest me? Why I am I reading Eragon again?" slump.

Thoughts on rereading? Does anyone else go through phases where all they'll do is reread?

Reading Habits: Many Books

My currently reading pile. Three new books and one kind-of-sort-of-reread.

Reasons I have ended up with a multitude of books on the go in the past:

1. I leave books lying about the house, and sort of pick them up at random.
2. Holds keep coming in from the library. And, obviously, the moment a hold book comes in, I must start it ASAP. I get about a hundred pages (or two hundred pages) in, and another hold comes in the next day.
3. A book doesn't impress me. 
4. I woke up and grabbed the closest book, or found a book in my backpack/purse that I had been reading.
5. I'm just not in the mood for a particular world. Like not being in the mood for a particular food that you generally like. Except for your brain.
6. I'm reading something more dense, so I have a lighter read as well. (Like when I was reading The Silmarillion).
7. I have no attention span. There are gnats with better focus.

So, do you always have multiple books on the go, or do you prefer to focus on just one book at a time?

Here's a photo of my "currently reading" pile from last year.

Reading Habits: Places I Read

I should warn you that some of you will want to throw something (a hardcover?) at me after I mention a few of these. I don't really have a reading place... I have hundreds.

1. On the bus. At this point, I have an hour-and-a-half bus commute in to classes. I'm moving closer to campus next year. This will be my first time moving with my library (maybe, my books might stay at my parents). Reading on my buses (there are three) is way easier in the warmer months (Ontario isn't as cold as some places, but... still -30 Celsius plus windchill...) The trips are a little short to settle in for serious textbook focus, so I often delegate this time to reading time.

2. At school. Between classes, I need to sort of re-set my brain, or waiting for classes to start. I think for the longest time the dominant impression people had of me was "that person who seems to have a different book every day."

3. The breakfast table. Yes, while I eat. This was one of the ones that I thought people might want to chuck something at me for.

4. Comfortable chairs. Ones that I can curl up with. I think my favourite is a giant Ikea chair.

5. Bed. I have mentioned how I read until two in the morning with unfortunate frequency? Yes? Yes.

Reading Habits: Breaking the Spine

How do you prefer to treat your books? 

I have a friend who is really careful with her books. Like, really careful. Those books to not get exposed to bad situations. She WILL NOT ALLOW her books to be opened beyond about a thirty degree angle. I'm not kidding. She likes her books to look like they haven't been opened. Her shelves are a little incredible, because they look like they would be at home in a bookstore. Her books are in that condition. (thirty degree angle-reading takes some practice, but you do get the hang of it...)

I am not nearly so careful with my books. I will literally read the covers off of them. We had to replace Harry Potter and the Philosopher's  Stone because it had been read so many times.

This is possible best demonstrated by my copies of the  Inheritance series. I really should replace them I have the *shudders* movie cover of Eragon, and then the next two books are... mildly destroyed. Eldest probably took the worst damage. I had to tape the back cover back on, even after it was battered to complete illegibility. 

Brisingr featuring water damage.
Also mysterious stains. Yeah.

Not all of my books are in this condition, of course. This series just somehow took some of the worst of it. If it is a library book or a book I've been lent (especially then), I will be a heck of a lot more careful that I would be with my own copies. I lend books out myself, and I definitely know what its like to get one of your books back in pieces (seriously). 

So, clearly, I'm not opposed to my books getting a little (a little?) battered in the process of reading and rereading them again and again.

And now people are probably planning to persecute for crimes against paperbacks. Most of my books are in pretty good condition actually, but I'm definitely not afraid of them being a little well-loved. (Now I'm going to have to show you my shelves to prove that they're not actually in terrible condition... I should do a tour at some point anyway...)

Does anyone have any particular habits where it applies to treating your books?