Reader Confessions Book Tag

Today I'm going to be doing the reader confessions book tag, which I discovered when Jesse over at Books at Dawn did it. The tag is all about confessing to things you may not want to as a reader, which is always interesting.

Have you ever damaged a book?

I know that I've accidentally ripped pages while turning them before. It happens sometimes, but the rips aren't typically that big. I still feel horribly guilty for it.

Other than that, my books may look a bit worn if I carry them around in my bag for long enough or read them often enough, but I can't recall ever purposefully damaging a book. I tend to feel pretty bad about damaging absolutely anything. I don't even rip into envelopes.

I did leave a book in the rain once, and that led to a panicked dash to go get it.

Have you ever damaged a borrowed book?

Absolutely not. At least not that I can remember. I'm very nervous about borrowing books because I'm incredibly paranoid that I'll do something that will damage them. It's adds all of this anxiety to the act of reading that shouldn't be there. In the last five years, I can think of less than a handful of times where I've borrowed a book.

How long does it take you to read a book?

It depends on the book. Typically, I try to read at least three chapters a day. It's a rare day when I don't manage at least that, but at times, I'll manage to read more (that's gotten rarer these days). My reading pace has slowed down for several different reasons, the least of which isn't student teaching. I'd say that I average about a book per week. My Goodreads challenge for this year is 50 books, and I'm currently one book ahead of schedule.

Books that you haven't finished?

What's tough about this question is that I tend to forget the names of books I don't bother to finish, which makes it difficult to look them up to remember them. The most recent was Love and Decay, Volume 1 by Rachel Higginson. However, that book was actually six short stories, and I read five of them before I decided I couldn't be bothered with the sixth.

Hyped popular books that you don't like?

Oddly enough, I can think of hyped books that I have no interest in even reading, but I'm having a difficult time remembering ones I read but didn't like. Even when I read hyped books, it tends to happen once the hype has died down, so I feel like I don't feel quite so alone in not liking it.

One that comes to mind is the Matched trilogy by Allie Condie. I've read the first two and just found them okay. I have some massive problems with how the story is handled. (Basically, I think there was a lot of amazing potential there that got wasted, and it frustrated me while reading those books.) However, I don't think that series is hyped anymore.

Is there a book you wouldn't tell anyone you were reading?

Back in high school, I sometimes brought books I was reading to school. I would never bring non-fiction books. For whatever reason, I was self-conscious about reading non-fiction.

That's not a problem for me anymore.

There used to be other sorts of books I was self-conscious of reading, but I feel like it was on a very case-by-case basis. It's hard for me to pick out types of books that I didn't want to be seen reading. These days, I don't think that's a problem for me. I read a lot of different things, and I'll admit to reading all of it.

How many books do you own?

I genuinely don't know. My Goodreads shelf wouldn't give me that number since my "read" shelf will include books I don't own, and I know that some books I still own from my childhood haven't been marked on Goodreads. I don't even want to throw out an estimate because I feel like it would be way off. It's probably a lot more than I realize.

Are you a fast reader or a slow reader?

When it comes to a pace to finish a book, I think I'm somewhere in between. Compared to the book blogging community, I'm probably slow. Compared to many others, I'm probably fast.

Do you like to buddy read?

I like to discuss books either as I read them or after, but I don't really like buddy reading. I don't like that sense of having to sync my reading with someone else. I'd much rather go at my own pace. However, being able to talk to someone who happens to be reading the same book you are is also amazing, so I see buddy reading's pros.

Do you read better in your head or out loud?

In my head. Definitely. It goes so much faster than reading out loud, and reading out loud hurts my throat after a while. You can't sustain it for as long. That being said, I'm having to read out loud a lot to students this semester, so I'm improving those reading skills (and hurting my throat in the process).

If you were only allowed to own one book, what one and why?

Deathly Hallows. Maybe it seems odd for me to choose the last book in a series, but I've said over and over again that I'm a sucker for endings. I like seeing how everything's resolved and tied up. It gives me satisfaction, so if I was going to re-read just one part of Harry Potter over and over again, it would be Deathly Hallows.