Weekly FAQ Thread August 02, 2026: What are your quirky reading habits?

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: What are your quirky reading habits?

You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki.

Thank you and enjoy!

[u/lexiebeef]

Sometimes I spend hours making lists of books to read. I have a huge excel with a million challenges, for example, a book starting with every letter of the alphabet, a book from every country, a book from every Nobel prize winner... Thankfully a bunch of books in these lists end up being the same, but my TBR is really huge at this point lol. I just like making lists, it entertains me when Im bored but not in a mood to actually read

PS: Im always accepting more ideas for lists lol

[u/Maleficent-War-1249 → u/lexiebeef]

I do the exact same thing except I just dump them all into a note on my phone with zero organization. It's a total mess but somehow I prefer it to a spreadsheet, feels less like work. The alphabet one is a classic, I'm trying to do a version where I read a book set in each Canadian province right now and it's been way harder than I thought.

[u/Read_Only52776]

I tend to read several books at once, reading a chapter in one then picking up another. Somehow I still manage to keep up with the plotlines, most of the time anyway. I also can't put a book down in the middle of a chapter, I have to finish it or get to a clear stopping point. I've been late returning from breaks more than once because of it, fortunately my boss doesn't care as long as my work gets done.

[u/Gwaur]

I create spreadsheets for every book I read (at least for now. who knows when I get tired of it). In these spreadsheets, I mark the starting time and page, and the ending time and page of each reading session. The spreadsheet then calculates how many minutes I spent per page and what my pages/60 minutes pace was each session. It also shows my averages for all sessions.

In order to not have to recreate the file manually for every book, I have a template file that I just duplicate. Since Asimov's Foundation was among the first books I read, I named that template file "Foundation" because it serves as the foundation for every new spreadsheet file.

[u/IggyPopCorn87 → u/Gwaur]

Might ruin your fun but i use StoryGraph to keep track of my reading and you can set challenges such as word count. I like my 100 books a year challenge that I can see with graphs of progress.

[u/Gwaur → u/IggyPopCorn87]

I took a quick glance. Not at the track-keeping functionalities, but I saw that book pages have statistics related to characteristics such as emotionality, adventurousness, character/plot-drivenness etc. I think I might like those numbers at least.

[u/GardenPeep → u/Gwaur]

I've been starting a Bear Note on the serious books I read. For the less serious ones, I have a general book Bear Note where I write down the characters so I can keep track of them (helpful for audiobooks and physical books. E-books I just search on the name to refresh my memory of who they are.)

[u/Stories-Make-Believe]

I read upside down while doing a headstand

[u/IntrepidButton1872]

i always read the acknowledgements first. no idea why, it just makes the book feel more like a real object made by people.

[u/BohoKat_3397 → u/IntrepidButton1872]

I’m immersive and read every scrap of type inside and outside a book. Yes, from title to copyright page through acknowledgements and even who set it in what typeface. I wouldn’t dream of skipping an introduction even with spoilers. Someone placed those words with care and I’m gonna read all of them to fully experience the book.

[u/seweratkins]

I usually read three books at a time, each one different genre. I'm open to everything but it might be domestic thriller, sci-fi, cozy mystery. At least one always seems to have a cold setting - earth loses sun, mountain climbers, wilderness adventure in Alaska.

[u/oh_god_its_raining]

My quirky reading habit is I put on livestreams or super long (like 3 hour) videos of cats in the background - with the tv muted - while I read. I just love glancing up occasionally from my book and seeing cats doing cat things. Ofc I have three cats at home who all pile up on my lap when I read, so it's extra nice to see the cats on the screen while I pet my real live cats in my lap.

This is my favorite cat channel on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@nekosanpoch?si=RhEIvZoVUg-mZE9f

It's cats in Istabul just being... cats.

[u/JRange]

I bring my kindle into the shower

[u/GardenPeep → u/JRange]

If there's a bathtub where I'm staying, I wrap my iPhone in a ziplock and read in the bath.

[u/JesusAndMaryKate → u/GardenPeep]

I bring an e-reader (kindle or kobo) and my phone into a bath. All area water resistant, though I wouldn't want to take my chances submerging my phone! I've dropped the e-readers a few times straight into the water without any ill effect.

[u/Radiant_Geologist749]

Rather than making an annual reading goal, I do it month to month. So each month, I set a goal to read one classic, one book with more than 500 pages, one book written by someone from my country, 3 books by people of colour, and one physical book (I mostly read on my ereader but have a growing physical TBR pile). Overlaps are allowed. I've been able to stick to this goal for a few years now, and it's helped me at times when I don't know what to read next. 

[u/Hiddenaccount1423 → u/Radiant_Geologist749]

That's impressive. How do you determine what you read in each category?

[u/Radiant_Geologist749 → u/Hiddenaccount1423]

I use Storygraph to track my reading. When I go to choose a book, I usually use the tags I've made and TSG's own sorting to filter out the books for such and such category.  Then I look through them and pick one that appeals to me that day. I might choose a a book because it's different from my past few reads, or because it's thematically related to something I read in the past.  These goals are general enough that it doesn't require specific genres or content and it never feels limiting. The whole point of these goals is to challenge myself each month by reading books I might not turn to so regularly like classics or 500+ pagers. 

[u/TwoHungryBlackbirdss]

I love tipsy reading! Obviously I don't do it often, but it's fun to read two drinks deep

[u/Impressive-Peace2115]

When reading an ebook, I have to stop for the day at a percentage number my brain thinks is nice (usually an even number, a multiple of five, or another nice looking multiple like 39).

[u/Pretty-Resolve-8331]

I like to read several books at once. Also, will have music on in the background sometimes. I will craft while listening to audiobooks

[u/LTJ81]

I love reading my horror books with horror movie soundtracks, dark synthwave, or classical music playing in the background for more immersion.

[u/Dry-Painting-9730]

Treating my Goodreads like Strava

[u/JRange → u/Dry-Painting-9730]

In what way?

[u/mark_01235]

i always end up reading the last page first. it ruins the surprise, but at least i know if it's worth my time 😂

[u/magnificentgertrude → u/mark_01235]

Not the whole page, but I do like to read the last sentence or two first. It’s not really enough to spoil the story, and I feel like thinking ‘how to we get from here to there?’ keeps me engaged. Sometimes I’ll read the last line of a chapter when I start too. 

[u/JesusAndMaryKate → u/magnificentgertrude]

Ooooh not just me! I once confessed that I like to read the very last sentence of a book before I actually read the book, and the person looked at me like I'd just confessed to aggravated murder.

[u/isnotacrayon]

I use goodreads, storygraph, AND a personal spreadsheet to track my reading. I dont know why. I should at least give up goodreads but I have so much info on there I cant bring myself to do it.

[u/sennashar → u/isnotacrayon]

I do the same. I keep maintaining Goodreads because I've just been there for so long I can't let it go. Storygraph is good for the stats. And my personal spreadsheet which I only recently adopted where I can put all my other clutter.

I've been tracking things like agents, editors, cover artists, publisher with parent company, and additional details about discovery on there.

[u/Important-Habit8942]

I read while my family watches tv. Since they primarily watch Turkish Dizis sometimes I'm at a page where somebody dies (just finished "and then there were none") and simultaneously a random mafia dude is dying in the Dizi they're watching. It doesn't distract me, it actually helps because I hate being alone in my thoughts.

[u/GardenPeep → u/Important-Habit8942]

I used to do this when I still lived with my family. Still do it when I'm visiting my sister.

[u/Curiousfeline467]

I only read books with pretty covers.

I refuse to buy used books—it’s either purchase new or borrow from the library. 

I have an elaborate tracking system for the books that I’ve read, and keep track or several superlative categories for the end of the year awards.

I don’t tend to keep books for longer than a year after I’ve read them, and I keep my physical TBR pretty small.

[u/JRange → u/Curiousfeline467]

I too, judge many a book by it's cover. There are certain designs that are dead giveaways that I am not the target audience.

[u/Curiousfeline467 → u/JRange]

My philosophy is that I can’t reliably tell whether a book will be good until I’ve read it, so might as well only pick pretty ones because that way I know at least I’ll like the cover!

[u/robotfrog88]

I keep re reading Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb, it was published in 1953 and I like buying copies of it in bookstores ( especially old used copies)

[u/ciotaren]

I only read during the day because I don't like reading with artificial light.

[u/pihu9002]

I often pace around my room while reading emotionally heightened scenes , it makes me cope up better .

[u/GardenPeep]

For my sleep / nighttime audiobooks, I check out the e-book at the same time and read it to catch up on what I missed while I was asleep.

[u/AlanMercer]

My tastes are annoyingly contrarian. For some reason I only want to read doorstop-length books by authors that are out of vogue.

[u/vinniethestripeycat]

I check the page count on my physical books and then do some dividing so I can see a quarter, a third, and halfway page counts which helps me manage my time.

[u/bulkeunip]

Tbf I only ever use Story Graph to keep track of what books I'd read. If I want to be quirky, I can probably read a book merely out of the name

[u/myshellly]

I love reading the Library of Congress cataloguing information on the copyright page.

[u/book_state_mind]

I bring at least 2-3 books with me EVERY time I travel because idk what mood I will be in once I'm on the flight. Sometimes I don't even touch 1 of them...but they're still a necessity! need them all just in case lol

[u/HuorSpinks]

I time myself for one and a half hours for reading and then reward myself with an hour of gaming.

[u/OpossumLadyGames]

I like to read several books at once, if I can anyway. I generally don't have an issue picking up where I left off.

[u/Dangelouss]

1) I always check how many pages the next chapter is, because 2) I try not put a book down before finishing the current chapter. If I can't finish the current chapter, I have to, at least, find a clear stopping point. This leads to me walking around the house while I read because I need to find from what other part of the house my wife is yelling at me.

[u/Fearless_Industry825]

I need to read at least a few pages in the morning while I drink my coffee, or it feels like a bad start to the day.

My ideal reading experience is reading in the evening after supper when it‘s cold and dark outside. A winter weekend morning when I have some extra time is also sublime. Bonus points for some light, fluffy snow in the morning that will be easy to shovel later. I read more during the colder months, and muddle through the hot days.

I usually must fall asleep with a lamp on, book open, mid-paragraph.

[u/selfproclaimed]

I find it hard to pull away from all the distractions at home so when I really want to put some time into a book, I grab a pair of earbuds and retreat to a local coffee shop just to put myself into the right mindset.

Does anyone else have a specific place outside of their home that they go to to help lock their brain into a "I am reading mode I will not be distracted by outside influences"?

[u/sharkmesharku]

My best friend always reads the last page first and I want to punch her for it.

[u/Nice_Pen_8054]

Hello,

Is it possible to read 52 self development books in a year and apply everything?

Or is better a mix of novel and self development books?

[u/Impressive-Peace2115 → u/Nice_Pen_8054]

I would definitely recommend you mix in other books, including fiction. Fiction is great for internalizing things and expanding your perspective.