My Reading Habits // Tag

I've never done a tag before on this blog, so I thought I'd start with a book tag. As an English graduate, I quite obviously love reading. However, it took me quite a long time to get back into it - after 3 years of nothing but university books, my brain had kind of turned to mush! But this year I have challenged myself to read 25 books, and I'm almost there!

Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
I think I pretty much exclusively read in bed at the moment (if it's the daytime I'll read whilst sat on my bed). I wish I had a nice armchair or something to curl up in, but my house is rather cold at the moment so I like to hide away in my room with my heater!

Bookmark or random piece of paper?
I tend to use bookmarks, but they're usually ones that I have acquired rather than bought specially. For a long time I used bookmarks from Durham Cathedral that were actually just pieces of card that listed their service schedule (my Gran worked there), but now I only have one left. I also use nice business cards/clothing tags that I come across.

Do you eat or drink while reading?
Not usually, but sometimes I'll have a coffee/hot chocolate. If I have food then I tend to end up with crumbs in the pages!

Music or TV while reading?
Definitely not, it distracts me way too much! If I'm reading an article online, sometimes I can't concentrate with music/tv, so having them on whilst reading a book is a complete no no. I can just about manage instrumental music, but that's it.

Reading at home or everywhere?
I wish I could read everywhere, but it ends up being at home 99% of the time. I carry books around planning to read them, but never seem to. I used to read on trains, but now it gives me weird vertigo.

Reading out loud or in your head?
In my head when I'm reading books. If I'm doing work I read things out loud to check if I've articulated myself correctly (I tend to read blog posts out loud to myself before publishing, just to check).

Do you read ahead or even {*shudders*} skip pages?
I don't read ahead or skip pages, but sometimes I go into "skim mode" where my brain switches off a bit and I read very quickly. Definitely something that happened a lot with university books! When I was younger I used to find myself reading the last sentence of Harry Potter books when I read them, don't know why. At least when I read Deathly Hallows seeing "all was well" reassured me that Harry wasn't going to die!

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new? 
I am a bit of a spine breaker - I used to do it intentionally but now it kind of happens by accident. I think it completely depends on the size of the book. I won't try to but if it's 800 pages or so it's inevitable really. My A Level English Literature teacher taught us how to 'prepare' a book so that the spine doesn't break, which was quite handy at university. You get a lot more for your textbooks if they're in mint condition, I suppose?

Do you write in your books?
Not any more. I didn't really at university but I did a lot at A Level. It's easier to write straight in the book if you're studying as a group. I think maybe it's time to buy a new copy of The Great Gatsby; mine is very heavily graffitied. According to those who have borrowed it, the notes are very amusing!