Hello and happy Friday! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion post created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Rukky and Dani @ A Literary Lion! This week’s topic is: How Have Your Reading Habits Changed Over Time? (suggested by Lydia @ Lydia Schoch)

I’m actually really excited for this post, because my reading habits have definitely changed a lot, especially since I started my blog, and it’s going to be really fun to write about that!

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You all know that I love books… I mean, I do have a book blog. But have I always loved books? (spoiler, Yes) Have I always read so much? (Um, pretty much.)

But, my overall reading habits have definitely changed in the thirteen years that I’ve been alive. So, here are some points in my life that changed who I am as a reader…

so dramatic, right?

Once upon a time, when I was four months old…

Once upon a time, when I was four months old, my mom’s friend came to visit and read me a Dr. Seuss book. My mom asked her “why are you reading her a book?” and her friend replied, “it is never to early to read a book.

While the dialogue is not 100% accurate, it is more or less what happened, and although I have no recollection of the day (since I was a baby) I do think that it has stuck with me.

It really is never too early to read a book.

When I was not even a year and a half…

When I was not even a year and a half, as my parents tell me, I would sit in my crib with a stack of books, turning the pages and talking. I would turn the pages, speak the story, (or just random words) for amounts of time that would seem very long to an 18-month-old.

I don’t think I’ve changed much. I still have lots of fun grabbing a stack of books, plopping in bed, and reading for hours. The two main differences, I’d say though are that I understand more of the words, and of course that I’ve graduated out of a crib and into a real bed.

In kindergarten, during naptime, I read…

You know how in kindergarten you have naptime? Or just quiet time to lay down and think? Well, for me, I wanted to read. So, I read. I think that this really instilled in me the belief that most of the time, I could also probably be reading. Or again, maybe not.

But I read and I read and I read and I read and I read and I read and I read. Lots of reading, but that’s never a bad thing, you know?

In fourth grade when I won a kindle I read even more…

At my elementary school we did this thing every year called the readathon. How it worked was for one week you read as much as you could and logged all of your reading. Then, you could get your parents and stuff to pledge money per page, per minute or to just make a donation to the school. It operated somewhat like a jogathon, except it was many times better because, as you know, it was about books. Of course, I loved it. I looked forward to it so much every year.

The school did offer incentives however, I believe to try and encourage the kids to read even more. For example, if you read for at least a hundred minutes throughout the week you would get a long piece of duct tape and would get to tape the principal, dressed up as the cat in the hat, to a wall.

The year I was in fourth grade, there was also a raffle where every student who read more for than 100 minutes was entered to win a kindle. I, since I obviously participated, was hopeful that I might win, but at that point the most that I ever used electronics was the computers at the library; used only to find books. Then I just read.

So, when they were like “and the winner of the kindle is… Aria,” I think my friends were more excited than me. A bunch of people were like ‘I think it’s a kindle fire, that’s so cool’ (it wasn’t) and I was like, ‘if I can read on it, then it’s cool.’

But I got the kindle, and as a belated birthday present my parents traded it in for a kindle paper white (so it had the background lighting and stuff.) For the next few months, I think I spend even more time reading, if that is possible, and I read a bunch of amazing books.

Anyway, when I got the kindle, I sort of changed my reading habits: I would read a dozen ebooks, then I’d go to the library and get 20 physical books. Then, when I finished those, I’d go read some more ebooks. My parents paid for kindle unlimited so I was able to discover a lot of books through that. I reread a lot of books, and it was great!

In sixth grade I had access to a school library every day…

Fifth grade was pretty uneventful reading wise, except for the fact that I spent every spare second reading. The thing was, I was only able to go to my school library every other week, once a week if I was lucky, and even then I was only able to check out a very very very small amount of books.

In sixth grade, when I started middle school, one of my favorite things was the library. I could go most days before school and during lunch, and that was amazing. I could only check out three non-textbooks at a time, but I didn’t have a problem with that. I got into a pretty good pattern: at lunch, I’d go to the library and check out a book. Then, I would read during passing periods, at my house, during breakfast the next morning, before class started, and sometimes during the start of my lunch. By then, I’d probably have finished the book, so I’d go to the library and repeat the cycle.

It was before my first period French class when I finished The Gilded Wolves, way back in November or December. I was terrified, heartbroken, and mad that I’d have to wait for the sequel. But, that’s not the point of that.

I’d get new books pretty much every day, and on the weekends I’d get all three of my allotted books and read them on Saturday and Sunday.

I also would usually have two or more books with me, because you know, if I finish one I want to have another. Isn’t it annoying when people are like “why do you have so many books with you?” and you’re like, “well, I’m in the middle of this one, this other one is for class, this third one is if I finish the first one and the fourth is if I finish all of the other books.”

It makes complete sense, right?

In seventh grade I started a book blog…

At the end of August 2019, (wow, I’ve been blogging for almost a year!) I started a book blog. This book blog, in fact. And, as I started posting more and my posts got longer, I read less. Yes, less. But, I didn’t mind, and I still don’t, because now, I talk about the books that I read on a regular basis, and I also think about the books I read much more critically.

I am also much more aware of new releases. I never really payed attention to books that were coming out, and now I do!

I guess you could say that the moral of the story is although my overall reading habits have changed over the years, I still have the same motive:

Read books. Read more books. When that’s all done, go. read. more. books.

How have your reading habits changed over time? How many books do you carry with you on a regular basis? Chat with me in the comments below!