I have a reading rule: if I have a book chosen for vacation reading, I will not start it a minute before I am officially on vacation. (This summer, as announced earlier, I chose In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. Loved it.)
Yes, my no-vacation-books-before-vacation rule is kind of arbitrary. But I suspected (correctly) that I am not the only one with arbitrary reading rules. I polled my co-workers and this is what I found:
Mike, like me, keeps his summer organized. He selects only certain types of books for vacation. He will read either fantasy (in order to further escape reality), or a book that is set in his vacation destination (to fully immerse in the vacay experience).
Both Gina and Brittany will only read one book at a time. (And Brittany becomes positively crazed at the notion of abandoning a book halfway through, but more on that later.)
When Alex picks up a book that she knows nothing about, she will peek at the first and last lines, which helps her decide whether to read it.
Intern Naomi will not let appointments or obligations interfere with her reading, which I respect. She writes: “My book rule is that I rarely ever pause mid-chapter. If I’m going to take a reading break, I have to finish the chapter first!”
Intern Shea shared a school rule for reading: She must read with a pen or pencil handy to underline and make notes. Studious!
Megan is overcome with guilt when she doesn’t like a book that’s been recommended to her: “Rarely do I confess I didn’t like it. I did it once and had unshakable guilt, so now I skirt around the question. If this person really thought I’d love a particular book, and then I don’t, I’m either letting that person down OR shedding light on the fact that they must not know me as well as they think they do.” (Ed note: Let this be a warning to anyone recommending books to Megan. Not only will she deceive you, but there are also deep analyses of your relationship at play.)
Finally, I asked everyone about one of the most common reading conundrums: whether to finish a book you just don’t like.
Seven of us (including me) fall into the “life’s too short to read books you don’t like!” camp. (Though there was wide variation among us on how much energy we will give a so-so book before letting it go.)
Only two of us soldier on until the end. (Though both Morgan and I used to do so as well, but only out of guilt; we’ve since moved over to “life’s too short!”.)
What are your reading rules?
