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Oct. 12th, 2014 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardI seem to have hit the point again where the only thing I want to read is the same book series over and over again. Which isn't bad, because I really love these books (the Raksura series by Martha Wells) and at least there are four of them, so that takes me a couple days to work through before I go back to the start, but it is a little annoying because sometimes I want to read other things, you know? Except my brain's like, yeah, but have you also considered: no.
Part of it is that I have these books in ebook and in hardcopy, so I can read them on my computer (which is basically where I live), then switch to hardcopy on the rare occasion I'm not at my computer, or read them on my Kindle if I'm at uni. So it's convenient. I've got a couple other books in multiple formats too, though, so it's not just that. Wells' prose style is similar enough to mine that reading hers doesn't impact my writing style the way some other authors do. (I can't read Sarah Rees Brennan, for example, and switch back and forth between writing and reading, because her prose style is different enough that it fucks me up for some reason. A couple of other authors are close enough to mine that I might get a little more florid, or my sentence structure might change slightly, but not to the extent that it really messes with my head and makes me incapable of stringing words together. Is that weird? It's a little weird, isn't it.)
Another thing is that I've read these books enough times that I don't have to sit down for an extended reading session. If I'm reading something through for the first time, most of the time I have to sit down and read it straight through, or it will be dragged out over a period of several weeks to several months because I just don't care enough to read it all the time. And I did, actually, sit down and read something new straight through the other day, and lo, it was good (it was Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw, which shocked me by not only being a good novel but doing literally 90% of what my actual academic specialty is except in a novel), but I can't do that and do other stuff at the same time. And that's part of it too, because if I'm reading at the computer, I'm usually switching between several different things -- general internet stuff, maybe fannish conversations, writing, graphics, watching TV, doing my hair (I do my hair and read a lot; I can't do it with a hardcopy but I can do it on the computer), eating. I can stop and pick it up again any time, where with something I've only read once or twice, or something I'm reading for the first time, I need that deeper level involvement.
Eh, I did this earlier in the year too with the Lost Fleet books, though there are like a dozen of those so it took slightly longer for the turnaround on a full reread. I can never tell what type of books are going to ping me for this type of comfort reading, though. Most of Wells' other books, which I like and have, don't; the only other one that does is Razor's Edge, which coincidentally I finished listening to on audiobook during my commute a couple of weeks ago. I haven't really been able to settle on another audiobook since, I've just been listening to music, though I'm trying to do Kenobi now. (I love Star Wars audiobooks, they have sound effects. But I don't care enough about most Star Wars novels to listen to them on audiobook too, because see again: if I'm reading something for the first time I need to do it straight through, and Razor's Edge I've read enough times that I can just pick it up and go.)
And, of course, the other thing is if I'm in school, I usually have trouble processing new information that isn't school-related, so the majority of what I read is rereads and comfort reading. Not all, but a lot of the time the instant I go on a long break I have about a week where I just do comfort reading while my brain resets, then a month where I'm only reading new books. (Which shows up on my reading spreadsheets, because I track rereads. It was hella obvious after I came back from England last year.)
Anyway. Random book thoughts.
Part of it is that I have these books in ebook and in hardcopy, so I can read them on my computer (which is basically where I live), then switch to hardcopy on the rare occasion I'm not at my computer, or read them on my Kindle if I'm at uni. So it's convenient. I've got a couple other books in multiple formats too, though, so it's not just that. Wells' prose style is similar enough to mine that reading hers doesn't impact my writing style the way some other authors do. (I can't read Sarah Rees Brennan, for example, and switch back and forth between writing and reading, because her prose style is different enough that it fucks me up for some reason. A couple of other authors are close enough to mine that I might get a little more florid, or my sentence structure might change slightly, but not to the extent that it really messes with my head and makes me incapable of stringing words together. Is that weird? It's a little weird, isn't it.)
Another thing is that I've read these books enough times that I don't have to sit down for an extended reading session. If I'm reading something through for the first time, most of the time I have to sit down and read it straight through, or it will be dragged out over a period of several weeks to several months because I just don't care enough to read it all the time. And I did, actually, sit down and read something new straight through the other day, and lo, it was good (it was Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw, which shocked me by not only being a good novel but doing literally 90% of what my actual academic specialty is except in a novel), but I can't do that and do other stuff at the same time. And that's part of it too, because if I'm reading at the computer, I'm usually switching between several different things -- general internet stuff, maybe fannish conversations, writing, graphics, watching TV, doing my hair (I do my hair and read a lot; I can't do it with a hardcopy but I can do it on the computer), eating. I can stop and pick it up again any time, where with something I've only read once or twice, or something I'm reading for the first time, I need that deeper level involvement.
Eh, I did this earlier in the year too with the Lost Fleet books, though there are like a dozen of those so it took slightly longer for the turnaround on a full reread. I can never tell what type of books are going to ping me for this type of comfort reading, though. Most of Wells' other books, which I like and have, don't; the only other one that does is Razor's Edge, which coincidentally I finished listening to on audiobook during my commute a couple of weeks ago. I haven't really been able to settle on another audiobook since, I've just been listening to music, though I'm trying to do Kenobi now. (I love Star Wars audiobooks, they have sound effects. But I don't care enough about most Star Wars novels to listen to them on audiobook too, because see again: if I'm reading something for the first time I need to do it straight through, and Razor's Edge I've read enough times that I can just pick it up and go.)
And, of course, the other thing is if I'm in school, I usually have trouble processing new information that isn't school-related, so the majority of what I read is rereads and comfort reading. Not all, but a lot of the time the instant I go on a long break I have about a week where I just do comfort reading while my brain resets, then a month where I'm only reading new books. (Which shows up on my reading spreadsheets, because I track rereads. It was hella obvious after I came back from England last year.)
Anyway. Random book thoughts.