The Book Addiction Tag

 

I found this on Merphy Napier’s BookTube channel…

 

1: What is the longest amount of time you can comfortably go without picking up a book?

A few days maybe if I’m away from home and there’s no opportunity to buy one. After that I start getting antsy and on edge.

2: How many books do you carry on your person at any one time?

These days none at all. Back in my work days I’d always have one with me to read in my lunch break. If I’m travelling any great distance I’ll have a book plus a few more to tide me over being away from my stash @ home.

3: Do you keep every book you buy or are you happy to pass them on to make space for more?

I do tend to keep every book I purchase unless they’re particularly bad – they get given away to charity shops or somewhere. VERY occasionally when I need the shelf space I’ll donate a bunch of books to charity but I think this has only happened twice so far. I’d rather just find somewhere in the house to stack them away.

4: How long would you spend in a bookshop on a standard visit?

That very much depends. I can pop into a bookshop, look around for a few minutes, and leave. Other times I can spend 10 minutes, or half an hour browsing – especially if I’m looking for a particular type of book or something on a particular subject. Oh, and there’s no such thing as a ‘standard visit’ for me!

5: How much time per day to you actually spend reading?

These days – post retirement….. Around 3 hours, maybe more if the book is particularly good.

6: Where does the task ‘picking up a book’ appear on your daily To Do list?

LOL – I REALLY don’t plan my life THAT much!

7: How many books do you reckon you own in total?

Oh, I have NO idea. If I had to guess I’d say somewhere in the region of 5 thousand…. Maybe 6 thousand.

8: Approximately how often to you bring up books in conversation?

Depends on the company and what I’m reading at that moment. My friends know I read ‘a lot’ so aren’t too surprised if I bring books into the conversation. Plus I’ve known the guys long enough to be able to recommend books to them.

9: What is the biggest book (page count) you have finished reading?

Probably the single volume version of Lord of the Rings coming in at over 1100 pages. I remember it taking me 4 weeks to finish back in my teens.

10: Is there a book you had to get your hands on against all odds?

I was so impressed with ‘Metropolitan’ by Walter Jon Williams that I was over the moon to discover it had a sequel. Naturally I had taken YEARS to read the first book so the second book was out of print. It took me several months to track down the sequel online. Naturally I still haven’t read it yet!

11: Is there a book you struggled to finish but refused to DNF?

I don’t DNF often but I’m not afraid to. Life is far too short to continue reading books you’re getting nothing from. I’ve DNF’d books after 20 pages. I’ve DNF’s others with less than 100 pages to go. It very much depends on the book and maybe my mood at the time.

12: What are three of your main book goals for 2021?

I want to really get my ‘Britain Alone’ series off and running. I’m presently nibbling around the edges (as I do) but need to dive in and splash about a bit.

I’ve been building up collections of books in areas like Travel which I need to start working through.

I aim to read and review 100 books in 2021.

13: Have you ever converted someone into a reader?

Kind of. One of my gaming friends doesn’t read much and hardly ever reads fiction. But I was so enthusiastic about a series of Vampire detective novels that he started reading them too. He ended up reading the whole series.

14: Describe what books mean to you in 5 words.   

What makes life worth living.