Personal Reading Profile
I love to read (obviously, or I wouldn't be taking this class or seeking this degree!). Sometimes I wonder why I like it so much: Is it the stories? The alone time? The escape? Maybe it's all those things put together. I have a ridiculous amount of unread books in my house and each time I bring home more, my husband makes a face (even though he is also an avid reader!).
My favorite authors are Joe Hill, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Audrey Niffenegger, Shirley Jackson, and Joe Schreiber. Once I find a favorite author, I tend to read everything by them. I haven't read the newest Joe Hill book yet and it's killing me! I also have a Shirley Jackson biography on my shelf but I feel like I can't read it until I read all of her short stories.
Some of my favorite books are The Catcher in the Rye, The Fireman by Joe Hill, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Eat the Dark by Joe Schreiber, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, and the Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch.
I like to think that I read all genres, but that's probably not true. My favorite genre is horror. I love a good classic haunted house story. I am the complete opposite when it comes to visual media however, and I cannot watch horror movies or TV shows at all! I think it's different when I'm reading because there are no jump scares in a book! I also enjoy reading sci-fi, humor, biographies, and general fiction.
After going through the readings this week, I think I choose the genres and books I read based on pacing. The article The Appeal of Books by the St. Louis Public Library Staff says that the speed at which a story progresses affects a readers' opinion of said story (p. 2). I think I enjoy the horror genre so much because it is often fast paced. I enjoy books most when one crazy thing after another happens. I like to be kept on my toes when reading. Like the article says, "Other books move along rapidly at breakneck speed from one event to another," (p. 3). I feel like that is what keeps me interested. I've read books where the author takes fifty pages introducing the characters and setting before anything interesting happens, and those types of books just aren't for me.
In 2018 I read 51 books, which was a lot for me. But last year, I only read 32. I think I got too busy with homework to read at my normal pace. Hopefully, I'll pick back up in 2020!
References:
NoveList Editorial & St. Louis Public Library Staff (n.d.) The appeal of books. Retrieved from the NoveList database.
I love to read (obviously, or I wouldn't be taking this class or seeking this degree!). Sometimes I wonder why I like it so much: Is it the stories? The alone time? The escape? Maybe it's all those things put together. I have a ridiculous amount of unread books in my house and each time I bring home more, my husband makes a face (even though he is also an avid reader!).
My favorite authors are Joe Hill, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Audrey Niffenegger, Shirley Jackson, and Joe Schreiber. Once I find a favorite author, I tend to read everything by them. I haven't read the newest Joe Hill book yet and it's killing me! I also have a Shirley Jackson biography on my shelf but I feel like I can't read it until I read all of her short stories.
Some of my favorite books are The Catcher in the Rye, The Fireman by Joe Hill, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Eat the Dark by Joe Schreiber, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, and the Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch.
I like to think that I read all genres, but that's probably not true. My favorite genre is horror. I love a good classic haunted house story. I am the complete opposite when it comes to visual media however, and I cannot watch horror movies or TV shows at all! I think it's different when I'm reading because there are no jump scares in a book! I also enjoy reading sci-fi, humor, biographies, and general fiction.
After going through the readings this week, I think I choose the genres and books I read based on pacing. The article The Appeal of Books by the St. Louis Public Library Staff says that the speed at which a story progresses affects a readers' opinion of said story (p. 2). I think I enjoy the horror genre so much because it is often fast paced. I enjoy books most when one crazy thing after another happens. I like to be kept on my toes when reading. Like the article says, "Other books move along rapidly at breakneck speed from one event to another," (p. 3). I feel like that is what keeps me interested. I've read books where the author takes fifty pages introducing the characters and setting before anything interesting happens, and those types of books just aren't for me.
In 2018 I read 51 books, which was a lot for me. But last year, I only read 32. I think I got too busy with homework to read at my normal pace. Hopefully, I'll pick back up in 2020!
References:
NoveList Editorial & St. Louis Public Library Staff (n.d.) The appeal of books. Retrieved from the NoveList database.
Hello Arianna,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely cannot stand scary movies/shows, I'm a big chicken! I think that is why I have avoided reading horror books as well. You make a good point that there are not jump scares in books, so I don't know why I have avoided them for so long haha. However, every now and then I will creep myself out reading something from the creepypasta forums. I suppose I can handle short-story horror but I have not read an actual book in the genre. I did choose horror as one of the genres I am going to annotate this semester though so now I have motivation to do so! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Emily,
DeleteI also am another who doesn't really like horror anything. Yet, like you, I chose horror as one of my five genres. It really is a good point that books don't have jump scares. That's always what gets me in movies and shows. With that in mind, reading horror shouldn't be as stressful as watching horror.
Hello Arianna,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I find myself always fascinated with anything Wonderland; movies, books, etc. A couple years ago I read a YA series, Splintered by A.G. Howard. It follows a descendant of Alice, Alyssa Gardener, rather than Alice or one of the other Wonderland characters. I have also read Heartless by Marissa Meyer which is the backstory of the Queen of Hearts. I didn't like that one quite as much as the Splintered series because I knew how it would obviously end.
Great reading profile! I too am a massive Joe Hill, Bradbury, and Vonnegut fan!! Good job referencing one of the articles in this. You're off to a great start!
ReplyDelete