The joy and dilemma of reading

I read a lot of books. Last year I read over 50 books and this year I am heading towards 40 books.

I often get asked how I find the time. I am a “morning person” and the rest of the family are not. This means that most days I am up about an hour before them. I catch up with the news and a few websites online and then I will usually grab my Kindle and start reading.

My Kindle gets a lot of use. If I am reading non-fiction, which is a lot of my reading, then I lean on the ability to highlight sections of text. I will later import them into Obsidian where I store all my notes. If I read a physical book then I keep a a5 card as my bookmark and make a note of any sections I want to transcribe at the end.

The Kindle version of a book is also often cheaper. I check for deals and have a wish list that I check regularly to look if any of them have been discounted.

When I travel I am able to effectively take a whole bunch of books to read in a very small form - much smaller than the physical books would be.

Having said that I do still like the physical book. There are some books, especially those that are very graphical, that I feel are much better to read in this form. I will often buy books second hand - if you select the “Very Good” condition then they tend to be in excellent condition and not much different from buying them new.

There is something to be said for books on a bookshelf. We have a large bookshelf in our living room (most of which I have read) and I also have a bookshelf in my study which is completely full. If I visit someone and they have a bookshelf I like to have a look to get ideas of what else I could read; which brings me nicely on to the next question.

How do you decide what to read next?

Sometimes there is a book that I buy that I think I must read that next - maybe something I have been waiting to come out or something that is especially relevant to me at that time. Sometimes I have had enough of reading non-fiction and decide to read a fiction book for a change of scenery.

There are some books I have read in the past that I would love to read again but there is the dilemma of should I read them or should I spend my time reading something new? This is something I should probably do more.

My current book is a non-fiction book I am reading on my Kindle. Maybe my next book should be a physical book that I have read before?