The Anatomy Of A Good Reading Day

There is nothing like have a few hours to yourself to just read!  The vast majority of the time that is all I want to do, and unfortunately most of my reading is done on the fly so when I get a few solid hours to devote to reading, I want it make it as perfect as possible.  Here is my breakdown of a perfect day of reading.

The Book - Obviously the best part of a reading day is actually reading, so book selection is paramount.  I have found that I enjoy myself the most when my book matches the season/environment/current book craving.  For me this means reading certain books in certain seasons, or maybe gathering a couple of books to really make sure I have the exact right one. This is the most variable of components in a reading day.

The Environment - The next component in a great reading day is the environment.  I like a comfy place that has minimal distractions (I have a hard time reading if there is a tv on...I get too distracted) and a very comfy place to curl up.  This can be any number of places.  I love to read outside, especially int he fall and spring.  Summer time see's me at the pool or beach.  Cold days or tired days you can find me in my comfy reading chair.  I am also a huge fan of pillows/blankets/cushions to really ensure total comfort.  I regularly keep a zillion various cushy items to pad my chosen reading spot and am not above bringing a couple of pillows with me to the great outdoors.  I also really love a unique spot outside of my home zone.  This includes libraries, gardens, restaurants, boats, and well just about anywhere that inspires me.  On vacation my Hubbin has learned to build in at least a couple of hours for me to read in a new local spot.

Libations - I love having the perfect drink next to me while I read...I like it even better when somebody else makes it for me and keeps it full.  I am not horribly picky when it comes to my beverages, I sometimes like to match it to my book, and definitely the weather/environment play a role, but really that's about it.  My favorites include, coffee, tea, wine, Hubbin made cocktails, hot chocolate, cider (hot or cold), occasionally beer or a nice sipping whiskey...pretty much anything that is sippable and enhances the experience.

Snacks - For me it all depends on how I'm feeling as to whether or not snacks are necessary.  Sometimes a certain book will trigger a food craving, or if I'm snacky in general its nice to have some munchies.  My problem is food can get distracting, especially if it's messy, making me pause in my reading to eat.  For the most part any thing I can eat with out utensils or needing to use a napkin after every bite works the best.  I have found a nice box of gourmet chocolates hits the spot.  All that being said, I have on many occasion purposely gone out by myself for a meal at a restaurant with the sole purpose of eating and reading and I find my ebooks work really well for this type of reading day.

Technology - As a general rule, I usually try and banish all technology when I am doing some dedicated reading.  I turn off my phone, tv, computer, and any other distractions and just allow myself to get lost in my books.  The exceptions to this are obviously if I am reading an ebook or if I'm reading something that requires/inspires a quick bit of research...I'll use my phone for that.

If I can get all of these elements to come together at the same time I know I am in for some happy times.  I have spent a lot of time reading and am adept at quickly assembling all components of a perfect reading day anytime I find I have carved out some time.  On that note, it looks like I have a little bit of time now so off I go to brew some coffee and grab a blanket and book.  Happy Reading Everybody!

World Story Character

I'm sure I've done a similar post before, but bear with me.  In my eternal quest to try and describe to other people what I like in a book, I think I have narrowed it down to three essential things; World building, story and character.

World Building - For me this is huge, a book that makes me believe in the world I am reading is 50% there in getting me to love the book/series.  This tends to be more essential in books set in fictional worlds, or alternate worlds, but to some degree it is important regardless of the book.  The only time I will give world building a pass is in short stories 'cause they tend to be more about the story and/or character.  A world with parameter's, rules, space, traditions, history, and structure make a place in my head I can go to, even when I am not reading the book.  I find a lot of the books I have the most issues are the ones that skip over plausible world building for the sake of a concept.

Story - A good story is essential to a good book.  I love original stories, twists on old stories and to be honest I even love an old tried and true story as long as it is written well.  With story my only request is that it be well written, to me this means a clear story that goes somewhere, one that does not rely on completely unrealistic happenstances to resolve a sticky issue, and one that does not abruptly end in a haze of sudden departure from the rest of the book.  The stories I have the most trouble with are the ones that over describe everything, ones that meander to the point your not sure what is going on, and ones that rely on a randomly introduced element to wrap things up.  I love surprises, twist endings, and a really solid story.

Character - I love a good character.  I have finished many a book that is not the best based solely on the strength of at least one of it's characters.  In a lot of my older books, my favorite characters tend to be side characters or the villains.  The main characters in these books tend to be fairly straight forward good guys without to many interesting tidbits, but the side character are pretty cool.  Modern books (or at least the ones I like to read) tend to have a wider variety of characters, making the leads more flawed and diverse and utilizing various types of relationships to further define their characters.  I don't mind stereotypical characters as much as some people do, as long as the characters act according to who they are (does that make sense?).  My biggest character pet peeve is when the character acts one way through out the whole book, and then makes some weirdly random decision for no other reason then to further the story.

All three of these things are not needed to make a readable book. Most books can usually hit at least one of these criteria to an acceptable degree.  Good books get two of these and on the rare occasion the best books manage to incorporate all three.   In fact several of my favorite books usually get only two of these taken care of really well.  Oddly enough concept is one of the things I find non-essential in books, I will take a well written, tried and true, solid story over a wildly original, yet poorly executed concept.  Too many times I find world building, story and character development is sacrificed to try and get a concept across.  So there you have it, when I am trying to describe what I love in a book, it is gonna be one or more of these three things.

What is the most important component of a book for you?  Are their important components that I missed?  Are you sick of me trying to continually find the words to describe my feelings on books?