Blogging, Book tag, Books, Lifestyle, Six for Sunday, Work-life balance

Six for Sunday: Questions I always get asked

Posted by Christina Reid on May 27, 2018

#SixforSunday – Questions I get asked

Welcome back to another week of #SixforSunday, created by Steph from A Little But a Lot.

The theme for this week is questions that you always get asked. There are definitely a few that immediately popped into my mind, but getting six is always tough!

What are you reading?

This is usually just as I get to a really climactic moment in the book, but I feel obliged to put the book down to explain. I love talking about books, but not usually when i am already reading! If it is someone I know quite well, I will just lift the book up so they can read the blurb…

2. Have you really read all these books?

This is often the response from visitors when seeing the stuffed bookcases and teetering bookpiles around our apartment. Of course, the answer is no, because I believe in Umberto Eco’s / Nassim Taleb’s concept of the anti-library (in a nutshell it is surrounding yourself with books that you have yet to read so you never forget how much more you still have to learn and have new discoveries at your fingertips). Clearly I also own lots of books that I have read, but just because it is on my shelf is no guarantee that I have read it yet!

3. Where do you find the time to read?

Sometimes I don’t. But once I do have a bit of time, I read very quickly. It’s not exactly a superpower but I like it! I also carry a book with me everywhere and have e-books on my phone and tablet just in case. If you send any time at all commuting, you can fit a lot of reading in. My workplace now is very close so I walk, but when I was getting the train every day I probably read almost a book a day.

4. What’s your favourite book?

Who’s your favourite child? It’s an impossible question to answer! I have lots of favourites, depending on my mood and the memories associated with a particular book. I like to see books as something like meals or medicines – each is different and unique and each fits with a certain situation better than another. For example, a book to read when you’re feeling down, a book to read to relax…and every book as an escape from the stresses of normal life and as an exercise for our imagination and creativity.

5. Have you seen the film of (insert book name here)?

The answer to this is, almost-invariably, no. I have not seen many movies and, while working to fill that gap in my knowledge, have a bad habit of falling asleep when attempting to watch movies late at night. If you like, test me out in the comments as I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t have seen most movies you mention!

6. Why do you take so many pictures of books?

This is usually from friends and colleagues who come across my (newly-created) Instagram account. Because so many of my online buddies are book bloggers, authors and book enthusiasts, I often forget that taking pictures of books isn’t exactly mainstream…