Tell Me Something Tuesday was hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings, but she has (temporarily?) stopped blogging. So a group of us that had been doing posts (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Karen from For What It’s Worth, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About and me) decided to get together, come up with some more topics and keep the meme going.Michelle made us a logo and we’re off and running. For more details, check out this post where I reintroduced the meme.
I can be sporadic, but when I do join in I will always share next week’s topic at the end of the post. So, today is about…
How has your reading changed since the pandemic started?
My reading has changed in a lot of ways since the pandemic. For one, I no longer have 1 to 1.5 hours commute every day where I listen to audiobooks. With that commute I used to listen to the Read Me Romance podcast – a free audiobook every week – and I would probably read at least 1 more audiobook a week during those commutes.
I still keep a physical book going, but my pace with that has drastically slowed. I used to read EVERY night. Now, some nights I’d rather just waste away watching TV (I’ve watched more TV since March 2020 than I probably did in the 5 years prior put together). I just started a new rule that I’m turning TV off by 9:30, so that I can unwind without the blue light of electronics. I also have done a lot more rereading of old favorites. I have always enjoyed rereading, but rarely read more than 1 or 2 rereads per year. This past year I reread the Twilight series, Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice and a handful of other books.
I also had a pretty extensive morning routine that included reading a self-improvement book for about 10 minutes. I have struggled to keep this going this year. Sometimes I read a couple pages, sometimes I manage a chapter, many times I don’t get in anything. You’d think since I can sleep later, since I’m not driving to work, it would be easier to get up with enough time to read more. But in reality – I struggle to wake up early enough to do a modified version of my morning routine. It’s amazing how the stress of this situation makes me so much more physically and emotionally tired than I was pre-COVID.
So yeah, my reading has changed quite a lot.
Like you, my commute went away and there went the majority of my audiobook time. You had the double whammy of COVID and a newborn… that will do it. I pretty much stopped reading after having kids.
For a few months last year, my reading/listening dropped off, but then I settled into my new routine and found I had more audiobook listening time. Like you re-reads happened more than ever and I definitely watched more TV and movies.
“I still keep a physical book going, but my pace with that has drastically slowed……I also have done a lot more rereading of old favorites.”
It seems like the reading world reacted to the pandemic in two ways: struggling to read or finding comfort in rereads. You did both…
“But in reality – I struggle to wake up early enough to do a modified version of my morning routine.”
I think that’s only normal, and maybe not necessarily pandemic-related. I mean – for instance, on the weekend (when I don’t work) I have the time and leisure to do so many things, and yet I find myself wasting that chance by lazying around. I’m much more productive when I’m pressed for time…
The pandemic didn’t change my reading habits at all. My routine has been pretty much the same, except for the four months when I was on wages guarantee fund…but I used those to take care of the house and to blog more. The reading part was unaffected. I think I was/am alone in that LOL.
More reading less audio I’d say.
I feel like I’m reading slightly less now but that might also be because I’m really into podcasts now and I listen to a lot of them. 😛