About

Who am I? That’s a secret I’ll never… wait, wrong blog!

Now that I’ve gotten that reference out of the way, hi! I’m Raul. Thanks for checking out my blog. My goal is to share some thoughts and reflections throughout my reading journey.

Am I an expert? Is this something I studied? Nope, not at all. I’m just a random guy on the internet who happens to read a lot.

So why read this blog? I don’t have a grand answer. I just like reading, noticing patterns, and reacting to what works, what doesn’t, and why a book sticks with me. If that sounds like your kind of thing, I’m glad you’re here. And if it isn’t, that’s totally fine too. Either way, thanks for giving me a shot.

I’m not sure what else to say, so I’ll end this here. Maybe you’ll get to learn more about me as this blog grows. Exciting, isn’t it?

My Reading Habits

I’ll be upfront and say that my reading is usually all over the place. I don’t stick to one genre or style. I also don’t stick to one specific medium. I like to read both fiction and nonfiction, but I also enjoy comic books and audiobooks.

Generally, I don’t like reading series until they’re finished so I can read them back to back. For the most part, I tend to stick to either short series or standalone works.

When it comes to audiobooks, I love it when authors narrate their own work, especially nonfiction. Full casts are also quite fun. But if a narrator is good, I’ll probably stick with them even if it’s just one person.

I usually have two books going at once. I try to combine one fiction book with a nonfiction book. Generally if I’m reading one, I’ll be listening to the other. The books don’t have to be related. In fact, I tend to prefer them being quite different so I can keep them separate in my mind.

I like doing reading challenges. I enjoy the variety of books I’ve read because of them, and I enjoy the research process. I’ll probably make specific posts for those.

Relatively recently, I’ve enjoyed having some sort of theme or connecting element in some of my reading arcs or phases. Maybe I’ll share more of that in the future too.

Lastly, I’m always open to recommendations. I can’t promise I’ll get to them right away, but I’ll try my best.

My Ratings

Here’s a brief guide on how I rate things:

⭐ – didn’t like

⭐⭐ – meh, it was okay

⭐⭐⭐ – I liked it

⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I really liked it / it was very interesting

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I loved it! / It was absolutely fascinating

Generally, I tend to round up. I don’t use half points too often, though I might mention them in my reviews.

Also, these ratings are my feelings or thoughts at the time of reading. How I feel about a book might change over time, but I don’t usually go back and edit ratings or reviews. I might make an exception for rereads, which I rarely do.

One quick note: I usually don’t rate memoirs or autobiographies. While I might still comment on them and share my thoughts, rating them feels a bit odd to me, since it can feel like I’m rating or judging someone’s life. That said, I have given ratings to works like these in the past.