My reading habit for a decade
Reading books may be one of my habits besides running. Ten years. I count this because there are more than ten books finished each year.
The number of books read is one thing, but changes involved in ongoing reading is more important.
Number of books I read since 2015
Year: number of English books / total number of books read that year = percentage of English books among all I read throughout the year
2015: 14/38% = 36.842
2016: 22/35% = 62.857
2017: 34/52% = 65.385
2018: 11/29% = 37.931
2019: 36/50% = 72
2020: 36/47% = 76.596
2021: 13/23% = 56.522
2022: 17/17% = 100
2023: 11/14% = 78.571
2024: 21/21% = 100
2025 (as of 31 July): 8/8% = 100
On English books
Between 2015 and 2020 I lived in Hong Kong, and moved to London after 2021. But in an environment where Chinese or Cantonese is dominant, I have already read English books even though there are plenty of translated versions mainly imported from Taiwan. The reasons for opting for English against Chinese are:
I want to improve my English.
Chinese translation is too weird to understand.
There are some information which is only available in English.
I read non-fictions mostly. When I was in Hong Kong, I bought them from bookstores.
After moving to the UK, I almost go all-in English, due to the major availability in the country, even though I can get Chinese books online.
From buy to borrow
I used to buy books instead of borrowing from the library. Books are expensive in Hong Kong (English books ranged from £15–18 around 2020–21, compared to £10 in the UK), while there are ways to get cheaper through online purchases, especially when BookDepository was able to provide English books much cheaper with free postage.
Purchase is a kind of commitment and motivation for me to complete reading, but I have to buy one by one or there will be too many books to finish. The money is worth spending because I will learn something from those books.
Library in Hong Kong is so disappointing that I don’t want to go.
After moving to the UK, books are much cheaper, and their libraries have much more books I am interested in. Most importantly many ebooks in which the bookshops are selling at the same time are available. Starting from 2023, I gradually borrow books instead of buying, saving enormous amounts of money while keeping being inspired.
