Happy Friday! I’m about to sound like a typical British person here, but I am so glad the weather has finally broken and it’s cooled down again! Don’t get me wrong, the sun is great but I personally don’t cope well in heat.

Also, I brightened up some of my blog colours, I don’t know if anyone has noticed! I love vibrant colours and while my old green was nice, it didn’t feel very me. I also have a cheeky sunny yellow, see if you can find it!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads. Each Friday, bloggers will write posts about a particular topic and share on their blog.

This Friday we are talking about anything BUT books!

What do you read other than books?

As someone who works and will soon be studying again, in the world of science, I read a lot of articles! I am going back to school in September to get my degree in plant science, so I expect the article reading will increase then too. While my interest is obviously in plants, I also read a lot of articles in the surrounding fields, namely conservation, climate change and green technology.

Outside of that, I am one of those people who spends a lot of time on Wikipedia. I am always looking things up, and can quite happily spend hours reading up on various random subjects. For example, I know all about gemstones and how to classify them. I know how to fletch an arrow and make glass beads. I also know a lot of stuff about Menhirs (standing stones) and ancient British tribes.

Of course, I also spend a lot of time reading book blogs, as I suspect we all do!

Do you like non-novel forms of literature, like poetry and plays?

Not often. I struggle to find a good flow when reading something like a script, so plays are usually a format I avoid. The last play I read was waaaay back in school, ‘Journey’s End’ which is a wartime one.

As for poetry, I don’t hate it, but again, I don’t pick it up often. I have said several times that I am not an emotional reader, and that translates into the rest of my life too – I am rarely super emotional in general. I find that emotional connection is important for poetry, so I don’t usually find it that compelling.

Do you read a lot of news articles, op-eds, or essays?

I answered this in the first question, but yes! I am an article fiend haha. I tend not to read ‘news news’ articles, like on the BBC, I usually seek out online journals or publications where sources are cited and all that. I like to know what I read is trustworthy!

Do novels make up most of your reading, or is it a mix of those other kinds of writing?

Novels are the bulk of my reading, yes. While I do end up spending hours down article rabbit-holes, I still read books for far longer stretches of time, and more frequently too. I am reading books every single day, while I don’t do that with articles.

Do you ever listen to podcasts in place of audiobooks?

Well, I am not really an audiobook reader to start with – I hate being read to! However, I do occasionally listen to podcasts, but they are few and far between. Some I enjoy are ‘There’s no such thing as a fish’ (honestly hilarious), ‘ologies’ and ‘Spill the sustainabili-tea’. I don’t listen to them very often, usually in place of music when I’m driving, or if I want to sit and knit for 30 minutes.

You tell me: do you ever read articles? What podcasts do you like?