Buddy read ; the act of reading a book simultaneously as one or more other person. A deadline might be placed to have read a specific part of the book by that date so discussion can take place.
Heey guys !
Have you ever buddy read with someone else before ?
I did – Me and a US friend both read “the state we’re in“, by Adele Parks. But she read it in english, while I did in french.
Buddy reading can be fun in some ways ; Have someone go through the same things as you at the same time, and having the pleasure to scream at same book together !!
However; in my case, it also made me feel guilty as hell…
Let me explain; I was always a slow reader, but that was a part of my life where reading was still kinda hard for me to concentrate on and stuff. That being said, She was always ahead of me (getting rid of the discussing part, really..) and I felt like I was holding her back.. Twist of situation, I think I ended up chugging the whole half of a book in one night and finishing before she did 😂 After crying my eyes out, I was patiently waiting for her to aswell, ahaha – and trying not to spoil her the ending I knew of, which wasn’t a happy one. We then could ramble on together !! Though we both loved that book, even if the ending destroyed us.
I think choosing a good buddy to read with is a must. Ideally, you’d wanna pick someone who’s about the same speed as you; so this problem of mine is avoided. I guarantee you there’s nothing as awful as feeling ashamed of how you read .. specially if it’s not something you can control in some way or another. And of course someone who match your taste ahah !
I’d be willing to try again if the opportunity would come again, now that my reading is actually doing a lot better ! So hopefully that can be a more positive experience ..
Tell me, what do YOU think of buddy reading ?
° Have you buddy read with someone before ? How did it went? What book was it for ?
° Do you plan to buddy read in the future ?
Haha… I did a buddy read with my friend last month and it was similar issues… I’m very fast though and she was busy with work, so had less time to read… we are also in opposite time zones, so we could never really read together… it was still a fun experience!!!
Yeah .. specially when timezones are involved it can be a mess xD
I actually just did a buddy read last week and loved it! Turns out my buddy reads faster than I do (which was a shock because I’m already a fast reader), but I had a really good time with it anyway. I think it’s nice to point out possible plot things and gush about characters in real time with someone who’s got similar taste in books.
Yes, true ! In that way, you know you are already fast so there’s less of a “guilt” to it. which, part of mine was more of how I couldn’t read as quick as I used to and .. I feeled like I dragged her down; were talking maybe weeks here !
I am actually just finishing my first ever buddy read, and I have quite enjoyed it. I really like being able to discuss a book with somebody else as I go along, even if it has meant slowing down my reading speed to a large extent.
That’s good ! Happy you had a good one nonetheless !
I’ve only done one buddy read but it was with a real life friend so there wasn’t any pressure. But it was so fun! We read a book I didn’t think I would get through on my own, and it was so much fun being freaked out and trying to figure out what happened with each other. I would love to do a buddy read with someone in the book community, but I get busy at random times and am afraid to hold people back, too, lol ><!
Oh, yeah thatd be cool !! You guys can just take moments and read together and speak rather than writing !
I would like to buddy read more. I haven’t yet because I don’t plan out my reading too often, so I end up reading sporadically. Tori @ In Tori Lex
The best would be to pick someone who wanna read a same book as you !
I’m the same way xD when i’m not working on review requests ahah, I’ll pick watever I feel like reading
I agree with you on having to have the right reading buddy. Otherwise it feels…awkward? I rarely do buddy reads because I’m such a mood reader. I also tend to read as much as I can in one sitting, so that doesn’t help! Haha.
ahaha yeah ! Depends on the book, and if I have to get up the next morning and stuff as I prefer night reading; I can do that too xD
Buddy reading can be really hit-or-miss for me. On one hand, I once did a buddy read with someone who read super slowly while all I wanted was to zip through the book as fast as possible. On the other hand, my favourite ever buddy read was with my best reading friend, and it was so much fun to discuss and laugh over things that happened! <3
Yep, exactly !! all in the right partner xx
Having a similar reading style and preference cam help things go a bit smoother. I hope you will have more fun buddy reading experiences
I’ve only buddy read with IRL friends. Last month I was supposed to buddy read with someone from a Goodreads group, but she totally abandoned me 🙁 I’d love to try it at some point, though.
Oh noo !! that’s mean .. Hopefully it’d be a successful one if you do try, though!
It was a bit annoying, as she choose the book and it wasn’t on KU so I actually committed to the purchase ahead of time. When I realised she wasn’t going to go through with it (she just ended up ignoring my messages), it was too late to refund the purchase. Luckily, I spoke to an amazing guy working for Amazon that couldn’t refund me, instead he gave me a voucher of the purchase amount AND let me keep the book. So, if nothing else, at least now I know first hand how great Amazon’s customer service is 😛
atleast, that’s good !!
eeh. such a shame to make someone buy a book AND ending up ignoring -.-
That’s no way to be a good buddy reader, I’m sorry you had that experience. I’ve been able to enjoy so many great buddy reads on Instagram (aka bookstagram) and I get so much more out of the Book, even ones I didn’t like that much they turned into a fun read because of who I read with. I hope you will be able to have a much better buddy experience if you decide to do another one online.
That sounds like you’ve had some great experiences with buddy reads, definitely makes me want to give it another shot. I can imagine that even books that aren’t that great, can be turned into a fun experience when you have someone to rant and rave with 😀
Buddy reading has always seemed like it’d be stressful for exactly that reason! People have different reading speeds, different things going on in life, etc. I have done a few kind of accidental buddy reads though lol. Like, me and someone else ended up reading a book right around the same time (usually cuz we got the ARC), and so then we ended up being able to chat about it!
I think the latter would be more fun, as you dont really *need* the other to continue reading or to hurry up? Idk, I might’ve been a lonely child too much 😂
Yeah, when you just happen to be reading a book at the same time as someone, there’s no stress, but you still get to talk about the book as you’re going or once you both finish!
Exactly! No need to try to keep up
I buddy read Simon Vs. Homosapiens Agenda with my internet friend. I read in in Finnish, while she read in English. It was really nice but she was a little faster reader, and we were talking on the phone while we read so it was little weird to be on different parts of the book. I’d like to do some more buddy reading in the future.
ahhh … yep, I relate
I’m doing my first buddy read ever 😀 We are reading Last Time I Lied.
I think we have similar reading speed and similar amount of time to read daily, so it’s been going pretty well! We read around 15% and a day and are pretty happy with that 😀
Different time zones could potentially make everything harder.
Oh! I hope you are gonna enjoy it 😄 timezones has always the potential to be a bitxh..
I love doing buddy reads, although this may be because I always do them with my co-author, who also happens to be one of my best friends, haha. We live in different countries, so it takes a lot of organization, and with work and blogging schedules we always end up finishing at different times… but we’re on our sixth buddy read with no plans to stop! It’s so fun to find out how we agree or disagree on books and then present to our blog followers, especially since then people get *two* opinions on a book in one review. I love this question btw!
Oh wow, fantastic !! hats off to you two to make it work xx
Feel free to pick out the topic to write your own post about it 🙂 I’d love to read your side of things.
Thanks! I do agree our friendship has been tested sometimes when I went to bat for books I loved and she insisted the book was terrible haha or the reverse.
I’ll keep that in mind, and be sure to link back when I do!!
Ahah yeah I bet!
Gotta sadly accept we may difer on some books 😅
I’m a big buddy reader on bookstagram, that’s how I discovered them and I really enjoy them. I recently teamed up with a buddy and we organized a readalong for The Woman in White (one of my favorite books) and we had an amazing time. I get so much out of a book when I can discuss it with someone else. I find that depending on the book it can be read at your own pace (with an ending discussion) or a schedule of reading so the discussion can be more regular, esp with longer books.
Side note: I’ve been meaning to do a blog post about the same topic but with the idea of why I’ve enjoyed them. But you make a good point about not feeling bad or like you are rushing your buddy
Please do write a blogpost about that ! I’d love to hear what you’d have to say, which could also make some “guidelines/tips” onto how to make it successful ?
Happy it was a good time for both of you ! xx
I just checked my drafts and it’s just sitting there, but I like the idea about guidelines and tips. Time to revisit this
I love buddy reading….
I’ve never buddy read before :'( I want to though but like…I guess I’ve just never explored that avenue yet cause I’m a fast reader. So finding someone who can match my speed…would be hard. If I love the book, I read at my fastest, if not I may read slower but I think my slow reading is still faster than most ppl’s??? Even though I think it isn’t haha
Mh, yeah .. true. though there’s probably a whole lot more fast readers in here ..
it sounds like you had a great time tbh c:
i haven done many eithe rb cim pretty eratic w my reading schedule but they are fun
I did ! Though I felt pretty badly because I just couldn’t help but my reading was slow x)
I love to buddy read and because of insta stories and people posting about what they can read next… if I have the book and I haven’t read it yet I always say do you want to buddy read together? And then we do! I read a medium pace I think. It’s less me reading slow but more so just having to make time to read. So if I am with a fast reader I can go at their pace and just have to make more time for reading. But if I am with a slow reader I multi read and go at their pace which works too.
Oh, true it can be as simple! I usually never have a match in mine ahah
Thats actually really nice! At the time my brain couldnt cooperate so I guess it would be different if I were to do one now, hopefully