When I get the chance to interview authors, I often ask them this question: "Do you prefer writing in silence, or with background noise (e.g. a tv or music)?" The answers I get vary from emphatic yeses to certainly nots. I enjoy seeing the different perspectives, ad so I bring you this question.

As someone who finds silence extremely uncomfortable, any form of background noise helps me. And when I say silence, I don't mean a mostly silent place where people still make noise, I mean the deathly silence where you can barely hear people breathing, it's that silent. That kind of atmosphere stresses me out and makes me scared to make noise for fear of getting looked at.

That being said, I don't mind "general silence" that much. By that I mean a place where you can hear normal noises like breathing, page turns, someone's foot scraping on the floor. If I'm at home I enjoy playing music, or just having silence; other people in the household make enough noise for me, and tv is too distracting.

Besides background noise, I also know some people love to read in certain places. I usually just sit on the couch and decide to pick up a book, but I know people who grab a book and set off for their chosen spots. There are so many different ways people read, from the way they hold their book, to what position they are in.

I'd love to know what you do. What are your reading habits?