Reading Meme

From Bookmark My Heart

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? I prefer reading hardcovers due to my years of borrowing library books. They stay open better when I have my hands full with curling my hair or kneading bread or whatever. On the other hand, I buy paperbacks whenever possible, unless it's something that I'll be keeping and reusing a lot (cookbooks (hah!) or reference books).

Amazon or brick and mortar? I buy from brick/mortar stores. I do a lot of shopping on Amazon, and use it for a lot of other purposes besides shopping. I also use it when I need to ship something somewhere else as a gift. But I'd prefer to SEE the book before I buy it, so I hit the bookstore and make lists.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Borders is closer, so that's where we normally go. I know I've shopped at BN, but for some reason, even when they are both available, I hit Borders. And now I'm a member of their frequent shopper thingy, so I get discounts, so it just seems more sensible.

Bookmark or dogear? I don't normally dogear books anymore, just magazines. Books get sticky notes instead. I will use almost anything as a bookmark, even though I own about 50 of 'em. They are never where I need them and I'm far too lazy to go get one when there's a perfectly good envelope or barrette nearby! :-)

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? At home? Things are arranged by subject, VERY generally, and otherwise totally random.

Keep, throw away, or sell? I don't buy books unless I intend to keep them for at least awhile. Most of my used stuff goes to the library for the book sale. I throw away books that are totally yellowed, that smell of mildew (or, at work, of smoke), and that are pure crap. We got a book about creationism donated a few years ago; I threw that away.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Keep. It makes a handy bookmark. I don't like hardcover books without dust jackets; they scream BORING to me. I need the blurb and the author info to keep me happy.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? If it's a very long book, I'll take it off and keep it. I took them off ALL of Sparky's books when he was a kid to keep them in decent shape.

Short story or novel? I love short stories. Some days, being able to say you FINISHED reading something is a wonderful thing! Plus, with short stories, if one of them is bad, you can skip to the next.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? I'm not fussy as long as they are good.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Oh, I don't think you can compare these two. A much better comparison would be Harry Potter or His Dark Materials and I come down solidly for the latter, though I love Harry. Lemony Snicket is funny, but mostly froth.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I stop when I have to. "We're leaving...are you coming or not?" is when I stop. Or when I fall asleep.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? I've never read Bulwer-Lytton. I don't like fairy tales, much. But I prefer history to melodrama, so I'll pick "Once Upon a Time."

Buy or Borrow? More than 95% of the books I read I've gotten at the library. The rest are either gifts or used. I usually only buy books that mean something special to me, or that I'll use as references (see above), or that I know will take me forever to read and accrue major overdues if I borrow.

New or used? I love brand new books, but since most of those that I read are library books, it's not a real issue for me.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? I long ago gave up on treating reviewers with respect. I read the reviews for subject matter and then decide if the plot or subject is interesting to me before I check on whether the reviewer liked it. I also check to see who the reviewer is and how they've done picking books I've liked in the past. I do follow some recommendations, but not many. Several recent books have been snagged as I catalog them at work. I think that counts as browsing...?

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Depends on how it's written. I don't like stuff all tidied up; it's too fake. But I do want closure, so some of the loose ends have to be sorted out. If the author is clearly stringing me along to read/buy her next book (Patricia Cornwell), I don't bite. I've stopped reading authors who've done this.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Whenever I can find the time.

Standalone or series? I love series. But I also read standalones. The plot is what matters, and the characters.

Favorite series? Sue Grafton's books, and Marcia Muller's. Sara Paretsky. (Sensing a theme yet?) Tony Hillerman. Bill Pronzini.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? The Book of Ruth was huge about 15 years ago but seems to have fallen out of favor. I also like Evensong.

Favorite books read last year? Words, Words, Words. And Misquoting Jesus.

Favorite books of all time? Laura Ingalls Wilder's series. Alice in Wonderland. Jane Eyre.