16 March 2007

Book Meme

Riannan tagged me for this one, and I haven't done that many meme's lately, have I? Besides, I'm quite fond of books :)

Hardback or paperback: It doesn't really matter. I'm quite fond of paperbacks, really, but if you want to give me a hardback, go ahead...

Amazon or brick and mortar: Brick and mortar! I don't think I've bought a book online yet. (Yes, I've bought other stuff, cd's and dvd's - I'm not a complete internet illiterate...) I just love book stores, walking through, browsing...

Barnes and Noble or Border's: I haven't got a clue... From what internet can tell me, I think I'd quite like Barnes and Noble --- but I can't find out if Border's is anything special, so I really can't tell.

Bookmark or dog-ear: Bookmark! Anything goes... Or if it's got a dust jacket I'll fold it in where I stopped reading. If I haven't got either I'll jot down the page number somewhere. Never dog-ears. Incidentally, dog-ears are "donkey-ears" in Norwegian. Only we say it in Norwegian, of course ;)

Alphabetize by author, alphabetize by subject, or random: By author, and chronologically within same author (as I do with my cd's). Although books of other kind - artsy books, reference books etc. go by classification, and a few non-definable books are *blushing* sorted by height...

Keep, throw away or sell: Unless I really hate them (which is rare), I keep them. I just love books, the feel and touch and look of them :) I've given a few away that I'd never read and wasn't going to. Quite a few books still in the attic, though, waiting for a bigger house with more bookshelves... Now that all the kids have learnt to read as well, we'll have to find somewhere for all those children's books too!

Keep the dust jacket or toss it: I always keep it. Like I'd never throw away an album sleeve. I need all the information I can get! I wouldn't buy those see-through dust-jackets, though, I'm not really worried about the dust.

Short story or novel: I usually read novels, but I'm quite fond of short stories too. It goes in cycles, sometimes I'll read only short stories.

Collection (same author) or anthology (different authors): I don't think I've really tried the latter, unless you count all the books written "by Enid Blyton" I read when I was little. I though he/she (I didn't know which) had an amazing capacity and was a little put off when I heard it was different authors... I'd definitely say "collection", though, as I'm loving my way through Terry Pratchetts discworld novels...

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket: Definitely Lemony Snicket. I have no idea what it is, but I don't like Harry Potter... I know, I think I should, I enjoy fantasy and magicians and all that, but Harry and I got off on a wrong note - I read the first book in Norwegian. I hear people saying it's an excellent translation, so I figured - it's got to be the author's fault, then... Read the 4th in English (only two I've read) and although I was quite captured by it while reading it I'm afraid it didn't leave me wanting to find out what happens. It was too plain evil. Now, I'll just find out about Lemony Snicket. I must say it looks promising :)Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks: Chapter breaks. Tiredness doesn't enter into it - breaks have got to fit in with the plot.

"It was a dark and storm night" or "once upon a time?": First one, probably, I'm not too keen on fairytales. Though fairy's tales I seem to be quite partial to :) Which reminds me of Martin Millar's Fairies in New York, haven't read that in too long...!

Buy or borrow: Either. Though I like to own books, reading them are more important. When I was in primary school I'd read all the books in our school library, saving the encyclopaedias, so they let me go into town to borrow books there. Nowadays I borrow mainly from friends, or I just read the stuff I've already got, but haven't had time to read...

New or used: That's irrelevant. I love old books - especially the look of them - but I also love brand new books, especially if they're by any of my favourite authors.

Buying choice: Very much haphazard. Sometimes recommendations from friends - although I tend to not want to read a book if too many people tell me I'll love it... Well, one author & tv personality over here sometimes recommends books to me (we're email buddies :) - and I always go for them. He showed me David Sedaris, for which I'm eternally grateful!

Tidy endings or cliffhangers: I must admit I prefer endings that are, well, endings. Although I can take a cliffhanger if I know there's another book coming up.

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading: If I had any spare time at all, time of day wouldn't matter much. Well, morning would be out of the question, of course, as I can't think straight until lunchtime... Nighttime, definitely a good time!

Stand-alone or series: [I'll just copy Riannan's answer to this one, it matches mine.] Both. I can get caught up in a good series, and can't wait for the next book, but I read many books that aren't part of a series.

Favourite series: Discworld Books by Terry Pratchett. The 5 books in "The increasingly inaccurately named trilogy" A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Well, to be truthful, I didn't really like the 5th book all that much. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. (Yes, I read it all long time before the films came out. And I think I've seen half a film so far.) Anything by PG Wodehouse - especially the Jeeves stories. The no. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.

- Oh my, I seem to be rather fond of series after all... And I'm very fond of reading, it just doesn't fit into the time table right now...

And, if you like, TAG, you're it. And thanks, Riannan, this was quite good fun :o)

3 comments:

Devil Mood said...

Ah Enid Blyton, I read those too. I LOVED the 4 towers school :) I wrote a lot of stories based on those too. Isn't it amazing how they go from generation to generation? I really wish kids today still read them - do your kids have them?
I was reading in my balcony today, under the hot sun, it was bliss :)

Anonymous said...

You go for brick-and-mortar over Amazon? I don't mind wondering around a book store, but usually I just stick to Amazon.

You might like the Book & Reading Forums.

kimananda said...

I seem to have lost the will to blog, but I may do this one to try and get it back. And, just to encourage you with the truth, Lemony Snicket rocks. No really, he does.