Reading Questions

Oooooh, the latest SSD From Our Blog 2 Yours in a series of questions about books and reading. That's my kind of blog entry!

Here you go...

Amazon or brick and mortar?
Both. I mostly buy US imports, which aren't in the standard brick and mortar stores here in NZ as we're part of the UK publishing zone. (I don't totally understand it all, but it means US books generally don't wind up on the mainstream shelves here.} So I shop through the wonderful Barbara's Books here in Auckland, who are importers of US Fantasy, SF and Romance. However, book prices are high here because of the shipping requirements, so I buy my paperbacks from Barbara (whom I also call my "pusher" as she keeps finding new things for me to read) and if there are hardcovers or trade paperbacks I really want, I get those from Amazon through a friend of Dave's who can get them to us here for essentially free shipping, which makes them affordable. That said, I can never resist the urge to browse in a bookshop, even if I'm not going to buy.

Bookmark or dog ear?
Bookmark! Dog earing is the eighth deadly sin. Of course, a bookmark is any scrap of paper or other non-sticky substance I can get my hands on when Marcus is demanding my attention and I need to mark my place. After he managed to break Giles (BtVS) in half, I stopped using my good bookmarks. (I have collected bookmarks in the past.) I'll get them out again when he's older.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
By author. You mean there's another way?

Keep, throw away, or sell?
Keep. I love books. I am fundamentally incapable of throwing them away, although I do go though and do a cull occasionally and then I give them away or sell them. The current number of books in my book catalogue (which is basically complete barring some of Marcus' books I've forgotten to add in) is 2265.

Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Keep.

Read with dust jacket or remove it?
Remove it. I need to keep it pristine and pretty.

Short story or novel?
Novels. I know there are some fantastic short stories out there, especially by NZ authors who seem to thrive in that form, but I really struggle to read them. I can read a 500 page novel more easily that a 90 page short story.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Harry Potter.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
When I'm tired or when I need to do something else - which is usually Marcus grabbing the book and saying "Close!" in a very determined voice. Occasionally chapter breaks, but usually not.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
Can I have "Once upon a time it was a dark and stormy night"?? If I have to choose, it would be "Once upon a time".

Buy or Borrow?
Buy. If I could afford it (and the space in the house that would be required) I'd buy everything. I love books and I love having them around me in the house. For me, a house without books is missing a soul. And if I visit you, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to resist checking out your bookshelves.

New or used?
So long as the quality is good, I don't mind.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Some recommendations, some browsing. A lot of books I buy these days are from tried and true authors I love.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy ending please. I don't mind a few threads left to carry on with, but I like to know how everything is going to work out. That said, if it's a series, I want that tidy ending for the series, but don't necessarily need it for each book. Open ended series that go on forever without resolution drive me nuts though. It's okay if the end is a long way away, but I want there to be an end, at least to the current story arc.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Any single moment I can manage. I'm one of those people who buys my handbags based on whether or not they can fit a book in them and carry one around with me all the time. (Plus a couple of extras on my PDA as ebooks if I want something different.)

Stand-alone or series?
Either works for me, but I do love revisiting great worlds and characters, so series probably edges out stand-alone by a nose.

Favorite series?
Catherine Asaro's Skolian books.

Favorite children’s book?
"The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
"Sword of the Lamb"/"Shadow of the Swan"/"House of the Wolf" by M. K. Wren (it's a trilogy that tells a single story, so I've put them together)

Favorite books of all time?
Impossible question to answer, but here are a few favourites:
"The Changeling Sea" by Patricia A. McKillip
"The Radiant Seas" by Catherine Asaro
"Venetia" by Georgette Heyer
"Gaudy Night" by Dorothy L. Sayers
"Memory" by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Checkmate" by Dorothy Dunnett
"The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley

Least favorite book you finished last year?
So that knocks out the ones I didn't actually finish, huh? Let me see...
"Embroidered Truths" by Monica Ferris according to my Library Thing reading list. The absolute worst, that I didn't finish, was "Dexta" by C.J. Ryan.

What are you reading right now?
"Spellbinder" by Melanie Rawn

What are you reading next?
Probably "Heir to the Darkness" by Anne Bishop, but I won't know for sure until I finish the current book and select the next one off the TBR shelf.