Books To Read
I saw this over at Jhianna’s Blog, and since I’m in love with books almost as much as she is, I’ll steal her borrowed idea. I love reading. It’s one of my true joys, but with my class/work load, I just don’t have the time or energy anymore to get to my books as often as I would like.
I took a whole load of books and magazines to the bookstore over the weekend, and got over $150 in store credit for the books. Sounds like a good deal, but when I think back on it, it was about $400 worth of books that I offloaded. I did accomplish my goal of freeing up some space on my shelves for future purchases. It also allowed me to spread out my “to read” stack a little, so that it is more organized. I did a count, and came up with 56 books that I need to read. Some are short, but most of them are pretty hefty. I’m hoping that most of them are good. Some have good recommendations from friends. Some are books that intrigued me from the descriptions and artwork. Most are from my my favorite authors.
I’m hoping that this blog post will remind me why I love to read so much, and it may inspire me to do more than read in the bathroom. Anyway… here goes:
Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?: I’m a huge fantasy fan, but I’ll jump into science fiction if it’s about a future Earth where things have gone horribly wrong. I like Neuromancer, Hard Wired, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Johnny Mnemonic, and science fiction along those lines. You can take the space ships, FTL travel, space battles, and fights between men and cats and leave them on the shelves. They don’t interest me at all.
Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?: Mass market paperback. It irks me that some authors will delay the release of a paperback in order to sell more hardbacks. I’m so far behind in my reading, that I tend to wait until the series is completed in paperback form before I’ll start reading. When I wasn’t behind, I could only afford the paperbacks, so I stuck with those. Only one author, Dennis L. McKiernan, has ever made me itch so bad for the next part of the story that I would buy the hardback. However, he has, to the best of my knowledge, never done hardback, for which I will forever love him.
Amazon or Brick and Mortar?: Brick and mortar. I love being able to peruse books endlessly until I find the three or four that catch my fancy. There are times that I will shop online (usually at Barnes & Noble if I already know what I want to get.
Barnes & Noble or Borders?: I don’t really care. I’m a member of both of them. I tend to only go to Borders if I happen to already be in the mall. If I’m specifically going out for a book, then I’ll end up at Barnes & Noble instead of Borders.
Hitchhiker or Discworld?: These are both great, but I would have to say that Hitchhiker has made me laugh longer and harder than Discworld. I still love reading Discworld books, but there are just too many of them!
Bookmark or Dogear?: Bookmark! Dogearing a book is like beating a child. It should never be done.
Magazine: Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?: Neither. I don’t have time for another magazine subscription, but as an aspiring author, I really should read both to find quality writing, new ideas, and to keep up with the times. Maybe after I graduate, I’ll subscribe. Dunno.
Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random?: I group by author, but they are by no means alphabetized.
Keep, Throw Away or Sell?: Depends on the quality of the book. I have 60 or so books that I will always keep because the writing is just fantastic, and I will go back and re-read them endlessly. Those that I don’t keep go to a used book store for credit. The problem that I’m having lately is that I have a decent amount of credit at a local book store, and it goes away soon when they close their doors in two days. I gotta do two things: 1) Go to the old bookstore, and use my credit. 2) Find a new used book store that I like. I have a few in mind already.
Keep dust-jacket or toss it?: I keep it. It’s part of the book. No sense in throwing it away.
Read with dustjacket or remove it?: I always remove it. They seem to get so tattered and worn if I read with the dust jackets on.
Short story or novel?: I am most certainly more of a novel man than a short story man. You just get so much more out of a novel.
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?: I’ve loved the Harry Potter books (although, not as much as my wife,) and I never heard of Lemony Snicket until that Jim Carrey movie a few years back.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?: I usually stop at chapter breaks, but not always. I like stopping at chapter breaks, but sometimes I just run out of time, and have to stop where I can.
“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?: Neither. I’ve read too many stories that start that way, and I’m tired of it. Give me a good action scene to start a book, and I’ll be happy.
Buy or Borrow?: Mostly buy in case it’s good enough to keep. There are some that I’ll borrow, though.
Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?: I pick up most of my books through browsing, but a recommendation from a good friend goes a long way. I don’t read reviews of other peoples’ works. Movie reviews, book reviews, game reviews, etc. are all written by people that aren’t good enough to make a movie/book/game, so why I should I listen to them?
Lewis or Tolkien?: Tolkien all the way. The imagery, depth of detail, and concepts in Middle-Earth are fantastic. His writing really brings the world to life, and I deeply love authors that can pull that off.
Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)?: If the anthology has a common theme, common world, or common characters, then I can handle it. If it’s just a bunch of short stories that happen to be written in the same year, then I’ll skip it. I like consistency in my reading.
Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?: If it’s in the middle of a series, then I like cliffhangers. If it’s the end of a series, then the author damn well better wrap things up.
Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?: Afternoon and nighttime are the best for my mental capabilities to enjoy reading.
Standalone or Series?: I can go either way, but I think I like series more than standalone books. It’s hard, these days, to fit a full story with full descriptions into a standalone book.
New or used?: Don’t care. There are some authors that I discovery that their older stuff can only be found used.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?: The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran. It is, hands down, the best book that I have ever read. I read it every year, and love it every time. I have two copies of it because my first copy started to fall apart, and I don’t loan out either of them. I highly recommend this book, but you’ll have to go out and get your own copy.
Top 5 favorite genre books of all time?: Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan, Magician by Raymond E. Feist, The Empire Series by Janny Wurts, any Xanth novel by Piers Anthony.
Favorite genre series?: The Iron Tower Trilogy (with a close second being the Iron Call Duology) both by Dennis L. McKiernan.
Currently Reading?: On Writing by Stephen King.
Now that I’ve finished this up, it has indeed reminded me of what I’m missing out on by not reading more. I’m not sure where I’ll find the time to do it, but I intend on trying to go through more than 1 book every 2 months. My old pace was a book ever week and a half or two weeks. I don’t know that I’ll get to that point until I graduate, but we’ll see how it goes.
