Grasping for the Wind: A Book Lover's Meme

January 24, 2007

A Book Lover's Meme

I spotted this one at the The Books of My Numberless Dreams.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Harback when available. Trade paperback for books I'm taking a chance on. Mass Market for those great to curl up in bed with sword and sorcery books.

Amazon or brick and mortar?
Brick & Mortar. However, to get the best deal on books I know I will enjoy, I by from B&N.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Barnes & Noble! Even have the credit card for extra discount and gift cards!

Bookmark or dogear?
Bookmarks. Why destroy a book I paid $30 for?

Alphabetize by author or alphebetize by title or random?
First organize by subject, then by author. Although with the move several months ago, I haven't really bothered casue the look so pretty on theshelf the way I have'em now.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
Throw away? That's an option? I always sell what I don't want, so I can buy more with the money. Rare occasions I give it away to a really good friend.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Keep.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
Always Remove. It keeps it looking nice on the shelf, you see.

Short story or novel?
Novel. Short Stories only get interesting right when you finish them.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
Collection.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Lemony Snicket. Much more interesting and humorous. Better written too.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
NEVER STOP! But if I must, it must be a reasonable breaking point. This will proably change when kids come along, unless I train 'em right.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
“Once upon a time”. Much happier and cleaner ultimately.

Buy or Borrow?
Buy. Our library sucks.

New or used?
New, preferably.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Browse, and the occasional litblog with a small dash of seller reviews.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy ending. Its okay in a trilogy to have a cliffhanger, but you got to finish it up clean in the end. (or else Robert Jordan, poor guy, stuff might happen.)

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Afternoon & night. Studying done in morning though.

Standalone or series?
Either. So long as the series gets finished.

Favorite series?
Terry Pratchett Discworld books

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Beyond the Summerland - L.B. Graham

Favorite books read last year?
All of them, except Wicked.

Favorite books of all time?
The Hobbit; Men at Arms; The Burgermeister's Daughter; The Bible; Song of Ice and Fire Series; Sword of Truth series; Wheel of Time series; Binding of the Blade Series; Any Forgotten Realms books; Whatever I'm reading at the moment.

Posted by John on January 24, 2007 04:23 PM | Posted to Literature and Language
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Comments

so how is Lemoney Snicket better written? I need an explanation on that one.

Posted by: Erik on January 25, 2007 09:23 AM

Lemony uses words and phrases (with funny explanations) that will increae vocabulary. The tone is more subtle and takes to story in surprising directions. Harry Potter plots are rather predictable to any regular reader of fantasy.

They do target different age groups, so are not really comparable in all honesty.

Harry Potter fails to be clever and is morally bankrupt. Lemony Snicket is just the opposite, although its tone would suggest otherwise. That is its skill and cleverness of plot that makes it a better series.

Harry Potter is just too darn predictable.

Posted by: Otter on January 25, 2007 09:39 AM

You prefer The Hobbit to Lord of the Rings? I'd be interested to hear why. I haven't read the first one in a long time.

Posted by: Imani on January 25, 2007 01:29 PM

The Hobbit is more adventourous I think. I find the character of Bilbo much more appealing than Frodo. I like Sam almost as much, but Frodo seems to whine just once to often. Actually, he so much like me that maybe that's why I dislike him.

Posted by: Otter on January 25, 2007 02:04 PM

Hahahaha. My memory of The Hobbit is dim but I do remember not liking it so much because of the "children's author" voice Tolkien adopted. I was rather gratified to read in one of his letter's that he regretted the move.

Posted by: Imani on January 26, 2007 02:52 PM