Musing Mondays — Meme-tastic

I've been a Musing Mondays slacker of late, as I just haven't connected with a good question. But this week's offering is a little meme-thing, and you know how I love those little buggers. So!

What was the last book you…
• borrowed from the library?
I just today grabbed The Red Tent, my book club's next pick.
• bought?
A Visit From the Goon Squad, which I found at The Bookmark, my local-ish indie bookstore.
• cried over?
The Book Thief, because I am not made of stone, people.
• disliked and couldn’t finish?
I tried listening to a free version of Emma, but the narrator took her commas and full stops way too seriously for me. Not the book's problem, though, and I might try a different version later.
• read & loved?
Anya's Ghost, which I did not intend to like at all!
• got for review? (or: got in the mail?)
Well, I don't do that first part, and I like to buy my books in person... hmm... I think the last time I mail-ordered books I ended up with John Green's first three novels, and also The Secret History
• gave to someone else?
Uh-oh. I lent a friend some books recently and I don't remember what they were! I'm pretty sure I lent her The Sparrow and The Manual of Detection, and probably In the Woods? I should really keep better track of these things.
• stayed up too late reading?
The Hunger Games, which is just too engaging for its own good!

Musing Mondays — Cull or Surrender?

Today's Musing Mondays is a long one:

"Below is a link to an NPR discussion about the simple fact that there’s no way you can read, see and experience all the things that are available to be experienced. The two methods for dealing with it are culling (i.e., cutting out certain genres that don’t interest you, etc.) or surrender (i.e., just making peace with the facts and enjoying what you can in the time that you have).

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/27/137451477/you-cant-possibly-read-it-all-so-stop-trying

So, do you cull, or do you surrender? Or do you do both?"

I'm guessing that most people do a combination of the two, and I am no exception. I have surrendered to the fact that I will not read many many many wonderful things in my life, but I'm certainly going to try my hardest! And I think there should be some sort of third option up there of "seeking" — as in, I know I can't read everything wonderful but I am going to seek out the things that I feel I absolutely must read or that I think are important to read or fun to read or whatever. The opposite of culling, really. Right now I'm seeking out more literary fiction and experimental fiction because I feel a lack of it, and I'm looking in the future to seek out more early mystery novels from authors I haven't read because I want to have a better breadth of knowledge there, and I'm sure in a year or two I'll have another subset of literature that I am eager to get my hands on.

In the culling department, I know that I will not read any of the 700 or so Harlequin/Silhouette romance paperbacks that are filling my cataloging department right now (I really did not know there could be so many variations on sheikhs and millionaires and mistresses, etc.). I'm not going to pick up any long epic fantasy series. I'm not likely to read political books or Christian/inspirational fiction or urban novels or westerns or cat detective novels or self-help books. I don't mean never to any of these — if something that fits one of these categories came highly recommended I'm sure I'd give it a try — but I do mean most likely not. I mean, I have plenty of other stuff to read!

Musing Mondays — Reading Nooks

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "Where is your favorite place to read?"

Well. Hmm. When it's nice outside (read: below 90 degrees [read: not now!]), I like to go hang out on my balcony, pictured here. Those chairs are surprisingly comfy.

But when it's like now, and the only safe place is indoors, I spend most of my time reading on the big leather couch in our living room. And then I have a nap on it. It's a pretty good deal, that. What's most fun is when Scott is playing video games on the TV and I can cuddle up with him while we're each doing our thing. That's really my favorite!

Strangely enough, the place where I do the most reading is my least favorite, because that's at work! I listen to all my audiobooks there, which sometimes takes quite a while because someone will make a super loud and prolonged noise and I'll have to just give up on trying to hear my book over it and instead wait and rewind back to where I think I was. Which is sometimes nowhere near where I actually was. Which is unfortunate, unless the book is really good, in which case it's just a second helping!

Musing Mondays — New Year's Books

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "How many books did you read in 2010? If you had a reading goal, did you meet it? What books are you most looking forward to reading for 2011 (either new, OR ones that have sat on your shelves for a while)?"

As I mentioned yesterday, I read 123 books in 2010, which is more than I thought I would read — I had figured on 100, maybe, but I ended up with about half of my reading being children's and YA, which of course tends to read more quickly. So I did pretty well for myself!

For this year, I am looking forward to FINALLY reading a few books with the TBR Challenge. I have to admit that I don't really know what's coming out this year in books except for Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays is Missing, which is coming out... soon-ish. I don't really keep track of these things, I just note them when they happen and go from there!

Musing Mondays — What to Read

Today's Musing Mondays question is a thoughtful one...

"I was reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s book, “You Learn By Living“, via Google Books the other day, and came across a quote that really struck a chord with me. The quote said this:

“What counts, in the long run, is not what you read; it is what you sift through in your own mind; it is the ideas and impressions that are aroused in you by your reading.”
(pg. 7-8, “You Learn By Living” by Eleanor Roosevelt)

What do you think about this quote? Do you believe this to be true? If so, why and how? And, if not, why not?"

I've said a little bit on the subject before, but I will say again that I am a big fan of people reading what they want to read rather than what they think they should read. Reading in general is good, and you're going to learn new things and get new impressions from every book you read, even if you're not reading "literature" or whatever.

But at the same time, I would say that reading widely is what's really important for ideas and impressions. If you like mysteries, say (which is pretty much the only thing I used to read, back in the day), that's great, but don't spend your life re-reading those books, or reading only mysteries by Agatha Christie or Philip R. Craig or whomever. Read stories that are different, try new authors, look at books that are mystery but are for whatever reason shelved in fiction instead (these are now my favorite mystery books!). And move on from there! Even if you don't like everything you pick up (and feel free to put it down if it's not engaging you!), you'll be exposed just that little bit more to new ways of thinking.

Musing Mondays — Buying Books

Musing Mondays is quite interesting today:

"A blog I frequent suggested I check out several articles of interest… one of them which happened to be this one: “Trendspotting: Readers’ Spending On Books“. So — being the avid reader & book junkie that I am — I couldn’t help but click over and read the short piece about readers’ current spending habits.

My questions for today are ones that are asked at the end of this particular article: What are your responses to this report? Does it match with what you –as a reader– have observed? With your own buying habits? When was the last time you bought a book? What did you buy and why?"

The tl;dr of the article is that people are buying fewer books, people are paying less for the books they buy, hardcover sales are down, and Amazon and other e-retailers are up.

And I'm not surprised by any of that. It's a tough economy, books aren't really a need for most people, and of course libraries are doing pretty okay right now lending out to people who need books to breathe. And of course e-retail is up, with its lack of sales tax and often free shipping and especially with the proliferation of free and cheap e-books.

My own buying habits, as I've mentioned before, I'm sure, involve only buying books new when I've read and loved them. I'll stock up on maybe books at a cheap-pants booksale, but my big dollars go to the books and authors that I adore. But right now I don't have a lot of big dollars, so often I wait until I have gift cards to buy anything and then still try to find things on a decent sale so that I can stretch those free moneys.

So most of my books come from libraries. And if I had an e-reader, which I am seriously thinking about once I'm gainfully employed again, it would be of the sort that can read library e-books because again, I don't want to pay for things I don't love, and also the things I do love, I want to be able to lend out to others to read.

The last time I bought a book... I bought Life as We Knew It and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging from the library booksale a while back — the first is a loved book, the second a maybe that turned out to be awesome. And I've got several moneys in Barnes and Noble gift cards that I am figuring out how to spend. At the moment, it looks like I'm going to grab up John Green's novels, but I'm not sure what else. Time to page through my list of loved books!

Musing Mondays — How Many?

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "About how many books (roughly) would you say you own? (If you don’t have a clue how many, do you care to know? Why, or why not?)"

Well, my GoodReads "owned" tag tells me that I have 72 books, which seems a little low... a quick count of my shelves puts it at more like 95, on account of I don't track my reference books on GoodReads just yet. Perhaps I should?

But really, I don't care too much about how many books I own, just which ones I do, so I don't go buying duplicates at book sales and so that I remember what I've lent out. And actually, I'm surprised to know I own so many books! I guess that explains the new bookshelf we just bought...

Musing Mondays — Cold Weather Reads

Today's Musing Mondays question is, "What’s your favorite “cozy” book — and, by that, I’m meaning “curl-up-on-a-cold-day comfort read“? Or, if you don’t have a particular book, what genre do you most feel like reading when the weather starts to turn colder?"

I'm not sure I have any temperature-based reading habits... I mean, I definitely read more mysteries and such during September and October for the RIP Challenge, but that's not a personal temperature decision (and especially not with living in Florida now!)

But! I will say that if it's the kind of day where all I want to do is curl up with a good book and perhaps some hot chocolate, that book is probably going to be an easier read. I'm not generally one for reading long or difficult books in one sitting — I'd rather have time to digest everything — but I also don't want to curl up with too short a book and have to get up an hour later to find something else to read. So I would definitely pick something more like a classic mystery or YA or fantasy read, where I can float away to Bookland for a few hours without having to think about it too hard. :)

Musing Mondays — Book Club Picks

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "If your book group asked you to bring two (2) suggestions for group reads to your next meeting, what two books would you suggest? Why?"

What an excellent question! There have been rather a few things that I have read lately where I've been like, "Darn it! I should have waited and suggested this for my book club!" so this gives me a chance to recommend them to my delightful book club friends anyway. But just two? Let me think...

Okay, well, first is definitely Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters, not just because it's a fantabulous book. But mostly because of that. But also because I think there's a lot to discuss — there's the fact that it's Victorian-inspired, which invites comparisons galore, and there are the plot twists, which are well set up and well executed and can start a discussion or five on morals and ethics and getting what you've got coming and all sorts of other things.

The second... hmm. I'll go with The Black Minutes, by Martín Solares, because it's a book that really needs to be discussed. There's so much going on in that book that you can't possibly catch it all in one reading. It's also good for a book club because it's one of them foreign novels that people (including myself) don't tend to read, so you get to broaden the horizons of several readers all in one go!

But neither of these will be my next book club pick... unless I can't come up with something I haven't read by the time it's my turn to choose. :)

Musing Mondays — Characters

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "What makes you love / hate a character in a book?"

I imagine we're talking about characters we're supposed to like — what makes them good characters or awful characters we'd like to chuck out a window along with their books.

So in that case... my favorite characters are the ones that have a nice balance of wittiness, self-awareness, self-confidence, and knowledge. If they have a little more of one, or a little less of another, that's cool. But if they have too much or too little... that's when I dislike them. I am not a fan of the character that's always spouting off one-liners, unless they are self-aware enough to realize how silly they are. But once they get so self-aware that they are basically psychoanalyzing themselves on a regular basis? Count me out.

Musing Mondays — The Enablers

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "Where do you buy / get most of your books?"

I've mentioned probably a billion times that I don't buy many books, because I will only buy those that I've read and loved or that I've read and want to push to other people. But when I do buy books, I try to support the little guys. Sure, if I have a gift cert or something, I'll go to Borders or Barnes and Noble, because I like nothing better than free, but if I'm planning on spending my own money I definitely go indie.

I just recently moved 900 miles, so I'm still figuring out my way around the bookstores here in Jacksonville, but I have discovered two delightful shops already — Black Sheep Books, which is fairly close to my apartment, and Chamblin's Uptown, which is farther away downtown but comes with food! I've only made a book purchase at Black Sheep, but I can already tell it's going to be my new best friend for used book happiness, especially since the book I got there looked practically new for half the price. Love it.

Musing Mondays — TBR woes

Today's Musing Mondays question asks, "What book tops your TBR (to be read) pile right now? Is it something you own, or something you have to borrow, or something you’ll be purchasing? Why do you want to read it so badly?"

Oh, my TBR pile. I have just pulled it out of the various corners of my house, stacked it up, and made sure I had all of the books I thought I did... because it's time for the pile to go back to the library. :( There are so many sad, unread books, but with this whole moving-900-miles-away thing, I can't really take them with me. But rest assured, the second I get my new driver's license I am off to the library to rectify this situation.

Musing Mondays — The Family That Reads Together

Hey, look! A Musing Mondays question! Today's is... "Who in your family (both immediate & extended) are readers, and who are not?"

I've sort of answered this in other posts, but I am enticed to answer it again because I get to say...

My husband! He's a total reader! Hahahahaha!

Ahem. So my dear Scott has always been kind of a reader, but he's been the one or two book a year style reader and the only reading books by Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind or George R.R. Martin style reader. But then... then he married me, a move he surely regrets now! For a while, he would just humor my readingness, but then I gave him Elantris to read, and then the Old Man's War series, and the Codex Alera, and he's now reading the Dresden Files faster than I'm reading my own books! In fact, he's read them so fast that he's going to have to wait a few days for the next one to come from the library. I don't know what he'll do... I'll have to give him another book to read. :)

I should totally put this on my librarian resume.

Musing Mondays — Simply the Best

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "What elements do you think lands a book in that ‘best’ category? Think of your top 5 best books and tune in next week to see the collated list."

Best books, huh? Let me go scan my list of awesomest books ever...

I think what makes me like a book a lot is when it's just different from anything else I've read. This tends to exclude series from hitting my 9-10 ratings, because, well, they're a lot of the same thing over and over, but I bet if I went back and rated completed series as a whole, a lot of them would make the awesome books cut. But it's really about the surprise of a novel twist ending or the writing style that I would never have expected or the characters that are so well-written they seem real. Of course, there are some books that I've loved that I've gone back to later and wondered why on earth I liked them so much the first time, so I suspect it depends on my mood at the time, as well. Those books that just strike the right chord are the ones I enjoy the best.

So my top five best books ever? Hmm.
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Sparrow
The Likeness
The Manual of Detection
The Time Traveler's Wife

...apparently books starting with "The" will easily make it onto my favorites list. Hmm.

Musing Mondays — On Deck

Today's Musing Mondays question is, "Where do you keep the books on the top of the tbr pile? Not the bunk of the mountain, but just the tip of the peak – the ‘almost up to’ books?"

Um. Well. I think that would assume that I have any sort of notion of what book I'm going to read next! I guess that generally, the books I'm going to read soon live under my desk, since that's where all of the books I've borrowed from the library or from friends hang out. But, of course, some of those books have been there for a while, and some don't stay there very long. I am definitely one who reads on a whim, so any sort of TBR pile would get upended pretty quickly!

Musing Mondays — In Pictures

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "Do you have a favourite picture book, either from your own childhood, or reading to you children?"

Hmm. I'm not sure what qualifies as a picture book... if it's all pictures, or very mostly pictures, I don't think I can remember that far back to come up with one!

But the earliest books with only a few words in them that I adored were the Sherlock Chick mysteries. That's right, I've been a mystery fan since forever! If I remember right, these are super-easy-readers, so I'm totally counting them as picture books.

Now, strangely enough, I have read an entirely-made-of-pictures book recently, straight out of the children's section... it's called Mister O and is about a little blob dude just trying to cross a gap. Is that so much to ask? Yes, yes it is. :) I highly recommend this for little kids who like to cheer for an underdog!

Musing Mondays — Keepers

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "Do you keep all the books you ever buy? Just the ones you love? Just collectibles? What do you do with the ones you don’t want to keep?"

I do generally keep all of the books I buy, as I tend not to spend good money on books I'm not going to keep. These days, I won't buy a book at a book store if I haven't already read it and loved it.

However, when it comes time for the CWRU book sale... I can't help myself. I will buy almost any book that look interesting if it'll only cost me 14.7 cents. With those books, I'm much less attached. In fact, it wasn't too long after I read and dislike The Woods that I was ready to get it out of my house.

When it's time to get rid of books, I'll offer them up to friends or take them over to Mac's Backs, a cute little bookstore in my town that gives you store credit for books you give them. It's a pretty smart setup: you get store credit worth half the value of the book you give them, and then you can use that credit to pay for half the cost of the used books you buy from them. You get money, they get money, it's a great deal all around. Of course, now I have even more books that I need to get around to reading...

Musing Mondays — Reference

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "Do you keep reference books on your shelves at home? What’s your first port of call when you need information – the internet or a book?"

I have a non-fiction shelf on the bookcase in the fun room, but most of them aren't reference books, per se. I think the only ones that qualify as reference are my travel guides, which are for hiking in Cleveland and sight-seeing in Ohio; my rhyming dictionary and my guide to correct grammar, which, really, I never use; and an MLA style handbook that I used to use all the time before I got into library science and had to learn APA instead.

So, really, my first port of call for information has to be Professor Google, because I just don't have it on my bookshelves!

Musing Mondays — Book Polyamory

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "I’ve seen several bloggers mention reading multiple books this week. Do you frequently read more than one book at a time? Do you try to limit this to a certain number? Do you have different books for different purposes/topics?"

I used to be a one-book woman, but with the start of the new semester I am finding myself meeting up with books in the car, in the bathroom, in bed... -eyebrow waggle-

This is almost entirely because of my newfound love of really short and simple audiobooks. I still wouldn't try to listen to something like Harry Potter or the Wheel of Time series, but give me a Lemony Snicket or Nancy Drew book and I am good to go. But since my attention span is weak, I can only listen to these books in the car or on the exercise bike, where I do not have the distractions of my computer or desk.

So of course, when I'm not in one of those places, I still need a book to read! So I have a book that I carry around with me in my bag and read at home or school or wherever. That's the book I consider my "main book."

Then, just one more! Every once in a while I want to read a book but I find it too difficult to concentrate on for very long (Pillars of the Earth, I'm looking at you) and so I relegate it to be my bathroom book and read it just a couple of pages at a time. Right now Pride and Prejudice is that book for me... I just cannot get into the story, but I really want to read it. I'll finish that one in a few months. :)

Musing Mondays — Random Book Love

Today's Musing Mondays is an activity... "Go to your bookshelf and pick a random book. No cheating now, just reach out and pick one. Now tell us about it – where did you get it? Why? Was it a gift? Does it hold any special memories? Did someone recommend it to you? etc."

I closed my eyes and pointed, and came up with Many Waters, by Madeleine L'Engle, part of the Time series that starts with A Wrinkle in Time. I got this book for 14.7 cents back in June at the CWRU book sale of delightfulness, along with A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I just need to grab A Wind in the Door and my quartet will be complete!

As to why I got it... well, mostly it's 'cause I love A Wrinkle in Time. I read that book as a kid and then many times again, but it wasn't until my freshman year of college, about five years ago, that I even realized that there were more books in the series. At that point, my dear friend Amy was like, "Um, dude, there are totally more and you should read them," and we went to get them on one of our many trips to the Cleveland Public Library. Those are good memories — waiting for the Rapid, taking the trip downtown, walking over to the library in various types of weather, and spending an inordinate amount of time in the children's section, where the books we could read between assignments lived.

Oh, and that one time we were at the library and I was sleepy and got yelled at by a guard for napping in the library. That was fun, too.