Booking Through Thursday: The Best

This week's BTT asks about my favorites from 2008. And to this I say: AAAH! I can't pick favorites, for one thing, and for another my reading journal only goes back to August. I had a list before that but there was a computer crash and it went bye-bye... that's why I keep it on paper now. Anyway. My best attempt, in no particular order:

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (I'll review it sometime. It's awesome.)

Watchmen by Alan Moore (review here)

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (review here)

Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston (review here) (Let me just note that I got the real, published hardback version for Christmas and it's gorgeous. I read the ARC. The real one has better fonts and is a great size and I'm absolutely in love with it.)

Gosh, that looks like a tiny list. It's just the best of the best, and just since August. Maybe I'll add to it when I remember the others...

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Booking Through Thursday: Generosity

Do you give books as gifts?

To everyone? Or only to select people?

How do you feel about receiving books as gifts?

1) Most definitely! Mostly because I'm familiar with books more than other things. It's usually easier for me to think of the perfect book than the perfect something else.

2) To most people. If it's someone I don't know so well I may not get a book, because I don't know what they like, already own or have already read. But then again I don't usually give presents to people I don't know so well.

3) FEEEED MEEEEE!!!! I mean, um...

Booking Through Thursday: Time is of the Essence

1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read? (I’m guessing #1 is
an easy question for everyone?)

2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines?

1) Definitely not.

2) All of the above? Is "etc." an option? I would be catching up on Mt. TBR, which contains a little of everything. (There's a myth about a dude perpetually pushing a boulder up a hill... it always reminds me of dear old Mt. TBR.)


Mm, short and sweet this week. Read more responses here!

Booking Through Thursday: 5 for Favorites

1. Do you have a favorite author?

2. Have you read everything he or she has written?

3. Did you LIKE everything?

4. How about a least favorite author?

5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t?

They WOULD pick author questions... For some reason it's much easier for me to group books together by subject, setting, tone, whatever, rather than author, so it's hard for me to think in terms of authors. But I'll do my best.

1) I have a lot of favorites. I mentioned some of the early favorites in my Thanksgiving post, but here are some others: Kevin Brockmeier, Derek Landy, Alan Moore, Maria V. Snyder, Jane Yolen, William Sleator, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote, quite possibly Robert Paul Weston... and a host of others that just aren't crossing my mind right now. For the purposes of the next few questions I'm going to go with the great C.S. Lewis.

2) Not quite. I haven't been able to get some of his journal stuff or some of the poetry, I haven't had the money for the new Boxen book, and I'm sure I've missed some essays here and there, but I've read the grand majority of his work.

3) Heck yes. Especially Till We Have Faces.

4) Steinbeck.

5) I can't really think of one. So as a bonus: some authors I wanted to DISlike but didn't. J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Jane Austen.

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Booking Through Thursday: Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.

Now, you may have noticed that the global economy isn’t exactly doing
well. There’s war. Starvation. All sorts of bad, scary things going on.

So–just for today–how about sharing 7 things that you’re thankful
for?

This can be about books, sure–authors you appreciate, books you love,
an ode to your public library–but also, how about other things, too? Because in
times like these, with bills piling up and disaster seemingly lurking around
every corner, it’s more important than ever to stop and take stock of the things
we’re grateful for. Family. Friends. Good health (I hope). Coffee and tea.
Turkey. Sunshine. Wagging tails. Curling up with a good book.

So, how about it? Spread a little positive thinking and tell the world
what there is to be thankful for.

1) Number one is, of course, that I'm thankful for the reason for my faith. I'm a Protestant Christian. I'm not going to say I'm thankful "for my faith," I'm just going to say I'm thankful I have something to have faith in.

2) My friends. I was a loner growing up.

3) My cats. They always know just when to snuggle and just when to be aloof. We don't have to talk to each other to understand each other.

4) The Great American Novel. I'd go crazy if I didn't have people talking in my head all the time! Oh, wait... um. Anyway.

5) Some of my favorite authors from my childhood in no particular order: C.S. Lewis, Bruce Coville, J.R.R. Tolkien, Diane Duane, Lloyd Alexander, and Brian Jacques. Each of them helped shape the way I think now, and not only that but I frickin' loved their books, and still do.

6) Libraries. Not necessarily library patrons, but, uh... anyway. As a person of less-than-huge income, I would be severely limited in the books I could read without the library. As it is, I have a definite imbalance in the number of books I want to/can read, and the number of books I actually have time to read. That's a lovely thing.

7) Last, but certainly not least: I'm really thankful for turkey. Really, really thankful. And cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This is definitely my favorite holiday.

Booking Through Thursday: Honesty?

Suggested by JM:

I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the
book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel
that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a
positive review.

Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book,
even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to
put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy
authors who get negative reviews?

No. There's a difference between a review and an advertisement, and if I get a review copy, I'm going to write a REVIEW. That means what I liked and what I didn't like and why. If I say a book is wonderful I'm going to have to give reasons, and if I hated the book and have to make up reasons, then anyone who reads the book on my recommendation is going to be annoyed and not pay attention to my good reviews anymore. So trying to get me to do that really wouldn't do anybody any good. Let this be a warning, authors! I am an honest reviewer!

And here's a tip, authors... The best way to get a good review is to write a good book.

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Booking Through Thursday: Why Buy?

I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or
get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?

Even if you are a die-hard fan of the public library system, I’m
betting you have at least ONE permanent resident of your bookshelves in your
house. I’m betting that no real book-lover can go through life without owning at
least one book. So … why that one? What made you buy the books that you actually
own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?


If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why
shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

Well, I'm a librarian. At any given time I have about 50 books checked out, waiting for me to read them. (Some of those are things I've picked up for family members, but still.) I also currently have 514 books that I've bought in my room, exact number courtesy of LibraryThing.

This happens for several reasons:

1) There are some books my library doesn't have. When I see a book that just looks sooo good and calls to me from the shelf at the bookstore and I KNOW I would have seen it if the library had it, I just HAVE to buy it. (Why I'm even in the bookstore when I have so many other books to read is a discussion unto itself.)

2) If I've read a book from the library and loved it, I mean really loved it, when it's the BEST BOOK EVER, I have to buy it and keep it so I can read it whenever I want, and no other people can get their grimy paws on it. Also, I have paralyzing fears that the book might go out of print and I'd never be able to find it again and the world would have lost a thing of beauty. Or the library might sell it and I wouldn't be able to remember the title.

3) Which leads nicely into my last point. I buy a lot of books from the library book sale. Friends, a lot of books. This is partly because they're dirt cheap and I just can't resist, but also I'll see a book and think "Wow, I'd like to check that out," but then I realize that I CAN'T! It's in the book sale! So I buy it to read eventually since it's dirt cheap.

And there you have it. The three best reasons to buy books, in addition to checking them out at the library.

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Booking Through Thursday: Gifts

What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present?
Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book
itself? The “gift aura?”

Well, I get a lot of gift cards, so I count the books I buy with them as presents from the gift-card-giver, but that's not quite the same thing... I can't think of anything really special so I'm just going to rattle off a few gifts I've gotten:

I got the first Get Fuzzy collection for my last birthday from my brother; my astronomy teacher last summer gave me this for no apparent reason; my Grandmother's given me a gazillion (appreciated) books on art; my sister gave me The Black Book of Secrets a good long time ago and I'm, er, building up anticipation for it (read: I haven't read it yet but I want to, I do!); and the one that I do actually remember and treasure now that I think about it, my parents gave me set of gorgeous, gilt-edged, leatherbound books containing Anna Karenina, War of the Worlds, A Tale of Two Cities, The Jungle Book, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, A Christmas Carol, Sense and Sensibility, and The Wind in the Willows. Awesome, right? Totally. (I have a serious predilection for leatherbound books. SERIOUS predilection.)

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Booking Through Thursday: Conditioning

Mariel suggested this week’s question.

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in
pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers
bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

Ack! No! My books are in pristine condition, and anyone who damages them is a heretic and blasphemer!


Actually, a lot of my books are ex-library or otherwise used, so they aren't in pristine condition and I don't worry about them so much. But the books I buy new I'm very careful with, and I never write in them or highlight or underline. In fact I've been known to spend several hours with a used book going through and erasing pencil marks. I always use a separate journal for any notetaking... My sister also had a good idea, she uses small Post-it notes to write on and sticks them in her books, so she can take them out again at will but the note is still with the passage.


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Booking Through Thursday

Monica suggested this one:
Got this idea from Literary Feline during her recent contest:

“Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you
cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes
narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s
just me.”

Well, that'll have to be Taran and Eilonwy from The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. But I'm also very fond of Yelena and Valek from Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder. (Both of these are the best serieses ever and you should read them! Prydain is YA/juvenile fantasy and the Study series is adult/ya, fantasy/romance.)

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