I gave up on the From the Stacks challenge after book 4. I have a hard time sticking to what I say I’m going to read, if I plan it out in advance.
Anyway, as a fake round-up, I did end up reading The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, Celtika by Robert Holdstock, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Watership Down by Richard Adams. I lost interest Fairies at Work and Play by Geoffrey Hodson before I had even started it.
Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
It depends. If it’s a books I’ve been waiting to come out for a while, then hardback. Plus it looks nicer on bookshelves. But mass market paperback is not only cheaper, but also means you can fit more onto your bookshelves. Not really a fan of trade paperback though.
Amazon or brick and mortar?
Again, it depends. I like browsing through book stores. But if I’m looking for something specific, it’s more likely that said store won’t have what I want. Then, it’s Amazon.
Barnes & Noble or Borders?
I’m Canadian. I shop at Chapters.
Bookmark or dogear?
Bookmark, definitely.
Alphabetize by author or alphebetize by title or random?
Organized by genre. In each genre, it’s organized alphabetically by author’s last name. In each author, it’s organized by date of publishing. Unless it’s a series, in which case it’s organized in the reading order. Also, if I have both series and stand-alones by one author, series always go first.
Keep, throw away, or sell?
Throw away?! Why would you throw away a book?? I keep them unless I really didn’t like the book. In which case, they go to the library or used bookstore.
Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Keep it. It makes it pretty on the shelves.
Read with dustjacket or remove it?
Remove it. I don’t like getting fingerprints on it, or wrinkling it.
Short story or novel?
Novels. Unless it’s by an author I love, or about a certain subject, I don’t enjoy short stories. I prefer getting deeper into the stories.
Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
I prefer by the same author, though have been known to make exceptions in the case where the books are about vampires, Alice in Wonderland, or have been edited by one Will Ferguson.
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Harry. Definitely Harry. Love Harry Potter. Love. Read the first Lemony Snicket, and did not enjoy it.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Chapter Breaks. Or breaks in the middle of chapters. It’s easier to remember what’s going on that way.
“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
It depends on the type of book. If I want a fairy tale, I want “Once upon a time,” but if I want something with atmosphere, I want “It was a dark and stormy night.”
Buy or Borrow?
I mostly buy. I’ll borrow if my stack of unread books is unreasonable and can’t justify purchasing a new book to myself.
New or used?
Both.
Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Mostly through recommendation or browsing. Book blogs have helped a lot too.
Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Even in a series I prefer a tidy ending. I hate those books in a series with cliffhangers where you know you have at least a year to wait until the next book comes out.
Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Usually over my lunch hour at work, and then in the evening.
Standalone or series?
Both. I usually end up enjoying a series as a whole more than a standalone, just for the fact that you get more character development in them.
Favorite series?
Oh gosh. Narnia, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Sara Douglass’ The Troy Game, The Axis Trilogy and The Wayfarer Redemption. C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series. There are many others, but I will stop there.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
How To Be A Canadian (Even If You Already Are One) by Will and Ian Ferguson…. Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery… Most of my favourites, everyone’s heard of. Or at least everyone who reads.
Favorite books read last year?
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, Catherine Webb’s The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, Shanna Swendson’s Enchanted, Inc. and Once Upon Stilettos.
Favorite books of all time?
Not including the “Favourite book that no one’s heard of” …. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, the Narnia books, Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Kristin Britain’s Green Rider . . . the list goes on and on.
Shelby is a geek at high school. Not always a pleasant position to be in, when the majority of high school students very much aren’t geeks. But she’s perfectly happy being a geek on her own. Until Becca moves to town, that is. Becca definitely stands out, and has revolutionary ideas that would help geeks be more accepted in high school. First orders of agenda are to start the Queen Geek Social Club and to organize Twinkie drive, in which all Twinkies collected will be sent to a modeling agency to make a statement about how women don’t have to be pencil thin to be beautiful.
I don’t really think there’s any better way to say what I thought of this book other than drawing attention not only to the fact that the last line of the author’s acknowledgements is a shout out to the number fourty-two, but also that Shelby has a robot reminiscent of Rosie from The Jetsons. The geek in me was thrilled at those two points. The mentions of Star Wars and Plan 9 From Outer Space didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the book either.
For the most part the characters were enjoyable. There were a couple of points where I got really annoyed with Shelby. She could be a very selfish for part of the good book. I know we all were the same that age, and it’s understandable WHY she thought she was justified in acting the way she was . . . but I just wanted to give her a time-out or something along those lines.
Overall, it was a cute book.
Just upgraded to 2.1. There are a couple of things I need to fix with the theme. Sorry if things look wonky for a while. ETA: I think I fixed it all. If you find anything weird, let me know.
I feel I may be the last person in the blogosphere to read this book, because I have read so many people raving about it. (With good reason.)
Margaret is a bookish type girl. Works in her father’s bookstore; writes biographies of dead and forgotten people. When she comes home one day, it’s to find a letter addressed to her from Vida Winter - one of the world’s favourite and most beloved authors. Miss Winter is writing to ask Margaret to write her biography; she’s very sick, has been making up tales as to who she is for years, and finally wants to tell the truth. And the true story that Miss Winter tells Margaret is … interesting seems like such an understatement. Riveting, mysterious . . . heartbreaking. (I use that word too much. I need to pick up other words that convey the same feeling.)
Sitting down to blog about this book, there are so many things going through my head that I could write about. I’m having a hard time deciding exactly what to go with. This was such a good book; although it was a mite predictable, I devoured the last two thirds in the span of a day. And it’s put me in the mood to re-read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and revisit Manderley for the umpteenth time - though have a hard time justifying that as there are so many other books here that I haven’t read that I want to. (Maybe I’ll just have to rent the Hitchcock movie at some point soon instead.)
This was an underlining book. Whole passages were crying out to be underlined. That’s a big thing - I have a hard time underlining books; want to keep them in pristine condition most of the time and all. But there are certain books with sentences or passages that are SO GOOD that you need to underline said sentence or passage so you can find it easier when you need to read a certain sort of passage. So yes, a whole lot of passages wanted to be underlined. But, really, what can you expect with passages like this:
Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the precious book with ideas and themes - characters even - caught in the fibres of your clothes, and when you open the new book they are still with you.
I had two other main thoughts while reading the book. The first was that I hope it was just a typo when the name “Ariane” was used, and that the author really does know her Greek mythology. If you’re going to reference the Mistress of the Labyrinth, you should know her name.
Secondly, I realized that the name Hester is an empty name. Incomplete. If you stick a “Gray” on the end, though, it rather comes to life.