Cribbed from Charles Gramlich:
Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:
I don't have a favorite snack, but I love to eat while I read (or drink fluids, especially coffee.) But I have to be cautious lest I get food fingerprints on my pages. I have done that so many times to so many books (except library books, of which I am very careful). I've gotten them wet from turning pages while in the tub, stained with red sauce from Italian or Chinese, greasy fingerprints from chips or cheeseburgers...the gamut has visited my pages over the years. So I've tried to improve my performance by not getting food on books any more.
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
If it's a reference book, I will make notes and fold page corners. Unless it is pretty precious like my Encyclopedia of Arms and Armor or my vast collection of mythology (some of which cost as much as a college textbook because that's generally why people buy them.) Those are kept away from food always and never creased or abused. They cost too much!
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I never fold pages! Ever! (With the stated exception of books I actually deface with notes.) If I have to, I'll occasionally leave them face down briefly (for example to answer the phone or a call from nature--unless that risks the spine breaking, like with an older mass market paperback). What I use most of the time are bookmarks. The best bookmarks are FREE: Paint chips from your local paint store, hardware store, or Wal*Mart or Target. Free! Colorful! So I have wads of them in rubberbands all over the house. In the kitchen junk drawer, in my desk, at work...
Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
These days, 99% fiction--99% of that 99% being speculative fiction. Urban fantasy seems to be the top read of the moment, too, although I'm segueing into classic horror and some classic sf I've missed along the way. I used to read a lot of spiritual stuff and some non fictiony self-help reads alongside of the regular reading, but I have so many books in the TBR pile that I'm focusing on the fiction.
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I can stop anywhere...if I can stop at all. Which is why I absolutely do NOT read in bed unless I'm willing to go to work with less than four hours of sleep!
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Occasionally. Depends upon 1) is there a dictionary handy at the moment; 2) if I'm feeling lazy; and 3) can I get the gist pretty much from context.
What are you currently reading?
I have a good dozen-or-three books which I've started and abandoned for finishing later, but what I am working on right now are "Chasing the Dragon," by Justina Robson; "Intertwined," by Gena Showalter; "Retribution," (an Anna Strong novel) by Jeanne C. Stein; and "Storm Glass," by Maria Snyder. There are a few more, but those are the ones I'm dragging around with me at the moment.
What is the last book you bought?
Um, dare I confess I just bought about twenty books via Amazon? See, I was buying Christmas presents and there were all these books I wanted, too... But the absolute last one on the order list is "Crash Deluxe," Book 3 of the Paris Plessis series by Marianne de Pierres, which I ordered used as it's out of print.
Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
As you can see above, I jump about somewhat. The newest and shiniest arrivals derail me from books that aren't feeding the particular reading need of the moment. I do get back to them...eventually...but I reserve the right to read whatever takes my fancy.
Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
I read all the time, anyplace. But I like to be comfortable. Which means being warm and seated so my back and arthritic hip and knees don't hurt. Providing a lap for a huge lapwarming cat is also a plus! Another favorite reading moment is when I'm driving someplace. I developed this odd love of sitting in my car and reading. I used to do it on lunch hours when I lived and worked in the SF Bay Area, and I'd buy a coffee or soda and sit in my car and read for my lunch break. And it still gives me a sense of peace that's pretty funny, when you think about it!
Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
I like a good standalone ("Sunshine," by Robin McKinley is a prime example) but the good ones always leave me hankering for seconds. So, yes, series do make me happy. At least they do until it becomes overworked and tired. I think Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series hit that overwrought stage, but yet Robert Jordan's massive Wheel of Time series, Simon Green's Nightside series, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files are all still going strong.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
I always have good things to say about Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun series, as well as Michelle Sagara West's Elantra Chronicles. There are others, of course, that are classics like the Earthsea books, the Narnia series, the Dune series, etc. But those are the sorts of reads that are rather synonymous with the genre and don't need me to tout them here!
How do you organize your books?(by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)
I am a very eclectic organizer. First, I like my favs for rereading close to hand and easy to find. Second, I keep the rest of the spec fic all together, and separate mysteries, romances and reference books of whatever flavor into their own respective categories (as much as shelving limitations allow). Then I try to organize by size. I am odd in that I cannot stand to have trade paperbacks shelved with mass market paperbacks...it's just messy! But it's okay to have hardbacks with either if they are of near or equal size. (So it naturally irks the heck out of me when I buy a used book online and discover it's a hardback or a different format than the books I already own in a series!) But I only alphabetize by author name in the speculative fiction shelving. There are so many in that category I have to alpabetize or I cannot find anything when I want it. For the rest of the stuff, I either organize by author or type of book. Poetry, for example, is small enough I can org by author and not worry about alphabetizing. Same with my mythology texts. And the mysteries and romances are sort of catch-as-catch can in their group-by-topi-then-author ghettos. Well, except for Georgette Heyer. She stands alone. And I have all her books.
I never read in the tub because of the wetness issue. I have dropped food in some of my books though, to my chagrin. I never could get into the Urth of the new sun series, I'm afraid.
Posted by: charles gramlich | October 15, 2009 at 08:47 AM