Ecto doesn’t seem to want to use Wordpress tags, and Technorati tags are of no use to me whatsoever, so I guess I’ll stick with using the WP admin cp until a better alternative surfaces.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

I haven’t noticed a difference. I’m heading into a phase where I’m reading a lot more fiction than non-fiction, but I think that may be out of necessity rather than a seasonal adjustment. I’ve read so many history books for research that I’m just plain tired of them for now (I’m sure this is temporary), and it’s been so long since I read a lot of fiction, that I’m starving for some entertainment. I suppose, if anything, in Spring I tend to want to read shorter books in general, but since I’m tackling my To-Be-Read pile I don’t think I can be choosy. I’m going to finish up Orphans of Chaos next, which is of moderate length, but after that I’m reading Spirit Gate, since Shadow Gate is out now. After that it’s Talyn so I can read Hawkspar when it comes out. Then, I think, Hood so I can read Scarlet, which I’m reading for the What’s In a Name Challenge (see a pattern here?) So whatever I may wish, I’m not looking at a slim, streamlined reading list for Spring.

I’m still entering books into LibraryThing. I’m surprised at the number of books I’m having to add manually. Should I feel intellectual? Or does it just make me a history geek?

Here’s today’s Booking Through Thursday, a bit on the late side:

• When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?)
• Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

It sort of depends on the situation and context. If the person is using it to talk about written documents in general, I think of my favourite authors: Tolkien, Lewis, McKillip and so forth, or Fantasy literature in general. In otherwords, the books I like to read. If the person is using it as a term to differentiate good books from bad, as in, “That is a bad book, but this is literature!”, well . . . the first thing I think of is dropping a huge sack of Tolstoy on their head and see how they like War & Peace then!

Look, I have nothing against “classic literature”. What I have a problem with is literary snobs who look down on genre literature, whether it’s Tolkien or Nora Roberts or Robert E. Howard. A lot of avid readers began their love of books when they discovered a collection of pulp magazines in a garage, or when their sister handed them a medieval romance novel (yes, that would be me), so I refuse to look down on any genre or author simply because they aren’t “literary”. I’m all for reading great stories instead of twaddle, but a genre label has precisely zilch to do with a book’s being good or bad.

Except for tech manuals. Those are just trash.

Okay, I promise I will post something other than a Booking Through Thursday soon. Things have been nuts for me in the personal realm lately. Anyway, here is today’s:

While acknowledging that we can’t judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment? Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc.?

It matters a lot to me, way more than it should. What can I say? I’m a visual kinda girl. Pretty artwork will make me take notice (especially Todd Lockwood’s incredible Drizzt Do’Urden covers, which single-handedly revived my interest in the character), and elves on the cover is almost a sure bet that I’ll at least take a look. I’m also drawn to forests, mysterious jewelry, and all the other things that signal High Fantasy. I like the colour pink (ie Mercedes Lackey covers), but I have yet to read a pink book that I really loved. I’m drawn more to illustration-style artwork than photorealistic. A neat typeface is a plus, but not required—and I can’t help but be charmed by the big, ten-foot-tall red typefaces on a lot of Sci-Fi novels. I’d never noticed it before, but it’s funny. The font screams, “FTL TRAVEL INSIDE!!”

But one thing that almost always makes me pause, and there seems to be no real reason behind it, is texture: I can’t resist touching a hardback with a matte slipcover. If I have two books in front of me with equally pretty artwork on the covers, I will always choose the one with the matte finish. I don’t know why this is, but I seem to have this texture issue with almost everything I own or collect: notebooks, teacups, anything. The way something feels in my hands is almost as important as how it looks.

In respect to the actual innards of the book, I enjoy reading more when there is a map (or two, or five) in the front. I like a lovely, traditional serif typeface, punctuated by ornaments or small illustrations, preferably something unique to the book or related to the story. Ultimately though, the story itself has to be great or an attractive design can’t make up for it. A pretty book with a boring or stupid story will end up at Powell’s.

Holy mackerel! It’s been a week since I’ve posted. How embarassing! Here’s today’s Booking Through Thursday:

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

I don’t normally jump right into the next book in a series, though there are exceptions (Harry Potter *ahem*); I like to space them out a bit, so I experience the proper narrative rhythm. I have this quirk: when reading books or watching movies or TV, I like to have as close an experience to the original audience as possible. By that I mean it is required that I read The Chronicles of Narnia starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, not The Magician’s Nephew, because that’s what the original reader would have experienced. I watch Star Wars starting with Episode Four, not Episode One. This is true even with television sitcoms. I started watching reruns of That 70s Show when it was in its seventh season, and when I realized I loved it and was becoming a fan, I refused to watch any more reruns, and started buying the DVDs starting with season one.

What all this means is that when I read a series that’s already published, I like to read each book with one or two books from another author in between, so that the series is differentiated into individual books, rather than one big blur. That is, if I can help myself. Some cliffhangers make jumping into the next book irresistable.

Speaking more generally, regardless of whether a book is part of a series or not, I can usually start another book the next day, but I won’t start one the same day I finish. What would be the point? I’m not in a marathon; I’d rather let the book I just finished soak in a bit.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

Hmm. . . .

Hart’s Hope would have been a better book if there wasn’t so much filth, excrement and gore.

Sorry. I love OSC, but I just couldn’t get through it. I think I had just 1/10th of the book left to read when I finally went, “Okay, enough.” You could say I wussed out. But seriously, ew.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt Do’Urden is one of the great serial characters, written far after the Golden Age of serials. He has all the qualities you want in the lead of a swashbuckling adventure series: deadly skill, sharp wit, a tortured past, a keen intellect, a noble soul and wickedly dark good looks (Todd Lockwood’s cover illustrations certainly present nice visuals).

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

Liath from Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series. I haven’t read the whole series yet, but Liath has some truly terrible things happen to her early on, and a lot of disappointments and setbacks along the way, but up to the point I’ve read, she always keeps going, remaining steadfast and courageous, and never wallows in self-pity nor gives in to despair.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

I vastly prefer hardbacks. Paperbacks get rumpled covers and cracked spines, but if you take the slipcover off when you read a hardback they stay beautiful for a long time. The cheapest paperbacks I’ve owned (Harlequin editions of Georgette Heyer) literally fell apart after one reading, some in the middle of the first reading. The Nonesuch dropped clean out of the cover in a solid brick of pages! You bet I want hardcovers after that mess.

Paperbacks are easier to carry around with you, and to drag from house to house. They’re easier to store, too. Even with those advantages, I still prefer hardcovers.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday:

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

I love watching movies, especially historical costume dramas. I go to tea with Hoshichan, and hang out with her and Johan a lot (much watching of Babylon 5 and That 70s Show ensues). I collect tea cups. I buy books. I make my retro Tiki-style apartment look pretty. I ponder my rather peculiar love-life. I am planning to take up crochet.

EDIT: I knew I forgot something, and reading Hoshichan’s answer, I remembered to add: beaded jewelry making, cooking (I especially like learning French cooking), the occasional video game binge, and listening to music, everything from medieval troubadours to Classic Rock.

And that’s about it.

Now for Eva’s Reading Meme! (via Quixotical)

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Anything by Ursula K. LeGuin. I know this is stupid. I know she must be a tremendous author. She has just rubbed me the wrong way too many times in interviews and essays, and even though I’ve had A Wizard of Earthsea in my bookcase for ages, I can’t bring myself to read it. Maybe I should resolve to get over it this year. After all, it’s such a skinny book. . . .

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

The temptation is to choose all good-looking male personages, but I don’t think that’s the spirit in which the question is intended. I shall pick people with brilliant minds instead. I’m not really a partying person, so I guess it’d be an evening of homecooked French cuisine and cards. So . . . Severus Snape from Harry Potter. Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s Emma, because she’s clever and makes me laugh. And just one good-looking guy, okay? Please? How about Drizzt Do’Urden. He’s got brains, skill and is darkly handsome.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for a while, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

I think that would be A Red Heart of Memories by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. I just could not get into it no matter how I tried. I don’t remember a single thing about what little I read. The cover is neat though. *shrug*

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

Hmm . . . I can’t say I’ve never been anywhere near them, but I’d guess most people probably think I’ve read all the Drizzt Do’Urden books. I’ve really only read a couple; I collect them a bit compulsively and they are on my reading list for this year as well, filed under “Read it already!” It’s very hard to admit I haven’t read all these lovely books adorning my shelves, so sometimes I am just mysteriously silent about it.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to “re-read it” that you haven’t?

C.S. Lewis’s Miracles. I’ve read so many books and essays of his I can’t keep straight which ones I have and haven’t read. Unfortunately, thinking I’d read this, I loaned my copy out to someone who moved away and never returned it.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP)

It would really depend on the person’s tastes, but something fun, light and quick I think. Honestly? I think The Hobbit would be a good choice in general.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Definitely French. Tons of medieval history research is written in French (since France was so culturally prominent at the time), and it would also help me to pronounce the names of the French dishes I like to make. I wouldn’t mind seeing what French novels are like, either.

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will re-read once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

It almost feels like cheating, but I’m going to say The Lord of the Rings. I doubt I could tire of it, and it is the archetypal Fantasy novel.

I know that the book blogging community and its various challenges have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you “discovered” from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art - anything)?

It’s been great fun discovering all the Livejournals and blogs that belong to the authors themselves, and through the authors I’m already familiar with, I’ve learned about new (to me) authors like Sherwood Smith and John C. Wright. The other great thing I’ve discovered is reading challenges! With everything going on in my life in the last few years, reading has become a neglected love, and the challenges have been a real encouragement to read stuff that’s been gathering dust on my shelves and to pick up new books and check out authors I’ve never tried before.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead - let your imagination run free.

The library is full of books I’ve loved, whether pristine hardbacks or tattered used paperbacks. There’s Fantasy, history books and Historical Fiction, Romances I’ve especially enjoyed, my favourite poets, a little Sci-Fi. The room is large, bright and airy, with a soft carpet, a table and two comfortable chairs. There’s a little area divvied off in the corner by half-high bookcases all full of children’s books and a basket of toys, and there’s a bean bag in there for a little guy to sit on. There’s a walk-in closet full of magazines. There’s a fireplace and a tea cart and everything is kind and welcoming. There’s a stereo, but televisions will be thrown out the window. I’ve dreamed about my library for a very long time, actually. It’s a place where the people I love can enjoy books in warmth and comfort.