*** QUESTIONS for the Avid Reader, 2013, Volume II

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*** QUESTIONS for the Avid Reader, 2013, Volume II

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1rebeccanyc
Bearbeitet: Apr. 30, 2013, 3:56 pm

Please continue to discuss earlier questions on the previous thread (or here), but I thought it was time to start our second volume.

And this question is derived from a conversation Merrikay (mkboylan) and I had on MJ/detailmuse's Club Read thread.

QUESTION 15.

We all have our TBR piles -- those books that look at us and beg to be read (or not). But what about the books we're thinking of getting? Do they all go on a general wishlist and, if so, where do you keep this wishlist? Or are some of them on some kind of more amorphous (mental or real) list of "maybe I'd like to check these books out sometime"? What kinds of lists do you have of books you would like to get, or might like to get, or are just sort of thinking about?

2Nickelini
Apr. 30, 2013, 3:52 pm

Q 15 - Around 2002 I started keeping a list in a notebook, which I still have, but I've pretty much abandoned it and mostly just use the wishlist feature here at LT. It's easy and free, so I add anything that is remotely interesting to that list--currently I have over 1200 books in that file. If I'm really serious about getting it someday, I also add it to my wish list at Amazon. Occasionally I clean up my Amazon wishlist and delete things I've lost interest in, but I almost never delete anything from my LT wishlist (except when the book enters my house).

3.Monkey.
Apr. 30, 2013, 4:18 pm

I used to keep my [insanely absurdly huge] wishlist/probably-want-to-read list over on GR, due to not having to worry about proper edition data. Since the amazon takeover announcement I removed all my data there and just have that saved as a spreadsheet file, and since then I've just been bookmarking books that appeal to me, which is not so great a solution. I'm considering using a secondary private LT acct as a wishlist acct like I did on GR and just not worrying about the data since it'd be private, and I'd delete anything upon purchase/read and add the proper edition into the acct here. But so far I've not acted on this yet!

4StevenTX
Apr. 30, 2013, 4:43 pm

I don't use the Wishlist collection in LT because various features like "books you share with..." and the LT Mobile app don't distinguish between Wishlist and Your Library, so it looks like I own books that I actually don't.

Part of my job before I retired was designing PC database systems using Microsoft Access software. About a dozen years ago I developed a database of books for personal use and to practice different programming techniques. I used this as a personal book inventory before joining LT, and I still use it to generate wishlists. I've entered various lists of books such as Harold Bloom's "Western Canon," Clifton Fadiman's "Lifetime Reading Plan," and "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die." There are now almost 300 lists of books in my database, and each list has a numeric priority value. I change these values from time to time as my reading priorities change. Each book in the database then gets a score based on the sum of the values of all the lists on which that book appears. I can then set a cutoff value and generate a printed wishlist of all the books I don't own and haven't read that score higher than that value. There is also a field in the database letting me flag a book "wanted" no matter what it scores. So for a quick trip to the used bookstore I may set the cutoff value high enough to keep my wishlist to one page, while for a half-day excursion I may go in with an eight-page list. But unless a book is an urgent priority like a forthcoming group read, I only buy it if the condition and price are attractive. That's how I've wound up with a huge and diverse TBR collection of high quality, highly recommended, but very inexpensive books.

Of course just because a book comes recommended by a number of authorities doesn't automatically mean I will buy and read it. I have no desire, for example, to read Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas no matter how many experts think I should. So if it comes up on my list, I just ignore it.

I also maintain several wishlists on Amazon--a public one for new books that I'd like to receive as gifts, a private one for books I'll buy used if I can get them at a good price, etc. These lists are partially taken from the highest scorers in my database, but more often they reflect short term interests.

(Sorry for the long answer, but if I'd just said I generate wishlists from a personal database of 13,000 books that would have begged for an explanation.)

5.Monkey.
Apr. 30, 2013, 4:46 pm

Wow. That's kind of amazing. lol

6NanaCC
Apr. 30, 2013, 5:06 pm

I never really logged my reading prior to joining LT, and I had been keeping a list of books I wanted to buy in a spreadsheet. Now, I have been using the wishlist feature in LT to log the books that interest me through the reviews in the Club Read threads. I tag those with the user name of the reviewer, so that I can thank them later on. I have been slowly adding books that I have on my books shelves, but my biggest source of books to be read is still my daughter's book shelves. Chris (cabegley) has an enormous library, and we have very similar tastes in books. I should never have to buy another book, but somehow, I always do.

7baswood
Apr. 30, 2013, 5:38 pm

I can't compete with steven, although I do have a database for my music collection designed for me by a friend that is kind of essential. My wishlist of books is contained in one scruffy exercise book. A short list of must buys at one end and a long list of maybe's at the other. When the exercise book gets full I just throw it away and start again. It's a bit like spring cleaning.

8Mr.Durick
Apr. 30, 2013, 5:54 pm

What a sour subject! Over the years I have kept wishlists or lists of books that had caught my eye in various media (handwriting, typewriting, and computer). They have all disappeared. Before we had collections and wishlists on LibraryThing I developed an alternate persona to discuss things that I don't want associated with the real me, mostly because they are private, and to keep my wishlists. I wasn't planning on using it as a sock puppet account, but the reaction against sock puppetry drove me away from it.

Meanwhile Barnes and Noble dot com's wishlist feature went from one list of 25 works to multiple lists accommodating hundreds of works. I went there. Then they screwed it up in multiple irritating ways. I have on my long term to do list, which I keep in Evernote, to consolidate my alternate account wishlist and BN.COM wishlists into the wishlist collection under my primary persona here.

On Barnes and Noble My Wish List (the one that comes up when I first click into their wishlist system) has 329 books on it, mostly trade paperbacks (my preferred medium) which are currently available and are not categorized by the company as textbooks. The failures of their system have brought some of those that don't fit onto this list; my sloppiness has put a few more on it. I have four works on My NOOK Book Wish List, one of which will probably get dropped because I have the paperback. There are 113 books on my Waiting for the paperback wishlist; those are hardcovers that I hope will come out in paperback even if know that some likely won't. My Forthcoming wishlist shows those books that have been listed as coming out in paperback on a predicted date; there are seven in the list now of which one should be transferred to the first wishlist and one is no longer listed by them. Twenty three books that I have wanted have been shown by BN.COM not to be available and are on my Not Available wishlist; two have since become available, and I ought to buy them. Textbooks, of which there are 57, get their own wishlist because they are not included in coupon discounts.

I also have an Audio Video wishlist. That does not include spoken word except insofar as you might include plays.

If BN.COM's wishlists worked as advertised, I'd stick with them and clean out my alternate LibraryThing account, but they just fail in so many ways that I at least fantasize about moving them.

These are all books that I suppose I will someday plunk down money for. I've considered opening another list for books I'd like to consider further; I don't wishlist a lot of interesting novels that I hear about on Talk because I have more novels in my house than I can read before I die, even being optimistic about my life span. But if they're interesting I should make note of them.

Robert

9lilisin
Apr. 30, 2013, 7:13 pm

There are 13 books in my LT wishlist and honestly, I don't really know why those books are there. Every once in a while I try to use the collection as a means to create a wishlist but I realize I'm just not a wishlist person.

If I want to read a book at the moment, I'll just go buy it. Otherwise, I just go to the pile of books I already have. I think I can do this since I tend to only buy one book at a time. They only time I buy "en masse" is when I go to France and Japan and even then, I never really get more than 5 books considering I go frequently enough to not have to worry about running out of books.

Another reason I don't really wishlist books is because most of the books I want to buy are by authors I've already read. So it's easy to keep track of which authors I want to look at when I'm at the bookstore looking for a new book. Otherwise, I enjoy perusing and seeing what comes up.

So count me as a non-wishlist-er.

10AnnieMod
Apr. 30, 2013, 7:33 pm

15. I don't use the LT wishlist because it gets me the wrong notion of what I have. I don't use Amazon wishlist either because I keep forgetting I had books there.

If I want a book, I buy it. I went through a few hard periods in my twenties when I had to sell my library (twice) and since then I don't really care if I can read all those books... I just want to know I have them when I decide to read them.

So my wishlist is mental - books from authors I like, books in series I read, books which I just remember. If I cannot remember it when I go around for a new book, I probably did not want it enough.

I have temporary wishlists when I am hunting a series of books (or a publisher output) but these are more buy lists than wishlists...

11wildbill
Apr. 30, 2013, 8:27 pm

For years since before LT I have used the wishlist on Amazon. It gives me a place to save ideas for later and so far they have had every book I wanted to list. I use it when I go book shopping which lately is less and less. Right now I am focused more on reading the books I have than looking to buy new books. I have only read 30% of the books I own and I want to get to some of the titles I have amassed during the years. If I see a new or used book that I really want to have for current or future reading, if I can afford it, I will buy it.

12ursula
Apr. 30, 2013, 8:37 pm

I don't keep lists of what I want to read. I do put things on the wish list on my library site so I don't forget about them, but a lot of those are books from the 1001 list, so the main purpose is that I remember I can get them from the library.

13kidzdoc
Mai 1, 2013, 6:51 am

I keep my wishlisted books on my Amazon US and UK accounts (Kindle wish list and Dead Tree Book wish list), as I can easily access these lists from my smartphone when I go to a bookshop or buy books online. Those lists are for the books I want to read the most, especially ones that haven't been released yet or are not readily available. Second tier books go into an informal mental "file", and I'll try to remember who read these books and what they thought of them when I see them in a bookshop.

14bragan
Mai 1, 2013, 5:03 pm

Like many others, I use the LT wishlist collection for mine (although, also like many others, I do kind of wish more LT features would distinguish between the wishlist books and the ones actually in my library). I used to keep it on Amazon, but it was impossible to search through, and if Amazon no longer had a particular book available, it would just quietly disappear. I find LT much more useful!

There are currently a ridiculous 565 books on my LT wishlist. Pretty much anything that looks remotely interesting to me seems to end up on it. Which is helpful, actually, as it tends to help me get past this reaction I otherwise sometimes have of convincing myself that if I don't buy that book that looks interesting right now, I'll completely lose track of it and miss out on it forever.

15japaul22
Bearbeitet: Mai 1, 2013, 6:53 pm

I think that relatively speaking I have very few unread books on my shelves (only about 30). It doesn't bother me to have books I don't own in my LT library, so I just add books I want to read and tag them TBR. I get a lot of books from the library or borrow from friends, so my LT library is by no means only books I own.

16avaland
Mai 2, 2013, 7:42 am

I have used the Amazon wishlist feature to note expensive books I'm interested in --- you know, $75 lit crit or nonfiction books. I usually don't end up buying them, but I liked to go in and look at them every once and in awhile. In the past year, I cleaned out the wishlist of those high-priced books, now I just use it to note some forthcoming book, or a product that I might be thinking about getting some family member as a gift. I use the wishlist on the Book Depository in the same way.

I did create a tiny LT wishlist recently because a group I am in is planning a gift exchange, but I don't generally use it because of the reasons Annie above mentions (it does drive me nuts that I will think I have a great connection with someone only to discover that the things that connect us are just items on a wishlist). I have used other people's wishlists though to dispense some of my books.

Sometimes I write books down in my "notes" on my phone, or "gasp!" on paper!

17RidgewayGirl
Mai 2, 2013, 3:05 pm

I have a large wish list in several places. The most reliable version is on BookMooch, but I also have a spreadsheet of those same books just in case BookMooch disappears one day. I update my BookMooch wishlist every time I run across a book I think looks interesting but my spreadsheet is only updated irregularly, because sometimes that book I'm interested in is available on BookMooch. Adding a book to my spreadsheet never results in an instantly available book.

I don't use the LT wish list, which is just me. LT is reserved for books I've read and books physically in my possession. I've also got wishlists on amazon, B&N and PaperbackSwap as well as random lists on my iphone.

I'm reasonably good at remembering that I want a book, less so at knowing whether I've already found a copy. If I'm at a book store and see a book I'm going to look at my LT library to make sure I haven't already got a copy. If I know I'm going to be looking at books, I might look through my wish list beforehand, but I usually know what I want.

18rebeccanyc
Mai 11, 2013, 8:07 am

It's been a busy two weeks in RL, and I'll post another question at the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, back to wishlists. I never kept one, except mentally, until I came to LT. I tried the Wishlist feature, but it didn't really work for me, even when I retitled it to Books to Investigate (Unowned). Partly it's because it isn't really a wishlist; it's books I want to, well, investigate more. And partly it's because I never remembered to add books to it. I think the books on it have been there for four or so years, and I should really go and delete them since I obviously haven't thought about them much in all that time!

Then last year I saw deebee keeping a list of books she learned about on LT on her thread, and I decided to do that too. Usually I remember to add interesting-sounding books to it, but not always.

I also have started keeping a wishlist on Amazon, but again it isn't really a wishlist but a list of books I want to explore further. I do this because I have the Amazon app on my iphone and it's handy for checking when I go to a bookstore. Although yesterday in a bookstore I ended up with two books from my LT recommendation list and none from the Amazon list.

But what spurred me to ask this question is that I still do have a sort-of mental list of books and authors that haven't reached the level of "wishlist" or "books to investigate further" but that I've heard of, usually here on LT and that if I hear of enough times I may decide to look at more.

19rebeccanyc
Mai 13, 2013, 7:28 am

This question is adapted from ones suggested by Dewald (dmsteyn) and Dan (dchaikin) at the beginning of the year.

QUESTION 16.

Do you read books that challenge your convictions, your most deeply held beliefs? Has anything you've read ever led you to alter such beliefs? If so, what book and how? Alternatively, what books do you feel most closely express or are aligned with your own person beliefs?

20rebeccanyc
Mai 17, 2013, 10:12 am

Well, I guess everyone is finding this as challenging a question as I did! But after some thought, I would say that the books I've read most recently that have been challenging to my beliefs are several I read last year by Shusaku Endo as part of the Author Theme Reads group's focus on Japan. In particular, both Silence and Deep River forced me to think about the role religion plays in some people's lives, as this is very foreign to me.

As I wrote in my review of Silence, " I not only have difficulty comprehending this depth of faith but also, as a non-Christian, I have never been able to understand the extensive, if not extreme, proselytizing of Christianity, the need to convert as many others as possible to its beliefs. It seems patronizing to me: "we know what's best for you." These feelings colored my reading of the book because, while I was appalled by the Japanese methods of torture (although torture has certainly been practiced by those professing to be Christians too), I could understand why they wanted to keep such a foreign (and colonizing) religion out of their country. Nor do I understand the appeal of martyrdom."

It is not just that I am not a Christian (because I've certainly plenty of books in which the characters are Christian), but that it was challenging for me to understand how people could have such faith. My own beliefs didn't change, but I was forced to try to better understand those of others.

21mkboylan
Mai 17, 2013, 1:43 pm

Forest Blood by Jeff Golden is a novel about the battles between environmentalists and lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Not only is it just a good read, it helped me begin to understand the issues from the perspective of people who make their living cutting down trees and wiping out habitats. It also gave me hope for these two factions working together.

22AnnieMod
Mai 17, 2013, 2:48 pm

16. It depends on which beliefs.
I refuse to read anything from the creationists point of view for example - it makes no sense and no amount of writing will make the denial of evolution to make sense. But other from that - I read pretty much anything and if the author can convince me to change my thinking - good for him. Even if they do not, it is important to understand why you disagree with something.

I need to think on books though...

23mkboylan
Mai 17, 2013, 6:28 pm

Another book that certainly challenged my beliefs was The Listening Ones by Naomi M. Stokes. This is a mystery that takes place in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. also. Interesting that the two books that come to mind for me re this question both take place there. The issue in this one that boggled my mind was the idea of human sacrifice. The sacrifice was desired by a tribe from South America. When the North Americans professed their horror at the idea, the South Americans pointed out to them that their whole belief system of Christianity was based on the human sacrifice of Jesus. I was stunned. and I had to agree. Crucifying someone on a cross is certainly a human sacrifice. And, as the Bible states in John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him etc. etc. This made my head explode.

24baswood
Mai 18, 2013, 8:04 am

I'm still thinking about that last question.

25rebeccanyc
Mai 21, 2013, 5:36 pm

QUESTION 17.

Having just read The Sorrow of War, which was hailed on all the blurbs on my copy as being one of the best novels about war, I'm curious about what books are the best novels you've read about war, and why. And also, this book was written from the Vietnamese perspective: have you read books about war written from the "other" side, and what did you think of them?

26lilisin
Mai 21, 2013, 8:16 pm

Some of the best novels about war I've read have been:

Fires on the Plain
Japanese perspective about their war in the Philippines

Black Rain
Japanese perspective about the bombing of Hiroshima

The Sea and Poison
Japanese perspective about the horrors of medical testing during the war

John Hersey's Hiroshima
American perspective about the bombing of Hiroshima

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
A classic must-read

All Quiet on the Western Front
Also must-read

Tim O'Brien's
The Things they Carried
Going After Cacciato

Arturo Perez-Reverte's Territorio Comanche

I like the majority of these books because they don't aren't all-encompassing. They only focus on certain aspects of the war or certain consequences from the war. For the most part, because of this, they pack a huge emotional punch to the gut. The first three, particularly, offer a less expected reaction to the war that was surprising.

27Nickelini
Mai 21, 2013, 8:57 pm

Having just read The Sorrow of War, which was hailed on all the blurbs on my copy as being one of the best novels about war,

I wonder what makes a book "one of the best novels about war"? Is it depiction of battles? The victimization of the civilians? Or the soldiers? Heroism? I really don't know, but I'll tell you which books stood out for me:

Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje , and Mosquito, by Roma Tearne, which are both about the Sri Lankan civil war.

Good-bye to All That, by Robert Graves; Return of the Soldier, by Rebecca West; All Quiet on the Western Front, by Enrich Maria Remarque; and Regeneration, by Pat Barker, all about World War I.

I read a lot about World War II when I was younger and tend to avoid books about that war now, but a few years ago I had to read Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi for a class, and it was powerful. Nightmare inducing, but powerful.

I've probably read other good books about war, but these are the recent ones that stand out. War is one of those topics that I tend to stay away from--I think it's because I come from a long-line of pacifists.

28jdthloue
Mai 21, 2013, 9:15 pm

Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods is more about the aftermath of war...is a solid indictment of the Vietnam debacle.....and of politicians and politics. One of the most chilling books i have read..

29rebeccanyc
Mai 26, 2013, 7:35 am

One of the reasons I asked this question is because I find I've read a lot of books about war, but when I read Matterhorn a few years ago it blew me away because I think it was the first one that really made me feel I was tramping through the mud with the soldiers. The Sorrow of War gave me that feeling too, and also made me think about fighting war on your own soil. The Things They Carried, definitely, as well. All of these are about the Vietnam/American war.

But I'm not just thinking about the "depiction of battles," Joyce; I'm also thinking about the impact of war on communities and people.

My probably all-time favorite books about war (and all-time favorites in general) are War and Peace and Life and Fate. W&P, as the name implies, does show a lot of peace, and the war parts are often more tactical than bloody, but it does show the interaction of war and society. L&F is pretty grim. Continuing in the Russian vein, Doctor Zhivago, among everything else it does, shows the impact of war on everyday life, and Bulgakov's White Guard shows the complexity of the Russian civil war in the Ukraine, and the devastation it creates. Serge's Conquered City shows Leningrad in the aftermath of the Russian revolution. Tolstoy's The Cossacks and Hadji Murat show the Russians fighting the Chechens almost two centuries ago.

Moving to Asia, Mo Yan's Red Sorghum showed some of the viciousness of the Japanese invasion of China, and Endo's The Sea and Poison paints a grim picture of Japanese medical experimentation during the second world war.

Dowlatabadi's The Colonel illustrates the aftermath of war. Half of a Yellow Sun brings the Biafran war to life. Carpentier's The Kingdom of This World focuses on the Haitian revolution. in The Balkan Trilogy, war swirls around the protagonists. The Hunters by James Salter is a wonderful portrait of US fighter pilots during the Korean war.

I could probably think of more, but these are the ones that spring to mind.

30Nickelini
Mai 26, 2013, 12:18 pm

Half of a Yellow Sun brings the Biafran war to life.

I didn't mention Half a Yellow Sun because I wasn't as enamored with that book as most readers. However--I agree that it does an excellent job of depicting that horrible war, and further, what stood out for me, is how the suffering of the civilians was completely manufactured and easily avoidable, and not just an unavoidable side effect.

31mkboylan
Mai 26, 2013, 1:18 pm

My favorite about the aftermath and post trauma is Walking It Off by Doug Peacock. He dealt with his trauma with a walk through the wilderness. I appreciate seeing different ways that people deal with trauma whether it is with therapy, different types of spirituality Ceremony by Leslie Silko comes to mind, or a walk. A very long walk.

32wildbill
Mai 26, 2013, 8:10 pm

My favorite book about war is The Iliad. It depicts the graphic horror and pathos of war and also shows the glory that men find in war. It is one of my top ten books period and I have read it many times. Every time I read it I get something new out of it which is the hallmark of a great book.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a terrific book about modern war. The idea that there is no glory in war it is just something horrible that men do to each other makes it a good counterpoint to The Iliad.
War and Peace is a great book that happens to be about war and many other things. I learned a lot about what war does to people in the society around it.
I also enjoyed Gates of Fire. It is not great literature but a good story about growing up in a society centered around war which ends with the Battle of Thermopylae.

I need to throw in a non-fiction book, Hamburger Hill. It is a story about U. S. soldiers in Vietnam where a unit goes through a savage battle for weeks to capture a hill and after the battle is won the brass pulls everybody who is still in one piece off the hill to go kill Vietnamese somewhere else. The line from the soldiers was "It don't mean nothin".

33NanaCC
Mai 26, 2013, 9:09 pm

There are so many great books listed in all of your posts. I liked Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. The books follow a family up to and through WWII. The scenes at the concentration camps were heartbreaking. I also think that The Killer Angels was well done. So many lives were lost at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is mind boggling to think of men charging across an open field knowing that they are going to die. Any book that I've read about war shows me that war is not pretty. And even so, they still go on....

34rebeccanyc
Mai 27, 2013, 7:25 am

Wildbill, I've thought about reading The Iliad (and The Odyssey) for several years now. Are there any translations you recommend? I'd like one that is relatively close to the original and that has really good notes!

35rebeccanyc
Mai 27, 2013, 10:49 am

Has anyone read The Yellow Birds, about the US war in Iraq? I heard the author interviewed on public radio this morning and could only find this link to a description of the program, not a link to the interview itself.

36wildbill
Mai 27, 2013, 1:54 pm

> 34 Rebecca, I have a number of translations. I will look through them and see which one I think you might like.

37rebeccanyc
Jun. 2, 2013, 11:15 am

This question is based on one suggested by StevenTX.

QUESTION 18.
Do you use LT's tagging feature, and if so, how do you use it? Do you have your own system and use it for your personal reference only, or do you see this as a way to share information with other readers? Do you look at how others have tagged a book when deciding whether to purchase or read it? What sorts of tags are most useful to you? Are there any tagging tips you'd like to share?

LT also has a collections feature. Do you use this, and if so how? How do you decide whether to use something as a tag or a collection?

38avidmom
Jun. 2, 2013, 1:09 pm

The collections feature is something I started using recently. I like the fact that I can create my own categories and then "file" the books accordingly so that I can lay my virtual fingers on a book if I need to. Since a great majority of the books I read are from the library and my bookcases here are filled to overflowing, it's a big help. I also like the fact that I can see how many books on each subject I have. It's still a work in progress. When I look up a review for a particular book I like looking at the tags, but I've quit using them when I catalog my own reads. My "new" favorite feature is the reading dates where you can keep track of when you started/finished a book. If I can remember to use it .....

39lilisin
Jun. 2, 2013, 1:46 pm

My books are tagged in the following way:
Country, language, read/unread, location, readxxxx

Country is the country of origin of the author or the country he identifies himself with. (Unless it's nonfiction to which it's tagged with the country the book is about.)
Language is the language in which I read the novel (either English, French, Japanese or Spanish).
Books that have not been read yet are simply tagged unread.
The Colorado tag is designated for unread books that are in my apartment (as opposed to still at my parent's house).
Readxxxx tag is for the year I read the book since first beginning to write down my reading lists.

I don't go more specific than that. Since my library is still so small, it's quite easy for me to pull what I want out with just those tags.

40wildbill
Jun. 2, 2013, 2:06 pm

I use both the tag and the collection features. They are both perfect for my mildly obsessive personality.
I use tags to label the topic of the book. I usually will go from general, such as "history", to specific such as "Civil War". Just yesterday I was going through some tags to try to make the topics uniform. I generally don't use tags when I am looking for a book to read. I use the reviews.
I have a lot of different collections. Many of them are groups of books to read, books I have read and I keep my books from Library of America in a separate collection. I have about 20 different collections.
They are both fun ways to play with my library and organize it in ways that are useful to me.

41StevenTX
Jun. 2, 2013, 4:03 pm

I use collections to show the status of the book (owned, read, ebook, etc.)--things that are meaningful only to me.

I use tags to describe the nature and contents of the book itself. E.g. "fiction," "history," "short stories." Geographic tags are especially useful. I use the adjective for the author's nationality, the noun for the principal setting or subject. For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls would be tagged "American" and "Spain" because it's by an American but set in Spain. This seems to be consistent with what most other LTers do.

I've sporadically used tags for subject themes such as "childhood," "murder," "drugs," "immigration," "modernism,"etc. I'm not sure how useful this is.

When a book comes up as an automated recommendation I usually look at how other people have tagged it. I've also occasionally done searches based on other users' tags, but I don't recall that the results were ever very fruitful except for geographic tags. Searching for "Cotswolds," for example, led me to discover that one of the books I already owned was set in that region.

My use of both collections and tags has evolved over time, so there are a lot of inconsistencies. I keep intending to go back and make it all consistent and systematic, but the more books I add, the more intimidating that task becomes.

42baswood
Jun. 2, 2013, 5:54 pm

For an obsessive person like me you would think that the tagging and collection features would be things I would use. I started tagging my books then got out of the habit when I could not settle on a system that made any sense to me. I feel vaguely guilty about this state of affairs, but rationalise this by thinking that perhaps I am not so obsessive as I used to be. That's got to be a good thing? - right.

43Nickelini
Bearbeitet: Jun. 5, 2013, 12:44 am

Q 18 - Tagging & Collections

I can definitely see the overlap between these two. I don't worry about them too much, and I change my own rules as I go and as it suits me. Basically, I look at Collections as a virtual bookshelf. Sort of, in a perfect world, these I would put these books physically on a shelf together (not possible in real life because one book will be in 2 or 3 collections.) Some of my collections are Books By and About Virginia Woolf, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Booker Prize Winners and Nominees, Old Books (these are the books I've had in my TBR the longest so I remember to read them every so often), and so on.

My tags sometimes overlap--for example, I also tag all 1001 books I own or have read. I do look at my tags as a way to give info to other readers. Again, when I look at a book, I sometimes check if it's been tagged 1001. I find geographical tags probably the most useful--one day I'll wake up and want to read a book set in New Zealand, so then I'll search tags. This doesn't always work because I've come across geographic tags that meant "I read this when I was in New Zealand," or that sort of thing.

I also have tags that are completely personal--for example, "Fabrizio." This is my husband's name, and common for those who have spent time in Italian culture, but very unusual for those who haven't. So I just like to take note of any book that has a Fabrizio in it.

One thing about tags--there is no control, so you always have to keep a skeptical eye open. My example here is that every Isabelle Allende book seems to be tagged "magical realism," but she's written lots of stuff with no magical realism at all. So when you do a tag search for magical realism, you get a lot of stuff that people mis-tag, either because they think "Isabelle Allende = magical realism" or because they don't know what magical realism is, and use the tag anyway.

So I guess my rambling point here--and my tag tip--is that tags can't necessarily be trusted. But they can be helpful.

eta: I almost never tag books I haven't read.

44ljbwell
Jun. 5, 2013, 10:20 am

I also use both tags and collections. I'll only add tags after I've read the book. I do look at other people's tags when tagging mine, but also use my own 'coding': own, borrowed, library loan; fiction, non-fiction; read. Old uni text books were tagged with codes for those. If it was a non-English language book, I'll tag with the language I read it in. I find the tags a) help find a book in my library that I remember something about but don't remember the title and/or b) make for an interesting overview of things I read.

I created a few collections when the option was first introduced. It was good, because until then I'd been a bit strict about what constituted 'your library' - and didn't include books I didn't own at that moment. This meant that library books, borrowed books, or other books not on my shelves didn't show. Now I can file them under read but unowned. I also have a collection for books I know I've read in the past, but don't own; that one is a bit of an incomplete mish-mash. Some of my other collections are very broad and cover loosely related genres (e.g., murder, crime, mystery all in one collection; sci-fi, fantasy, alternate history, etc. are lumped in another). French has a collection, as do Swedish and Scots/Scottish. I get a bit hung up on whether I mean the language or the author's origin or the setting, but basically use my judgment on how I feel at the moment of 'filing'. I've also started using 'currently reading' more.

One day I may try to finesse, but it all works for me for now.

45rebeccanyc
Jun. 5, 2013, 2:51 pm

I started off with tags before there were collections, so that gave me a chance to think about collections differently.

For tags, I have now developed a system of indicating the nationality of the author (e.g., French literature), the century (e.g., 19th century). For fiction, I'll also indicated whether it is a short story collection or a novella, as opposed to a novel. For nonfiction, I break it down by category, e.g., history, biology, autobiography, etc., and sometimes what it's about, if I have a lot of books that deal with a particular topic (e.g., polar exploration, New York City, books about books, reference). I'll also, for history, indicate country and century. And finally, I note if if was an LT recommendation. I've developed this system over the years, so I really need to go back and edit the tags for my earlier books. I basically use tags entirely for my own use; I might be interested in how somebody I "know" tags a book, but I don't find the general LT view of tags particularly useful.

For collections, I have "Read in 2013," "Read in 2012," etc., as well as "Hope to read soon," "Currently reading," "Favorites of recent years," "Interrupted," "Give Away," and a tag for books I got from my parents' apartment. So I think of tags as being "about the book," and collections as my relationship with the books.

46rebeccanyc
Jun. 13, 2013, 4:36 pm

QUESTION 19.

Summer is here (almost officially)! (Or, winter, if you're in the southern hemisphere.) What are your summer reading plans? Is your reading different over the summer than during the rest of the year? If so, how?

47SassyLassy
Jun. 14, 2013, 10:48 am

Rereads and Victorians, often together in the same book are my big summer reading indulgence, as I feel I can take the time that is not always available in winter to read them in big chunks. The ability to read for long periods also means I am more likely to read some serious non fiction than I am in winter.

I balance them with the odd inspector book or spy book to give me the feeling I am on vacation in some other part of the world.

Just waiting for it to get warm enough to sit outside for protracted periods to get started.

48ursula
Jun. 14, 2013, 2:43 pm

I know that "summer reading" is a concept, but I've never noticed my habits to change with the seasons. Maybe I read slightly less because I'm more likely to be out doing things, but I can't even say that's really the case consistently.

For this summer in particular, my reading plan is nonexistent. Working on an international move and currently pseudo-homeless (staying with the in-laws), so everything is in an uproar. The "when" is whenever I can manage it and the "what" is whatever is easily found amongst our stuff.

49baswood
Jun. 14, 2013, 6:00 pm

I don't think my reading habits change that much in the summer. In the winter it can get too cold to read and in the summer it can get too hot, so I guess it balances out.

50Nickelini
Jun. 14, 2013, 7:50 pm

Q19 - I am totally a seasonal reader. I like to read summery books in summer, and icy, cold, cozy books in winter. I also like to read books related to my travels. For example, last summer we went to NYC and I read Falling Man by Don DeLillo and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

Also, I like to read a classic or two in summer. As someone said, sometimes you have more concentrated blocks of time to read. In ode to Henry James, who said "summer afternoon--the two most beautiful words in the English language" (or something like that), I usually read my annual James novel in summer. And for some reason, late summer (September) says "Thomas Hardy" to me. I also like to read something fun and light in between.

51japaul22
Jun. 17, 2013, 9:48 am

My summer reading is often the opposite of a "beach read" type of book. As my work schedule tends to be lighter in the summer, I take the opportunity to read some heavier, more dense books. This summer may be an exception since all year I expect I'll read easier books until my 4 month old starts sleeping through the night!

Overall, though, I like to balance more serious reading with light reads like mysteries and popular fiction year round. I don't like too much of any one style of book.

52ljbwell
Jun. 17, 2013, 10:57 am

My summer reading is much like my reading the rest of the year - a mix of what strikes my fancy together with what is at hand. Similar to ursula (#48 above), I'm still in an in-between phase of an international move, so have only a limited part of my TBR books with me. A couple of those will come with me on holiday; if I happen to go through those more quickly, then it'll be looking through the bookshelves there. The rest of the summer will be hitting the library to see what they've got that I feel like reading.

I agree with japaul22, too - I've been able to tackle a couple books that during the heavier work year probably would have felt too daunting (or too much like an extension of work). It's nice to have the time and frame of mind to pick those up and enjoy them.

53rebeccanyc
Jun. 18, 2013, 9:11 am

I am like many of you in that I think of the summer as a time when I can tackle some longer books, largely because I tend to be less busy and can concentrate on a book I can't take on the subway. This year, I'm thinking of reading Kristin Lavrandsdatter, Schama's The Embarrassment of Riches, and an intriguing book I found in a bookstore called The Lost Art of Finding Our Way. However, it is almost July, and I'm still plugging away at The Court of the Red Tsar and Jude the Obscure, so I'm feeling like I may want some lighter reading before I tackle the more serious, lengthy reads.

I guess I'm basically like ljbwell in #52 in that, as throughout the year my reading is "a mix of what strikes my fancy together with what is at hand."

54lilisin
Jun. 20, 2013, 2:47 am

Summer tends to put me in the mood for the classics which are usually tomes. This will be the time that I'll read another Hugo, or Dumas. Probably has to do with the fact that I'm typically in France at this time of year so all I want to do is read French all day. In fact, I'll be there next month so I'll have to decide what I'm going to read.

55avidmom
Jun. 20, 2013, 11:42 am

I usually read whatever appeals to me at the moment. When summer comes I can forgive myself a little bit more if I choose a more "light-hearted fluffy read."

56markon
Jun. 20, 2013, 1:25 pm

Q19: Summer is the busy season at work, so though I'm still reading whatever takes my fancy, I'm not posting about it.

57mkboylan
Jun. 21, 2013, 7:28 pm

Q19 - A cross posting from Dewey Challenge to answer how summer effects my reading. When I am traveling I tend to read quite a bit of face paced stuff while in the car (as passenger - ha) so thriller, mysteries. Also:

I will be leaving next week for a 6-8 week trip to Colorado, Montana, St. Louis, Seattle and Portland. So, I have been busy reading reading books I have out of my public library, none of which has added to my Dewey challenge. I just finished tagging some books I own that will fill new Dewey slots so I can pack them. I just want to say even that part of the challenge was fun - just exploring. I'll probably only read about 8 new divisions because I'll be reading lots of other stuff too as well as shopping for used books everywhere I go. You know how that goes! But I'm taking about 30 challenge books plus lots of other stuff. Yahoo!

58rebeccanyc
Jun. 25, 2013, 12:24 pm

This question is based on questions from _debbie_ and SassyLassy.

QUESTION 20.
When you pick a book to read, do you find yourself drawn to the same themes over and over? If so which ones, and why do you think that might be? Similarly, do you find yourself drawn to particular time periods or places? Which ones, and why?

59Nickelini
Jun. 27, 2013, 12:31 pm

No bites on Q 20 yet? Okay, I'll give it a whirl . . .

I don't know if I'm drawn to any set of themes or not, but I'm always interested to find a book that has a story line where a mother disappears. I find how this is tackled in literature is interesting, and I am also fascinated by readers' comments on these stories (many people cannot comprehend that a mother might want to leave her family and there is no attempt at understanding or compassion towards her). Why does this interest me? Because I always wonder what other directions my life could have taken--not that I'm unhappy with the one I'm living or have any thoughts of leaving myself. But I'm interested in other possibilities.

Probably too broad to be considered a theme but sort of fitting, I'm also drawn to books that are "Edwardian." I do like ones actually written in the Edwardian era (and the Gilded Age in the US)--Wharton, Foster, etc., but even more, I like current books that look back on the era. I think this is because we know what followed it, and authors use that irony to set up their world building.

That's what draws me now--ask again in 5 years and I'll be on to something else.

60Nickelini
Jun. 28, 2013, 12:43 pm

No one else on Q 20? I was looking forward to hearing some thoughts on this. I'm thinking everyone is just busy, or off actually reading books (?)

61avidmom
Jun. 28, 2013, 1:28 pm

>60 Nickelini: I'm thinking everyone is just busy, or off actually reading books (?)

LOL! I find that my time lurking around LT cuts into my reading time tremendously so I'm trying to be more disciplined about it. The other day I heard someone say Americans spend all this time watching cooking shows - then complain that they don't have time to actually cook. LT is like that for me. The irony.

When you pick a book to read, do you find yourself drawn to the same themes over and over? If so which ones, and why do you think that might be? Similarly, do you find yourself drawn to particular time periods or places? Which ones, and why?

I don't think I get drawn to a particular theme over and over, but I do find myself going on reading jags by subject and/or author. If I find a book on a subject I find interesting I want to read more about it, whether it's fiction or non-fiction. During my Civil War phase I read a lot of NF but also read some historical fiction that I loved: Cold Mountain and Sherman's March. I read all about Eva Peron last year and had to read Santa Evita so I guess I get momentarily stuck in a certain period and/or place for a while. Right now I'm almost finished with No Ordinary Time and already I've got my library's copy of Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day to dive into when I'm finished.

62japaul22
Jun. 28, 2013, 7:43 pm

I don't think I see a trend with themes for me, though I do sometimes follow a train of thought (like Gone With the Wind led to the non-fiction Reconstruction: A History which may lead to March).

I tend to love the british and american classics (I know that's way too broad of a statement!) and also find that for modern fiction, I tend to be drawn to books by women authors more often than books by men (though there are lots and lots of exceptions).

I'll tell you what I'm not interested in - science fiction and most fantasy (though I'm thinking about reading Game of Thrones).

I guess all of the qualifying that I'm having to do shows that I really should have just said "no" to all of the questions!

63rebeccanyc
Jul. 1, 2013, 8:57 am

i've been thinking about this too, and I would say that any themes I follow are pretty broad. If I look at books I've read this year, there is a slight thread of books about war and political trauma and how people react to that, but I'm kind of stretching to get there. I've also read a lot of books that deal with colonialism.

I can see, however, that sometimes, like japaul, I follow a train of thought -- i.e., reading Transit by Anna Seghers led me to take Varian Fry's Surrender on Demand off the shelf and then to order, because of suggestions by LTers, Villa Air-Bel. Similarly, reading Margalit Fox's The Riddle of the Labyrinth about deciphering Linear B may lead me to take Breaking the Maya Code off the shelf.

On the other hand, I do find myself drawn to various times and places: Russia and Eastern Europe, especially 20th and 21st centuries; 19th century France (thanks to Zola and others); New York City historically, etc.

64lilisin
Jul. 1, 2013, 4:25 pm

I haven't been on any theme kicks lately. Just drawn to certain countries at the moment. And since I'm trying to get my Japanese reading up to par, I'm selecting my books by level of difficulty rather than by specific topics. Although I still choose interesting looking books to keep my interest and thus my motivation going.

65SassyLassy
Jul. 2, 2013, 12:05 pm

Not being a fan of happily ever after, or uplifting books, I tend to get drawn to fiction with themes of war, loss, marginal people and general disquiet. I like characters with a fatal flaw, doomed from the start.

My non fiction books tend to follow the same themes.

I like to binge on a particular era or theme, reading both fiction and nonfiction at the same time, as I did with late twentieth century China last year. Right now I am reading Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London in preparation for yet another Victorian binge. I return to both China and Victorians in regular cycles, probably because in both cases the people struggle on regardless, but I'm also drawn to books on sub Saharan Africa and I know once I start reading for the Reading Globally South America quarter, that will be a whole new focus.

When I get off track and start casting around for something to read, my reading suffers, so then it's time for more nonfiction to focus me.

To alleviate this doom and gloom, I love literary gardening and travel writing. They both provide wonderful escapes.

66StevenTX
Jul. 2, 2013, 12:17 pm

My answers to Questions 19 and 20 are not, I'm afraid, very exciting: My reading doesn't vary much by season--at least not in any way that I'm aware--nor do I tend to stick to particular themes in my reading unless it's part of a group project or as background reading for a forthcoming vacation.

I do tend to avoid the here and now, the comfortable and familiar, in favor of more exotic settings, experimental styles, and controversial subjects. But I like variety in my reading more than anything, so I rarely stick to one period, subject or author for very long at a time.

67mkboylan
Jul. 2, 2013, 10:09 pm

Well, I may be a little obsessed with revolutionaries and it probably has something to do with having an authoritarian father and I need to get over it. LOL.

68ursula
Jul. 3, 2013, 6:19 am

I like to read books about mountaineering and sea exploration, and I am also drawn to books with wartime as a setting. I don't know what exactly started these tendencies, but at this point, I have to admit I'm always most interested in books of those types.

69March-Hare
Jul. 4, 2013, 9:21 am

I am interested in "modes of rationality" and "modes of self-formation" particularly their connection or intersection in emancipatory rationality. I would also say philosophies of unity although this would perhaps fall under modes of rationality. Most of what I read relates to these themes in some way.

70rebeccanyc
Jul. 8, 2013, 7:17 am

QUESTION 21.

The year is half over. What have been the highlights (and lowlights) of your reading so far, and what are your thoughts about your reading for the rest of the year?

71avidmom
Jul. 8, 2013, 11:57 am

What have been the highlights (and lowlights) of your reading so far, and what are your thoughts about your reading for the rest of the year?

Goodwin's No Ordinary Time ranks as probably the best book I've read in a long, long time. For fiction, I'd have to say the two that stand out are Major Pettigrew's Last Stand which was fun, and Santa Evita.

I'd like to meet the goals I set for myself at the beginning of this year but since I keep buying more books, adding to my wishlist, and checking out books from the library, (not to mention tending to RL), I'm, at best, skeptical.

The year is half over.
What?!?!?!

72StevenTX
Jul. 8, 2013, 12:46 pm

There have been so many highlights this year that I couldn't list them all. One book that I'll point out because I think it deserves more recognition is Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. This is a science fiction novel rich in ideas and just as meaningful now as it was 60 years ago, yet very entertaining. It should be read as widely as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451.

There weren't any lowlights worth noting. Every book I read was worth it.

A large portion of my reading in the first half of the year was background for my vacation in June. I have no such focus in mind for the rest of the year. I could easily fill my calendar just with choices inspired by the various groups to which I belong, but I do want to leave room for some personal choices--at the moment, though, I don't know what those will be.

One area in which I have improved--if you're of a mind to call it that--is not buying quite as many books as in years past. I haven't been to a book store since February or March, and I'm trying to be more selective in my online shopping as well.

73NanaCC
Jul. 8, 2013, 3:44 pm

My feelings are similar to Steven's. I haven't really read any books that I wish I'd skipped.

I discovered that Anna Karenina was a wonderful book, and can't understand why I avoided it for so many years. Team of Rivals was another favorite so far. The Age of Innocence makes me want to read more Wharton. Life After Life and At Swim Two Boys were also excellent suggestions by other LTers. I've discovered Inspector Rebus and Matthew Shardlake, and found out that The Princess Bride isn't just a very funny movie, but a hilarious book as well.

Two books that fell a little flat for me were England, England by Julian Barnes and In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson.

Books that I know I will get to within the next few months are Seeking Palestine and No Ordinary Time. My Kindle and my book shelves are loaded, so there is no lack of material.

74ursula
Jul. 8, 2013, 4:22 pm

The highlights of the first half of my year were probably Let the Great World Spin, The Immoralist, Cloud Atlas and The Absolutist. The lowlights were The Black Dahlia and The Stone Diaries.

Thoughts about my reading are ... I want to get back on track for reading more than 3 books a month now that our international move has been accomplished. I carefully selected some books to come with me (baggage weight limits start to make you consider how much you really want books, and do you want them more than shoes?), and I've bought a few more here, so I pretty much know what I'll be reading for the next 6 months. I need to learn to think a bit more about what books I'm picking up around the same time, though, because I've had several times this year when I find myself in the middle of two giant books and feeling like I'm getting nowhere with either of them, but I don't want to add yet another one into the mix and slow down my progress even more.

75bragan
Bearbeitet: Jul. 8, 2013, 6:34 pm

Man, it's been too long since I responded to any of these questions. But, hey, at least this is an easy one!

I think the highest highlight of my year so far was Economix, in part because it took me so much by surprise. A book about economics that I can actually understand, enjoy, and get enthused about? Surely such a thing is impossible! Especially one that does it all with cartoons...

As for the lowest lowlight... Well, I'm still miffed about being send a woefully incomplete copy of E.B. Hudspeth's The Resurrectionist through Early Reviewers, but I'll probably get over it eventually.

And my reading plans for the rest of the year still consist largely of "Must READ ALL THE BOOKS!" I have so very, very many volumes clamoring to be read next that there is no way I will get to them all this year. Or next year. Or any time in the foreseeable future, probably. But I plan to keep giving it the old college try. Meanwhile, I'm going to renew my attempts to buy fewer books. A friend of mine recently threatened to stage an intervention. :)

76baswood
Jul. 8, 2013, 5:22 pm

So far for me this year it has been an unbelievable reading year: there are nineteen books that I have rated as 5 star reads. Of course I have not read as many books as I would have liked, but that always seems to be the case. Here are the magnificent 19:

Machiavelli and his friends: their personal correspondence
The War of the Worlds H G Wells
What to listen for in music Aaron Copland
Billy Budd Sailor and Selected tales Herman Melville
The fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made king Ian Mortimer
The Myth of Sisyphus Albert camus
The Stranger Albert Camus
Brave New World (P.S.) Aldous Huxley
1415: Henry V's Year of Glory Ian Mortimer
The Book of the Courtier: Norton Critical Edition Baldassare Castiglione
Mrs Dalloway Virginia Wolf
The Plague Albert Camus
John Coltrane: His Life and Music Lewis Porter
The Country of the Blind and other Stories H G Wells
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation Johan Huizinga
1984 George Orwell
The Cambridge Companion to Camus
The Praise of Folly and other writings (Norton Critical Edition) Erasmus
The Scarlet letter: An authoritative text Essays in Criticism and scholarship (Norton Critical Edition)

Looking ahead to the rest of the year; I plan to read the remaining two Camus novels as well as more of his essays and short stories. More H G Wells and more classic science fiction from the 1950's. My reading of 16th century literature will continue with Rabelais. I also want to read a couple of histories of the English Wars of the Roses. I have also on my shelf Owen Glendower by John Cooper Powys and then I will be launching into the Elizabethan poets.

77mkboylan
Jul. 8, 2013, 10:07 pm

Steven -so YOU'RE the reason for all of those bookstore closures! Don't you feel the least bit guilty? Uh oh......bragan's going to help you.

So this year I loved MOST of what I read - I don't really read many books I don,t think I will just love. and that feels like such a luxury, one that comes with retirement. I did especially love Chris Hedges Days of Destruction Days of Revolt. Really disappointed in Pride and Prejudice perhaps due to my ignorance. Loved the Orna Ross fiction I read Before the Fall and After the Rise. I have really had a fun reading year and lots of that is thanks to all of your posts.

78Polaris-
Jul. 9, 2013, 2:42 pm

My 5 star reads so far have been:

Fiction -
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

There've been a fair few 4 & 4.5 star reads, but I thought I'd only pick the highest highlights...

Non-fiction -
Jerusalem: A Cookbook - Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
- REALLY loving discovering proper simple but delicious cookery from this book. I've made burekas (with ricotta), barley rissotto with marinated Feta, Felafel (the best!!), tehina sauce, tehina cookies, pitta bread, Jerusalem mixed grill, labneh (so versatile and yummy - I make a batch, it lasts 2-3 weeks, then I do it again...), sahlab (words can't express how delicious this milk based vanilla pudding is!).... lots of lovely salads....I could go on....

And a mix of fantasticf photobooks by Larry Towell, Josef Koudelka, and Larry Sultan - check them out if you dig photogrpahy!

Lowlight of the year so far: The nauseating narrator's voice on the audiobook of Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor!

Plans for the rest of the year? Amos Oz, lots of Larry Brown, Barry Hannah, Edward Abbey, Thomas Mann's frankly scarily sized Joseph and his Brothers maybe, ...audiobooks from the library, and VERY soon, my main birthday book The Richard Burton Diaries...bring it on...

79rebeccanyc
Bearbeitet: Jul. 10, 2013, 11:08 am

I've read a lot of wonderful books so far this year . . . and a few that were not so wonderful!

Here are some of my top reads (not in any order).

Fiction

Best of the Best
The Issa Valley by Czeslaw Milosz
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Transit by Anna Seghers
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier
Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac
War & War by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
The Opportune Moment by Patrik Ourednik

One of the best things about these best of the best titles is that, with the exception of Carpentier, all the authors were new to me.

Best of the Rest
Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Necklace and Other Stories by Guy de Maupassant

Nonfiction
An Armenian Sketchbook by Vassily Grossman
Surrender on Demand by Varian Fry
The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox
The Black Count by Tom Reiss
My Century by Aleksander Wat
Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Disappointments included Pieces of Light by Charles Fernyhough, Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue, Jonathan Wild by Henry Fielding, and Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera. Disappointments are books that I had higher hopes for and wanted to like more, not books I actively disliked.

As I noted on my thread, my reading has been very Eurocentric so far this year, because of the focus on French authors in the Author Theme Reads group and my own predilection for writing by Russians and Eastern Europeans. I am hoping to expand geographically for the second half of the year (spurred on by the Reading Globally theme reads on Francophone countries outside Europe and South America), and also to do a little better on reading books by women.

But mostly I just hope the second half of the year has as much enjoyable reading as the first half. And with all of you reading such interesting books, I'm sure my TBR will continue to grow by leaps and bounds!

80baswood
Jul. 10, 2013, 2:27 pm

Polaris, I like that Idea of a simple and delicious cookbook and I have enjoyed Ottolenghi's recent TV programme. I will look out for Jerusalem: a cookbook

81wildbill
Jul. 23, 2013, 12:45 pm

Coney Island of the Mind and
Book of Blues two poetry books have been my favorite reads so far this year. I found them very entertaining and they stretched my mind with their use of language.

The Origins of the War of 1914 volume two and
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion were both excellent books that were like being back in a graduate seminar.

The Dr. Siri mysteries:
Thirty-three Teeth, The Curse of the Pogo Stick, Anarchy and Old Dogs and Disco for the Departed were all a lot of fun to read. I am really getting to like the characters and plan to continue reading books in the series for the rest of the year.

I am still working on The Superorganism that fabulous book about the world of ants and hope to finish it this year.

I will start volume three of The Origins of the War of 1914. It is the longest volume and I will do very well to finish it this year.

I still have three plays by August Wilson that I have not read and I they are at the top of my tbr list.

I seem to be getting away from the Civil War. The last two books I read on that topic were not very informative or enjoyable. I am looking for a new history topic and right now Chinese history is looking very attractive.

I have been looking at good literature lately for books to read. Specifically my Library of America collection and books from the Britannica Great Books set. I just finished Two Years Before the Mast and I am reading Gulliver's Travels. I attribute this to the influence of the Club Read 2013. The members of this group read some really good books and I feel like I need to stretch to keep up. The more I read really good literature the more rewarding it is. These books have been on my shelves for many years and it is time that I read them.

82rebeccanyc
Jul. 23, 2013, 3:47 pm

QUESTION 22.

At the beginning of the year, I asked you, the Avid Readers of Club Read, what questions you would like to ask your fellow Avid Readers. While i haven't completely worked my way through that list, I think it's time to ask you to put your thinking caps on once again, especially since our exceptionally hot and humid weather here in NYC has slowed my brain down.

So, what would you really like to know about your fellow Avid Readers' reading tastes, habits, deep thoughts, or whatever? Please DO NOT ANSWER other people's questions!!! I will pick ones to ask in the weeks to come, interspersed with ones I or others come up with.

83baswood
Bearbeitet: Jul. 24, 2013, 4:05 am

Do you hope to get an erotic charge from some of the books you read.

Do you find the levels of violence portrayed in some modern books gratuitous and if so give an example.

Do you usually stick to recommended reads either from club read or from best books lists or do you more often than not go your own way.

Do you read any poetry and if not why not

Have you explored the world of graphic novels and can you make recommendations for those who have not tried the genre

Do you think that listening to an audio book counts as having read it (assuming that you have no disability that precludes reading)

Do you do much of your reading in bed?

How much risk do you take by reading, for example do you read when you should be working, do you read while walking along the street, do you piss off your partner or family because your nose is always stuck in a book.

84StevenTX
Jul. 23, 2013, 8:41 pm

I don't have any questions of my own yet, but I like Barry's list, especially the last one. I suggest adding to his #6: And does having seen a play performed count the same for you as having read it?

85SassyLassy
Jul. 24, 2013, 10:46 am

This is a related group of questions:

Excluding the books you consider yourself to be currently reading, do you have a pile of partially read books?
Are these books organized or just strewn around where you last left them?
What caused you to stop reading those particular books?
Do you go back and finish them later?
How much later; enough so that you have to start again?
When and how do you decide you will officially abandon a book, or do you ever make that decision?

86rebeccanyc
Jul. 24, 2013, 12:06 pm

Thanks, Barry, Steven, and Sassy. We're off to a good start! Keep those questions coming!

87ljbwell
Bearbeitet: Jul. 24, 2013, 3:24 pm

Have you ever read the same book/story/poetry in multiple languages? Did your response to the book change depending on the language? (How) did your understanding of one or more of the languages develop? Other insights on the experience? Similarly, have you read different translations of the same book?

Further adding to or broadening baswood's #6 & stevenTX's suggestion: What do you and don't you log/review/track in LT? If you waver about including something, what is it? How do you decide?

In a similar vein, if you are pursuing lists such as 1001 Books, what "allows" you to mark something as read? Or do you have a system or key for different experiences with the book? (e.g., if you haven't read it, but seen it in film or play form; audio vs print; abridged/graphic version vs unabridged).

And only because it comes from personal experience, with a certain amount of hand wringing involved:

For those of you LTers who a) have a sizeable collection of physical books and b) seem to move around a bit, how do you deal with your books and moving? Do you cull mercilessly? Do they all come with you wherever you go? How do you decide what insurance to put on them? (and seeing Polaris-'s suggestion below: Do you have any that you would pack and take physically with you to be sure they don't get lost in the move?)

88Polaris-
Jul. 24, 2013, 3:17 pm

We all have 'special' books. The ones we love to recommend, but might just hesitate when it comes to a-lending... Ones that we love to just look at on the shelf, pleased with their presence, comforted by the fact that they're merely 'there' - waiting for you to pick up and re-read or skim through on a whim. But do you have a special shelf for the special ones? A particular location for the creme de la creme? If you do - what are the books that can be found there? Does the shelf or bookcase itself have any particular significance or back story?

89Polaris-
Jul. 24, 2013, 3:20 pm

And yes, I love the list of questions so far as well!

90C4RO
Jul. 25, 2013, 5:10 am

What do you feel is the real purpose of your book review/ readling list practices? (EG shorthand remember content, when I read it, a detailed book critique?)

For multiple language speakers. Is there a particular split in your reading habits (genre/ content) based on the language it's written in?

91japaul22
Jul. 25, 2013, 9:01 am

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book that got positive reviews even though you might not have liked it on your own? What about the opposite - do you dislike a book that others have found little literary merit whereas without outside influence you may have enjoyed it?

92NanaCC
Jul. 25, 2013, 9:55 am

When doing your review, how do you decide how much of the plot to reveal?

93ljbwell
Jul. 26, 2013, 5:00 am

Is there a book that best reflects your image of an ideal society?

Is there a book that you would want to live in or experience (either as a specific character or simply an unnamed observer)?

Because of something you've read, is there an era you'd want to experience?

94mkboylan
Jul. 26, 2013, 10:54 am

oooooh what ljb said!

95rebeccanyc
Jul. 28, 2013, 1:16 pm

Great questions so far! I'll keep this going for a little longer to give others a chance to add to them!

96avidmom
Jul. 28, 2013, 5:03 pm

Do you find it hard to start your next book until you've reviewed the one you just read? (I have the hardest time concentrating on the next book until the one I just put down is reviewed and added to my thread.)

Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet?

Are there any characters, fiction or non-fiction, that you would like to meet?

Are there any authors/characters that you would like to see meet each other?

What started your love of reading?

97mkboylan
Jul. 28, 2013, 5:42 pm

Hard not to start answering those avid!

98rebeccanyc
Jul. 28, 2013, 6:19 pm

Hold on, Merrikay! You'll get your chance!

99AnnieMod
Bearbeitet: Jul. 29, 2013, 5:51 pm

Do you get in non-reading moods and stop reading for weeks (and months) on end? If that happens, how do you recover?

Do you read movies and TV series tie-ins?

What is the last book that you searched for for a very long time?

Do you like rereading your favorite books from your childhood? If you do, do you find them as charming as they once were?

What are the books your grew up with?

Which was the last book you grabbed/bought because of its cover?

100rebeccanyc
Jul. 31, 2013, 10:11 am

Thanks for all the great questions (and feel free to keep them coming)! I'll sort through them and will be asking them in the weeks to come. In the meantime, here is the next question.

QUESTION 23.

Recently I stopped reading a book because it just wasn't grabbing me and there are so many other books to read. Do you ever stop reading a book you've started? What makes you do this? Do you sometimes continue reading a book you don't really like, and if so why? Have your habits in this regard changed over time? Give some examples of books you stopped reading and books you kept on reading even though you weren't sure about them.

101japaul22
Jul. 31, 2013, 12:29 pm

I have always been one that finishes a book I start. In general, I think I make informed decisions about books to read and love, like, or at least appreciate the books I choose. Much of this is due to informative LT reviews. However, if I don't connect with a book, I am not above skimming to the end. In that way, I haven't put in as much time as I would if I plodded through an unliked book, but at least I have a sense of what happens and if the book gets any better. Books that I'll admit skimming to the end with (after reading 50-75% of the book diligently) are A Passage to India, Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, and Snow by Orhan Pamuk. I can't think of a book that I've actually abandoned in the recent past.

102bragan
Jul. 31, 2013, 6:15 pm

I am an obsessive finisher, and have been since sometime in my teenage years. I tend to attribute it to some combination of hopeless optimism (hey, the book might still get better, right?), an irrational determination to conquer the book if it kills me, some personality component that makes me a fanatical completist when it comes to books, and a deep dissatisfaction at of the idea of not knowing how a story ends even if the story isn't actually one that interests me.

Fortunately, I read pretty fast, so even the worst plod-throughs don't keep me away from other, better books for more than a few days.

103AnnieMod
Jul. 31, 2013, 7:18 pm

23. Do you ever stop reading a book you've started?
All the time. If a book does not grab me, I move on another one. Depending on my mood, it may be after 5 pages or 10 pages or 50 pages and sometimes even after a page. However (see below...)

> What makes you do this?
Wrong style for my mood. Wrong genre for my mood. Language that just bugs me. A topic that really annoys me or simply I am not feeling like reading about at the moment. Mostly it is a wrong time/wrong book situation.

> Do you sometimes continue reading a book you don't really like, and if so why?
I finish books (I think I had left 3 or 4 books unfinished in my entire life and all of them way past the middle of them). I am a very moody reader so the fact that I do not like a book beginning does not really mean that I won't love the book. So... I give it a try. If I am past the 70-80% mark and I still dislike it, I usually finish it just because... Or I finally dump it and call it a day (if I don't even care what happens in the story...)

> Have your habits in this regard changed over time?
Yes. I used to be a lot more patient in fiction (I would read almost anything) and a lot less patient in non-fiction (always had a tone of these started). Things seem to have been reversed lately - I would give a non-fiction book a lot more time and usually finish it while a novel that goes nowhere by mid book or annoys me, goes on the "will finish later" pile.

And I will be back with an answer to the last part of the question - need to think on it a little bit.

104StevenTX
Jul. 31, 2013, 9:46 pm

Q 23 - Do you ever stop reading a book you've started? What makes you do this?

Very rarely. Like bragan I've always been somewhat obsessive about finishing what I've started, though that doesn't keep me from setting a book aside for weeks or months at a time. I usually keep several books going at a time anyway, so that makes it easier for me to plug away at a book I'm not really enjoying but still want to finish. I read a chapter or so at a time, then pick up something else for a break. The only times recently where I've stopped a book with no intention of coming back to it were both non-fiction works that weren't what I expected them to be and would have been a wasted effort without more background in the subject on my part.

- Do you sometimes continue reading a book you don't really like, and if so why?

I usually find something to like in everything I read, even if I'm disappointed on the whole. There are books you don't enjoy reading, but are still worth having read because of their historical or literary significance. In some cases, though, the only thing that keeps me reading a book is that it is for group discussion or that I want to write a fair (albeit negative) review of it. I might also keep reading a book just because I wanted to check it off a list (e.g. "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"), but I can't think of any recent examples where this has been the case.

- Have your habits in this regard changed over time?

Not appreciably.

- Give some examples of books you stopped reading and books you kept on reading even though you weren't sure about them.

One book I abandoned a few years ago was Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, which many here have raved about. I was wanting a biography with an overview of Stalin's life, but instead it turned out to be a highly detailed portrait of his inner circle--not what I wanted when I knew nothing much yet about the man himself.

More recently I asked a psychologist friend to recommend a general introduction to psychology. He recommended Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. It turned out to be a series of essays on the development of the practice of clinical psychoanalysis. I found the chapters on Freud and Jung somewhat rewarding, but after that I was lost, so I gave up.

One book I kept on reading despite hating it just because it was a group reading selection was The Kite Runner. It turned out I was the only one in the group who finished it, so I needn't have bothered.

105ursula
Aug. 1, 2013, 1:26 am

Do you ever stop reading a book you've started? Yep. Not all that often, but it happens.

What makes you do this? I do it more often with non-fiction. If the writing is not grabbing me, or the author is actively annoying me, it's time to give it up. With fiction at least, there's always a chance that there will be an interesting twist or things will come together in an unexpected way.

Do you sometimes continue reading a book you don't really like, and if so why? Usually the reason I'd continue reading a book I don't like is that it is supposed to have some literary merit. Being a "classic" doesn't mean it's going to appeal to everyone, of course, but I feel like it deserves a fair shake to really show its stuff. Sometimes books that are difficult turn out to be well worth it. Of course, sometimes at the end I still don't appreciate the book's merits, but at least I tried.

Have your habits in this regard changed over time? Radically. I never used to give up on a book. Getting a little older makes you realize you really don't have time to read everything, so you should probably be a little more ruthless about how you spend your reading life.

Give some examples of books you stopped reading and books you kept on reading even though you weren't sure about them.

Books I stopped reading: Middlesex. I tried, and tried and tried and tried. But one day, 30 pages from the end, I was having a hard time convincing myself to pick it back up. So I looked at it, asked myself if I could live without knowing how it all ended, and found the answer an enthusiastic yes. Also A Confederacy of Dunces, which I tried both reading and listening to the audio book. I just couldn't imagine subjecting myself to any more of that.

Books I continued even though I wasn't sure: The Golden Notebook, The Corrections, neither of which I ended up liking all that much. Sometimes a Great Notion, Requiem for a Dream, both of which had difficult-to-follow writing styles but were so completely rewarding once I got into them that I was very glad I'd stuck with it.

106ljbwell
Aug. 1, 2013, 12:22 pm

Q23:
Do you ever stop reading a book you've started?
Rarely. Like bragan, I'm fairly obsessive about finishing - even if sometimes there is a long lag time between start and end. Even if months go by, it nags at me, mocks me from the shelves, as unfinished. Polishing off a downright bad-but-quick read is not a problem, just annoying.

What makes you do this?
The 2 that come immediately to mind as unfinished: I just couldn't get into them. In the end, I had moved on to too many other books in between and finally stopped thinking of them as in progress.

Do you sometimes continue reading a book you don't really like, and if so why?
Yes. It's a battle of wills. I won't let it beat me. I will finish if it kills me.

Have your habits in this regard changed over time?
I'm more willing to step away for a bit and decide if I want to come back to it later. That I've even given up on a couple shows (growth? change? progress?).

Give some examples of books you stopped reading...
The Pope's Rhinoceros and Sacred Games. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever finished Gould's Book of Fish. Even putting their names here makes me think I should give them another go soon.

...and books you kept on reading even though you weren't sure about them.
I've got several examples, but two exemplify how things usually go. The standout here is Tom Jones. I didn't get into it, skimmed swaths of it, but persevered - with no joy at the end. That one I finished for the sake of finishing. With Living Souls it was a matter of putting it temporarily aside and waiting until my time freed up and I could concentrate more on it. That helped immensely and I wound up really glad I'd kept going.

107baswood
Aug. 1, 2013, 5:03 pm

I am like Betty a compulsive finisher of books that I start. The only book that I can think of that I haven't finished is The Bible. I have to be careful about books that I start, hell I have even read some philosophy books and hardly understood a word. I just hate to give up.

It follows that I do continue to read books that I don't like, some of these of course are book club choices. An example is Shantaram, which started off well enough, but got worse and worse and at over 900 pages I felt I had read 700 pages too many.

I have always been a compulsive finisher and so I do not think there is much chance of me changing now.

108rebeccanyc
Aug. 4, 2013, 1:52 pm

As I mentioned, I asked the question because I recently gave up on a book, which is a rarity for me, largely because I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what I might like and also because even if I'm not wild about a book I may find enough in it that's interesting that I want to read the whole thing. My habits have changed over time because I used to feel I had to finish a book I started, but by the time I hit my forties I gave up on that: too many books, too little time.

In the past couple of years, I've given up completely on two books: Let the Games Begin by Niccolo Ammaniti, because it was page after page of adolescent male humor, and Vertical Motion by Can Xue because I just really really couldn't get into it. There are also books I've stopped but expect to get back to, but this will be the subject of another question as suggested by Sassy Lassy. In the more distant past, around the time I realized I didn't have to finish a book I didn't like, like Ursula, I gave up on A Confederacy of Dunces -- what an awful book!

Sometimes I keep on going with a book I'm not really enjoying because I had high expectations for it and hope they'll be redeemed, sometimes because I want to find out what happens (skimming can be very helpful), and sometimes just because I'm enjoying something about it even though I'm not liking it overall.

109lilisin
Bearbeitet: Aug. 4, 2013, 3:36 pm

Lately I haven't been not finishing my books not from dislike but because of mood and from having too many options around me. I have at least five books that are excellent but I have put them down for some reason or other. One is 1000 pages long but 60 pages from the end I put it down. It's been sitting there like this for 8 months already. I do want to finish but I've let myself get distracted. The larger my TBR pile gets the worse my problem is becoming. Right now I'm on vacation so I bought a book. Having the book as my only option makes it so easier to just sit and read. No TBR pile to distract me.

So sources of distraction are no good for me, as well as mood which can decide what I want to read. Another issue is language. I might be really enjoying a book in English but if I suddenly feel like reading in French then that English book will get put aside. Just before my vacation I was solely reading in Japanese and loving it. But now that I'm vacationing in France, I've ignored the Japanese books I've brought and now solely want to read in French. We'll see what happens when I'm back in the US.

Other than that I'm good at choosing the books I want to read so as I said, it's rare I stop a book out of dislike. The last book that I stopped reading was Mishima because I had no idea what he was talking about.

110rebeccanyc
Aug. 12, 2013, 7:23 am

This is a combination of a question that's been discussed a little on some threads and ones suggested by Barry and Steven above.

QUESTION 24.
Do you think listening to an audio book (assuming you have no disability that precludes reading) or seeing a play or movie counts as having read a book? If you experience a book in different media (e.g., reading, listening, play, movie), do you have a preference for which you do first? For example, would you prefer to read a play before you see it, or see it before you read it? What about movies? Give examples where possible.

111fuzzy_patters
Bearbeitet: Aug. 12, 2013, 11:22 am

I think listening to an audio book, seeing a play, and seeing a movie count as long as no liberties have been taken with the test. Although you will be hearing someone else's interpretation of the text, which might be different from the author's, you will at least be hearing the text as it is written. Movies and plays that are based on a book that wasn't actually a screen play or play, however, are not something that I would count. Directors will sometimes make large changes to the original work, and you have no idea if this has happened until you have read the original text.

Personally, I would much rather read it first. For example, I thought that I had better insight of the HBO film The Sunset Limited because I had already read the Cormac McCarthy play. In fact, I thought that the HBO film was nihilistic and a repudiation of religion. My reading of the original text was exactly the opposite. It's amazing what changing the inflection of your voice when reading a sentence can do. I am glad that I read the play first because it made me think about the author's intent after seeing the film.

112StevenTX
Aug. 12, 2013, 1:59 pm

I've never listened to an audio book and have no plans to do so--I find I comprehend what I see much better than what I hear. But as long as an audio book is unabridged, I think it should definitely count the same as reading. After all, before radio and TV, reading aloud was a common form of family entertainment, and authors wrote with the expectation that many of their "readers" would actually be hearing the book instead.

Plays are written with the intention that they will be seen in performance, not read, so it would be silly to say you haven't properly experienced a play until you've read it. But it's sometimes difficult to know whether a stage performance or movie is faithful to the original script. I prefer to read a play before I go to see it.

When it comes to movies and plays adapted from novels or short stories, I definitely don't think they can be equated. It irritates me when I ask someone if he's read a particular book and he answers "Yes, I saw the movie." It's not at all the same, even in those rare instances when the filmmaker tries to be faithful to the author's work.

I don't see very many movies these days, but I would always want to read the book first so I can form my own mental image of the scenes and characters. Just knowing that a particular actor or actress has played the role of a character in a novel can affect how you envision that character even when you haven't seen the movie itself.

113SassyLassy
Aug. 12, 2013, 4:00 pm

For me, listening to an audio version of a book doesn't count as reading the book, no matter how good the reader. There used to be a daily programme on CBC radio called Book Time, which read many classics. I always enjoyed it and made time to listen to it, but it didn't seem the same. It did get me to go out and actually read some of the books I heard, knowing that I would like them. Tess of the D'urbervilles was one. Other books I had read before I heard them and it served as a prompt to reread them, such as Great Expectations. With these it was nice to mentally hear the accent, remembered from the broadcasts.

Having said that, should I ever be seriously ill, or lose my ability to read, I hope that audio books will be available to fill the void.

Had you asked this question last week, I wouldn't have thought reading or seeing a play first would make much difference, but I saw Othello on Thursday and if I had not spent a good part of the winter studying it, I would not have got nearly as much pleasure out of the live performance.

Movies certainly don't count as reading the book, but once again can prompt a reading. Howard's End was one such film, as was The Painted Veil. The superb Michael Caine version of The Quiet American prompted a reread. I don't think movies are a substitute for a book, but sometimes a great cinematographer can amplify the visual aspects. Doctor Zhivago and The English Patient come to mind here for their wonderful vistas, but I wouldn't have been happy with just the films.

114baswood
Aug. 12, 2013, 5:16 pm

When I am reading a book/kindle then I am directly processing and interpreting the text that I am reading: there is no third person involvement. I suppose that an audio book is the next best thing, but it is not the same because there is the reader between you and the text. Audiobooks are read by people who have to give a sort of performance, in that they are interpreting what they are reading. Even if the book is read by the author it will be different to how you might read it.

I would say that listening to an audio book does not count as reading a book

Plays are of course performed and are supposed to be interpreted by the director/players for your benefit and so again it is a different experience. For classic plays I prefer to read the play first, because familiarity with the text will probably enhance the experience in the theatre. This is not possible for many new plays and so you must rely on the performance.

Films are completely different (apart from a film of a play/opera)because it is usually impossible to include everything in the book into the film and even if it could be done then it probably would not work as a film. Seeing a film definitely does not count as reading a book.

115NanaCC
Aug. 12, 2013, 6:53 pm

I do listen to unabridged audio books, and I do count them. When I was still working, I spent hours in the car, and it was a way to keep up with some of the books I wanted to read. I don't listen to as many these days, as I am not in the car as much. The type of book makes a difference to me, as well. I remember trying to listen to Vanity Fair years ago. That is a book that must be read.

As for films, I always read a book before I see an adaptation, and I wouldn't count the film as having read the book.

116March-Hare
Aug. 12, 2013, 8:45 pm

"A novel is like a violin bow, the violin that produces the sound is the reader's soul"

-Stendhal

"A poem must be quite inexhaustible, like a human being"

-Novalis

The Stendhal quote is interesting in that the natural metaphor is the other way around, the reader acts on what is already in the text.

Does an adaption "count" if it captures the "correct" interpretation of a text? Otherwise no?

Suggesting there is no correct interpretation is not to say there are no wrong interpretations, but a work of art must be inexhaustible. It must be open to multiple interpretations.

117japaul22
Aug. 12, 2013, 9:04 pm

I've tried a couple of audio books and can't seem to focus on them enough to comprehend. I think I just zone out noise of any kind very easily. I think that listening to an audiobook should count as having read a book though - just doesn't work for me.

I generally like to read a book before I see the movie. I can't think of any movies that I liked better than the book, but then again, I don't watch many movies.

118bragan
Aug. 13, 2013, 5:49 pm

Hmm. Well, personally I don't really do audio books, although I do listen to a lot of short fiction in podcast form. And while I might not be entirely willing to say I "read" a story (or a novel) if I encountered it in audio form, just because that feels technically wrong, since no reading was involved on my end, I do think it amounts to pretty much the same thing. As long as you were paying attention, you've consumed (and presumably processed) the full text, so you've experienced the work just as much as if you read it yourself. (Assuming it's not abridged, of course. Whether reading an abridged work counts or not is a different question. Me, I vote "no.")

Movies, of course, are an entirely different thing. No matter how faithful the film, it's still a different animal than a book is. Personally, I usually prefer to read a book before seeing the movie, rather than vice versa. The odds I'll enjoy the book are generally higher to begin with, so I prefer not to spoil the book by knowing plot points from the movie in advance, or to go into it with the movie coloring my experience, possibly in negative ways.

119Nickelini
Aug. 13, 2013, 9:24 pm

Q24

I love listening to audio books, and I've never heard a logical reason why they shouldn't count (although I note Bragan's problem with "read" in #118). But whatever you call it, it counts. I realize some people have problems concentrating on them, and in that case they're not a good choice, but then sometimes I have trouble concentrating on the written word too.

I'm not a big fan of reading plays, and for most I'd just want to see the play performed. With something more difficult like Shakespeare or Greek tragedies, I might prefer to read it first.

I love movies, and some are better than the book, but it's a whole different experience and no film, no matter how faithful, is ever a direct equivalent. The more I think I care about the piece, the more likely I am to make sure I read the book first.

120rebeccanyc
Aug. 14, 2013, 7:16 am

I haven't listened to an audio book in decades (not since they were Books on Tape!), but I remember that I would miss whole sections of them because I listened to them while I was driving and sometimes when I really had to pay attention to what I was doing I just zoned out on the tape (probably a good thing, though!). And now, when I listen to podcasts, I find I sometimes stop paying attention, or I pay attention to whatever else I'm doing. So I don't think audio books are the thing for me, since my tendency would be to listen while I'm doing something else, instead of giving them my full attention. But for people who can pay attention, I see no reason why they shouldn't count on books.

I really don't see plays that often, and I haven't read any since high school! I think I agree with what Joyce said in 119, just above.

And I agree with her also that movies and books are two different experiences and that a movie can't just replicate the book. However, sometimes they capture the feeling (e.g., the movie of A Month in the Country) and sometimes they are so much better they are in a completely different league (the example I always cite is The Godfather, I and II -- the book is almost entirely trash (although with some "good" parts for me as a teenaged reader) and the movies are among the best of at least US movies).

One of the reasons I was interested in the movie question is because I am usually reluctant to see a movie of a book I love, because I fear I will be disappointed. Recently, I read a book (Dersu the Trapper), having seen and enjoyed the movie based on it several years ago. When I read the book, I discovered that the movie only captured its most filmable parts (not surprisingly), and played with the story a little. So in this way I enjoyed the movie and then enjoyed the book a lot more, instead of reading the book first and then being disappointed with the movie. So maybe this is the way to go?

121Nickelini
Aug. 14, 2013, 10:59 am

So in this way I enjoyed the movie and then enjoyed the book a lot more, instead of reading the book first and then being disappointed with the movie. So maybe this is the way to go?

I can't think of any examples, but this has definitely happened to me too.

122rebeccanyc
Aug. 23, 2013, 10:01 am

This question was suggested by Barry in response to a comment I made on my thread that Steven responded to.

QUESTION 25.

Are there any authors that you think have something in common with you? For example, on my thread I commented that Andrea Barrett and I were about the same age and were science majors who also loved literature, and Steven noted that he and Roger Zelazny worked in the same position for the same employer, although not at the same time. If there are authors (living or dead) that you feel share some characteristics with you, what do you think of their work? Does it enhance the experience of reading their work for you, or detract from it? Why?

123StevenTX
Bearbeitet: Aug. 23, 2013, 6:17 pm

You mentioned my similar job experience to that of Roger Zelazny. I think I've only read one book of his, and it was many years ago and probably before I started the job in question. I doubt that his experience processing claims for retirement and disability benefits would show up in his science fiction and fantasy, but I'll be looking for it if I ever read anything else by him.

Authors James Baldwin and Jeanette Winterson were both raised, as I was, in a strict Pentecostal household. The three of us firmly rejected that religion in our late teens and, as a result, were to some degree estranged from our families. I could certainly identify with their experiences in their respective autobiographical novels Go Tell It on the Mountain and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, especially the social isolation. But this is not an aspect of my life I enjoy revisiting, so I haven't hurried to read any more of their works.

In a more general sense, the author to whom I can most closely relate culturally is William Faulkner. Our ancestors served in the same brigade in the American Civil War, and I sense that we were raised with the same conflicted sense of values and heritage. The Sound and the Fury is a difficult book for some, but I flew through it in two sittings because it was so attuned to my own identity.

124Nickelini
Aug. 23, 2013, 6:20 pm

Q 25 - I'd say I'm very, very different from all my favourite authors, except perhaps Douglas Coupland. We are about the same age and grew up on different sides of the same city, and I know around 8 people who went to high school with him. Sometimes in his writing I think he will craft a sentence or paragraph that only I really understand--I feel that he's writing just for me. However, I've talked to other people who say the same thing about him, so it's just an illusion.

Sometimes I've thought Nora Ephron was a funnier, wittier version of me, but I'm not a Jewish New Yorker, so again, another illusion in my head.

125Polaris-
Aug. 23, 2013, 6:39 pm

Great question!

126rebeccanyc
Sept. 2, 2013, 10:50 am

Since people may have been away, I'm going to leave that last question up a few more days before I post the next, seasonally appropriate, question!

127rebeccanyc
Sept. 6, 2013, 9:50 am

QUESTION 26.

It's back to school time, and Questions for the Avid Reader is going back to school with a twist: YOU create the course/reading list. Some of you have been reading extensively in certain areas, or may have professional or academic experience with a certain area, or maybe you have a more eclectic idea for your "course." Please think of a topic that you can recommend at least a few books for, and give your fellow Avid Readers a reading list.

128Nickelini
Sept. 6, 2013, 10:10 am

Q26 - Fun! I'll have to think about this over the weekend.

129rebeccanyc
Sept. 7, 2013, 10:52 am

Well, I thought I'd post the "course" I was thinking about when I created this question, although I have another one I'm also mulling over.

A Fictional Voyage to Medieval Times

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley -- a wonderful look at Greenland towards the end of the European settlement there, presumably sometime in the late 1400s. I loved this book.

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset -- through the life of Kristin, Undset vividly illustrates the breadth of life in 14th century Norway. Get the Tina Nunnally translation -- it is the only complete English one.

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth -- a thought-provoking, hard to put down novel that takes place in 14th century England.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis -- a time-traveler from the future lands in plague-ridden 14th century England; the medieval sections are far superior to the "future" sections.

Interestingly, I wasn't trying to read about the middle ages this year, and in fact read all of these books because of LT recommendations. They have now inspired me to take a look in the relatively near future at two nonfiction books that have been on my TBR for about 20 years or more.

The Black Death by Phillip Ziegler
A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman

130C4RO
Bearbeitet: Sept. 11, 2013, 7:46 am

Two coursera courses for me:
Behavioural ecology meant re-reads of my 3 Dan Ariely irrationality books. That was an excellent fun course but really hard work.

I then did the History of Rock 1+2 courses so got John Covach book for that. Much more of a coast, particularly the stuff that I already knew quite well (1970s onwards). He added an outlook to it that sort of grouped things and made the threads that run through much more apparent. It was also excellent fun.

There were two courses that I touched but didn't have time to do properly due to summer trips etc, a geospatial one and a dirty secrets of archaelogy one. I HOPE they rerun soon. The reading lists being generated on the talk threads were excellent there.

edited for sense as I was clearly asleep last night!

131rebeccanyc
Sept. 10, 2013, 11:46 am

Oh, nice to add real courses you've taken, Caroline, to add to the imaginary ones we're creating.

132wildbill
Sept. 10, 2013, 1:26 pm

My course would be the American Civil War. Big surprise. I have been reading about this topic for at least the last five years and I often think of my reading as a one person graduate seminar on the subject.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
I consider this to be the best one volume book on the topic. It has a lot of information on the events that led up to the war and only gets to the start of the war about one quarter of the way into the book. The author provides a broad coverage of the social, economic and political history of the era which puts this book a cut above the military histories of the war.

The Causes of the Civil War
This is a book of readings that looks at all of the trends and events that led up to the war. It is a little dated but still very useful.

The Impending Crisis
This is an excellent book about the events that led up to the war. It is a fine work of history but may tell you more than you want to know about the topic.

The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword and Never Call Retreat published as the Centennial History of the Civil War.
These books provide an excellent survey of the war beginning with the Democratic Convention of 1860 through the end of the war. There is an emphasis on the military history of the war with good coverage of the social and political history. There is a Northern slant which can be cured by reading the Shelby Foote three volume series on the war. Foote's books are more detailed and thus more lengthy.

The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
This is the best book I have read by a participant in the war. It is a very good book that happens to be about the Civil War.

Reference:

The Civil War Dictionary
I keep this around whenever I am reading about the Civil War. Fifty percent of the entries are biographies and it has numerous maps.

The Oxford Atlas of the Civil War
I have to have maps to understand the battles of the war. This book shows the battles in stages and is always a big help to me.

This is rather lengthy but once I started it was hard to stop.

133SassyLassy
Sept. 12, 2013, 12:33 pm

What a great question! My course would be on the political novel. The ones I've read that first popped to mind are:

Anthony Burgess
The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy
- a novel mocking colonialism and its administrators

Don Delillo
Libra
- a novel about the JFK assassination, New Orleans, and conspiracy
- full of obscure details, many of which went on to take on a life of their own
- this is a book I keep giving to people

Ismail Kadare
The Successor
- the president of an unnamed country suspiciously resembling Albania "commits suicide" and then an official investigation follows
- very closely based on real incidents

Arthur Koestler
Arrival and Departure and Darkness at Noon
- two novels by a master about totalitarian regimes and their prisoners
- you will never forget the last line of Darkness at Noon

Ma Jian
Beijing Coma
- about the Tianannen Square demonstration and its aftermath, told by a student shot in the demonstration and now in a coma

Norman Mailer
Harlot's Ghost
- a retired CIA officer writing the official secret history of the CIA for the CIA

Hilary Mantel
A Place of Greater Safety a novel of the revolutionaries who led the French Revolution
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies it's a thing of beauty to watch Thomas Cromwell manoeuvre his way through the politics of Henry VIII's court

Robert Penn Warren
All the King's Men
- American populism in all its many facets

Emile Zola
Germinal
- the sufferings of the proletariat, represented by miners, and a call for social justice

One on my TBR:

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell

Once I have time to think, I know I'll come up with more.

134avidmom
Sept. 12, 2013, 7:18 pm

>132 wildbill: Thanks for that wildbill! I've marked your message so I can refer to it later.

Does anybody have a list of good books to read on the French Revolution?

135rebeccanyc
Sept. 13, 2013, 7:01 am

Avid, I loved A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel for fiction, and Citizens by Simon Schama for nonfiction.

136wildbill
Sept. 13, 2013, 10:09 am

> 133 It's been a long time since I read Darkness at Noon and I had to pull out my copy to read the last line. It is a powerful book.

137Nickelini
Sept. 13, 2013, 10:32 am

Does anybody have a list of good books to read on the French Revolution?

Not a period I've read a lot about, but there is always The Tale of Two Cities. Many years ago I read and enjoyed To the Scaffold: the Life of Marie Antoinette. It was really interesting, but I think it was a biography, not a novel.

138baswood
Sept. 13, 2013, 7:40 pm

My course would be a study of film adaptions of classic works of literature. I thought about this while reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstien, because there are many film versions, but one of them is a reasonably faithful adaption from the book. It would be essential to read the book first, before considering two very different film versions and questions that would arise would be:

How much of the novel has been transferred onto the film
Did the film capture the essence of the novel
Did it add anything to the book
Did the film that strayed most from the book have any effect on the myths or legend associated with the book.

I have four books in mind and two film versions of each:

1) Frankenstein by Mary Shelly



Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the 1994 film starring Robert de Niro and Kenneth Branagh http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109836/?ref_=sr_4



Frankenstein 1931 version starring Boris Karloff
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021884/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

2) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens



Oliver Twist: the 2005 film directed by Roman Polanski
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380599/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



Oliver: the 1968 musical version starring Mark Lester and Ron Moody http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063385/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

3) The Bible: new Testament, extract telling of the Passion of Christ



The passion of Christ: 2004 film directed by Mel Gibson http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



Life of Brian: Monty Python's The Life of Brian 1979 directed by Terry Jones

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079470/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

4) Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf



Mrs Dalloway: 1997 film starring Vanessa Redgrave http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119723/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



The Hours: 2002 film starring Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

139Nickelini
Sept. 13, 2013, 8:11 pm

#138 - I totally want to take that course! Where do I show up? The Life of Brian---I actually laughed out loud when I saw that (don't know if I could sit through the Mel Gibson film again though--actually, when my husband and I watched it, I pulled my Bible off the shelf and was looking things up through most of it. Lots of comments from me in the cheap seats).

140avidmom
Sept. 13, 2013, 9:12 pm

>138 baswood: Well, now, I'd sign up for any class that included Monty Python!!!! I actually did take a class like that. It was called "Literature As Film." There was no real rhyme or reason to it. It seemed to me that the instructor simply picked out his personal faves. We always read the book (or the play) and then watched the film adaptation. That same instructor taught a whole class on Shakespeare where we read the plays then watched the films - sometimes more than one version. (My favorite was Liz Taylor in "The TAming of the Shrew.") Thank goodness that that was before the modern DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet came out!

141wandering_star
Sept. 14, 2013, 1:58 am

Sassy - love your course and looking forward to some more suggestions on it! I think Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies are really interesting looks at power in general, not just of that time. While reading them I kept remembering The Private Life Of Chairman Mao, a bit of a muckracking bio by Mao's doctor, but really interesting for the descriptions of how people behave when they are used to being around an all-powerful, charismatic and volatile leader - very similar to Henry VIII!

142avidmom
Sept. 14, 2013, 4:59 pm

>135 rebeccanyc: & 137 Thanks Rebecca and Nickelini for the suggestions! I'll definitely be checking them out soon.

143rebeccanyc
Sept. 20, 2013, 5:06 pm

Here is a set of questions suggested by SassyLassy. (Note that this differs from Q23 which was about definitively giving up on a book!)

QUESTION 27.

Excluding the books you consider yourself to be currently reading, do you have a pile of partially read books? Are these books organized or just strewn around where you last left them?

What caused you to stop reading those particular books? Do you plan to go back and finish them later? If so, how much later, enough so that you have to start them again?

How and when decide you will officially abandon a book, or do you ever make that decision?


144ljbwell
Sept. 21, 2013, 7:30 am

I've got a small stack of unfinished (for a variety of reasons) books: sidetracked by another book, just not getting into it, lacking proper concentration, mood switch, etc. They haunt me. I keep thinking I'll pick them up again, but then I break down and buy something I'd rather read, or hit the library and get one I'm more in the mood for. There are ones I've realised I'm deluding myself into believing I'll ever finish, but then again, who knows... :-)

145StevenTX
Sept. 21, 2013, 10:06 am

I actually have a collection in LT titled "Partially Read" which has 64 books in it at the moment. But this is different from my "Currently Reading" list, which has six. Those 64 books are mostly either collections of stories, plays, essays or poems, or they are omnibus volumes with multiple novels in them of which I've read only the one or two in which I was interested. They aren't abandoned, and I do plan to finish most of them, but they are not the sort of book where it is necessary or even desirable to read cover to cover. A couple of them are long non-fiction books that I've set aside, but there are no partially read novels in that group, so there's nothing that I would consider starting over.

My "Partially Read" books are shelved with the rest of the TBR in alphabetical order by author. My "Currently Reading" books are on a little shelf by themselves, and I read some from each book at least every other day.

I can't think of any case where I've abandoned a book with no intention of finishing it. In a few cases in recent years I've started something, but after a couple of pages had second thoughts about reading it at that time, so I set it aside to restart later (and did).

146Nickelini
Sept. 21, 2013, 11:36 am

Q27 - Twenty years ago I used to read 75% of a book and then feel I had the general picture and move on to something else. I broke myself of that habit--now I either chuck it early, or finish it. I rarely have partly read books around unless they are anthologies, as Steven already pointed out. I just keep those in my general TBR area.

147ursula
Sept. 21, 2013, 2:01 pm

When I had more books, I had a lot of partially read books laying around. Ones that I'd started but they weren't grabbing me enough to keep me from starting something else. You know, the ones where you look at them and you just don't feel like you're in the mood for that one ... maybe for weeks or months. I used to keep those on a pile on a shelf.

But since completely downsizing, I'm either currently reading it or I haven't started it yet. I only have 14 books on my shelf at the moment, so limited selection makes it a lot harder to put things down and go on to the next shiny thing!

I hate it when I put a book down for long enough that I can't remember what's going on for the simple fact that I hate re-reading. Unfortunately, I put The Count of Monte Cristo down at the halfway point and didn't get back to it, so I will definitely have to re-read that 400 or so pages. *sigh* Usually I decide to abandon one of those books when I think about picking it up and realize that I really do not care at all what happens. Even with mediocre writing, a lot of times the desire to find out where the story is going will make me continue. If that's not there, I can abandon it without another thought.

148baswood
Sept. 21, 2013, 2:16 pm

I usually struggle on to finish every book I start and the only ones that are unfinished are poetry collections. The collected poems of Ted Hughes and the collected poems of Lawrence Durrell have been sitting on my desk for three years now. They are not abandoned and occasionally I remember to read a poem.

149japaul22
Sept. 21, 2013, 3:33 pm

With fiction, I tend to either push through and finish it or decide early on that it is not for me. I sometimes, but rarely, read two books of fiction at the same time. If I'm doing that, often one is a kindle book that is portable and one is a long book or nice edition that I only want to read at home.

With non-fiction, I more often will read slowly or put it aside for a while. And I'm almost always reading fiction at the same time. These books end up in different areas of the house where I will remember to pick them up and read some. I currently have Reconstruction by Eric Foner laying by my chair in the family room and a Britten biography in my practice room (I often read while I'm doing my warmup exercises on the horn - don't tell any of my former teachers!).

150bragan
Sept. 21, 2013, 7:17 pm

I'm strictly a one-at-a-time, completist reader. I pick up a book, read the whole thing, then put it down and pick up the next one. Often even with books that aren't intended to be read that way.

151lilisin
Sept. 21, 2013, 8:48 pm

I definitely have quite a few partially read books and they're all placed within my TBR shelves since I'm not sure when I'm going to get back to them, if I'm even going to get back to them.

I rarely abandon books just because I'm usually very good at choosing them. Usually if books are not read it's because I'm not in the mood to read a certain theme or to read in a certain language. (Right now I have no desire to read in English, for example.) Some unfortunate books are books that were in a theme I was really enjoying but I was finally trailing off into a new direction and so those books just came to me at the wrong time.

Below are books that are partially read and why and what I plan to do with them:
Arturo Perez-Reverte: Queen of the South
Stendhal: The Red and the Black
Milan Kundera: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

The three above are from 3 years ago while still living in Colorado. I got halfway on each of them but none of them were singing to me so when I moved, I left them as is. I'm in no hurry to finish them either.

Victor Hugo: The Toilers of the Sea
Marguerite Duras: L'amant de la Chine du Nord

These two are still ongoing as I wanted to read them for a group read but decided I needed to read them on my own time. Just today I read 20 more pages of the Duras. But I definitely want to read this and will get to them.

Matsumoto: Le vase de Sable
Eiji Yoshikawa: Musashi

These two are part of the "not sure why they're not finished" pile. Musashi I'm only 60 pages away from the end (and it's 1000 pages long) and I LOVE the book but it's like I don't want it to end so I refuse to read it. I will definitely finish this book as it is glorious. In fact, I've been eyeing it since finishing my Dumas and I think it'll be finally finished soon. The Matsumoto I'm only 20 pages from the end but that one is a book I carry only if I need to wait somewhere like when I go for an oil change. So it'll also get finished.

Elisabeth Eaves: Wanderlust

This one I started just to see what it was like and found myself 50 pages in and still enjoying myself. So I do want to read this book.

152mkboylan
Sept. 22, 2013, 2:12 pm

I'm trying to break myself of finishing crummy books. I'm TRYING. I would like to move my "Point of no return" to a later place because I also have that 75% experience Nick talks about but cant get myself to stop reading it so I suffer through. It isn't often that I don't finish, mostly because even if the book is crummy, I usually read non-fiction so it's info I want even if the book's dull.

153avidmom
Sept. 22, 2013, 2:56 pm

Guess I'm with baswood, bragan and merrikay on this one. Once I start a book I'm pretty faithful to finish it - even if it takes a while! Since April I've been "reading" Douglass and Lincoln. It's a good book but other books got my attention more than this one. Also, I own it and most of the other books read over the summer were brought home from the library. That's the great thing about library books. There's a time limit!

154RidgewayGirl
Sept. 26, 2013, 9:59 am

I rarely abandon a book -- I rarely pick one up that hasn't had some push from someone on LT whose opinion I respect or it was well-reviewed or there was some specific reason for my reading it. That said, I do have an "on hiatus" category which isn't full of books I'll get back to, but to those books I've abandoned as something I don't want to finish. In most cases, I no longer own the book, but I do want a record of it. I should probably change the name of the collection.

My currently reading includes both those books I can't put down and those books I have temporarily set aside and will get back to. A book can exist for quite a long time in this category. Books that I really am reading are definitely strewn about the house, although periodic tidying sends them up to the bedside table.

As for how I decide when to abandon a book; well, it's when I really don't want to read it anymore, even in theory. As for those books I've set aside temporarily; they were either victims of bad timing (and I'm waiting for their time to come) or they were simply pushed aside by books that seemed to more urgently need to be read. They'll get read. Really.

155rebeccanyc
Sept. 27, 2013, 11:41 am

I usually try to keep reading a book I'm working on, however, slowly, because I know that otherwise I'll forget too much and have to go back to the beginning. But there are certain books that it's easy to dip into, and these I keep around even for long periods of time. For example, I have been "reading" The Complete Sherlock Holmes for several years now because I keep it by the bed at my family's house upstate. I've also been reading Lost Classics: Writers on Books Loved and Lost, Overlooked, Under-read, Unavailable, Stolen, Extinct, or Otherwise out of Commission for several months. I keep it on a table by the living room sofa, so I can check out an essay or two during a break in cooking or whatever (the kitchen's too small to keep it in the kitchen, and besides it's nice to sit down). And I've been keeping an anthology of poetry edited by Czeslaw Milosz, A Book of Luminous Things; An Anthology of International Poetry by my bed, but haven't made much progress at reading the poems before I go to sleep or when I wake up in the middle of the night. These books remain in my Currently Reading collection.

I do sometimes stop books because I'm not in the mood for them, but I know I'll have to start at the beginning again. For example, I started Elaine Pagels' Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation a while ago, didn't get into it, but know I'll come back to it eventually. So it's back on the TBR pile and in my "Hope to Read Soon" collection.

And then there are books I've definitely decided are not for me and aren't worth finishing. But I've talked about those before.

156rebeccanyc
Okt. 6, 2013, 10:25 am

This question is based on questions suggested by Barry, ljbwell, C4RO, and japaul.

QUESTION 28.

Why do you review books on LT? For example, is it a reminder to yourself of what you've read, something you want to contribute to the community, a mixture of reasons? Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT? How do you decide which books to review?

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read?

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book got positive reviews even though you may not like it as much? Or conversely, do you find yourself looking for reasons to dislike a book that got negative reviews even though you are enjoying it?


157RidgewayGirl
Okt. 7, 2013, 6:08 am

I review the books I read because if I do, I remember them. I put my reviews on my Club Read thread for the conversation -- often I read books that have been read by someone else here. Whether i agree with other's reactions to a book or not, the conversations are interesting.

I'm heavily influenced by Club Read members and have more than once read a book that another person hated because their review was so intriguing. Who writes the review influences whether I read the book or not, as much as the contents of the review.

As for reviews influencing how I read a book -- I don't think so. I read so many reviews and comments about books that by the time I've gotten a book and read it, I usually only have the faintest idea of who recommended it. After I've read the book and written my own review is when I go and read what others have said about it. I tend to approach each book with high hopes -- after all, if it made it all the way into my hands, I'm expecting it to be good.

158wildbill
Okt. 7, 2013, 7:42 am

I review my books to give myself a reading journal of books I have read. At the end of the year I print my threads and put them in a binder with my past threads.
I also like to share what I am reading with other members. If I read a book I think is particularly good I try to give other members a reason to take a look at it.
When I am deciding whether or not to read a book I go through the reviews on LT to get an idea about what others thought about the book. On occasion I will pass on a book that has general bad reviews. There are several books and series that I have read based upon recommendations from other members. I started reading James Lee Burke based upon recommendations from other members and have read all of his books except for the latest Dave Robicheaux.
Once I decide to read a book I evaluate it on my reading of the book. My review of the book is based upon my opinion and I rarely compare my reviews to those of other members.

159wandering_star
Okt. 7, 2013, 11:06 am

Pretty much what RidgewayGirl said - I review mainly to have a record of what I thought and why (I can usually remember the first, not the second); and keep a thread partly to track my own reading, mainly for the conversation. Although I do find that there are some books I just don't have that much to say about, so I think those reviews are more like notes to myself than anything useful for others.

I tend to write longer reviews of non-fiction as there are often interesting facts or arguments that I want to record; but since having my own thread and therefore reviewing most things I read, I probably do spend more time thinking about my reactions to a particular book, looking for the themes of the book etc.

I write something on my thread about every book I have finished and many that I start and discard. I don't always post them to the reviews page - probably the reviews that get posted are either ones which I am pleased with (!) or where there are no other reviews for that book, so I think it's useful for other LT users to have some sort of reference.

Reviews on LT influence my wishlist a LOT - but often by the time I get to the book I can't remember why it went on the list. I don't think the reviews affect how I read; but if I am struggling with a book I often look at the reviews to see if the book is going to get better. That has often helped to reduce the sense that I shouldn't give up on a particular book...

160StevenTX
Bearbeitet: Okt. 7, 2013, 4:49 pm

Why do you review books on LT?

I started reviewing books just as a way of participating in the LT community, but I soon found that it made me a better and more careful reader. I'd probably continue to write reviews even if there were no Club Read, etc. Lately I've found myself mentally writing reviews of plays and movies as I watch them, then realizing that it's not a book, so I don't need to review it.

Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT?

I don't think my reviews have changed very much in nature or purpose, though they do seem to be getting longer--perhaps too long. I've always tried to focus on information rather than opinion in my reviews, because those are the types of reviews I find most useful myself.

How do you decide which books to review?

I review almost all the books I read. I make an exception occasionally for a very well-known book that has already been reviewed to death (e.g. Animal Farm). I'll also decline to post a review for a book so far outside my normal reading experience that I can't be a competent reviewer.

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read?

Not much when you consider that most of the books I've read recently had never been reviewed on LT until I read them. My reading plans tend to be self-driven. Sometimes I've put a book on my wishlist because of a good review, but by the time I buy the book and read it, it's not likely that I'll remember the review itself.

Sometimes if I see an author or book mentioned that sounds like something I would like, I'll scan the reviews on LT to get a better idea of the content. But I usually pay no attention to whether the reviewer liked the book or not unless the reviewer is someone I know and whose tastes are similar to mine.

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book got positive reviews even though you may not like it as much?

I try to find something to like--or at least appreciate--in everything I read, no matter what other readers have found. But other people's reviews do sometimes highlight a theme or aspect of a work that I wouldn't have found on my own, so they occasionally do pull me in a positive direction.

Or conversely, do you find yourself looking for reasons to dislike a book that got negative reviews even though you are enjoying it?

I tend to be rather contrary in this regard, so if someone here hates a book, I'm all the more likely to want to find a reason to like it. It becomes a challenge to find the jewel buried in the sand that previous readers overlooked.

161avidmom
Bearbeitet: Okt. 7, 2013, 12:48 pm

Why do you review books on LT?
Like most people have said here, I review the books I've read simply to keep a record of what I've read. Keeping a reading journal is something I had always wanted to do but LT/Club Read seemed so much more convenient than any other method I could come up with. Now, after two years on CR, I find that I can't focus on my current book until the last book I've read has been added to my thread!

Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT?
When I first started "reviewing" my thread was more of an informal journal. After lurking about other people's threads I guess it's more "formal" than "informal." I also like including quotes that I find really interesting or clever from the books I've read so I can have a record of them.

How do you decide which books to review?
No matter how or what I decide to say about a book, I'll write something about it on my thread. The only exception would be books I have picked up and, for whatever reason, not completed (which happens very rarely).

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read?
Goodness, is that a rhetorical question?! LOL! My wishlist, due to Club Read (and even threads outside of Club Read) has increased my wishlist tremendously. Occasionally, the mysterious LibraryThing god will include a recommendation on my home page and it'll get on the wishhlist. I keep a list of my WL on my thread and (when I remember to!) include whose review or what other source led me to that book.

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book got positive reviews even though you may not like it as much?
Usually by the time I get around to reading a book on my WL, because, unfortunately, many of the books there are not easily obtained by our local library here, I can barely remember the review(s) and I try reallly, really hard not to read any reviews of it until I have written my own.

Or conversely, do you find yourself looking for reasons to dislike a book that got negative reviews even though you are enjoying it?
The only time I find myself wanting to even attempt to read a book someone here has not liked is if I have a personal interest in the subject matter of that particular book.
December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World by Craig Shirley has been on my wishlist for quite a while even though I've read some negative reviews. That particular book is a compilation of newspaper articles (and other media) and I used to work at a newspaper so my perspective may be a little different than other people's.

162ursula
Okt. 7, 2013, 1:33 pm

Why do you review books on LT? For example, is it a reminder to yourself of what you've read, something you want to contribute to the community, a mixture of reasons? Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT? How do you decide which books to review?

I review books for a mixture of those reasons. I like to have something to look back on that will remind me of my specific reactions to a book. I also enjoy reading other people's thoughts on books.* I "review," or write my thoughts on, every book I read. It doesn't matter to me whether there are 5 or 500 reviews for a book.

* In certain cases, explained in the answer to the next question.

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read? Not at all. A while back, I decided to quit reading reviews before I've read a book.

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book got positive reviews even though you may not like it as much? Or conversely, do you find yourself looking for reasons to dislike a book that got negative reviews even though you are enjoying it? It's a little different for me since I don't read the reviews ahead of time. Normally I've already formed my own opinions from reading, but sometimes I will find a different way of looking at a book in another person's review which might change my own understanding. Being an outlier who likes a book that other people didn't much enjoy doesn't bother me at all. Being an outlier in the other direction does make me examine what people say a little more closely to see if I missed something. But often it's just the case that one size doesn't fit all in books.

163bragan
Okt. 7, 2013, 8:45 pm

These are good questions! Me, I've been writing at least something of a review -- even if it's very short -- of everything I've read since joining Club Read. As lots of other people have also said, I find it useful mainly for my own benefit. I do like to have a record of what I've read and what I thought of it. If nothing else, it's handy if, later on, someone asks me what I thought of a book I don't remember terribly well. And it's interesting to go back and peruse those lists sometimes and take a little walk down Literary Memory Lane. Also, I've found that knowing I'm going to write a review when I'm done gets me thinking a little more carefully about what I'm reading, about what, specifically, I like and don't like and why. I've been a little surprised by just how much I appreciate that.

But I also do like posting my thoughts here and getting the chance to see if anybody wants to have a bit of discussion about them. And if posting the reviews on the book page ever helps anyone decide whether they want to read the book, or is interesting to anyone who has read it, then that's a nice, community-minded thing, too.

As for other's reviews influencing me, well, many a book has ended up on my wishlist thanks to reviews here on LT, and when I'm trying to make up my mind whether I'm interested in a book, reviews can certainly make a difference. No doubt the reviews I've read do influence my reaction to the book, too, if only by setting up certain expectations. But I think that happens in very complex and often very hard to identify ways. And, perhaps fortunately, by the time a book has made it from my wishlist to my TBR Pile to my hot little hands, it's often been long enough that I've forgotten everything I ever heard about it, anyway.

164Nickelini
Okt. 8, 2013, 3:15 pm

Q28 - Lots of "me too" responses to this question. I don't want to bore you with repeating what others have already said, but I want to answer:

Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT? - Yes, they've grown longer, and I don't like it! Even when I'm just making a few comments on a book I had little opinion about, somehow it turns into three or four paragraphs. There are a few LTers who write pithy, meaningful reviews in just a few sentences. That's what I'd like to be able to do.

165baswood
Okt. 8, 2013, 5:19 pm

Since I joined club read I have reviewed all the books that I have read. Previously I wrote my own reviews for my own enjoyment but this was in a haphazard faction and they were never intended to be read by other people. Club Read has given me a focus to think more carefully about the books I read and knowing that they will be read by others it has made me more careful about what I will say. I tend to check all my facts now before submitting a review as I don't want to appear more foolish than I am.

I have to 'fess up and say I love the idea that people read what I write and I love receiving comments. I like to give my own opinions on what I read, because I like to give a sense of how the book appeared/appealed to me, as this helps me to remember the reading experience and the book.

I have a general plan of what I want to read such as topics, time periods or authors, however if there are any reviews of subjects or books that I am interested in, then I will be influenced by them, especially if they are by readers who I know and respect on Club Read.

I read all the reviews on Club Read, partly out of curiosity about the reviewer, but mostly because I want to know about the book and so there are a few books that come to my attention that are nothing to do with my own reading plans, but I want to read them now.

I am intrigued by those books that get mixed reviews and some will pique my curiosity so much that the only way I can resolve this is to jolly well read the damn thing myself. I sometimes feel prejudiced against prize winning books by contemporary authors, especially those that get rave reviews and I read them with a view that I want to "burst this bubble". I am deeply suspicious of contemporary popular reads. I am deeply suspicious of contemporary popular anything.

166ljbwell
Okt. 14, 2013, 1:06 pm

Why do you review books on LT?
What I put in Club Read is a reflection of what I've read. I first started (at the 50 challenge, and then moved here), like StevenTX, as a way to be more active in LT. I was very reluctant to put anything more publicly into the general LT reviews. The reviews I post there are usually slightly tweaked versions of what I post here at Club Read. Those are usually Early Reviewer reads. If there aren't a lot of other reviews of a book, and/or I feel like there is something to contribute, I'll post a review.

Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT?
I'll write more - I'm less worried about what others think, and so just write whatever comes to mind for whatever book. I love when others stop by and respond.

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read?
Depends. There are a few books I've acquired or read on the strength of a review here. Others I get without knowing anything about them and refuse to look at reviews until I've read and formed my own thoughts. Or a mix.

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book? Do you find yourself looking for a reason to love a book got positive reviews even though you may not like it as much? Or conversely, do you find yourself looking for reasons to dislike a book that got negative reviews even though you are enjoying it?

I can think of a couple in particular that other people seemed to love, and I just didn't respond as positively to, and that's usually included in my comments. Or reference others' comments with something along the lines of, 'while others have responded this way, I see it this other way'.

167rebeccanyc
Okt. 19, 2013, 12:43 pm

Late to answer this myself because of so much going on in Real Life, but I enjoyed reading all your answers and agree with a lot of them.

Why do you review books on LT? Have your reviews changed, and if so how, over the time you've been on LT? How do you decide which books to review?

I started writing reviews on my thread because someone, maybe Lois, encouraged me to back when I joined first 75 Books and now Club Read. At first, I wrote very brief "reviews" (a couple of sentences), but as others have noted, they have grown over time! Generally, my reviews focus on my reaction to the book, although with nonfiction I may record more information about the book itself. A couple of years ago, I decided to add my reviews to the book page and even went back and posted my earlier reviews on the book pages. I review every book I finish (although for some it may just be a sentence or two, especially if it's part of a series and there isn't much more to say) and try to write a sentence or two about a book I didn't finish just to record why. Mostly these reviews are a wonderful resource for me, as I tend to forget why I liked a book, but I have to confess, like Barry, that I also "love the idea that people read what I write and I love receiving comments." I am often surprised by how people react to my reviews.

How much do reviews on LT, or in Club Read specifically, influence what you decide to read?

Reviews that people write on their LT threads influence a lot of book-buying or book-wishlisting for me, although I also buy and read books opportunistically. I don't tend to read the reviews on the book pages, because what's meaningful to me is a review by someone whose reading and thoughts I've been following and respect.

How much do LT reviews color your reading of a book?
See above about Club Read reviews. They may get me to read a book, and they encourage me to try to find something I like in a book I may not be enjoying, but I'm old enough to trust my own reactions to something -- after all, we're reading for pleasure, right?

168rebeccanyc
Okt. 19, 2013, 12:46 pm

QUESTION 29.

Halloween is less than two weeks away! What are some of your favorite scary and spooky reads? Do you tend to read a scary book as Halloween rolls around?

169Nickelini
Okt. 19, 2013, 6:30 pm

Q29 Halloween is less than two weeks away! What are some of your favorite scary and spooky reads? Do you tend to read a scary book as Halloween rolls around?

I LOVE seasonal reads, and in October I like a mix of cozy autumn stories and something spooky or creepy. Unfortunately, I don't scare easily, so I'm usually disappointed in my quest for Halloween reads. A few years ago I read Dracula, which had a few very creepy scenes, but was overall hundreds of uncreepy pages. I tend toward Gothic, ghosts, witches and the chilling surreal, over actual horror. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskill and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill had some creepy moments. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman was surprisingly scary (considered its a kid's story--and the movie wasn't nearly as scary).

My best memories of reading scary stuff goes back to the early 80s and Stephen King's short story collection, Night Shift. "Graveyard Shift," "Sometimes They Come Back," "Grey Matter," and "Children of the Corn" are all ones I remember as being very scary, but there are also some excellent stories in that collection that are more on the just weird side of things.

Would love some recommendations so I can stock up and get ready to be scared in October 2014!

170japaul22
Okt. 19, 2013, 8:17 pm

Yes, Stephen King! I haven't read many of his books, but I read The Stand last October and I'm still thinking about it. It's a fantastic book, and I went into it thinking I wouldn't like it. I'm thinking about rereading The Shining because I read it ages ago in college and King just wrote a sequel to it that I'd like to read.

In general, I don't read horror, though I do like mysteries and gothic books. I don't find those actually scary, though. King is the only author I've read that has legitimately scared me.

171avidmom
Okt. 19, 2013, 9:18 pm

> 169, 170 Glad to hear the positive vibes for Stephen King books. I started Misery this week. A friend of mine read it and said it really creeped her out. Right now, I'm reading V for Vendetta. It isn't really scary in the traditional sense of the word, but it is dark and creepy and does have its own level of dystopian horror. Also, the main character does run around in a costume ..... so, hey, it works. Right?

172StevenTX
Okt. 19, 2013, 9:43 pm

My favorites in the horror and gothic genres would be: Dracula, The Monk, Carmilla, At the Mountains of Madness, and The House on the Borderland. I haven't read any recent horror fiction, though I definitely want to give Stephen King a try. (I have both The Shining and The Stand.)

I don't often do seasonal reading. A Halloween book would be a fun idea, but I have too much already in progress to start something new at this time.

173bragan
Okt. 19, 2013, 10:18 pm

I'm not much for seasonal reading, in general, but I do often try to read something a little spooky around Halloween. It seems like a good excuse for it. The best Halloween reading experience I ever had was reading Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes on a dark, blustery Halloween night, with bare tree branches scraping across my windows. It doesn't get more atmospheric than that! Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House was also a nice, creepy Halloween read, as I recall.

174ljbwell
Okt. 20, 2013, 10:08 am

Q29:

Funny, I was prepared to say that yes, I do a lot of seasonal reading, picking out more gothic horror, ghost stories, vampire books, etc. around Halloween. Then I went and looked at my late October/early November LT entries from the past 5 years and lo and behold, not so much:

Never Let Me Go (Ishiguro), Bleak House (Dickens), Short Friday (I. B. Singer short stories), The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (Bradley), The Colour of Magic (Pratchett), Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul (Adams) - but other even less tangentially related in there, too (e.g., a travelogue through Pacific islands hardly seems Halloween-y; if anything it is the antithesis to dreary, rainy, chilly, dark days and nights).

This year I've got China Miéville's Un Lun Dun.

I'll chime in with support for King, especially It, The Stand, and Salem's Lot (oddly, I went through a King phase as a teenager, but never read The Shining or Carrie). Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White and Waters's The Little Stranger pop into mind, too. Slews of other great Halloween reads - clearly a topic I enjoy, though don't necessarily follow seasonally myself when I read.

175rebeccanyc
Okt. 20, 2013, 10:44 am

I don't typically read seasonally, and I don't really go for the supernatural. And although I don't read a lot of scary/creepy stories, the ones that I have read stick in my mind. Of course, there is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, definitely on the creepy side, and a collection of Daphne du Maurier stories called Don't Look Now (an edition published by NYRB) which includes her original story of "The Birds," much more psychologically compelling than the Hitchcock film. In the collection of Maupassant stories I read earlier this year, The Necklace and Other Tales, there were several creepy stories, including "The Inn" which was the inspiration for The Shining (I've seen the movie but never read the book). And of course there is Henry James's The Turn of the Screw (which I read in a combination edition of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers, which is creepy in another way).

Of the books others have mentioned, I loved both The Monk and The Little Stranger.

176RidgewayGirl
Okt. 20, 2013, 2:10 pm

No, I don't read books because of holidays. I will break out a book set on top of Everest or in the polar seas if the summer's getting hot, but that's about it.

177Polaris-
Okt. 20, 2013, 3:07 pm

^ Same here. During winter if it's the kind of weather when the ice freezes to the inside of the car's windscreen, then I might read a few random paragraphs from Cherry-Garrard's Worst Journey in the World to make myself appreciate living in a comfortable climate.

178avaland
Okt. 27, 2013, 5:38 pm

I don't do holiday reads generally, but I do manage to read some very suspenseful or creepy books from time to time. JCO's Bellefleur and Mysteries of Winterthurn (two of her "American Gothics") certainly had some creepy moments, as did any number of her other books and short stories. Then there's, as rebecca mentions, Shirley Jackson and Daphne DuMaurier. And Susan Hill and Jane Rogers have a bit of Gothic about some of their work. And on different level I still find Atwood's Handmaid's Tale scary.

A few of China Mieville's novels can be added to the list (there's one breaktaking scene in Perdido Street Station I still haven't recovered from). Though, ljbwell, I thought Un Lun Dun relatively mild.

It seems my list could go on and on. While I don't go for the gratuitous, I do enjoy well done suspense, and being 'disturbed' by the uncanny.

179NanaCC
Okt. 27, 2013, 5:46 pm

I don't generally do seasonal reads, but if I were to do one for Halloween, I think that Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is just spooky enough to do it for me. And since it is considered for ages 8 - 12, you would be able to read it to the kids.

180lilisin
Okt. 30, 2013, 1:58 am

I'm not one to do seasonal reads but I have inadvertently found myself in the middle of one! I'm reading a collection of short stories by a Japanese author named Otsuichi, called ZOO2 (I'm reading it in Japanese). These works have been translated by Terry Gallagher by the publishing house Haika Soru (www.haikasoru.com -- I've never heard of them) as the book ZOO.

The translation is a little simpleton and I question some of Gallagher's choices (looking at his LinkedIn, he specializes in finance, not horror suspense stories) but Otsuichi himself is not a manipulator of words like Victor Hugo. Instead, he's a manipulator of the reader. I was reading the story "Wardrobe" and I must admit I finished the story saying to myself "Oh no you didn't!" It's hard to trick me and I found myself tricked. I went back to the part where we were tricked and went "Bah! I hate you Otsuichi! You got me! You really got me!" So that was quite fun.

So far I've read the stories:
"In the White House in a Cold Forest"
"Find the Blood!"
"Wardrobe" (which is called "Closet" in the Jpn, yes, using the English word)
"In a Park at Twilight a Long Time Ago"

Next up I will be reading the story "Words of God".

Great Halloween read though.

The synopsis of the stories at the back of the book reads:
"A man receives a photo of his girlfriend every day in the mail... so that he can keep track of her body's decomposition. A deathtrap that takes a week to kill its victims. Haunted parks and airplanes held in the sky by the power of belief. These are just a few of the stories by Otsuichi, Japan's master of dark fantasy."

181rebeccanyc
Okt. 30, 2013, 3:36 pm

After saying I don't usually read ghost stories and don't usually read seasonally, I succumbed to The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: from Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce when I saw it on display in my favorite bookstore the other day.

182mkboylan
Okt. 31, 2013, 11:46 am

Rebecca - and?

183rebeccanyc
Okt. 31, 2013, 5:17 pm

And . . . I haven't started it yet, Merrikay!

184rebeccanyc
Nov. 1, 2013, 7:59 am

I got the idea for this question from a discussion on my thread.

QUESTION 30.

What are the oldest books on your shelves (i.e., the ones you've had for the longest, not the oldest in terms of when they were written) and how long have you had them? What are the oldest books that you still haven't read? Do you expect or hope to read them someday or do you keep them around for other reasons? In the past few years, have you read any of these really old books? Why or why not?


PS Hope you all had a fun and/or scary Halloween!

185StevenTX
Nov. 1, 2013, 1:39 pm

Q30:

I've had several major changes of focus in my reading over the years, leading (unfortunately) to at least three massive sell-offs of books I owned to make room for new interests. There are a few, however, that I've kept since the late 1960s and early '70s. One, for example, is the complete set of Will Durant's The Story of Civilization. I've read in this from time to time for at least 40 years and am currently in the middle of Volume VI. It's a wonderful work, but I've found it too easy to set aside for months at a time when I wanted to focus on a particular theme in my reading.

(My Halloween was more scary than fun: I spent it in the heart hospital having an angiogram. Nothing too serious found, though, so I went home the same day.)

186NanaCC
Nov. 1, 2013, 1:55 pm

I'm glad that the angiogram showed nothing serious. But, I am sure it was very scary.

187avidmom
Nov. 1, 2013, 4:25 pm

>185 StevenTX: Glad you're OK Steven.

The oldest book on my shelves is probably Mandy by Julie Andrews (yes, that Julie Andrews). One Saturday my mother had taken me to the mall and we spent some of that trip in a pretty large bookstore. I came away with that book and a few others - which I don't remember too well. Mandy sticks out in my mind because I spent all of the next day in my room reading it. It was a good day.

I don't think I'll ever read it again but I don't think I'll ever part with it either.

188rebeccanyc
Nov. 1, 2013, 5:17 pm

Yes, also glad you're OK, Steven.

189StevenTX
Nov. 1, 2013, 5:52 pm

Thanks all, but I'd rather hear how YOUR Halloween went. Who dressed up as what, etc.

190wandering_star
Nov. 1, 2013, 9:34 pm

I still have some books which I read in my late teens, ie the end of the 1980s. Lots of Margaret Atwood, for example, but also some non-fiction.

Until recently I had some unread books which I bought around the same time, but I have been trying to get rid of the really old unread stuff, on the grounds that if I haven't been tempted to pick it up in the last twenty years, it's pretty much clutter. These were mainly non-fiction; a life of Hester Stanhope and some essays by Vaclav Havel are two that come to mind.

I still do have quite a few unread books which were on my university reading list which I still do mean to get around to some day; these are mainly Asian history and politics. A few of them (eg several volumes of The Cambridge History of China which I bought at a heavy discount fifteen years ago) are unlikely ever to be read, but I don't want to get rid of them. I hope it's not for the vanity of being able to display them on my shelves.

191avaland
Nov. 2, 2013, 8:16 am

The oldest books on my shelf, I would say is a 1920+ copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm that was my mother's, and a suede-covered collection of Longfellow's poems, that was also my mother's but likely my grandmother's (and probably dated around the turn of the 20th C). AH, YOU ARE THINKING that I didn't read the question right, aren't you?

These are by far, not the oldest books I have by publication date, but I read both of these before I was 12 or 13, and coveted that Longfellow collection for most of my young life. My mother kept it squirreled away in a bureau drawer for decades until she presented it to me in the 1990s (?). It was one of the best gifts I have ever received.

And so, these were the first books that came to mind when I read the question, because, on some dreamy level, I have always thought them mine (in a family with 5 kids, little space and not much money, not much is yours and only yours)

192StevenTX
Nov. 2, 2013, 10:38 am

As an addendum to my answer above... I was trying to recall which book that I still own was the first to come into my possession. It was probably when I was a teenager and my father, because his eyesight was failing, decided to divide his book collection between me and my younger sister. We decided to take turns picking books, and I won the coin toss to go first. I'm pretty sure my first choice was a big illustrated Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. I still own it, but I probably never looked at it after the novelty of the pictures of naked goddesses wore off. My sister then picked The World of Rome by Michael Grant (we were rather serious-minded in those days). My next choice was The Complete Works of Shakespeare, which I have since read in full. After that, I don't recall the order, but I'm sure I still have a few other books from the "Great Divide."

193rebeccanyc
Nov. 2, 2013, 12:03 pm

I have several books from my childhood, including very well-used copies of Charlotte's Web and A Hole Is To Dig and my grandfather's edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes which I read when I had the measles in fifth (?) grade; it was published in 1936, so it is also an old book. I subsequently inherited some other old (i.e., published a long time ago) books when I cleaned out my father's apartment. I also have some books I read in the 60s and early 70s in school and college (including textbooks, and I do wonder why I keep old science textbooks since so much has been learned since the early 70s), plus books I read at the time for pleasure.

In terms of books I bought for myself, I have a lot from the late 70s and early 80s after I started working in 1975, rented my own apartment (i.e., not a group one) in 1978, and started acquiring both books and bookcases at a rapid pace. Many (most?) of these I've read, especially the mystery novels and the feminist/women's writing. But even then there were books I bought that I didn't read including, apparently, much of the Latin American literature I bought at the time (it was the beginning of the flowering of translation of these works into English, spurred by the success of One Hundred Years of Solitude). That's how I was able to read a book that had been on my TBR since 1983, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and why I'm now reading a book that's been on my shelves since 1984, A House in the Country.

I must say I love having books that have been on my shelves all these years and being spurred to read them by other books I'm reading now. As I noted on my reading thread, I turned to read Breaking the Maya Code, which had been on my TBR since 1992 after reading The Riddle of the Labyrinth; similarly, I'm likely to read A Distant Mirror, which I've owned since about 1980, because I've been reading fiction set in the middle ages. Entering all my books into LT seven years ago really made me aware of all the books I've owned for years, and so did rearranging them all after we did some work on the apartment and moved some of our bookcases.

194Polaris-
Nov. 2, 2013, 4:45 pm

Although I'm sure I have some pretty old TBR'ers still in the last remaining boxes waiting to be unpacked since moving in the spring (just as soon as I can buy another bookcase or two)...including some that I must have bought before I left England when I was 19, I've just had a quick peruse of my shelves and reckon that the oldest unread ones are (probably) the seven Penguin books published together as 'The Seven Wonders of the World' series just after the Millennium. I bought them with one of those introductory offers that book clubs would make before roping you in to some sort of painful extended extortion process - unless you can extricate yourself before it's too late!

They are only paperbacks but they do look lovely. The covers are each illustrated with a beautiful black and white photograph, with minimal duo-tone type wording. The books are:

            

Don Quixote part one by Cervantes
Hell by Dante
Faust part one by Goethe
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary by Flaubert
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Odyssey by Homer

Ashamed to say I've not read any of them - yet - I came very close to starting Madame Bovary once... - but do like the idea that I will one day dive in to these classics. I like to see them sitting together on the long shelf above the staircase.

195avidmom
Nov. 2, 2013, 10:33 pm

Those are absolutely gorgeous. By the way, Don Quixote is a wonderful book. I read it last year.
Thanks for sharing!

196NanaCC
Nov. 3, 2013, 7:07 am

I have so many books on my shelves that are 20, 30 and 40 years old, and I am guessing that I haven't read at least half of them. My daughter probably has the remainder. When I moved to a town house 23 years ago, I had to start moving things out, and Chris obligingly took the books that didn't fit on the shelves. I do have one leather bound book that had been given to my mother by a friend. Published in 1929, "World's Great Romances". It is a compilation of short stories, by famous authors (Cervantes, Chekhov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Balzac, Dostoievsky, and many more). Your question made me think that I should put this one on my nightstand and read one or two stories a night. At 724 pages of very tiny print, it would take me quite a while to read them all.

197rebeccanyc
Nov. 3, 2013, 12:15 pm

What a cool series, Paul!

198japaul22
Nov. 3, 2013, 1:46 pm

My oldest books are from high school, 1992-1996, and are mainly classics like The Scarlet letter, the Sound and the fury, The grapes of Wrath, Emma, etc. I'm pretty good about reading the books I buy, so my TBR shelf only has about 50 books,mostly bought in the last 3 years. I used to think that was a lot of unread books until I met all of you! ;-) I do have one book that I bought in high school and have never gotten up the courage to tackle, the Pilgrim's Progress. I don't want to get rid of it because I know I should read it some day, but I also don't really want to read it!

199Nickelini
Bearbeitet: Nov. 3, 2013, 2:54 pm

I probably have some books around that I collected in the 1970s, but what comes to mind is my set of four hardcover F Scott Fitzgerald novels that I bought from the Book of the Month Club in 1986. I immediately read The Great Gatsby and was soooooo disappointed when it didn't meet my expectations in any way. I then tried Tender is the Night, which seemed like more of the same so I put it aside after a couple of chapters. I picked it up and read it this past spring and could appreciate it now. The other two books are This Side of Paradise and The Last Tycoon, and I don't have any plans to read either of them. But I might.

200bragan
Nov. 3, 2013, 9:05 pm

I have at least one book I've had since childhood: a copy of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, which I got when I was probably about eight or so. So, the late 70s. If I recall correctly, it sat in a box in a storage shed for quite some time before I rediscovered it and put it back on my shelves. But I fear I may take it off again soon and put it away somewhere. It really is falling apart, and I do have another copy of that book in an omnibus volume with its sequels, which I hope to get around to reading... sometime.

As for the oldest books I haven't yet read... Oh, my. I have 183 unread books in my collection tagged "old," which means I've had them since before I first joined LibraryThing in March of 2007. Of those, there are a few that go back to probably 1989 or 1990, at least. I'm not sure if it's the oldest or not, but one of the very oldest is The Gormenghast Trilogy, which I bought in my freshman year of college. I really did want to read it, but it's really, really thick, having all three novels in one volume, and somehow I just kept putting it off in favor of shorter books, and now I have almost this weird, superstitious feeling about it. Like it's somehow untouchable, or like actually reading that thing is my one fundamentally unaccomplishable literary goal. Perhaps I am destined to live and die with that one particular book still unread.

201ljbwell
Nov. 4, 2013, 3:05 pm

Various other family members have books from my younger childhood years. Taking a quick look, I do have a few from junior high (early-mid-80s-ish) - a Roget's thesaurus, a French-English dictionary, and a couple of history/historical fiction books. All special, all well-used and looked at over the years. Then there is a nice little batch of high school novels that I have ferried over little by little over the years - some Hardy, Austen, Orwell, etc. Those, too, have been read.

202LovingLit
Nov. 8, 2013, 6:45 pm

I love reading these posts, reminds me of how much we love our books.

203rebeccanyc
Nov. 20, 2013, 10:01 am

Sorry to have been absent from here for a while; I was absorbed with Reading Globally.

This question was suggested by Avidmom.

QUESTION 31.
Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet? Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet? Are there any authors and/or characters that you would like to see meet each other?

204Nickelini
Nov. 20, 2013, 11:49 am

Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet?

I was going to say Mr Darcy, but then I thought for half a second and decided no, I actually wouldn't. But I would like to be a fly on the wall watching all the Darcy and Elizabeth scenes from Pride and Prejudice. That's my first thought. I'll think about the rest of the question and come back.

205japaul22
Nov. 20, 2013, 11:53 am

Along those lines, I'd love to meet Jane Austen. I love all of her books and I'm always curious about her since there is relatively very little known about her. Although, I do think that might be part of the allure of both her and her writing.

206wandering_star
Nov. 20, 2013, 7:34 pm

I always thought if I could be an author it would be fun to be Tom Robbins, because of his vastly eclectic range of references (and his engaging spirit)! I don't know about meeting an author - will have to think about it.

207RidgewayGirl
Nov. 21, 2013, 2:21 am

What a fun question! It has me thinking. I'd like Ivan Karamazov at a dinner party, but only with the understanding that neither his family or author is welcome (Dostoevsky looks smelly).

There are several authors and characters I adore, but wouldn't want them at a dinner party. Anne Bronte is fabulous, but it'd be no fun if she spent the evening quietly disapproving of there being wine on the table. And if I'm hosting, there will be an abundance of wine.

208wandering_star
Bearbeitet: Nov. 21, 2013, 7:18 am

Only one thing to say to that:



Sorry to hijack the thread...

209rebeccanyc
Nov. 21, 2013, 7:19 am

Where oh where do you find such a cool thing?

210wandering_star
Nov. 21, 2013, 7:41 am

Ooh, what a treat to be able to introduce someone to Hark! A Vagrant.

211RidgewayGirl
Nov. 21, 2013, 7:48 am

That is my favorite Beaton. And also why she isn't invited to my imaginary dinner party, though I love her so. The only one of her characters I'd consider is Huntingdon, but while he'd liven things up at the start, toward the end he'd be getting the dog drunk and teaching the children to swear.

212rebeccanyc
Nov. 21, 2013, 9:21 am

Thank, wandering!

213StevenTX
Nov. 21, 2013, 9:29 am

I've read three books this year by Denis Diderot celebrating his 300th birthday, and the more I read by and about him the more I kept thinking he would be a great guy to know--a bold and imaginative revolutionary but unassuming and fun-loving as a person.

214SassyLassy
Nov. 21, 2013, 2:04 pm

Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet?

Robert Louis Stevenson, hands down.

Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet?

I have to admit that my first thoughts were decidedly unliterary: Scarlett O'Hara and Rebus. My next thoughts were of The Man in the Iron Mask, just to find out who he really was, and The Count of Monte Cristo. So an author and four characters all with a heightened sense of adventure. Not sure what that says. And then there's Heathcliff.

215baswood
Nov. 21, 2013, 5:02 pm

Steven has chosen Diderot, I would choose Albert Camus - I just hope our French is up to it.

216lilisin
Nov. 21, 2013, 5:51 pm

214 -
Ooo. The man in the Iron mask is a good one! I never would have considered that but very interesting especially since I just read the book!

As for me I'm not the type to ponder what celebrity I'd like to meet some day but while reading Kenzaburo Oe's Hiroshima Notes, I was wishing he had also written about the horrors the Japanese did during the war as a contrast to his essays on Hiroshima. So maybe a sit-down with him discussing that issue could be really interesting.

217mkboylan
Nov. 21, 2013, 10:09 pm

Oh 208 best cartoon ever! and I haven't even read the book!

Well baswood, after your last couple of reviews, I think I would like to meet Camus also. Thanks for the introduction!

ok so I have a crush on Jeremy Scahill and would love to meet him. Better do it quickly before someone assassinates him.

Also would like to meet Chris Hedges and David Graeber

ok I confess. Kinsey Millhone Sue Grafton and Sharon McCone Marcia Muller.

218Nickelini
Nov. 22, 2013, 11:32 pm

Q 31 Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet? Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet? Are there any authors and/or characters that you would like to see meet each other?

I'm back with a more thoughtful answer.

1. Authors: I have mixed feelings about this, because what if the author I really want to meet turns out to be nasty? Back in the 80s I worked for a dentist, and James Clavell had been a patient a few years earlier. The woman who I replaced was so excited and brought in a copy of King Rat for him to sign for her father, and he refused and was really nasty and she went home in tears. What happens if your favourite author turns out to be a jerk and makes you cry?

One of my favourite authors is Virginia Woolf, but I have no illusions of time traveling back to 1928 and having tea with her--she's scare me to fits of shaking. I would like to meet Jane Austen, as Jennifer pointed out in #205, and along the same line, Emily Bronte, who we know very little about.

Of today's authors, I think that Margaret Atwood might be safe to not be too mean to me.

2. As for characters . . . both Cathy & Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. I'd like to shake Cathy and tell her she's a piece of work, and I'd just like to see Heathcliff so I can make up my own mind about who he is. I'd also like to shake several characters from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.

219Nickelini
Nov. 22, 2013, 11:35 pm

"The only one of her characters I'd consider is Huntingdon, but while he'd liven things up at the start, toward the end he'd be getting the dog drunk and teaching the children to swear."

That's so funny. And true. One day I'm rewriting The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from Huntingdon's point of view.

220Nickelini
Nov. 22, 2013, 11:35 pm

Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet?

Robert Louis Stevenson, hands down.


Such boldness. But you need to tell us why!

221Nickelini
Nov. 22, 2013, 11:37 pm

Anne Bronte is fabulous, but it'd be no fun if she spent the evening quietly disapproving of there being wine on the table. And if I'm hosting, there will be an abundance of wine.

Okay, we'll have her for luncheon and then scoot her out before the fun begins.

222rebeccanyc
Bearbeitet: Dez. 1, 2013, 1:19 pm

I've been thinking about this, and taking Joyce's comment about authors not living up to expectations to heart!

But I really would like to meet V. K. Arseniev, the author of Dersu the Trapper, because he just seemed like such a fascinating and kind man, and of course Dersu himself. And I also would love to share a meal with Inspector Montalbano of the Camilleri series of mysteries, because of the loving descriptions of Italian food in them. And I'd love to meet Zola too. Most of the books I read are sufficiently grim that I wouldn't particularly want to meet the characters in them!

223avidmom
Dez. 1, 2013, 12:46 pm

Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet?
I would love to meet John Steinbeck and Shusaku Endo. My version of Steinbeck was this cantankerous, loud, and boisterous character - maybe because he comes off as so opinionated through his books - but when I read the first few chapters of a book on the real-life characters on Cannery Row, I found out he was a pretty quiet unassuming man. The famous author could walk to the corner coffee shop and blend very quietly into the crowd. I think of Endo as incredibly quiet and contemplative, but who knows? maybe he was the life of the party!

Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet?
I would love to sit in the company of Mma Ramotswe from The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Lily from The House of Mirth. I've always admired Suzy from Sweet Thursday too.

I would love to host a dinner party with Mack and the Boys from Cannery Row and invite Lily along - just to see what happens. I have a warped sense of humor. :)

224mkboylan
Dez. 1, 2013, 1:41 pm

222 and 223 - Would it be terribly rude to invite myself to accompany you Rebecca to meet Dersu and Arseniev? and Avid may I come to your dinner party?

225SassyLassy
Dez. 6, 2013, 2:20 pm

>220 Nickelini: A feeble attempt, but here goes in no particular order

- a dark and brooding Scot
- did not let poor health hold him back
- not at all afraid to defy convention
- intrepid traveller
- loyal friend
- great sense of adventure
- a touch, or maybe a bit more, of melancholy
- wrote books that can be enjoyed by people of all ages
- died too young

- did I mention dark and brooding...

226Nickelini
Dez. 6, 2013, 5:06 pm

#225 I like dark and brooding too, although I like it at the Mr Darcy end of the spectrum, and not at the Heathcliff end.

227Mr.Durick
Dez. 6, 2013, 5:16 pm

I don't think old Tusitala was a Heathcliff type even if he wasn't a Darcy type.

Robert

228RidgewayGirl
Dez. 8, 2013, 7:52 am

I'm with you, Joyce. Heathcliff was a nut.

229rebeccanyc
Dez. 8, 2013, 8:50 am

QUESTION 32.

It's gift-giving time, and there was a link on the Interesting Articles thread to a blog post about how to select books for other people. How do you pick books to give to other people? How do they respond? And, conversely, do people give you books that you actually want? Have there been any spectacular mismatches? If possible, give some examples.

230avaland
Dez. 8, 2013, 9:27 am

Of all the authors you've read, which ones would you like to meet?

Well, having been in the biz and having met many authors that I have read, I come to this question with a bit more skepticism than most. They are much better in our imaginations than in real life, though there are some exceptions.

Maybe have a conversation with George Eliot/Marian Evans, Octavia Butler, Angela Carter, OR, James Tiptree/Alice Sheldon...to name a few.

Are there any characters, fiction or nonfiction, that you would like to meet?

But haven't I just met them in what I read? Isn't that desire what fuels the tendency towards sequels, associational books and television adaptations?

Let's see, maybe take a short cruise with Becky Sharp Vanity Fair, talk a walk in the woods with Yuri Zhivago, have drinks with Dorothea Brooke Middlemarch, maybe shoot the breeze with R. Daneel Olivaw (can one 'shoot the breeze' with a robot?), have a pint with Rebus, Hal Challis, Barbara Havers (or any number of other detectives)...

231avaland
Dez. 8, 2013, 10:00 am

Sorry, I was probably pondering question #31 while you were posting #32 (it wasn't there when I started)

232rebeccanyc
Dez. 8, 2013, 11:07 am

Lois, I think everyone should answer any question at any time! Just because there's a new one doesn't mean we can't continue to discuss the old ones!

233lilisin
Bearbeitet: Dez. 8, 2013, 2:44 pm

I'm actually in a bit of a gift-giving conundrum. I have a friend from the past who is now in jail for some major holy crap what is this issues that I won't get into. Nothing like murder or anything like that, but still, not good (ie. FBI was involved. FBI!!!). I want to give him a book but don't know what as I tend to read darker, psychological type books but I wonder if that's appropriate. I think he could enjoy the books (honestly I don't know his reading tastes) but I'm hesitant. I know his parents sent him the Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander books so maybe I should go more in that direction. Or try to find him something interesting. I definitely have some perusing to do on Amazon if I'm going to come up with something.

Otherwise, as for the other questions, so far in my life, I have only given books to very book-minded people with whom I either share same book tastes or general viewpoints on life. These gifts have been successful so far and everyone has really enjoyed what I've given them.

For example, I've given books by Stefan Zweig to just about every book person I know. To my friend who has been in the army and likes Japan, I gave Fires on the Plain and Black Rain and he was mesmerized. So, I'm very happy to have friends like these where I can easily find a book.

For non-book people I just don't bother with books.

As for receiving books, I always get great stuff from my mom. My grandmother hasn't been doing really good with recommendations lately although in the past she (with my mom) really revolutionized my reading. Otherwise, I have an Amazon wishlist and have been surprised with books off that list.

234StevenTX
Dez. 8, 2013, 4:07 pm

I haven't bought a gift for anyone in years, maybe decades. My wife and I no longer exchange gifts (I guess she got tired of books), and the only people we exchange gifts with any more are her son and family, so she does all the shopping. Most of them would rather eat a bug than read a book.

As for gifts to me, they have no idea what my interests are, so they just pick from my Amazon wish list. I would be surprised if they even look at the titles of what they're buying.

235bragan
Dez. 9, 2013, 4:44 am

Buying books for people can be a dangerous prospect, as it's all too easy to assume that just because you loved a particular book, everybody else will automatically share your feelings. In general, I tend to limit my gift-book-buying either to things from people's wishlists (whether on Amazon or LT), or else to books that I know for a fact they're interested in, or books on topics that I know they're interested in. E.g., my dad and his wife are big fans of the Lord of the Rings movies, so last Christmas I got them a nice coffee-table book on the making of the first Hobbit movie. That seemed to be well-received. And this Christmas, I'm going to find a Jeeves & Wooster book (maybe an omnibus?) to send to a friend of mine, because while perusing my shelves on a recent visit, he casually mentioned that he hadn't read any Wodehouse and thought maybe he should, and I know his sense of humor well enough to be confident he'll love it.

These days people, if they're going to buy me books, mostly also choose stuff I have wishlisted. My mother cheerfully admits that she shops my Amazon list entirely by price and never has any idea what she's getting for me. Which actually leads to some kind of fun results. I have gotten both some great and some horrific unsolicited books as gifts in the past, though. My Wodehouse-deprived friend has great instincts about what I'm likely to enjoy, as well as a remarkable talent for finding books I don't already have, even before LT made it possible to check. And my sister's been known to give me books I didn't even know existed, but which turned out to be just about perfect for me.

But then there's people like my dad, who went through this period of trying to convert happily atheistic me to his own brand of Fundamentalist right-wing Christianity via the medium of book gifting, starting with some awful thing by James Dobson. He also sent me a Bible once, which I actually would have been happy to have, except that it was a Bible that had been "translated" into language that seemed more appropriate for a grade-schooler and annotated with explanations of exactly how each passage should be read and interpreted, I suppose to spare us all the burden of actually having to think about it. That, I was downright offended by. But, hey, at least I was able to trade them in for used bookstore credit.

236RidgewayGirl
Dez. 9, 2013, 5:27 am

>235 bragan: Ha! I've been given the pointed religious book or two in my day -- including that Bible. I'll up your James Dobson with The Shack.

There are only a few people I'll give books to, and then only if I've read a book that made me think that they would like it. The exception was that last year I gave my father a copy of Matterhorn, based on the reviews here on Club Read. He loved it. I do think that if you know the person reasonably well, they enjoy reading and you've done your homework, there's no reason not to give people books. My family now expects it from me and after trying to give them other things they have made it clear that they expect at least a paperback in their stocking. And books are easy to wrap.

237.Monkey.
Dez. 9, 2013, 5:55 am

I prefer not to buy books for others unless there's something specific I know they want, or there's something I simply know without a doubt they could make use of. For instance, my father has never been a reader (though he will very rarely read something he's heard praise of if the subject matter is right), but I saw a cookbook focused on chipotle peppers, his favorite, so I had to get it for him. He opened it up and at first was ...a book?! but then saw what it was and got excited, haha. But yeah, I don't like picking something for someone else because who knows if they will like it, or want it?? And a disappointing book really sucks (even if it's only disappointing in that you'd rather the money been spent on one you'd really wanted). I also really dislike people trying to buy me a book. I read a ton, in all different genres and types, but, I'm still kind of particular about them (in my own way), and more importantly, just because I may like one doesn't mean I wouldn't much rather have read some other totally different thing. I love thrillers & horror and chances are if it's decently written, I'll have an enjoyable time with it. But I like to read those only between things that work my mind more, teach me something, are well-regarded classics, etc, and with those I am not so open to reading just any old thing. Give me a gift card to a bookstore where I can pick for myself, and I will love you forever for getting me the gift of books — that I really want.

238NanaCC
Dez. 9, 2013, 7:18 am

When my grandchildren were younger, I would get lists from their parents because, they were reading books as fast as they were published. Now, they all have Kindles, and enjoy choosing their own books, so I put gift cards in their stockings. My family are all readers, and have wishlists, so it is fairly easy to buy the right books. My hubby leaves newpaper & magazine pages floating about the house with "hint, hint" written somewhere on the page (just in case I might be blind enough to miss it). My daughters have similar tastes, so we can pretty much choose books for each other without looking at lists, but then there is the possible duplication problem. So, wishlists all the way. There was a woman who worked for me who would give me very religious books on CD, as she knew I liked to read in the car. I traded those in for something more to my taste. I was always afraid she would ask me questions about them.

239.Monkey.
Dez. 9, 2013, 7:50 am

Eurgh, unless you know somebody from church (and thereby know that they are, in fact, religious, and regularly attend services and all that), or they specifically request it, you should never ever get anyone religious books!! If they're not religious/some other religion/denomination you're only going to irritate/aggravate/offend them at worst or at best give them something they have no use for and will either have to tuck away in some cabinet somewhere or trade for a tiny portion of its value and make things awkward when you haven't read it. Why do people ever think that is a good thing to do?! ugh.

240rebeccanyc
Dez. 9, 2013, 7:54 am

I like to buy people books but only if I know them well enough to be able to pick out something they might like. My brother-in-law is my biggest challenge because I don't really read the kind of books he likes (very factual books about some of his interests) so I have to rely on reviews here and on Amazon (very carefully!) to pick books for him that I haven't read myself. My sweetie likes to tell me books he wants (I've converted him by example to being more of reader), but I like to try to surprise him too.

As for books people give me, mostly they are duds, because they fall into the "I loved this and I know you love to read so you will love this too" category -- NOT! Although there are a couple of books I've read because of this that i did end up enjoying, although this was some years ago (Empire Falls and Bel Canto, to be specific).

Finally, there are a couple of small books I like to give to people as long as I think they might have a remote interest in books and reading (Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman) or New York City (Here Is New York by E. B. White).

#233 That is indeed a conundrum, lilisin. I haven't read the Master and Commander series, but if a rollicking good read is what someone in prison might need, I can highly recommend The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson.

241avaland
Dez. 9, 2013, 8:58 am


My book gift-giving skills were honed handselling in the bookstore, which I was very good at mostly because it involves questioning people (every career I've had involves questioning people), listening, and putting clues together with what I knew about the books on the shelves (which was considerable back then). During the holiday crunch I worked the floor instead of the registers. It was great fun.

What I've learned:

*Giving is a balance between the giver and the recipient, don't you think? The dangers are when the giving is more about the giver than the recipient, as the horror stories we are posting illustrate. I want to give everyone books, but it requires careful thought, and sometimes giving a book isn't always possible .

*As bragan notes above: just because you loved a book doesn't mean your giftee will. This is the single biggest mistake made by book-lovers, and it's more about you than it is about your gift recipient.

*But also as bragan notes, don't give them a book because YOU think they should have it (this is particularly true of children).

*If your giftee is not a reader, but you still want to give a book, consider something less text-heavy (polymathicmonkey has noted this also): a cookbook, humor, an art book, WWII in pictures...etc The Pretty Good Joke Book by Garrison Keillor has become a classic in my family. Last year, I gave my son books related to developing an artistic eye in photography.

*Don't bother with autographed editions for non-readers. They won't value the book any more...

*Consider a book gift card (at their local independent bookshop, if they still have one. In the US you can do this through the American Booksellers Association "Indie Bound" website: http://www.indiebound.org/ )

*Consider an OLD book for a reader. One of the best gifts I got was an old (late 19th century, not particularly valuable) edition of the Mill on the Floss, in which my friend inscribed a note to me.

>238 NanaCC: Colleen, we are all a bit envious of your family now... :-)


242rebeccanyc
Dez. 21, 2013, 10:26 am

QUESTION 33.

As the holiday season rolls around for many of us, does this change your reading habits in any way? For example, do you have more time to read longer books? Or, conversely, are you so inundated by family events that you can only read in shorter bites? Give examples of what you are reading now, or would like to be reading, or anything else that seems relevant!

243.Monkey.
Dez. 21, 2013, 10:36 am

As the holiday season rolls around for many of us, does this change your reading habits in any way?
Not really. If we happen to go somewhere at this time I possibly read more, on trains or planes, and possibly in hotels at night (if it were not to my in-laws), but even if we do I doubt it really changes much. My reading isn't generally a constant pace anyhow, so...
For example, do you have more time to read longer books? Or, conversely, are you so inundated by family events that you can only read in shorter bites?
No, nor less; definitely not, it's just the two of us and the nearest family is ~5hrs of trains (among other transit) away.
Give examples of what you are reading now, or would like to be reading, or anything else that seems relevant!
I'm currently reading B&N's collection of Jules Verne's Seven Novels, at present on From the Earth to the Moon, along with Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory.

244StevenTX
Dez. 21, 2013, 11:38 am

Q 33:

The holidays used to be a very busy time for me, and my reading would almost come to a halt, but that is no longer the case. Families have shrunk and disengaged to the point where I no longer do any shopping, cooking or travel. So the season has no effect at all on how much or what I read.

But since most of the groups I belong to on LT operate on a yearly or quarterly cycle, the end of the year means a lot of time spent in planning next year's reading and a bit of an adjustment to finish out planned reading for the current quarter. For example, I recently set aside a couple of longer works in order to have time to read two shorter works I wanted to finish this quarter for Reading Globally. They are Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and The Passion According to G. H. by Clarice Lispector, both South American authors.

245baswood
Bearbeitet: Dez. 21, 2013, 4:36 pm

I don't have any family to speak of and me and Lynn just love to spend Christmas day alone together. No reading that day unless we get really bored, because it's a day of drinking, eating, drinking some more and then collapsing in front of the TV. We have The Hobbit to watch and four of the early Montalbano TV show videos.

My busiest time is the week before Christmas where we have a round of visiting friends, before they all go off to spend Xmas holidays with their families. We were invited to spend Xmas day with a younger couple near us, bur horror of horrors they have an eleven year old and a six year old, there is no way we could cope with that.

Apart from Xmas day I do hope to get some reading done.

246Nickelini
Dez. 21, 2013, 12:59 pm

Usually I get more time for reading during Christmas just because work and school activities slow down, but this year I don't see there being any change for me.

247japaul22
Dez. 21, 2013, 3:00 pm

I've been very busy this December. My family is at the point where it is growing - we have two little kids this year and it seems that everyone we know has an expanding family right now. That means almost no free time for me between shopping, planning parties, cooking, cleaning for company, having company (we'll have 7 people staying with us at some point over the next two weeks), hosting Christmas Day for our family and, oh yeah, my son turns 4 on New Year's Eve and we're having a large party for him as well. AHHHHHH!

I've read almost nothing this month and unfortunately am in the middle of two books that need concentration and quiet - Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary and Reconstruction by Eric Foner. Not the best decision on my part, but I really want to finish them both before the end of the year!

I'm making a mental note to read fluff next December.

248Nickelini
Dez. 21, 2013, 5:18 pm

my son turns 4 on New Year's Eve and we're having a large party for him as well. AHHHHHH!

Japaul - My daughter is a New Year's Eve baby too--17 this year. And my husband's b-day is Dec 30. For our second child, we made sure there was no chance she was born between mid-Novmber to mid- January. ;-) This time of year is crazy for us as I see you can relate to. But I'm not so crazy as to have house guests too! Hang in there and I hope you find some fun in all your busyness.

249japaul22
Dez. 22, 2013, 8:19 am

Nickelini - that's neat that our kids are birthday buddies! My second son was born 2/7 so at least we gave ourselves a little breathing room, but not much!

House guests are a lot if work, but I think it's going to turn out being less stressful for them to come to us than us traveling all over the US with two little kids! Maybe when they are older, we'll rethink that.

250avidmom
Dez. 22, 2013, 9:54 pm

The last book I read cover to cover was In the Dark Streets Shineth which was less than 40 pages long and some of those were nothing but pictures! LOL! This time of year finds me busy as well. My youngest turned 17 a few days ago, on the 19th. We had a fun family get together here today & in between I'm baking for people & cleaning (I go on a cleaning binge around Christmas time, I think it's some kind of mental illness) here. I have a wonderful vision of myself sitting on the couch with some wonderful coffee/hot chocolate/Kahlua-y type drink reading something riveting but it hasn't happened yet.

251RidgewayGirl
Dez. 23, 2013, 8:00 am

This year things have been thrown off by being in Germany -- usually we get a beach house so that no one has the pressure of playing host and there's a deadline to all the hectic rush. The beach is deserted and we are all together and it's relaxing and I get lots of reading done. This year we have visitors coming the day after Christmas and we'll be traveling. I won't get much reading done, but my non-reading self will be showing Prague and Salzburg to the kids, which should be lovely.

Anytime there's a holiday, there's usually some great tome or three I'm itching to read. This year, I'll wait until everyone has left and the kids are back in school. Meanwhile, it's shorter novels that I can be interrupted at without being annoyed.

252Nickelini
Dez. 23, 2013, 10:47 am

#251 - Salzburg in winter sounds like sheer magic. Enjoy!

253ljbwell
Dez. 23, 2013, 12:05 pm

Q33: I usually have a final spurt over the holidays. I've been lucky enough to work places that shut down over the holidays, which gives me some time to read a bit more. Fingers crossed this year is much the same.

254fuzzy_patters
Dez. 23, 2013, 12:08 pm

I tend to read a lot more around the holidays. I'm a teacher, and the breaks in the school year give me a lot more time to read. That's one of the things that I am usually saddest about when the holiday break ends. It isn't going back to work that depresses me. It's the fact that I have to stop reading as much. Having four kids of my own and being an academic coach at school gives me little time to read while school is in session.

255bragan
Dez. 24, 2013, 3:57 am

I'm on my own, so there's no one to cook for or entertain (which is fine by me!), and I'm getting all of one extra day off between Christmas and New Year's, so not too much of a change for me. Although I am hoping to spend some of that one day off -- a night shift I otherwise would have had to work on Christmas Eve -- curled up with a mug of cocoa, some candy canes, and a book.

256avaland
Dez. 24, 2013, 7:46 am

Generally, the holidays don't affect my reading, with the exception of the actual day of celebration, and or the distraction of preparations. In the past, the tradition on Christmas Day has been for Michael and I to just sit and read together (my kids having visited the night before).

I have been a somewhat distracted reader for much of the year, but my need to read still must have it's 'fix'....so, I seem to have surrounded myself with books that can be easily picked up or put down--nonfiction that is broken up into smaller, varying pieces (i.e. Color: Travels through the Paintbox), short fiction (i.e. Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong, or what I considered somewhat lighter reading, in this case, it's What Lot's Wife Saw, a SF novel built around a series of letters. That said, I try to keep a good crime novel on reserve for those times where a guaranteed escape is needed (though we've been watching the Danish show "The Killing" and that serves the same purpose).