***Questions for the Avid Reader: Part II

Neither a borrower or a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and a friend... William Shakespeare

Creditors have better memories than debtors Benjamin Franklin



QUESTION 13 (Borrowing will be covered in QUESTION 14 once we're done with lending, so please restrict yourself to lending here.)

a) Do you lend books?

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

a) Do you lend books?
I do.

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?
I am a book evangelist, always shoving books on my parents. If the library has it though I just put it on hold on their accounts.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?
It's really just my parents I lend to. I would trust the leader of my book group with books as well.

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?
I keep a text file on my phone listing the title and who has it.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?
Most of my personal collection has a personalized embossed mark identifying it as mine, though I leave that off some of the older books and books I don't intend to keep.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?
I'd probably plead the delicacy of the book or the difficulty to replace. My brother-in-law just borrowed a rare-ish one from me that he needed for a paper (he just got his PhD in English lit). I am fairly nervous about that one, but really couldn't say no. It was very difficult to find a copy I could afford.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?
My first copy of The Mason Williams Reading Matter.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?
Nope. I love my books, but they are just possessions. I invest myself in the text more than the paper, and I probably wouldn't lend any of the more meaningful books.

a) Do you lend books?

Almost never

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

No

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

lending too rare to really constitute a group

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

Again, as rare, I know who has what and don't need to keep notes.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

Seldom.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

I just say that I don't lend my books. People seem to accept it as an eccentricity. There have been occasions where I've wanted to share a book with someone, so I buy them a copy.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. I had it new when it first came out in paperback in the UK. I know who's got it but I'll never get it back. I've bought a second hand copy of the same edition, but it's just not the same, the colour's slightly different and the pages are not pristine. That's the big one, the one that always rankles.

Odd you should have posed this question today, as this very week I had been thinking about some lent and lost books, one of which, Landscape And Memory I saw in a bookshop today and bought. I'd just started reading my previous copy when I offered it to someone who was going to be visiting one of the countries Shama discusses. I never got it back but always wanted to finish it. Two other lent and lost books that I remember I've unfortunately forgotten the titles of. One was a book about Rasputin, and the other was about the Rosenbergs, it might have been Invitation To An Inquest. I'm not sure that I would reread either of them, so, given my need to cull, I'm unlikely to replace them.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

No

a) Do you lend books?

Yes.

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

Sometimes. If someone expresses an interest in a book I own, I will offer it. And I'll offer specific books to people I think wlll enjoy them.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

If that select group is "people I have personally met" then yes, only to a select group.

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

Mostly. I try to make a note in my LT catalog. I have one book I've lent to one of two people, but I can't remember who, and so I can't ask for it back. If I don't get it back this year, I'll buy another copy.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

Ick. No.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

I haven't said no yet.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

There are a handful of books I didn't get back from my brother before he died. I don't regret lending them to him, but I wish I had the books - a first edition, signed copy of Black Swan Green by David Mitchell purchased from a small bookshop in Wantage, England that no longer exists and a first edition of an out of print book called Pictures from a Trip by Tim Rumsey originally given to me by a close friend. I've replaced the Mitchell with a lesser copy, but the other eludes me and it was always the history of the particular copy that had meaning.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

No. Books, however loved, are objects.

>2 mabith: My first copy of The Mason Williams Reading Matter.

Oh my, I have never met someone with this book before! A dear friend gave me a copy for my HS graduation, probably the best present I received for that occassion. I still take it down to read now and again.

a) Do you lend books? yes

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

both

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

yes, my sister, a couple of close friends, a few colleagues

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

I don't lend that often, so I generally remember who has what.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner? yes

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

Its too rare or special to leave my shelves, but I have offered to find a copy for them elsewhere.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

Not unreturned books, just books I left on my bookshelfs at my parents house when I went to college, that were given away without being asked about them Some I've been able to replace, but others,no. (thank goodness for google and amazon!)

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship? no

I'm another member of the "books are objects" school. I have far more books than I need and I like to be able to give pleasure with them. If something fails to return occasionally, it can be replaced. Shakespeare didn't intend Polonius's advice to be followed!

And risky loans often work out better than safe ones. A friend's eight-year-old son went off with my entire Astérix collection a couple of years ago, and they all came back in perfect condition; another friend's son had six or seven of my old undergraduate textbooks for the duration of his university course, and disappointingly failed to lose any of them...
In practice, a lot of the things people borrow from me are maps or guidebooks. Even there, I don't remember anything coming back ruined by bad weather or careless packing.

I can't remember ever getting seriously upset over a book that didn't come back - possibly I'm just not efficient enough at tracking them, possibly I'm less generous in letting people get their hands on really precious things than I make out... At the moment I have three items marked as "lent out" - two of them I would like back, but I hold plenty of hostages from that particular borrower, so I'm not too concerned; the third I would prefer to stay away, but the person who has it is notoriously conscientious and will no doubt return it at a moment when it is guaranteed to interfere with my "travel light, leave room for book-acquisitions" policy.

a) Do you lend books?

Most sadly, few of my friends who live near enough to borrow books from me are big readers. Having said that, I like to share the love where books are concerned, and would be happy to lend out books.

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

Yes - I love sharing a book that's touched me.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

I tend to lend only to those I feel will respect the gesture and return it to me at some point. I don't need it back that month, but getting it back at some stage is preferable.

When I lived in England, a good pal and I had a good reciprocal lending thing going, always enjoying passing on good reads to each other and knowing we'd get them back at some point in the year. I miss that.

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

I don't lend too often because of the lack of nearby reader friends mentioned above, so I just keep a mental note.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

No - I'm not that precious about them.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

I would only say no if for some reason the book was very special to me - I'm sure most people would respect that.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

I can't think of any that have been too big a deal. I can always pick them up again somewhere.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

No - not at all. There are bigger things to worry about in life.

a) Do you lend books?
Occasionally. I'm more likely to give them, if it's a book I think someone else will love better than I did. I do keep multiple copies of a few books precisely for this purpose (and get them back, usually, eventually).

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?
Mostly I initiate, aside from if I'm reading a book (and bubbling about it) and one of my parents (or whoever) says they'd like to read it after me.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?
Eh - theoretically, but if someone really wanted a book, I'd give it (with scant expectation of getting it back. So not anything precious to me).

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?
Theoretically, with notes on LT. Actually...sometimes I remember to tag a book Lent, but sometimes I forget. I know I lent one book out that I have no idea who has it, and another that I swear I gave my sister (and her sons) that she says she doesn't have. (I know you said borrowing later...but I also have a book that I've got tagged Borrowed, but I have no idea who from.)

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?
No, never bothered.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?
Reason? It's a favor they're asking, I don't need a reason to reject. Though I usually will offer to keep an eye out for it, or help them find it at the library. I don't reject often, anyway.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?
Can't think of any. If it was important to me, I wouldn't lend it.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?
Nope. I can think of a few that worked the other way around - when the friendship collapsed for other reasons, books stayed away - but the books were not that important to me, so not a major factor.

Time to look at the other side of the equation: borrowing.



QUESTION 14

a) Libraries aside, do you borrow books?

b) Do you ask, or wait for the offer?

c) Are you a shameless borrower, or do you feel some trepidation is asking?

d) What do you do when you find a borrowed book years later?

e) Do you have any gems from years gone by?

f) Have you ever replaced a borrowed book that was damaged in your care?

Actually I only borrow books from very close friends and my sister. I have no trouble asking to do so, as they know I will always return it.

If I see a book somewhere that I would like to borrow, and i don't really know the person well, rather than ask, I am likely to just copy the title and look it up at the library or amazon.

Borrowing:
a) Libraries aside, do you borrow books?

Yes, from friends, colleagues, family, people I'm staying with...

b) Do you ask, or wait for the offer?

I prefer to ask, or at least to drop hints: I don't like it when someone ambushes me with a big stack of books they feel sure I will enjoy, but which really aren't on my radar at the moment.

c) Are you a shameless borrower, or do you feel some trepidation in asking?

Moderately shameless - if it's a book I would be happy to lend out and I'm confident that I'm going to read it soon, I ask.

d) What do you do when you find a borrowed book years later?

Depends on who the lender is! Most likely return it with a sheepish grin and an apology, provided I'm still in contact with the lender.

e) Do you have any gems from years gone by?

If so, then not knowingly... I do have a few that I tried to return under (d) above and the lender said "If I didn't miss it in ten years, you might as well keep it".

f) Have you ever replaced a borrowed book that was damaged in your care?

When I was much younger and still foolish enough to borrow maps and guidebooks, there were a few that suffered water or mud damage and had to be replaced. Otherwise probably not.

a) Libraries aside, do you borrow books?
I really don't. My in-person book friends really aren't lenders and otherwise I only 'borrow' from my parents. Only they don't actually want the books BACK. Really it's only mindful borrowing from my mom's books, my dad just drops books on me without notice. It's gotten really annoying since I mostly need to read via audiobook and he doesn't understand why I haven't read something he gave me that I didn't want to read to begin with.

c) Are you a shameless borrower, or do you feel some trepidation is asking?
I'd be hesitant to ask my local friends but I also can't think of anything I'd really need to borrow from them.

e) Do you have any gems from years gone by?
I found one my first boss gave me recently but I'm uncertain if that was a loan or a gift (Feet of Clay, my first Discworld!). Haven't been in touch with him for 16 years though.

f) Have you ever replaced a borrowed book that was damaged in your care?
Nope

QUESTION 13

a) Do you lend books?

Ok, this question pre-supposes a literary social life I simply haven't got. Sure, I'll lend books. But, to who?

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

I have suggested books to someone before. Like , maybe twice in the last ten years ?? I've never hesitated.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

No

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

No need

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

No

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

Once I wanted to say no. I didn't, but I did insist on getting the book, which is out of print and hard to find, back. It hasn't come back and I've lost contact with this one-time club reader. I'd rather have him back here than the book.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

Withholding this information : ) See above.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

No.

QUESTION 14

a) Libraries aside, do you borrow books?

Same problem as what I answered in 13a

b) Do you ask, or wait for the offer?

With amazon, I probably wouldn't ask. Easier to buy than take in the responsibility.

c) Are you a shameless borrower, or do you feel some trepidation is asking?

My trepidation is with having to care for the book. Not sure about the asking.

d) What do you do when you find a borrowed book years later?

There is a story here. We trained for a marathon with a group and had a party after the training. The host, a really nice guy, wrote poetry. He published, but it was mostly a hobby and he had a wonderful collection. My wife and I walked out with a pile of books and I've never seen him since. I'm afraid to lose track of them, they all sit together waiting for us to magically reconnect. So...the short answer is that I feel really really guilty.

e) Do you have any gems from years gone by?

From borrowing? Hmm. I mean some of the books I have borrowed were terrific.

f) Have you ever replaced a borrowed book that was damaged in your care?

I think so...??

a) Libraries aside, do you borrow books?
Yes - mostly from my family, occasionally from friends.

b) Do you ask, or wait for the offer?
Ask, if I'm really interested. But I get a lot of offers, too ("You'll love this! Here!").

c) Are you a shameless borrower, or do you feel some trepidation is asking?
No trepidation from my family. From others...it's still not trepidation, but I'm cautious about asking (since I usually don't know if they're lenders or not). Very polite and gentle - "could I possibly borrow this book?"

d) What do you do when you find a borrowed book years later?
If I remember who I got it from, I try to return it. Though I have some I borrowed from my sisters years ago, that I still haven't gotten around to reading...so I'm not returning them, I still want to read them! And one sister has done a major purge of her books - not at all sure she wants this one back. Not going to ask until I've read it, though.

e) Do you have any gems from years gone by?
Not really. If I read a borrowed book and loved it, I'd buy my own copy; if I only liked it, I'll have given it back. And the ones I have from years gone by I haven't read yet so have no opinion (yet).

f) Have you ever replaced a borrowed book that was damaged in your care?
Don't think I've ever damaged a borrowed book. Completely lost, yes, but the owner disappeared from my life first, so I didn't need to replace it.

Addendum to >11 thorold:
I'm currently clearing out my office at work - despite several moves over the last few years, all kinds of improbable stuff has accumulated (amongst other things: 5.25" floppies marked "backup - do not destroy", a set of microfiches, a VHS tape, an envelope full of confidential papers from a case handled by my predecessor's predecessor...). But remarkably few borrowed books. A stack of J.M. Coetzee paperbacks obviously came from my South African colleague and could be returned easily enough; the person who lent me A tree grows in Brooklyn is still around too, but I'd better try to read that before returning it.

Late to the party, but the conversation about borrowing books reminds me of a much loved scene from a much loved movie . . . Meryl Streep and Michael Kitchen (be still my heart!) in Out of Africa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd6W61N4e3A
(23 seconds, if the link doesn't work, search in YouTube: Out of Africa My favourite quote)

Karen Dinesen: He has got lovely books. Does he lend them?

Berkeley Cole: Ah, we had a friend – Hopworth. And he got a book from Denys, and didn’t return it. And Denys was furious. And I said, “You wouldn’t lose a friend over the sake of a silly book, would you?” And he said “No.” But he has, hasn’t he?

---

When I saw this movie when it first came out (1985?) I remember nodding in the theatre, thinking "uh huh." 37 years later, still nodding. (OMG Out of Africa is 37 yrs old?)

Heh. I just offered to lend a couple books to my mom - and she said that she was always worried when she borrowed books from me because they are so pristine when she gets them and not afterward. I do read without cracking the spine - no idea how or even when I learned that, I can remember putting books down open and face-down on a bed to hold my place. So I found them in our local library and she's going to get them there instead. I don't _think_ I obsess about the condition of my books, but apparently Mom does...

This next question is prompted by my recent move.



Image from the Daily Mail of book cleaners at the 40,000 volume library at Longleat House*

QUESTION 15

a) Do you clean your books?

b) If so, how often?

c) How do you clean them?

d) Do you have different methods for different conditions (new paperback versus old cloth covered hard back etc)?

e) Do you have special tools?

e) If you don't have a care routine for your books, are they surviving alright?

______________________________________________________________

* article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2579592/How-dust-40-000-books-chapter-1-...

Some professionals' suggestions:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/preservation/preservation_services/clean
http://www.srmarchivists.org/resources/preservation/preservation-publications/cl...

Question 15

I... dust them occasionally? They seem fine with that.

(I feel like I really ought to answer these questions more often, but I fear I mostly have boring answers like this one. :))

I presume the cleaning service we use dusts them *blushing* and I dust them occasionally. I have a lot of books, but only about 50 that are at all nice. The folio society ones have dust jackets which I'm relying on heavily! Other than that they are mainly paperbacks that I don't really intend to be heirlooms or anything, so I imagine they'll be donated/sold at some point. It is pretty amazing how quickly paperbacks yellow and crumble so I don't see the point of spending time cleaning them.

No - not unless spiders and dust prevent usage.

Sorry, couldn't resist, I'm not entirely QuentinCrispish - I do dust shelves when dust annoys me, and that may mean moving books and giving them a dust. Other than that they don't need much cleaning. But one of the most annoying things possible are sticky labels on books that are impossible to get off and when you do leave a mark or paper on the jacket, any tips for reliable removal of this are welcome. Can books get dirtier than a bit of dust? Maybe I treat them too well, cosset them and should let them go out and play. Nahhh. This may affect my lending policy too, that and rate of return. Someone had the audacity to donate Hawksmoor to charity (and tell me that) as they assumed I wouldn't actually want the book I leant them back, or that was their story. People!

I occasionally dust my books, but no cleaning really. Like most of us, I don't have many books that are important enough to warrant it. I do have a few older works, but none are particularly valuable as far as I know (they've also largely got high quality paper so there's less to worry about there). Also, what were they using to make paperbacks in the 1980s? Those books are absolutely falling apart on their own, regardless of how much they've been read. Not just the crumbly pulp paper but the bindings are awful.

>22 tonikat: Toni, for the sticky bits use Goo Gone (dab a bit on a rag or paper towel and then rub on the residue, versus applying straight to the book).

>22 tonikat: Some rubbing alcohol on a cloth can sometimes help remove label residue, and it dries off the book very quickly. I learned that during my brief stint working in a library in college.

(Hey, maybe that means I was wrong before, and I do have something to say about cleaning books!)

>23 mabith: and >24 bragan: thank you both -- I'd never heard of Goo Gone, thought perhaps we don't have it here, but we do. Rubbing Alcohol however I learned of just recently as I'm hoping to get an old hifi working and it was recommended to clean remains of the old belt away, I really did not know about it before. But thanks both - I think I will try the rubbing alcohol now.

>19 SassyLassy: Hmm. They go to all that trouble to protect their valuable books, and then they let in a photographer who sets up powerful lights and gets the ladies to slap on lots of make-up and let their hair down so that it waves interestingly over the books in the draught from that super-gentle vacuum cleaner. The Longleat PR department missed a trick, though - they should have brought the lions in to lick the books clean. That would have got them international coverage, not just the Mail...

I dust my books whenever they start getting unpleasant to handle. Not very often for the ones shelved out of sight, maybe two or three times a year for those in the living-room.

I dust my books but the worst was when I received some books ( not all but some) from Bookmooch and were they ever ???!!?? messy- I resorted to putting them in a ziplock bag with baking soda and sometimes leaving them in the freezer for a month or two.

My vintage books are in a relatively air tight glass cabinet. I check them from time to time but they always seem fine.

Otherwise, I dust the tops and bottoms, and shelves, every couple of years when I am purging my books. Most of my books have dust covers so I don't worry much about them otherwise

I do agree about goo gone. If you don't have it I'd be you have something similar in a shop that sells tools or cleaning supplies.

I recently rearranged some books (theoretically, the shelves of my most favored genre), and discovered they were thick with dust. So I dusted a bit - took several passes with a wool duster to get them relatively clean. Which also triggered questions about whether I need these books, since I'm reading about 2/3rds electronic these days, and these are supposed to be favorites that I want to own both ways...

>26 thorold: I too was somewhat amazed by the flowing tresses, as well as the lack of gloves and masks. Somehow the photo just wouldn't have been the same.

This next question was one I saw in the Globe and Mail's weekly author interview.



Okay, not quite a deathbed, but certainly a moving death.

This is a hand coloured work from about 1895 by Frederick Barnes.

QUESTION 16

a) What is your favourite deathbed scene in literature?

b) What is it that makes it so?

c) What is your worst deathbed scene in literature?

d) Images welcome if the book was illustrated.

>31 SassyLassy: The first one that springs to mind for me is Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind. I find her death scene sad of course, because she is a young wife and mother leaving behind her family. But I also find it memorable because I think it rounds out her character. For most of the book she seems pretty naive and too-good-to-be-true but I think her deathbed scene shows that she understood the people in her life more deeply than they knew and more deeply than the reader knew. And her death is a potential catalyst for life-change for all of the main characters.

I've never read an illustrated version of Gone With the Wind but I imagine most readers have the image of Olivia de Haviland in mind when they think of this scene.

As a side note, death scenes are sort of hard to talk about since they always lead to spoilers, but I'm hoping most people have either already read or seen the film of Gone With the Wind.

deleted my Great Expectations comment whilst I research it all more, may even write about it.

It was over the top sentimental Dickens, but I did cry when Sydney Carton dies in Tale of Two Cities. That line he says at the end - oooooh.

I don't feel like I really have favorite or least favorite deathbed scenes. I don't tend to focus there. I will say that Gail Tsukiyama about killed me with The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, where practically every one died (certainly everyone I cared about it).

Hardy destroys me every time with his death scenes - truly tear-stained pages every time.

I agree it's hard not to create spoilers on this topic. Suffice to say the end of The Mayor of Casterbridge touched me so greatly - I will always remember that book. Also, there was a particularly harrowing death scene in Hardy's Jude the Obscure which I found very upsetting for different reasons.

QUESTION 17

a) Is there a book you have always meant to read and have just never gotten around to it?

b) What is the book, (or books)?

c) Do you know why you haven't read it yet?

Any number of the critters, most of my collection probably, The Bible, lots of Shakespeare, completing Dante's comedy, Homer, Ovid, most of the philosophers, most novels, especially lots of Dickens, Cervantes, most poets, finishing Proust, Hardy, I'll make myself cry, Joyce.

So, lots of particular books, if I cite some that would be next where I am stalling - The Pilgrim's Progress, Portrait of the artist as a young man, The Iliad, oh yes The Brontes. War and Peace (for all my other Tolstoy reading no I haven't read it).

Overall sometimes it all overwhelms me, there can be a good time to naturally come to a book, if I miss it then when do the waves bring it in again. In a way my reading got deflected, maybe even before my teens and somehow neglected and not developed as I feel it should have been. And in some ways I can still have those habits - I think about reading far more than I do it, and about books and the little bits I have read of them. Work affects that too, the energy and the space. But that first point about the good time, I've posted quite a bit about figuring out what I want to read and that helps me coax a meeting with the wave, or not. I may feel especially negative at the moment having moved and patterns still being re-established. Sometimes I had a message some books were not for me or were only to be handled with care (and tuition), maybe? (Given how much did become apparent on being in a class -- Shakespeare especially, that may have put me off my usual self learning), also somehow put off exploring the tomes of tradition as a teen (affected by peers and culture, ad a push to things scientific, and my own confusions). Or were not socially acceptable compared to wasting time with other idiots in our totally socially impregnable self defensive ways. Some of this is also about anxiety of where to start, and would something else be better, also even the need for the clarity and space to commit...and not quite from the voices in my head, but from the ideas and the buzz of life, just to listen, but that may also be as I listen a lot anyway, or used to, maybe too much, definitely too much and partly as speaking some of me was impossible. Is this too much? I feel at my age I should have met most of these much more thoroughly and know the space they offer better and the calls they make that I count best. But there is no right.

Edit - and enlightenment lies in being in the moment, not necessarily in others words. It's not that I want to be the know it all, have that power, or well maybe a bit. I guess I wonder how they may have helped me. But in the end the written page is blank, at the end of time, lost. Some challenge to know that best and where I am.

Q17 -

A,b: too many. So many I try not to think about them, or at least too many of them at once.

C: many reasons. There is only so much time, focus changes, I drift to different themes. And I makes lists with some books far enough down the list that I will never actually get to them. I do wonder if I have some block against certain books though.

Side note - recently redoing flooring meant moving around a lot of books and reminded of all those appealing books I haven't read...

I currently have 987 unread books on my shelves, every one of which I do want to read someday, and another 841 books on my wishlist. So, really, all I can do is to laugh bitterly at this particular set of questions. :)

Can I just quote >39 dchaikin:? Aside from the specific books in B, that's _exactly_ my story. I am actually managing some classics etc right now - my special challenge this year is to read books I own but have never actually read (BOMBs - Books Off My Bookshelf). I have...a _lot_ of those. I've read more BOMBs this year than I have the last two (possibly three) years combined. Which doesn't make a large dent - I'm up to 28, and reading one more right now - but it's progress.

QUESTION 17

a) Is there a book you have always meant to read and have just never gotten around to it?

There are hundreds of books that this question applies to. Probably thousands.

b) What is the book, (or books)?

Um. See my answer to a). I used to keep a wish list, but it became unwieldy. And my TBR is friends with Betty's (bragan).

c) Do you know why you haven't read it yet?

Time, obligations, the unreasonable expectations of life that I participate in it and the fact that new books are being published every single day.

To all who answered Question 17

I am afraid I didn't word the question well. Instead of "Is there a book you have always meant to read...", I should have worded it something like
"What is the one book you have always meant to read...?" and followed it on from there. We all have long lists of "intending to read" books, but often there is also one that stands out from the rest, and for various reasons doesn't get read.

Please feel free to answer the revised edition!

>45 SassyLassy: Deleted as a duplicate of 44.



QUESTION 18

Reading is often a form of escape and so not necessarily challenging.

a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?

Q17 - I think I may have taken that wrong track with the question first, sorry, even so there are still many. Some I have been reading - getting at Dickens.

Maybe one that stands out more than any is to complete reading Pascal's Pensees - I have read parts. I have meant to read it for a very long time, since an interesting lecture when an undergraduate.

But there are others - As I Lay Dying is another from that time.

It's on my mind a lot, what I haven't read when really I wanted to - I may trying writing something just for myself to see if I can make any sense of it, beyond sense.

But there are many others, and in different categories - not sure one stands above all. Perhaps, again, The Bible.

edit - Sometimes people treat a person's poetry as one big work, no matter that it is in different collections - and it just occurred to me that maybe I could think of literature (the sort that stays news as Pound said) as one big work...and maybe I could wonder why I wasn't approaching it as I might have (I didn't entirely ignore it)...it's possible that part of that when i was younger was that i wanted to answer some questions for myself, not be given answers or guided to something neat or the same...yet now I wish I had seen through that as I do to be more part of the main and yet still my island, as I must be. Another part was getting out of the way of it and coming to feel I needed classes to do certain things, explore, which was a misunderstanding based on falling out of my best ways, out of touch with them.

Q18: a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?

Of course!

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.

Usually, it's a more artful book that stretches the boundaries of the art of fiction; something perhaps playing with surrealism, postmodernism...or just a wonderfully lyrical book that perches on the edge of poetry. I consider it more an adventure than a challenge.

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?

When I have the time and attention for such a book;which hasn't been lately!

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien, I think. But maybe, The Times and Trials of Anne Hutchinson .... but these two were not choices like those in #b.

>44 SassyLassy: With the revised question...no, not really, not that I can think of. There are a lot of books I _mean_ to read, mostly classics (by one definition or another), but if there were a book I really wanted to read, I'd read it. Barring ones I can't find a copy of, and there are a lot of those (mostly _not_ classics, and therefore not in libraries etc - most of Howard Pease's books, for one lot).

QUESTION 18

Reading is often a form of escape and so not necessarily challenging.

a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?

...yyyeesss? I read a lot of non-fiction for that - to learn.

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.

I haven't read many, and am not interested in as a class, books in translation. I read books with challenging language all the time - from A Brief History of Time to Jane Eyre - that's not a stretch for me, again, as a class. I seldom read outside my comfort zone, because I'm comfortable with most books that don't depress me (I don't read literary fiction, generally, nor horror). Not sure what you mean by a how-to book - a crafts book? That's not a stretch - I read them to learn how to do something I'm already interested in.

So what I do read to stretch my mind is non-fiction, on almost any subject. I just finished Everything is Miscellaneous, about how tagging is a new kind of organization, beyond sorting and cataloging - there's a mention of LibraryThing, despite it having been published in 2007. I'd love to see a new edition of that. I've read The Professor and the Madman, most of Stephen Jay Gould's essay compilations (and some of his full books - not as interesting), I'm currently reading Gods, Graves, and Scholars, I read A Brief History of Time and Everything and More and The Wright Brothers, I'm looking forward to Mauve (as soon as I _find_ the silly thing...)...Science, history, biography, I like to learn. Either about a thing/period/event/person I don't know anything about, or in detail about a (noun) I know superficially.

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?

I've finished my last non-fiction and am ready for the next. I don't read two like that at once, if I can help it. I will read quite a few light books while I work my way through the non-fiction - it's a table book, I read a chapter or so at a time, once or twice a day. Rarely, a non-fiction will draw me in and I'll take it from the table and just read it...but mostly the denser books are better in small bites.

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?

Everything is Miscellaneous. Fascinating - partly for the history and the concepts I'd accepted without thinking about it, partly for his forecast of ten years from the publishing of the book, which is...now. He got it largely wrong, but in interesting ways.

Hmm- sometimes I need to read to escape so challenging- I guess that if there is a book on politics- that is challenging-especially if the subject is one that is current.
Challenging as in learning - that is where non- fiction is what I read. I find that histories are really interesting and I have found out facts that I didn't know before reading.Recent example The Aleppo Codex

Question 18:

I do pick up nonfiction that I find challenging - both in terms of the mechanics of reading/understanding (a dense history or a science book) and emotion (reading about the holocaust or a natural disaster).

For fiction, I find certain genres "challenging" as in I don't tend to like them! Like science fiction. But I read some of these occasionally if they are consider classics to try to push my boundaries a bit.

My other category of challenging fiction is classics that are in a difficult form, use difficult language, or are from an unfamiliar time period. I'm reading Proust right now which is definitely a challenge. I've read a lot of Virginia Woolf, Faulkner, Henry James, Umberto Eco, to name a few. These authors I expect to be challenged by and I wait for a time when I'm ready to be challenged to pick them up. There isn't a rhyme or reason to when that will be, but I know when I'm ready.

Challenging books at some point in my future are Ulysses and The Magic Mountain.

a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?
I don't really equate challenging reading with also making me think, necessarily. Something can be challenging but just annoy me and not actually make me think because I do not read like a literature major. On the same side, a book can be very simply written but give you a lot to think about. Challenging to get through vs actually challenging my mind just don't always overlap. The grimmest of current events and history books are the hardest, but that's also very much in my wheelhouse.

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.
I would find it a challenge to get through Ulysses, or get anything out of it, to the point that I'm just not tempted in the slightest. Though actually with an audiobook I could get *through* it, there just wouldn't be any point other than to say I'd done it (which isn't really my thing).

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?
My mother was diagnosed with late-stage cancer this month and I read Final Exit (about assisted suicide for the dying) and just read a close-family-sudden-death graphic memoir, so any circumstances? Knowledge is what makes me feel stronger and more capable, even when it's exceptionally grim.

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?
I'm still thinking about the novel All Passion Spent and the similar themes in a very different world found in Pavilion of Women, in regards to women trying to make their own place away from spouses and adult children.

a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?

I usually don't pick a book because it might be challenging. If it happens to be, and its well written and interesting, I'm all for it (Hilary Mantels A Place of Greater Safety is a good example. I chose it because I loved her Cromwell books and knew a little about the revolution. But this book wowed me. I need to reread it someday, there was much I probably missed the first time around)

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.

Again thats not why I chose a book. I enjoy good translations, and have read books outside my comfort zone because they looked interesting enough to try. I like being challenged but its way down the list of reasons for me to select a book

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?

see above

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?

Many - I usually live in my reads as Im reading, and sometimes its hard for me to not think about them long after I put them down!

'Women hold up half the sky' said Chairman Mao, but do they when it comes to literature?

QUESTION 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?

b) Why or why not?

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences?

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?

a) no

b)I choose books for many reasons, and with the exception of favorite writers, rarely consider the gender or anything else about the author (a bit different in non fiction as I'd like the author to have some background in the area, but gender isn't a consideration)

c) n/a

d) I don't find it important in fiction, however i do believe its important to encourage and support women participation in all walks of life.

a) Not particularly

b) I read the authors I like. My fiction, at least, is heavily weighted towards women, though not intentionally - again, I read what I like, and there are an awful lot of good female SF/F writers. Nonfiction I think is more balanced, because there are a lot of good male science and history writers. I haven't checked that - I noticed my imbalance towards women only when I started tracking author gender in my reading tracking, and found I was reading about 2/3rds women.

c) I notice it (now that I'm tracking) but don't really bother trying to achieve a balance. If I read a book only because the author was one gender or the other, it's not fair to the book or the author - I should be reading books I want to read because of their content. Sometimes, but not often, the gender of the author is an important part of the content - but mostly it's irrelevant.

d) n/a

e) n/a

For gender, substitute almost any other description of the author - nationality, race, sexual orientation - and my attitude is the same. Unless the book is _about_ that attribute (and most books that are primarily about some attribute of the author I find extremely boring), it's irrelevant to the book and to my choice of reading or not reading it. Politics too, though in that case the author's convictions may color the story (usually to the story's detriment, to my mind). I may boycott an author for their politics/ethics/behavior, but that's got little or nothing to do with what I want to read - again, irrelevant to the content of the book(s).

19.

a) & b) In theory it is, but I'm not doing well at it. More than anything I am led by my nose. But I need to increase my awareness of women's literature. And also for me very relevant, trans literature - my recent reading reminds me how helpful it can be. I also realise more and more how effectively certain discourses hide others, or ignore them or worse. Much as I want to be able to come back to a whole too, a sense of that.

c) selecting relevant books to read - but am bad at not getting sidetracked onto things that just take my interest, i.e. quite bad at plans in some ways.

d) I'm not sure.

e) I've made small steps, but more to take -- and a first step before many more is to learn a lot more of women's and trans fiction and writing more generally. In terms of gender theory I'd rather be active at the moment than a theorist in some ways. I was trying to find a way to see at a glance the gender balance of my library, but couldn't find a way to do this, surely that must just be me?

edit - aha I got it, I thought I'd seen it before! Only just 15.47% female.
I suspect if I read more women it may lead me to more women. Emily Dickinson has had me line up Aurora Leigh, and experience tells me reading leads to reading. So, I'll be choosing more women first.
I think an aspect of male psychology can be the denial of feeling, especially if it is pictured as feminine. This may have personal aspects. But also seems very socially relevant. I want to learn more from practicing a better balance.

QUESTION 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?

Yes

b) Why or why not?

I don't read enough women. I actually think about this a lot. As I work my way through some stages of ancient literature, there just aren't many options from women, which is disappointing but also leaves my reading unbalanced. I try to compensate by reading (mainly on audio) contemporary literature by women. I find this rewarding.

As to why it makes a difference - that's a tough question. And a good answer is slippery because every answer can be interpreted in contradictory ways. It's easy to offend someone without any awareness or intent. So I'll just say that there is something offered in some women's literature that's missing all literature by men. But it's not something straight forward and it's certainly independent of anatomy - it's, at the bottom, cultural.

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?

audiobooks - because my other reading tends to be from or about the eras where literature was a male thing.

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences?

I haven't put it this way, but finding good nonfiction on audio by woman is harder than you would think.

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?

My library follows the publishing and reading trends - so it's male sexist with female compensatory efforts.

ETA - This seems really silly, but I understood 19e as asking about my local public library, not my personal collection. No, that doesn't make sense, might explain my answer.

My library does not reflect my current feelings about gender. It's male-dominated.

QUESTION 18

a) Do you ever decide to pick up something that is a challenge for you personally, that will really make you think?

yes

b) What kind of book would that be: a book in translation about another culture, a book with more challenging language, something completely outside your comfort zone (philosophy, science, memoirs etc), possibly a "how to" book?.

Literature

c) Under what sort of circumstances would you feel you could take on such a book?

No special circumstance. I tend to read somewhat challenging books, and feel a little guilt when I read a book that isn't challenging. Part of it is because for me the time commitment and effort is about the same. I read slow and constantly feel I'm missing something. So, if the book is more difficult, I actually feel better about all this. If you like, I'm going to struggle anyway, I might as well struggle with something worth struggling with.

d) What was the last book you read that you feel made you think about something long after you put it down?

hmm, seems like it should be something on my mind now, but I don't really have one. Then, if I check my lists, they all have some resonance. ... Checking my lists for something exceptional (but, apparently not exceptional enough to think of it without checking my lists...)

...

OK, apologies for my randomness, but in all seriousness, I think it was Aristophanes comedies. I read three of his comedies in August last year, and he struck me as sincere, and strikingly human and humble for ancient author and I still think about that, about how that could happen in Athens.

QUESTION 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?
Yes

b) Why or why not?
There probably has always been bias against women in "serious" work. So, I want to alleviate that unconscious bias by reading more women (the same goes for reading more translated works, more works by people of color, etc.)

(my favorite recent example is a woman author who sent out over 100 query letters with a sample of her manuscript, first under her own name, then 50 under a male name. For the exact same cover letter/sample, the male received 17 requests for the full manuscript, the female 2).

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?
I keep track of how many straight-white-male authors I read and make an effort to also read books by non-swm authors.

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences? It should be important in all books, but I only read non-fiction for my bookclub, so....

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?
Probably not. At the moment, reading the 1001-books-list is more important and that is only 28%? 33%? (something well below half) female.

QUESTION 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?

Yes

b) Why or why not?

More or less for the same reasons mentioned in >58 dchaikin: and >60 thorold: - awareness that women tend to have a harder time getting their voices heard, desire to compensate for that, but also the experience that I've derived a lot of reading pleasure from books by women over the years.

On the other hand, I don't like to think that I'm excluding any particular category of books, so I don't think I would ever want to make parity an absolute rule.

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?

Inefficiently. Last year I tried a three-month "summer without (books by) men", which was fun, but got to be a bit of a bind at times (I found I was reading little else than contemporary fiction, and also simply putting male authors aside for when the constraint was lifted).

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences?

In theory, yes, but in practice in many areas other than contemporary fiction it just isn't possible to achieve gender parity without omitting a lot of books and authors that are crucial to the subject, especially if you want to go back further than the last two or three decades. That doesn't mean it's not worth going to an effort to seek out interesting works by women in those areas, but trying to achieve a 50:50 rule in something like engineering history would just be silly.

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?

In places. Overall it's a disappointing 22% female, but the fiction section looks a bit better than that.

QUESTION 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?

Yes, but I'm more relaxed about it now.

b) Why or why not?

Because women's voices need to be heard, woman authors need to be supported, and all of the other aforementioned reasons.

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?

Why balance? Balance suggests 50/50. What about parity over a lifetime? Why shouldn't women just go crazy and read MORE women-authored books than they do male-authored, if they are so inclined? Why should we go to 50% and then stop? I'm fairly certain that there are far more women concerned with parity than men. Bless the men (and women) Bless the men (and women!)I've met here on LT over the last 11 years, who have honestly become more aware how and who they read.

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences?

I like to find women-authored nonfiction books like the two I read recently, one on the history of American childhood, the other on slavery in New England. But, take for example, the book I just finished: Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives, where the male author included very few women in his many human examples; and the ones he did were just bit parts, so to speak. I notice these things....

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?

Indeed it does.

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

d) Where is your best reading done?

e) Do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading?

__________

Edited to add e) from >66 dchaikin: below

Question 19

a) Is gender parity important to you when selecting authors to read?

Yes

b) Why or why not?

I want to read widely and diversely. Gender is an aspect of this. A few years ago I began tracking the books I read by gender and made a conscious decision to read more women. It was an effort at first, but now I find I choose women writers without thinking about it.

Part of that, I think, is due to how much harder it is to be published as a woman (let alone a woman of color). The books being published by women authors are, as a whole, of a very high quality.

c) If it is, how do you go about achieving a balance?

I keep track. I aim for 60% women writers and last year came out a bit higher. This year is on track to be over 75% women.

d) Is it more important in fiction, or do you also seek a balance in areas like social sciences?

I read far too little non-fiction as a whole.

e) If gender parity is important to you, does your library reflect this?

Sort of. Male authors are slightly over-represented, at 53%, but my library includes all my college philosophy books and a lot of classics and history, which skew male.

Question 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

Need, no. Prefer, yes, please.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

Yes, having raised children has taught me much about selective hearing. I got quite a bit of reading done one Christmas at the in-laws' house, where I was in a small room with five children and the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas movie playing on repeat. I have no idea what happens in that movie at all.

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

In an empty house on the sofa with a cup of tea or, weather permitting, out in one of the Adirondack chairs on the porch.

d) Where is your best reading done?

Early in the morning, in bed before the kids get up for school. It's worth setting the alarm early.

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

Yes, with music.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

I can, depending on the book, or depending on how alert I must be to the time.

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

Sitting outside on my porch swing near my garden, with a cat or two for company

or

Sitting in my rocker, with some background music and a cat or two for company

d) Where is your best reading done?

See above

I would add another question:

e) do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading

Yes!

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

I like it, but have learned to manage and even enjoy some noise to a degree

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

If it all blends to white noise, background chatter, I'm good. Actually I really like that. Things that kill my concentration are - people sitting alone playing videos out loud in their phone in public - someone talking loudly on the phone - when one really loud conversation stands out, worse if it's a really strongly opinionated one, and those tend to go together

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

A cafe or coffee shop with bottomless coffee and a corner to hide in. And time

d) Where is your best reading done?

See answer for c

>66 dchaikin: e) Great question. I have added it above

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

I definitely prefer absolute quiet, but can equally read with kids fighting and husband having the TV blaring if needs be. For some reason I can zone out of TV noise, but I find music very distracting if it's on when I'm trying to read.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

I'm not great at reading at airports for some reason, but quite happy reading on the bus or anywhere else.

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

In a chair in the living room by the window, or sitting on my daughter's bed, whose bedroom is warm and bright and extremely cheery, preferably with everyone out of the house and a cup of tea by my side.

d) Where is your best reading done?

On a rare hour or two when I have time and peace to myself.

e) do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading

They just disturb me anyway!

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?
Not really - I can (and have) read just about everywhere. I _get_ quiet most of the time (I live alone), though.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?
Yes. Not other things with words - not music, at least not my favorite vocal music (folk and filk). Words get in the way. TV will also distract me, though usually only briefly (though that depends on what's on TV and what I'm reading - which one is more interesting).

c) What are your favourite reading situations?
At home, on my sofa, with a cat or two beside me. But I've gotten lost in a book standing up in a Post Office line.

d) Where is your best reading done?
Wherever I'm reading a really good book. At home on my sofa is a lot of reading; at home at the dinner(/breakfast) table is a secondary location. But I can and will read anywhere I'm not being required to interact (continuously) with others. I read at the table when I'm at my parents' house, too - they're usually reading the paper or magazines, or their own books.

e) Do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading?
Not really. Again, I live alone, so I don't get this too much - but if I'm with my family, yes, they'll interrupt me. If what they interrupt me with is interesting enough, I'll even stop reading for a while. If it's not, I'll answer the question or whatever then go back to my book. If I'm with friends, it's usually an interact-continuously situation (we're out doing something, or at someone's house doing something), so I'm not reading.

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

Maybe not absolute quiet, but I sure have a lot of trouble reading if the TV or the radio is on, and often if people are having an audible conversation nearby. The words from the outside interfere with the words in my head, and I literally cannot hear myself think.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

If it's basically white noise, general hubub without anything standing out to call attention to itself, that's fine. Hey, I spent a surprising amount of my youth reading in bowling alleys. So places like airports are only a problem with they insist on having TVs on all over the place.

And I often read while walking down the street, or at work where I have to keep an eye on a bunch of computer screens in case they start telling me something's going wrong, and that sort of visual multitasking is no problem for me at all.

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

At home, on my comfy, comfy sofa, with a mug of tea beside me and absolutely nowhere I have to go.

d) Where is your best reading done?

At home, on my comfy, comfy sofa, with a mug of tea beside me and absolutely nowhere I have to go. :)

e) Do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading?

I live alone, so fortunately I am free from interruptions while I'm reading at home. Except for the cat. Or when people call me on the phone (which too often seems to happen five pages from the end of a really good book).

When I am around family members, though, they interrupt me all the damned time, usually for absolutely no good reason. I have thus adopted this as my personal theme song.

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

Generally, I would say no.

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

Yes

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

In bed before I settle down to sleep OR in the recliner OR in an Adirondack chair lakeside on a temperate day with slight breeze.

d) Where is your best reading done?

See C. above.

QUESTION 21

It's literary awards season again. While awards are obviously important to the winners, readers may have a different take.

a) The Nobel Prize in Literature is given for a body of work, not a particular book. If you haven't read the winner's work in the past, would the award inspire you to read one of the author's works now?

Most awards are given for the "best..." of a particular year, usually preceded by a long list of nominees and then a short list.

b) Do you follow a particular book prize, be it for fiction, non fiction, poetry, translation or anything else?

c) If so, do you try to read the nominated books in the time leading up to the award?

d) Are national and regional awards important to you? If so, which ones?

e) The Man Booker has recently expanded its scope to include books by American authors. If it were possible, should the Pulitzer Prize in fiction be expanded to include writers in English who are not US citizens?

f) Do you follow prizes in languages other than your own, or international prizes in translation such as the Man Booker International Prize?

g) Is there a particular book prize you would like to institute, serious or fun?

The only award I follow, in this sense (pay attention to who's up for it, try to read all the nominees, etc) is the Hugos - and I (as a member of the WorldCon) can both nominate and vote on that one. There are thousands of votes - but only thousands, which is a very small portion of the SF-reading world let alone readers, so I feel my nomination and vote count there.

I actively avoid most of the other awards - no, that's not true. I'm not interested enough to follow the other genre awards (Poe, RWA, etc), and I actively avoid the literary awards (Man Booker etc), because I find that most books/works marketed as literary leave me depressed if I manage to finish them.

I did get tricked into reading a "literary" work a few years ago - read the description on Early Reviewers and thought it sounded fun, requested and got it, read and enjoyed it tremendously - and checked the ER listing again before I reviewed it and found it was listed as literary fiction. I'm glad I didn't notice that because otherwise I would have missed out on The Braided Path; on the other hand, I've requested and gotten at least one other book by the same author and found it interesting - interesting world - but rather depressing, and it ended without ending. Our Heroes sail off into the dark, and we-the-readers have no clue what happens to them. The Braided Path at least got them to a stopping place before it ended.

I do notice awards on book covers - mostly childrens books, some SF, occasionally a mystery or romance. Though I'm more likely than not to dislike a mystery that's won an award, I've never found an award that's given for cozies. Most of them seem to like mystery-thrillers or mystery-horror - ugh. And because the awards seldom match my interests, I'm not more likely to read an award-winner than a book that doesn't have one. That's actually true for many Hugo-winners, too - it doesn't say this is a wonderful book, or that I'll enjoy it, it just says that a lot of the people who vote for Hugos liked it best in the year it was nominated. And some years have a lot of books I like (so I like the winner, and two or three (out of five) of the nominees), and some have no books I like (though I try to read at least some of the nominees), and some have a book I love that loses to a book I dislike. I'm more interested in reading books I, personally, enjoy than books that someone else (however chosen) thinks are good. Which is also (part of) why I don't join book clubs.

a) The Nobel Prize in Literature is given for a body of work, not a particular book. If you haven't read the winner's work in the past, would the award inspire you to read one of the author's works now? I usually don't follow the Nobel- some of the choices are a little strange to me..

b) Do you follow a particular book prize, be it for fiction, non fiction, poetry, translation or anything else?
I follow the Giller Prize, The Writers' Trust Award,and sometimes the Governor General's Literary Award for Canada. I also follow CBC's Canada Reads in the spring.
d) Are national and regional awards important to you? If so, which ones? Yes they are- the Canadian awards give me a chance to read and increase my knowledge of upcoming Canadian authors. Sometimes I disagree with the choices ( why wasn't Heather O'Neill's latest book chosen for the most recent shortlists?) but sometimes I discover authors that I wouldn't have chosen on my own.

a. re: Nobel. Quick answer: no
b. re: following other book prizes. Quick answer: no longer.

However...Years ago, when I worked full-time in the bookstore, a book friend and I followed the Orange Prize before it was known in the US (and you can thank LT and social media for spreading the word on that prize). I did scour some of the American nomination lists at one time for potential reads; found Bonnie Jo Campbell that way. I also used to comb through the very long IMPAC Dublin prize nominations for intriguing reads and I did read a few of the winners for a while and certainly all the women winners (Herta Muller and Nicola Barker) but I stopped following them when it had been a decade since the last woman winner....probably longer now. Too bad because I found many of their choices to be very creative pieces of literature (Tahar Ben Jelloun's The Blinding Absence of Light, Rawi Hage DeNiro's Game, Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses. I stopped in 2008.

e. The Pulitzer Prize is specifically an award for American writing, established by the will of Joseph Pulitzer. I doubt they could use the same fund for something that fundamentally changes the vision of the prize. I think the Booker was for the best novel written in English and published in the UK but did not include works from all English-speaking countries. To now include them all seems to bring the prize into line for what it states it is for. I have no problem with them excluding the US if they re-stated their qualifications. The Impact Dublin award considers itself somewhat international, but it's clear all the prominent Irish writers get the award.

I don't pick up any books because they won an award these days, I trust my instincts.

I pay more attention to children book winners (Caldecott and Newberry) for choosing books for my classroom library. I notice Puliizer, Hugo, Booker award winners but they don't nec drive me to read a book. I prefer to trust my gut and follow my interests.

QUESTION 21

a) The Nobel Prize: I pay attention to who wins -- often the prize is awarded to a writer who is unknown in the US and who has little translated into English, so it's usually a case of noting the name and seeing what becomes available as a result. In the cases where a Western author wins, I do make a effort to add a book by that author in my reading as time goes on. I don't think I'd read any Alice Munro before her win and how wonderful is her writing?

b) Do you follow a particular book prize, be it for fiction, non fiction, poetry, translation or anything else?: I'm a sucker for the prizes, especially of the long and shortlists from which the prize winner is chosen.

My favorite prize is The Rooster, with the accompanying Tournament of Books as it's less a prize than a conversation about a selection of sixteen books, which face off in a series of head-to-head battles, and the comments section is full of intelligent, witty people who are passionate about the books they read.

But I also pay attention to the Canada Reads list, the Man Booker, the Bailey's Prize (or whatever it's called)

c) If so, do you try to read the nominated books in the time leading up to the award?: Only for The Tournament of Books because each round is like the meeting of a fun and motivated book club. I do look at other lists and pick out books that look interesting. Usually there are books announced that are already books I want to read, so that may motivate me to read them sooner than otherwise.

d) Are national and regional awards important to you? If so, which ones? the Canada Reads and the Giller Prize shortlists always get my attention.

e) The Man Booker has recently expanded its scope to include books by American authors. If it were possible, should the Pulitzer Prize in fiction be expanded to include writers in English who are not US citizens? No.

f) Do you follow prizes in languages other than your own, or international prizes in translation such as the Man Booker International Prize? Yes. The Dublin Impact list is always a good source of authors outside of the US and UK and the Man Booker International Prize is always full of amazing books. Far too few books are translated into English and anything that makes those rare books more visible is exciting and necessary.

g) Is there a particular book prize you would like to institute, serious or fun? No, but I'd love for there to be more of them.

QUESTION 21

a) The Nobel Prize in Literature is given for a body of work, not a particular book. If you haven't read the winner's work in the past, would the award inspire you to read one of the author's works now?

I find some Nobel winners are authors I wouldn’t have otherwise read but then become some of my favorite authors, so definitely yes.

b) Do you follow a particular book prize, be it for fiction, non fiction, poetry, translation or anything else?

I want to. I want to read the shortlists and be part of it but I simply don’t read enough and haven’t made this a focus. I could see myself enjoying following the Booker, Pulitzer, Orange, IMPAC Dublin, National Book Award and/or others.

c) If so, do you try to read the nominated books in the time leading up to the award?

Some day I should try to do this

d) Are national and regional awards important to you? If so, which ones?

Not really

e) The Man Booker has recently expanded its scope to include books by American authors. If it were possible, should the Pulitzer Prize in fiction be expanded to include writers in English who are not US citizens?

I like that there is an award focused on American writing

f) Do you follow prizes in languages other than your own, or international prizes in translation such as the Man Booker International Prize?

I would like to...

g) Is there a particular book prize you would like to institute, serious or fun?

Hmm. I just want the awards to make good decisions. Also, i’d them to introduce us to top authors we don’t know. I find giving awards to known authors who wrote another good book, but probably not their best, anticlimactic.

QUESTION 20

a) Do you need quiet to read?

b) Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

c) What are your favourite reading situations?

d) Where is your best reading done?

e) Do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading?

Important questions, just seen, will answer before reading others' responses, for connection to just me, sorry if repetitive.

a) yes

b) I have done but less and less now - in public I try to be aware of what is happening around me, even an idyllic walk may be hard to sit and read for watching what is going on, unless I knew the spot well, then maybe, but even then it isn't happening.

c) on my back on my bed or in a favourite chair, in the past i read in the garden but now have no garden of my own...maybe this will force reexamination of b.

d) at home - sometimes in the library - when at peace with where life is going, in terms of things to do

e) yes - is that practical, no.

I’m getting behind with this thread - quick summary answers to the last two:

QUESTION 20:

I’m used to reading pretty much anywhere. Noise doesn’t prevent me from focusing, but I’d rather do without it. I’m usually best at concentrating away from home, where there are fewer other things I could be doing (checking LibraryThing, emptying the dishwasher, making a cup of tea, etc.).

Trains and hotel rooms are good places to get a lot of undisturbed reading done, but usually not the pleasantest. Why do the people who design hotel rooms so rarely manage to combine a comfy chair with a good light source? At least e-readers make lighting less of a problem than it used to be.

Favourite places to read: under a tree on a summer afternoon, in the cabin of a boat, on my balcony, by the fireside in the company of other readers.

QUESTION 21:

I’m a bit ambivalent about awards. On the one hand, I know that they are really first and foremost a way of getting press coverage for the publishing industry, and I don’t see any reason why a jury of experts should be better at identifying books I will like than I am. Still less a poll of anonymous people on the internet! There’s a kind of morbid fascination in seeing who’s been picked this year, but that’s usually as far as it goes for the “big” prizes. I wouldn’t usually buy a book because it’s won a prize.

On the other hand, looking at past winners of awards is sometimes a handy way to find out about ‘important’ authors I don’t know about, especially when I’m exploring a new field.

I don’t really follow what’s going on in French literature, for example, but I’ve discovered some interesting books by looking through past winners of the Goncourt; similarly, I’ve recently been going through the winners of the Nordic Council prize to find things to read for the RG theme read.

>81 dchaikin: - I so agree about the lighting. When did hotels stop providing lights that actually light any part of the room up?

>82 thorold: Did they ever do that? It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Edison was already supplying special low-wattage bulbs to the hotel trade from the beginning...

Have to look deeper into that 1,000 hour light bulb conspiracy, for the hotel room clause

QUESTION 22

Today is RLS Day, a day to celebrate an intrepid traveller. However, even if you can't actually travel much, someone else (Mason Cooley) has said "Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are."

a) Do you read travel literature?

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

a) Do you read travel literature?

Have done so since I was a teenager. Used to spend hours perusing the world atlas and the globe my parents bought me. Led me to many literary adventures. Probably my favorite non fiction genre

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

All of the above. Only ones I avoid like the plague are when the travel story takes a back seat to the authors woes and troubles.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

Pretty much everywhere. Often reading one book about England will lead me to an author who wrote about the middle east which leads me to another that takes place in india and so on.

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

Both. Some of my fav accounts are Freya Stark, Emily Hahn, Richard Haliburton, all from the 20s, and earler. Patrick Leigh Fermoors books about his tra els as a young man through Europe in the 30s. Also love the women who traveled in the 1800s. Most of those I find in anthologies on women travel, they are always a treat. One of my all time early accounts is of Muhammad Ibn Battuta , from the 1300s (contemporary of Marco Polo) who traveled everywhere in the known world of the time)

Contemporary authors I enjoy are Bruce Chatwin , Pico Iyer and Jan Morris. Used to love Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson, but lately their works have been way too judgemental and grouchy for my taste.

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

Therouxs book about walking the coast of England made me dream of going as a teen, and I eventually made many trips there, and to Ireland and Wales. (it was a historic fiction novel that whetted my appetite for Wales: Sharon Kay Penman's here be dragons. The author even sent me a list of must go sites that were mentioned in the book!

Yikes sorry for the length (aren't you sorry you asked! :)

a) Do you read travel literature?
Some.

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?
Hmm. Mostly I prefer books about places I've been/lived, or places I want to go. I've read excellent books in all those sub-genres, and really rotten ones ditto. So no, it's the subject that draws me more than the genre, I think.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?
I grew up in Afghanistan and Iran, with long visits to Greece, England, Ireland, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Portugal, Sierra Leone and Cabo Verde (and short visits to a lot of other places). I like seeing what others thought about places I've been. Places I'd like to visit include Australia, Japan, and the middle of the US (I've lived on both coasts, but not inland) - and I like to see what others think about those, as well.

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?
Both, though I dislike a lot of what's coming out recently (Eat, Pray, Love and its ilk annoy me). I've liked some of Bryson's stuff (though I agree he's gotten grouchier recently). A lot of Gerald Durrell - I read for the animals, but it's fun when it overlaps with places I actually get to. And some about replicating ancient sea travel - Kon-Tiki, The Jason Voyage.

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?
Not...exactly. More often, I've read something, then found myself in the place for unrelated reasons (family, mostly) - it adds a lovely echo to the trip. I'd been reading Gerald Durrell before I ever went to Greece; his Three Singles to Adventure made my visit to Guyana, and the interior of Guyana, even more fun (though I didn't have the book with me on my trip, drat it). I also read David Attenborough's Zoo Quest to Guiana - a very different account, not as fun but equally interesting (I got that after I visited, though).
One that was fun - I was introduced to Dick Francis by reading To The Hilt, as my parents and I drove across the same Downs that the hero is leading a horse across. But we didn't go because of Dick Francis, we were just on a driving tour. I don't know where Mom picked up the books.

QUESTION 22

a) Do you read travel literature?

Yes. Travel books seem to be about 5-10% of my library, depending on how you count (sometimes the overlap with memoir, history, topography, or science is a bit hard to classify), but I think they probably represent a rather bigger proportion of what I've read in recent years.

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

Not really - I care more about the quality of the writing than the label. I probably read less from the "adventure" pile, since people who do extraordinary things aren't always extraordinarily good at writing about them. But I do have more tolerance for indifferent writing when it's about an activity I'm especially interested in, e.g. sailing.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

Not especially - but I do find that I often read a cluster of books about the same part of the world, then move on to somewhere else for a while.

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

Both, but I would guess that the centre of gravity is somewhere in the mid-20th century - there's not all that much more recent than the 1980s that has grabbed me (exceptions maybe for Geert Mak, William Dalrymple and Tim Mackintosh-Smith). >86 jjmcgaffey: already mentioned the amazing Ibn Battutah and a lot of the 20th century authors I enjoy. I could add Robert Byron, Wilfred Thesiger, Nicolas Bouvier, Jonathan Raban, Dervla Murphy, ...

Travel writing by novelists is often fun as well - I've enjoyed travel books by novelists including: Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, V.S. Naipaul, Dickens, Thackeray, Goethe, D.H. Lawrence, Mark Twain, J.B. Priestley, Stendhal, ...

One of the things I notice about travel writing is that it brings out some extraordinary characters. Dervla Murphy, released at last from being the dutiful daughter caring for elderly parents in a small town in Ireland, packs a change of underwear and a pistol and sets off for India on her old Raleigh bicycle. George Borrow gets on a mule and goes off to convert the Spanish to Anglicanism (and teach the gypsies how to speak their own language...). Mrs Trollope gathers up her children and goes off to join a commune on the American frontier. Thomas Coryat, fed up with being teased by the literary crowd at the Mermaid Tavern, walks to Venice and back. John Macgregor (the man who built a canoe for RLS) sails to France in a tiny boat, equipped with a pile of evangelical tracts to hand out to sailors and a top hat. Penelope Chetwoode (Lady Betjeman) puts down her WI jam-making spoon and gets on a horse to relive her youth in the Himalayas... Most of them are people I'd probably find impossibly overbearing and opinionated in real life, but on the printed page, it's great to be able to get inside their heads for a while.

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

Hmm. Not sure. The obvious examples I can think of have more to do with fiction (e.g. Arthur Ransome and the Lake District, Patrick White and central Australia) or with history (John Julius Norwich and Istanbul). Travel writing is about a place at a particular moment, and that is often impossible to recapture if you actually go there.

a) The Nobel Prize in Literature is given for a body of work, not a particular book. If you haven't read the winner's work in the past, would the award inspire you to read one of the author's works now?

I like hearing who has won the Nobel Prize but only to see if I agree with the selection if I have read the author. Vargas Llosa, Saramago, Oe, for example, certain deserved it. I also very much plan on never seeing Haruki Murakami win the prize as I don't think his body of work, although seemingly popular, doesn't really provide any insight on anything.

b) Do you follow a particular book prize, be it for fiction, non fiction, poetry, translation or anything else? Are national and regional awards important to you? If so, which ones? Do you follow prizes in languages other than your own, or international prizes in translation such as the Man Booker International Prize?

I always pay attention to the Nobel Prize and the Akutagawa Prize (in Japan). My mom will remind me of the Prix Goncourt (France) when she picks up the latest winner's book and passes it on to me.

c) If so, do you try to read the nominated books in the time leading up to the award?

No.

e) The Man Booker has recently expanded its scope to include books by American authors. If it were possible, should the Pulitzer Prize in fiction be expanded to include writers in English who are not US citizens?

Doesn't sound like a bad idea.

a) Do you read travel literature?

I have, and do.

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

So far it seems I've read primarily road stories but I don't think that shows a preference insomuch as it shows that I'm still young in this genre.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

I've only read 4 easily identifiable travelogues and three were about Japan which is my usual focus when reading. Also enjoyed Wanderlust though which was a more standard girl travels the world looking for her focus kind of book. I enjoyed that one because she was not apologetic about her exploration of self and I understood her very well as I had gone through a very similar experience.

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

I have no preference.

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

I tend to read more about places I've already been as that experience creates a richer experience when reading.

a) Do you lend books?

Rarely.

b) Do you initiate the process ("Would you like to borrow it?") or do you wait to be asked for the loan?

I'll usually recommend the book, yes. But I don't always insist on borrowing a copy of mine; in fact I've purchased new copies of the book and given them as presents.

c) If you lend is it only to a select group?

Yes. I mostly pass along any books to my mom I've read that she might find interesting. And vice versa. I've lent some books to coworkers now that I'm in Japan and am more relaxed about lending books.

d) If you lend, how do you keep track of what is lent?

I lend so few it's easy to remember.

e) Do your books identify you as the owner?

No.

f) If you say "No" to borrowing requests, what reason do you give?

Usually it's a good friend and I know if they are careless or not so I'll tease them about it and it leads to laughter and agreement.

g) What unreturned books do you most regret lending?

I have one unreturned book and I don't really care. It was only a dollar and I can easily buy it again for another dollar. No big loss there.

h) Has lending a book ever ruined a friendship?

No.

a) Do you need quiet to read? Are you able to read with distractions around you (airports, subways, beach etc)?

I need a certain level of silence. Forced silence like a library I can't read at all. I'm very uncomfortable plus usually the AC is too cold or the heater is too hot and I just can't concentrate. I can read on places like an airplane due to the white noise. An airport it depends on the airport. American airports that have tvs in every corner showing American football, CNN news and the fishing network all at the same time just gives me a headache and I can't do anything. Plus the smell of bad airport food wafting through the hallways is enough to make me want to flee as soon as possible. I'm getting better at reading on the train here in Japan depending on how many announcements the train conductor decides to do. But I can only read on bad weather days when there is nothing to see outside. Otherwise I like looking outside the window.

c) What are your favourite reading situations? Where is your best reading done?

Love reading on the beach. Love reading in the garden on a lounge chair. Love reading in bed or on a couch by myself. And airplanes are quite nice too actually.

e) Do friends and family members know not to bother you when you are reading?

We all get private time and we know that is important. But I have no problem being interrupted to help with something or do something.

a) Do you read travel literature?

Yes. I tend to read it in two ways. One is surficially practical in that I read about places I am going to soon. But I don't read, like, to plan, just to read. It's really rewarding to read about a place and then go there. The other kind is along the theme of nature writing or variations on that. Bruce Chatwin comes to mind. So do John Graves, Edward Abbey. I also like to listen to Bill Bryson read anything he's written.

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

Never really thought about it.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

Hmm. Not sure how to answer. I guess not

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

If I'm reading to learn about a place I want the newest thing available, preferably with book references. Then, based on that I might pick other books to read. If I'm reading for the literature or nature or whatnot than this kind of question doesn't really apply.

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

Inspired? Oh, yes. But getting to all or any of these places is a very different question. This reminds me that Hampton Sides account of the Navajos in Blood and Thunder has me wanting to get to Canyon De Chelly.

a) Do you read travel literature?

No, not really, but I read the literature of other countries as a means of "visiting" there... Books have inspired some of our actual traveling.

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

It seems during the last few years to be taking me to cold places....

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

Yes! I went to Iceland in 2010 after reading the Indridason crime novels (and it's only 4 1/2 hours out of Boston). Of course, I've read many other Icelandic authors since. And I went to Australia in 2008 because of LT friend amandameale and because all the Australia authors I read...which might have begun with Grenville's The Secret River and Carrie Tiffany's Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living (2005, pre-LT) but perhaps as far back as Robert Hughes' 1988 history The Fatal Shore. Scandinavia is on my list....as is Scotland....and Newfoundland (which is a bit closer) because of the books & poetry of Michael Crummey.

When I was young I dreamed of going to Russian because of Doctor Zhivago....

Re: travel - I just read Ellis Peters' Shropshire, which isn't strictly a travel book - it's more of a "this is what's around my home" book. She spends a lot of time talking about how everyone has one place that is forever home, and Shropshire is it for her... She does a gorgeous job of describing places, people, history, houses, and developments in her shire, and now I really want to go (back - we visited, briefly, once...come to think of it, that was because of her Brother Cadfael mysteries), book in hand, and see all this stuff. Possibly again, possibly for the first time - we were on a driving tour and just stopped off in Shrewsbury. It's a magnificent book, though.

Love Ellis Peters, she also wrote historic fiction with the name Edith Parrgeter. Traveled through Wales based on some her Welsh books (that covered the same ground as Sharon Kay Penman novels)

QUESTION 23

The time from American Thanksgiving to early January is filled with holidays, religious and secular. If we are lucky, it may also be filled with new books.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

Sometimes more because of extra time, sometimes less because of less structure and more distractions.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

no

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

I like them, but in December I usually have a goal of some sort already. So, no.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

Yes, guilty. Also I try to finish whatever I'm working on now before the end of the year, and start something new on Jan 1.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

Much less. Busy season at work and very busy at home.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

Because I'm generally busy and a little stressed at this time of year I usually try to read something lighter. However, see d) for the anomaly this year.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No, but they get me excited for things to read next year.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

I'm not going to get everything done I planned this year, but I'm trying to finish a couple big books so I'm reading much denser books than I'm used to at this time of year.

QUESTION 23

The time from American Thanksgiving to early January is filled with holidays, religious and secular. If we are lucky, it may also be filled with new books.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

Usually more, but it's unpredictable. I'll be spending the Christmas and New Year period with my elderly parents, so we don't go out much, and I'm not so easily distracted by computers, but a few days will be busy with family, and I'm generally made to watch a lot more TV than I normally would...

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

I'll be raiding my parents' shelves some of the time, so I expect to be reading at least one or two books I wouldn't otherwise have come across.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No. I don't think I've ever bothered to look at one. I discard them with the other prepared-in-advance space-fillers the newspapers resort to during the holiday lull.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

I might do. But I might also be trying to get ahead on the programme for the new year, whatever that turns out to be. I'm retired, I don't have to worry about production targets any more...

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

Interesting question. I'm going to say: About the same.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

No change that I can determine. It has been our custom to read and eat pie on Dec. 25th. Usually family has visited the day before.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

I like to read the lists, of course, but they seldom influence my reading. I am perhaps an oddball in that respect. I tend to choose my reading, particularly my fiction, ahead of publication, a habit I got into while working in the bookstore (and I've been back there PT for the last 3 years or so). Looking at my 2017 reading list, nearly all the books are 2017 titles (and one 2018 title), except for some older crime fiction and nonfiction.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

No.

>101 thorold: It has been our custom to read and eat pie on Dec. 25th.

Hmm - I wouldn’t have thought there were enough pie books to keep you going for long enough to make it a tradition. Life of..., obviously, and Nancy Mitford’s Pigeon..., but where do you go after that?

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

Usually much, much less, and certainly this year is no exception. Work is bad enough, but the kids' school goes crazy and there is event after event to attend in December.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

Sometimes if I'm off over Christmas I'll indulge in something a bit meatier that I know I can get a good run at, but generally it's the usual go with the flow and see what I'm in the mood for reading at the time.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No. They'll add a few more titles to my wish list, but nothing more than that.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

No. I'm usually too woefully behind to even begin to catch up on the mental target I'd set for myself at the start of the year.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

About the same: I don't take much time off work during the holidays, and this time is spent with family so I do not spend much more time reading than I usually do.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

Not really. Between Christmas and New Year's Eve though I'm usually at my brother's who collects comic books, so I will read more comic books than usual.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

I'm always kind of annoyed that these lists can go out while the year has not officially ended. I glance at them but usually don't read books from them. What I love is lists of best books read in a year, independently of the year the books went out. If I remember correctly, those lists tend to go out at the beginning of the year.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

I usually try to attain my goodreads challenge aiming at reading a certain number of books each year (in my case it's 50). Usually I fail, but this year and last year I completely blew up my target (I've read 58 books already this year) so there was no pressure for that towards the end of the year.
This year I'm in a race to get as close as I can to finishing my TBR pile: with only 4 books in the pile currently, there's a small chance that I may begin 2018 with only one book in my TBR (and a smallest chance that I finish my TBR completely but this seems very unlikely, as one book in there is the beginning of a series).

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

More, since I am on break for most of it.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

No. If anything Im looking for something that has nothing to do with the season.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

I browse them and often either find something interesting that I never thought to read, or notice book that I meant to read earlier and now want to.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

no. I read at my own rate. I do however try to keep my reads per year at least 50, so there is that.

QUESTION 23

The time from American Thanksgiving to early January is filled with holidays, religious and secular. If we are lucky, it may also be filled with new books.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

I almost always get more reading done when I am not at work, and in the first few weeks after i return to work. It's something I have to do something about. My reading groups helped in the past, but I couldn't keep up with them now.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

No. Though saying that I loved rereading a Christmas carol the other year - maybe the cricket in the hearth this?

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No - I read them and just think how much more I'd like to be reading.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

Probably - as I began my threads on the 50 book challenge I still have an idea i should be reading more. I could feel bad in some way, I want much more reading in me, not least as I need to make up some ground, I feel. But I'm typing this,, a variation ye again, to remind myself that having read X amount is not the point - if I could read just one book but read it well, that'd be a hell of a thing, that's what is important, read what I do well. I sometimes try and finish off books I am getting near the end of, a kind of tidying up and then fresh start thing.

QUESTION 22

(my flight was cancelled)

Today is RLS Day, a day to celebrate an intrepid traveller. However, even if you can't actually travel much, someone else (Mason Cooley) has said "Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are."

a) Do you read travel literature?

sometimes

b) Do you prefer a particular sub genre (adventure, humour, road stories, explorers etc)?

not sure, good writing / thinking / company?

c) Is there a particular part of the world where your reading takes you?

nope - more limited by my limited amount read

d) Do you read contemporary accounts, earlier accounts or both?

both

e) Has your reading ever inspired you to actually go to that place?

yes - the Mani. Wordsworth inspires me to go to some places much closer home. I have a wish to visit a lot more poets graves, haunts in their lifetime, birthplaces.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?
It varies year to year with what I'm doing and my mood. I think I sometimes read a little more, but probably more because people I might usually get together with are busier.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?
Nope. Other than always re-reading Hogfather in December.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?
Not really. I like to look at them, and maybe if a book already on my to-read list is on a bunch of lists I might get to it more quickly.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?
Nope.

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

About the same, really. I don't get much extra time off work -- potentially none at all, if the major holidays fall on days when I'm not scheduled to work anyway -- nor am I usually hosting people or otherwise having to put in a lot of effort for the holidays. I do kind of like lighting some festive candles and curling up warm and snug with a good book on Christmas Eve, if I get the chance, but otherwise it's pretty much business as usual. Unless it's a year when I actually travel over Christmas or Thanksgiving, but that doesn't happen much.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

Again, not really, but if I have an even vaguely Christmas-themed book on the TBR pile, I might make a point out of pulling it off sometime in December.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No. I might glance at them and put books from them that sound interesting on my wishlist, but they definitely don't influence my end-of-year reading.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

Now, this one's actually a yes. I currently have five more books to read to read my goal for the ROOT (Read Our Own Tomes) group, and I am making a point of trying to read books that qualify for that challenge before the year is out.

(I'm also bound and determined to read the one remaining unread book from last year's SantaThing before Christmas comes this year. Mostly because I regard it as shameful that I haven't yet gotten to it, especially given what great choices my Santa came up with.)

a) Do you get more or less reading done during this period than your usual?

A little less, because I'm hanging out with family (great conversations, but they do take away from reading time). But not a lot less because I won't let it.

b) Does your reading matter change over the holiday period (deeper, lighter, seasonal)?

Nope. I read what I read, year round.

c) Do those "best of" year end lists influence your reading at this time?

No. If I come across one of those lists, I'll often skim it and see some interesting books - and then I'll write down the titles and authors (in my phone, so I might even find them again). I may read those books, if I find them, sometime in the next year or two - I'm very unlikely to go find them now.

d) Do you try to squeeze in those last few books for LT lists?

Not lists, but goals yes. I've blown past my 150-book goal, as I expected - and also as I expected, I'm a little short on discarding books (I can't discard until I've read them!) and a little shorter on BOMBs (Books Off My Bookshelf - same as ROOT above). I'm not _far_ off my goals, but I need to focus on reading more BOMBs instead of reading random stuff on my phone... This is the second year I've been close on discards, and the first year I've been this close on BOMBs since I started tracking them. So I'm pushing to actually achieve those goals. I managed the discards last year, just barely.

>102 AlisonY: whahaaahaaaa! Too funny. Caught me!

QUESTION 24



Back in 2016, Questions... asked about synopses on the back covers of books, and followed it up with some examples, asking readers to guess the titles. There were some great guesses, that showed odd links between books that might not have been suspected otherwise!

Here are a few more back cover excerpts for holiday guessing, not so much synopses maybe, but descriptions all the same.

Answers on New Year's Eve, in the meantime, no online searching!

1. "Its climate of doubt and vagueness, its loss of moral confidence and its need for belief in the midst of spiritual wilderness, its exploration of the subconscious and its affirmation of individual freedom are all themes that were to have an influence on writers such as Orwell, Golding, Céline, Borges and Eliot."

2." It is written from terrible experience. From knowledge of the men whose struggles for mind and body he describes. Apart from its sociological importance, it is written with a subtlety and an economy which class it as great literature. I have read it twice without feeling that I have learned more than half of what it has to offer me... Author approaches the problem of ends and means, of love and truth and social organization through the thoughts of character, as he awaits death..."

3." Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, title received unprecedented acclaim upon its publication and has since enjoyed a long and well-deserved tenure in the American canon."

>3 Oandthegang: hubby is guessing Catch-22 or The Naked and the Dead.

>1 SassyLassy: I'm guessing Heart of Darkness....maybe....maybe not...

No guesses on 2.

>112 avaland: 1) Frankenstein?

guessing:

1) for some reason i thought of Don Quixote and then also of Sterne, but i'm hedging
2) possibly The Death of Ivan Ilyich?? but the men part I'm unsure of
3) The Thin Red Line?

I have the strangest feeling I have read all three blurbs, but have not read any of these

1. Dostoyevsky? Could be Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamazov

2. Seems like it should be long since emphasizes they read it twice. But then it says economy of language. Hmm no guess.

3. Catch 22 (Lois already guessed that)

>112 avaland:

I remember getting Grapes of Wrath correct last time we did this but this time I have no idea!

I just keep thinking Walden for number 1, even though it doesn't totally fit (that's blurbs for you though).

1. I was thinking Heart of darkness as well, but the bit about "need for belief" makes me wonder about Dostoevsky. Let's say Brothers Karamazov for the sake of putting a guess on record.

2. Could it be Voyage au bout de la nuit?

3. "Unprecedented acclaim" doesn't really sound like Catch-22 or Slaughterhouse-Five, so I'm going to guess The naked and the dead as well.

>112 avaland: Can we have a point of clarification for #1? I assumed the Eliot that was influenced was George Eliot, so the book would have to be pre-1850s. But if it refers to T.S. Eliot, whole generations of writers qualify.

>120 SassyLassy: The excerpt in 1 is a direct quote from the "blurber". I thought the ambiguity about the Eliots was fun for something like this, so left it as it was. Good for you to pick up on it though! How about "Birds of a feather..."?

As promised, the answers for Question 24 in 112 above are:



1. Heart of Darkness Congratulations to avaland for getting this so quickly



2. Darkness at Noon The blurb here was from Kingsley Martin in the New Statesman.



3. The Naked and the Dead Congratulations to those who guessed this.

Interesting guesses all.

More questions in the New Year. Happy reading.

______________________

Thanks to Eliz_M for mentioning that I had Heart of Darkness twice in this post. Too much darkness for New Year's Eve.