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15 THINGS ABOUT BOOKS 9 July 2006 I saw this a couple of years ago on Use My Sky and always thought it would be fun to think about books like this in one day. So here are 15 things that I can think about books. 1. I love books. I love book stores. I love the feel of book pages. I prefer the feel of hardback books (and my eyes don't like the print of some paperback books). I like the look of stacks of books (which is a good thing, since I'm surrounded by stacks of books). I love long books and always feel sad when I come to the end of the story of characters who have come alive for me on the pages and who I now must leave behind, sleeping between the front and back cover of the book. 2. I am glad that at least one of my parents was a reader, who passed along a love of reading to me, and who encouraged me to read all kinds of books. 3. When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader and always had a book at hand. My favorite thing to do was to lie on my bed and read. The birth of children and the lure of television and the computer have changed that, but I still try to have a book with me at all times, to read while I'm waiting in line, or sitting in an office. 4. I started Gone with the Wind three times before I actually read it all the way through to the end, and then loved it so much that I went back and read it again. 5. My favorite book during my adolescence was Marjorie Morningstar. I'm not sure why except there was the whole "forbidden love" thing and the first "sex scene" I'd ever read (even though it wasn't really a sex scene at all). I read it so often that the pages of the book began to fall out. Several years ago, my daughter-in-law had it rebound for me. Somehow, in my adulthood, whatever attracted me to the book seems to have dissipated. 6. I read Tom Jones because Marjorie Morningstar read it and someone commented that it was a strange book for her to be reading because it was such an old and difficult book. I was determined that I, too, would read the book--and I did. And then the following year, the movie of the same name came out. 7. I am always tempted, but never look ahead to find out "whodunnit" when reading a mystery. I did a couple of times and found that my enjoyment of the book was diminished because I didn't go through the same anxiety attacks wondering if so-and-so was going to live or trying to figure out who really had killed off Aunt Martha in the Library with a candlestick. 8. I really like to read books in sequence. I read all the Nancy Drew books in the order they were written (until I got too old to be interested). I remember Macy*s had a whole wall of Nancy Drew books and I would check every month or so to see if a new one had been written. I also read all the Perry Mason books in as much of an order as I could. And of course you had to read the James Bond books in order. These days, I'm reading Patricia Cornwell books in order, but I am hopelessly mixed up with James Patterson books. 9. When I find an author I really like, I don't rest until I've read everything that person has written. Then I go looking for another author to devour. 10. I never really liked science fiction until David Gerrold became my friend, then I read all of his books (more than 35 of them, but I've lost count with the more recent ones). What attracted me to David's writings was that he uses words wonderfully, paints great visual scenes, and his double-entendres and puns are fantastic (do yourself a favor and find a copy of Flying Sorcerers by David and Larry Niven. It's one of his funniest books.) 11. I usually read too fast. I miss a lot of details because I'm too eager to get into the plot. I discovered what I was missing when I took the time to actually read East of Eden. The first time I read it, it was for the plot. The second time I read it, I savored all those descriptive passages. I never pass between the Gabilan Mountains and the Coast Range without remembering Steinbeck's glorious prose. The same can be said for the entire first section of Michener's Hawaii, which describes the formation of the Hawaiian Islands. You can't read it like a novel, you have to savor the words, and visual images he presents.
13. I'm embarrassed to say that I am influenced by the look of a book. If the best book in the world is in shabby condition, with thinning pages I will pass it by for a book that is in better shape, with better feeling pages. Somehow the feel of the pages seems to have an effect on my desire to own the book. 14. I went through a period where I read a lot of self-help books, but discovered that I never really learned much from them, except how many problems my friends had <g>. I eventually stopped wasting my money on self help books, and put those dollars into cookbooks. Now THOSE are things that I read like novels. I get as much enjoyment out of reading a good cookbook as I do from a riveting story. 15. I even co-authored two books, which means you can look me up in the Library of Congress or on Amazon.com, which is very cool. You're supposed to tag
someone to do this list. Ordinarily I don't do that, but I'm sure Mary will pick it
up and do it! |
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6/1/06
12. Oddly enough, I don't really like short
stories, unless perhaps they are dog stories. Somehow it has to be a full length
book before it holds my interest. For the same reason, I don't generally read
stories in a magazine. I end up closing the publication before I make it through to
the end.
