Thursday, December 01, 2005

I've been tagged - My Book Meme

Here it is Ammanda!

1) I also don't buy books simply for the cover. However, a book with a man in a mask (a la Zorro) will get me every time.
2) I don't crack spines. I also don't fold pages. Even in cheap paperbacks. I find it very hard to desecrate. I will crack the spine, though, of a textbook if I am required to do a lot of reading and writing out of it, so it has to lay flat.
3) Ooooh, there's nothing better than bringing home an anticipated new book! I agree. However, I'm so busy lately that it's almost a dread because it sometimes takes me weeks, or years, to get to it. I took 2 years to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!
4) I have all of Nora Roberts' books. Perhaps it's because I started reading her when she first published, and I have grown as a reader and writer with her. I adore her style, even the early Silhouettes.
5) I love clinch covers that have a modicum of good taste. I admit to liking the Johanna Lindsey "Golden Age" covers - like the Mallory novels and "Hearts Aflame."
6) I reread a lot. I have probably two hundred paperbacks and hardbacks that I consider keepers. I usually don't reread the whole novel, but I will find particular passages that I am in the mood for - humor, inspiration, etc.
7) I usually have a personal book and a professional book going, but rarely am I reading two personal books at once. I read so quickly (except in recent years) that's it would be rare for me to take more than one day to finish a book.
8) I like to read and that alone. I don't like any distractions - just me, a comfy chair or pillow to cushion my back, and silence. Ah! Bliss. Obviously, Omar Khayyam did not have paperbacks, because he would have ditched the girl and sung in the wilderness with a good book. ;-)
9) I read (almost) anything and everything. Romance is my primary personal fiction of choice, but I love sci-fi/fantasy and mystery as well.
10) For me, setting is important, but not as important as character and dialogue. I really dislike books that spend paragraphs and pages going on about the scenery or history of a place. And I love history!
11) I usually don't go for books with kids in them (unless one of my favorite authors puts one in). However, I have several fav books that have kids. I'm always surprised at how much fun they can add to a story. Of course, now that I'm a doting aunt, I am much more inclined to read about children.
12) E-books: I've read several, and I tend to buy from Ellora's Cave for that particular genre, though I've only purchased a handful or two. I enjoy the tactile sensation of a real book. And it's more comfortable to snuggle in my arm chair than my office chair.
13) I really don't have a preference concerning trade size or regular. I prefer the price of a regular paperback.
14) A books has to be simply dreadful for me not to finish it. I might skim a lot, but I will try to read most of it. I have had a few that I simply could not get beyond chapter 2.
15) I agree with Ammanda's pet peeves--the aforementioned thing about when an author SAYS her characters are witty/brilliant/braniac, and then they go off and behave like morons at every possible opportunity. "Tortured" heroes who really have no complexity, they are just whiny. "Feisty" heroines who run off and nearly get killed, and must be rescued by the hero 10 times by page 200. I also hate heroines who do such stupid things that embarrass themselves in public or in front of the hero. There's a difference between slapstick humor when something unintentional happens or a heroine is simply a clutz, but when she loses control and does something really moronic, or just doesn't think straight, I cringe and writhe in agony.
16) I am not sure what this is asking about. I buy books at all times of the year. I really love Christmas, though, because it gives me a reason to indulge.
17) The first book I remember reading that really influenced me was THE BELLS ARE RINGING. It was a Revolutionary War story about a printer's apprentice in Boston during the blockade. His master was a Son of Liberty, and the boy got caught up in the fight. After that, it was CS Lewis' CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. I still have all of these books - and I read the first one in 3rd grade!
18) If this is about a bad habit or something, I admit that I also sometimes read the ending before I even buy a book.

2 comments:

Michele said...

Wow, what a lengthy meme.

Hope your migraine didn't come back after having to type all that..geesh!!

Glad you are feeling better.
Nice Orlando pic, BTW.

*waggles eyebrows* Ellora's Cave, hmmmm?
Isn't that a fun site??

Kelli McBride said...

And I couldn't find the original questions, so I'm not sure I was actually answering what the list wanted me to do. ;-)

Orlando - what a dish. He would be a great cure for migraine. I bet he would rub my head when it hurt. And of course I would demand lots of TLC and kissing to make it feel better. ;-)