Booking Through Thursday - Re-Reading Changes

Haven't done one of these in quite sometime, so here I go.

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

I’ve asked before if you re-read your books (feel free to recap), but right now I want to know if that habit has changed? Did you, for example, reread more as a child and your access to new books was limited by how often you could convince your mother to take you to the library? Has the economy affected your access so that you’re forced to reread more often now? Have you grown to look at old books as old friends so that you’re happy to spend time with them rather than rushing the next new thing?

Actually I don't re-read a lot of books and only re-read if there is a need to re-read a book (for example a book picked as bookclub read).   I think I did re-read more as a child, as I had a few favourites that I would turn to when I didn't have much to read on hand.  Since I have access to two really good library systems, I don't feel the need to re-read something.

Booking Through Thursday - Ideal

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

I want you to think about your ideal reading experience. Think about the location. (Your bed? Favorite chair? The beach? Indoors or outdoors?). Think about the sounds. (Is there music playing? Happy children playing in the background? Utter silence?) Is there a snack or beverage nearby? Are you alone or with friends/family (presumably being quiet enough for you to read in peace)? What kind of lighting is there? Are you dressed in something ultra-comfy? What’s your position? Curled up? Stretched out?

Now … describe it so that we can all feel exactly how perfect it is … and why.

This is a hard one to say because it would have to entirely depend on my mood, but if I had to choose my absolute ideal spot, it would have to be the beach; there is just something about sand underneath my feet as I read that is soothing.  I would probably be listening to some podcasts on my iPod with kids playing around me.  I would probably have a snack and I would be alone.  I would be in my bathing suit, just soaking in the sun and the warm weather

It would be perfect because it is a place that I am comfortable with and makes me feel comfortable.

Booking Through Thursday - Rating

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Movies have a rating system to help guide the consumer weed out adult/violent/inappropriate kinds of films. Video games do, too. Do you think BOOKS should have a ratings system?

Flat out, no. Reason being is that books are so subjective in regards to the content material that is found inbetween the covers of a book.  What one person may find objectionable may not be objectionable to another person.  And its a rather arbitrary way of evaluating books.  And in a way it promotes censorship, especially among young readers who are trying to expand what they read and are exploring books that deal with more mature topics as they move up in their reading abilities.

Booking Through Thursday - Current Events

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

One of those quick, easy questions that I ask periodically because the answer is always changing:

What are you reading right now? (And, is it good? Would you recommend it? How did you choose it?)

I am reading a number of books at the present time, but one of the books that I am reading is War & Peace.  I didn't actually choose to read it at the present time, as I joined up a readalong for the book.  I would recommend it.

Booking Through Thursday - Soundtrack

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Do you ever try to pair music with the book you’re reading? Play the movie soundtrack while reading the original book? Find mood music that fits with your story?

Very rarely do I do I pair music with what I am reading; usually I will listen to one of the many podcasts that I subscribe to.  I may listen to a podcast on books or a history podcast or even a podcast of a sports radio show.  Sometimes I will listen to music, but that is unusual.

Booking Through Thursday - Gifts

Book Through Thursday asks this week:

Do you like to give books as gifts?

Yes, I do like to give books as gifts, provided I can find something for them.  The reason being is that I like to do one-stop shopping and by giving them books, this can be accomplished.

Booking Through Thursday - Resolved

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Any reading resolutions for the new year? Reading more? (Reading less?) Reading better books? Bigger books? More series? More relaxing books?

I have a couple of resolutions for this year: read 65 books this year (read this amount in 2012) and read War & Peace.

Booking Through Thursday - Blackouts

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

1. How do storms affect your reading? Do you go for comfort reading?

2. How do you deal with power outages? Do you read by candlelight? Flashlights? Use a self-lit e-reader or tablet? Skip reading altogether for the duration and instead play games with the family?

1) Storms do affect my reading because I am usually not thinking about reading, but rather when I am going to get power again.

2) I don't deal well with power outages.  Fortunately the longest was about 7 hours on a Saturday, but I don't do well.

Booking Through Thursday - Burn

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

If your house was burning down and you could save just one book from your collection … what would it be?

This is a difficult question to answer, but if I had to answer truthfully, I would have to say it would be the leather-bound copy of The Secret Garden that has colour plates in the book.

Booking Through Thursday - Carry-Ons

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Do you bring the book(s) you’re reading with you when you go out? How?Physically, or in an e-reader of some kind? Have your habits in thisregard changed? (I know I carried books with me more when I was inschool than I do now–I can’t read while I’m driving to work, afterall.)

It really depends on where I am going.  If I am going somewhere where I know I won't likely be able to get any sort of reading done, I don't bring anything, just to resist the temptation.  But since on one of my e-readers I have downloaded a Bible app onto it, the temptation is always going to be there.  But for the most part I do bring a book with me, whether it be on one of my two e-readers (one is like a tablet and one is a more traditional e-reader) or a physical book.  I even bring a book with me to church, in case I get bored with the sermon and need to concentrate on something else.  My habits really haven't changed in bringing a book with me, because I never know how long I am going to wait for something or somebody (I even bring my tablet e-reader into a movie theatre because I read through most of the "ads" before the movie trailers and as people are filing into the movie theatre) and I sometimes bring a book to a family event because I never know if I am going to get a bit bored and need something to do. If I was going to the opera or something like that, I wouldn't bring a book; it would just be rude, but since I have a Kobo app on my phone, there is nothing really preventing me from reading something at any moment.

Booking Through Thursday - Quick!

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Quick–what are you reading right now? (Other than this question onthis website, of course.) Would you recommend it? What’s it about?

As I post this, I am reading A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware.  Its a fairly quick read due to the fact that the action is fast-paced and fairly easy to read (language is fairly simple).  Its about a woman, Amelia Bradshaw, and the rebuilding of her grandfather's hotel after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  Since  I have been working on it for a while, I don't know if I would at this point.

Booking Through Thursday - School Books

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

We all had to read things in school that we didn’t like … but whatabout something you read for a class that you ended up liking (orloving)? An author you discovered that you might not have found? A genre you hadn’t thought about?

I remember my Grade 11 English teacher chose A Tale of Two Cities for the final book of the year.  I had only really read A Christmas Carol (okay, watch the Alastir Sim version of the movie), but hadn't really been exposed to anything significant of Dickens' work up until that book.  I ended up loving the book and has ended up as being one of my favourite books.  I actually read it a few years later and still enjoyed reading it and probably a little more so.

Booking Through Thursday - Conversions

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Do you find yourself thinking about that the books you read would be good on film? Do you wish things you watched on TV or in the movies were available as books?

Firstly, I do occasionally do find myself thinking that the book I am reading would be good as a movie, but that is very rare.  To answer the second question, not necessarily.  While I like reading books a lot, I don't necessarily want them in book form. The reason being is that a lot of the books that I have read that are published after the movie or TV series has aired are usually not as good as if they had been published prior to watching the movie or TV show.  I think that if one is going to publish a book, it should be something like what was put together for Downton Abbey; basically a companion book rather than an actual book based on the movie or TV show.

Booking Through Thursday - One or Many?

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Series or stand-alone?

I prefer stand-alones, but I don't mind reading series either.  The reason that I prefer stand-alones is because I sometimes feel as though I don't care enough about some of the characters to want to read more about them.  I realize that publishers love series because there is a built in audience for the next book, but sometimes I would prefer if authors would just stick to stand-alones because a reader isn't forced to read the next book by that author.

Booking Through Thursday - Secondly

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Favourite secondary characters? (Note the plural)

 I have a couple of secondary characters that I love.  My first choice would be Mrs. Fairfax from Jane Eyre.  I don't know why, but maybe its the fact that she takes care of Jane and is sort of a mother figure in her life, when she has few, if any type of mother-like figures in her life.  She is the one that is willing to protect Jane from the realities of Mr. Rochester's wife and also guides her in making sure that Jane makes the right decisions.  My second choice would have to be Severus Snape.  I realize that for the first five books in the Harry Potter series, he is anything but a sympathetic character, but once I had read the sixth book, I found sympathy for Snape and realized that he just had Harry's best interest in mind.

Booking Through Thursday - Siblings

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Do you have siblings? Do they like to read?

I have one sibling, a younger sister.  I know she does read but not with the same sort fervor as I do.  I don't really know if she likes to read, but I assume she does because she has read when there really isn't anything else to do.

Booking Through Thursday - Eternity

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

What book took you the longest to read, and do you feel it was the content or just the length that made it so?

The book that took me the longest to read was Middlemarch by George Eliot.  The reason that it took me so long to read was because I read a chapter a week (I have always been a Book Whore) and took me almost a year and a half to read.

Hope everybody has a good day :)

Booking Through Thursday - More!

Its been about a month since my last BTT post, but I figure no time like the present to pick it up again.  This week, Booking Through Thursday asks:

Which non-series book would you most like to read the sequel to? Do you have any wishes for what might happen in it?

I would really like a sequel to Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and to see if Andi would then go to the Napoleonic era and see where that takes her.

Booking Through Thursday - Only five

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

If you had to pick only 5 books to read ever again, what would they be and why?

The five I would choose are:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte:  It was my first classic novel and the first book that I really fell in love with and something that every time I reread fall in love with all over again.

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck: There is something that keeps drawing me back to this book and the two times that I have read the book I have found something new with the book.  And the story is so well told that once I get into it, I can't stop reading it.

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: The story is very well told and engrossing to the point that I am starting to see why one of my very good friends really enjoys the book.

• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: Even though I have had complaints about the start of the book, I am starting to really enjoy this book and can clearly see why a lot of people enjoy this book.

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling: I don't know why I choose this book in particular but I think its because the book still has that child-like manner of the first two books in the Harry Potter series, but has that element of darkness that seems to invade the last four books in the series.  Its almost an end to the innocence of Harry and a reality check that things are going to get darker in the coming years.

Booking Through Thursday - Found books

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

Have you ever read a random book left in a waiting room or on a park bench, etc., and did you like it?

No I haven't, even though I have picked up random books and taken them with me.  I usually have a book on me frequently and don't feel the need to pick up something while I am waiting around.  Now if it was a book that I wanted to read and hadn't gotten a copy of the book quite yet, then maybe I would pick it up and start reading it.