On BTT this week:

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about a book I’d read recently, and realized how very, very few people I can do that with. In my daily life, it seems like almost no-one reads anything more than a newspaper or a fashion magazine. I only have one person I can truly chat about books with … and yet, being a Capital-R-Reader, I simply can’t imagine going through life without a book constantly at hand, or shelves of them proudly displayed downstairs. I’m proud of being a person who not only reads, but who reads a lot–not just in volume but in variety. I like having an inquiring mind. I like exploring new ideas. I love following an intricately plotted story (the more layers the better). I love BEING a reader and simply can’t imagine what it’s like to go through life without being one.

Am I the only one who feels this way? That wonders at how other people can simply NOT do something that should be so essential? Who feels almost sad that so many people seem content to go through their lives without stretching their mental wings at all?

Can you imagine NOT being a Reader? How does it shape your life? Your perception of it?

How does being a Reader affect your relationship with all those folks who are looking at it from the other side and simply can’t understand how you can sit and READ all the time?

In the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next series, Thursday lives in a world where books are read by almost everyone. People devour the classics and the idea of a Pride & Prejudice reality show readily happens. I remember trying to imagine a world where most people read fiction and literature, and it seems so idyllic to me.

I would not say it is lonely to be a reader because I love it. Books are your friends when you are a reader. You engage in them and they open all these ideas and worlds to you. But it is rare for me to find someone to talk with me about all the books I read. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have this blog 75% dedicated to books.

I can’t imagine not being a reader. It keeps me sane. It keeps me inspired. It keeps my mind at work. It does sadden me a bit that we live in a world where books are not really valued or used. On the other hand, I don’t really care if people think I am bookish or introverted. I am rather private about what I do with my life, but being called bookish is a compliment to me. Being a reader means something to me and so there is nothing to hide about the real me.

How about you?

On BTT this week:

It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., so … what are you thankful for this year, reading-wise? New, favorite books? New gadget for reading? New comfy chair? Bonus time to read? Just the mere fact of BEING a reader? Having the internet to share ideas/recommendations/conversations about books?

I’m always thankful for being a reader and the gift of the languages I have learned. I’m also glad this year that I decided to blog about books again and that I had the chance to buy books too. The internet has always been very helpful for me to discover new reads and to explore books and my own reading further.

What are you thankful for?

This week on BTT:

Are there any good books that you read IN SPITE OF the cover and ended up wondering what on earth the artist and publisher were thinking to pair up a cover that so badly represented a perfectly good book?

And … if you didn’t like the cover, what made you pick up the book? The author? Assigned reading from school? A recommendation from a friend?

As I said last week, most times, I don’t really see that many bad covers. If I do, I don’t notice it as much as the book for itself. I do notice that French publishers keep their covers much simpler than those in the anglophone publishing world. I was French book browsing this weekend and noticed again how many of their books lack a lot of colour and intrigue. They focus less on advertising to be sure.

Usually, I pick up books for a plethora of reasons, including, but not limited to: author that I have read before, it is a classic/award winner, part of a series, or a recommendation from a friend/blog/or other source. I use to read for school, but it doesn’t apply now that I am out of it.

How about you?

This week on BTT:

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but there’s no question that it can make a difference!

What book(s) have your favorite covers? Something that’s perfect for the story, the tone, the colors, the mood…

And did you pick up the book BECAUSE of the cover? Or were you going to read it anyway, and the cover was just serendipitous?

I have picked up books based on the cover, but I haven’t done it in a long time. I now usually pick the book based on reviews or word of mouth. I do like a good cover though.

Since I have read a lot of classics, I like a lot of the publishers of classic book sellers. My favourite edition of classic books is the hard cover Everyman’s Editions. I also really love the Penguin covers as they always pick out the right design and photo. I like the new prints they have for the Austen and Bronte books too.

Some of the best covers I’ve seen are, unsurprisingly, from graphic novels like Blankets or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.

Most of the time, books have good or OK covers and there aren’t many that I dislike really or find off putting for books. Publishers must sell books so they are much more careful about book covers than say, people who make movies. You’re more likely to see bad movie posters than bad book covers I think.

This week on BTT:

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

What a tough question, but I went with the first thing that came to my mind: my Harry Potter books. These books may not be my favourite books or the most useful (like my cooking or crafting books), but I bought books 4-7 the day they came out and the series was a unique experience for me. I really don’t know when I will ever buy books the way they were released after years of anticipation between books. Most of my fiction books are used, but I bought new and no one gave any of them to me. As a book experience, they are special among my relatively small collection of books (I have less than 100 books to my name).

How about you?

This week on Booking Through Thursday:

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

Shamefully, I haven’t read anything in a week. Too busy at work so come home and too many hobbies!

Here is what I still need to start reading:

Gone with the Wind – Been putting this off. Will start this weekend for sure.

The Song of Achilles – Need to read this as I have it from the library.

It’s looking like I may have to read two books at the same time. Something I rarely ever do.

On Booking Through Thursday this week:

How do you organize/store your books? Do you go through them often? Or do you pretty much just shelve them and then leave them alone until you need them?

The second. I roughly organize them by genre, anticipated time I will read them. So I have one shelf all fiction/classics and part of one shelf for cookbooks. I also put the knitting books away on my desk or with the cookbooks.

Recently, I ran out of space for my books so I put some of those that I have read in the closet. I think for someone who has read over 800 books, I really don’t own a lot of them. I do buy used books to read, but for the most part, a lot of my books are one I bought because I read them already and wanted to keep them for future rereads.

I will organize them when I get new books and shift them around when I need to, but in general, I don’t really organize them by authors or anything like that.

How about you?

This week on Booking Through Thursday:

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

Since I have always loved to read, it’s not surprising that I ended up liking a lot of what I read pre-university in English class. I mean I loved some of the stuff and knew I would: Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird and a couple of others.

I discovered The Princess Bride (actually we watched the movie so I had to read the book) and John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids from the same excellent English teacher.

I also think I would have discovered Thomas Hardy eventually, but I am always glad to have studied Mayor of Casterbridge so I found him earlier.

I also took a religion and philosophy course so that exposed to me to some texts earlier.

In university, I read a lot of stuff as I wouldn’t otherwise read because I ended up as a public and international affairs major so I read a bit of everything in social sciences: political science, law, economics, health, gender studies. Some I liked more than others.

How about you?

On this week’s Booking Through Thursday:

Do you like to talk about what you read? Do you have somebody to talk WITH?

The short answer is, I have a blog where 85% is about books!

I do like to talk about what I read. I don’t have a large group of friends to begin with and among them, I am probably one of the biggest readers. Of course, I do still have a couple of other people whom I talk books with, one of them even has a blog too. I tell one of my best friends what I read and she asks, but she doesn’t read as much as me. Another friend and I only talk books of a certain genre such as fantasy and YA, but she isn’t interested in classics.

This is the only space where I can talk about most of the books I read since I created it for myself.

How about you?

On this week’s Booking Through Thursday:

What was the most emotional read you have ever had?

The older I get, the more prone to tears when reading or watching movies. I am a sensitive person, but when I was younger, I didn’t really cry or feel emotional as easily as I do now when reading.

There have been a couple of emotional reads, but I can’t name in which I outright balled or became verklempt. Or maybe there was, I’ve blocked it out from my memory. I don’t really sob for books though.

In recent reads, I became a bit teary when reading Little Women. I tend to get emotional for children’s or young adult books: certain scenes in Harry Potter (“Always”), the end of His Dark Materials, Watership Down I think. I also find Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go seems to really touch me.

I do have a lot of feelings for books in general. The best ones are the ones you remember having any positive or deep feeling about. As people and especially as a woman, one remembers the emotions things illicit in us more than anything. I remember how evocative Anna Karenina or One Hundred Years of Solitude was when I read them.

What were your emotional reads?

On Booking Through Thursday this week:

Name a book you love in a genre you normally don’t care for. What made you decide to read it? Did it make you want to try more in that genre?

What genre do you avoid reading and why?

Generally, I am willing to read most genres. There are a couple I don’t read very much or at all. I would say high fantasy and science fiction are ones which I don’t read a lot from. I do read a lot of fantasy, but it’s not ‘high’, it’s usually ‘urban’ fantasy. High fantasy would be Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The former I read because of the movies and it being a classic and the latter I plan to read for similar reasons. In Sci-Fi, I have read Hitchiker’s Guide series, Enders Game and a couple of Neal Stephenson books. I tend to go out of my genre for highly acclaimed genre books and those considered classics.

One genre that I avoid is horror. I don’t watch horror films at all either. Another is certain kinds of romance novels i.e. the kind you get at drug stores and in pulp fiction form. Similarly, there are a lot of mysteries in this format too that I don’t really read. I have liked mystery books, but again, more from classical side such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. I think I should try more mysteries, but I’ve never been particularly enamored with them. Similarly, romance is in most fiction that I read, but the straight pulp romances are just not for me.

How about you?