On Booking Through Thursday this week:

Overall, what factor most influences your choice of your next read?

What is it that makes you want to read a book by an author you have never read before?

Nowadays, I am back on reading challenges so I read my next books based on that. I also read based on my library checked out queue; I read what is coming due. This is why I buy books and don’t tend to read them for years because library or borrowed books become priority. When I don’t have a library to frequent, I do tend to read the books I buy right away. Another factor is mood. Sometimes, if I have read a couple of classics, I want to read something lighter or shorter. Likewise, if I read a couple of lighter books, I rather want something more literary or classic.

As for what makes me want to read books by authors I’ve never tried, I have a myriad of factors. It’s more like what makes me not want to read them is better. I was born with To Be Read List that I will probably never finish. I actually have a large collection of ebooks on one of my external hard drives. Ebooks are cheaper so I will tend to get them even if they sound remotely interesting to me. I have a number of interests so it can be piqued by topics, genres, settings, and more. I will tend to read a new author if they are well reviewed either by being bestsellers, award winners, or by looking at other book bloggers. My GoodReads feed has been a good way of adding new books to my queue. Other than that, I do tend to go to bookstores and libraries and read the backs of books to see what they are about.

How about you?

On BTT this week:

Do you have a favorite season of the year that you read more? (Example: during snow storms, rainy weather, or sunny and warm weather) Sorry, that was the best I could come up with.

Where is your favorite place to read? On the beach? Inside/outside?

When I was younger, I did read more in the summer. I spent a lot of time at the library just looking through the shelves for new books. Nowadays, I go to the library to pick up requested books and maybe check out express reads. It depends on the library.

I think I prefer to read indoors. I like being outside, but usually when I am, I am walking or travelling so I can’t really read. Even on trains, I prefer to look out the window and look at the scenery than to read. I feel most absorbed in a book indoors, usually at home or wherever I am calling home at the time. I’ve never had the chance to read on a real beach, but I expect that would be very nice indeed.

As for seasons, this doesn’t really matter so much since I try to read all year round. If I don’t go two weeks without reading a book, I ask myself what is going on with me.

How about you? When and where do you like to read?

On BTT this week:

Series or Stand-alone?

I actually answered this in my reading habits survey a couple weeks back.

Most books are stand-alones, and some of my favourite books, such as the classic ones, are stand-alones. Often, I do want to know more about my favourite characters, and that is the mark of any good book.

Of course, I do like series though, Harry Potter being my favourite one. I have read a lot of good series over the years, but I also have read some mediocre. If I find the first book OK, I will try to finish the series. This is what happened with Twilightand also the Dan Brown books I mentioned last week. Sometimes though, I do not want to read another book after I find the first one not to my taste. This happened with the first Artemis Fowl and Flavia de Luce novels because one thing I realize I can’t stand is overly precocious/genius child protagonists.

I do feel that the older I get, I feel less inclined to finish a series if the first two books are not that great. I need to be really attached to the main characters for that to happen. Life is too short to keep reading if you think it won’t be worth it.

On BTTthis week:

So other than books … what periodicals do you read? Magazines? Newspapers? Newsletters? Journals? Do you subscribe? Or do you buy them on the newsstand when they look interesting?

When I was in university, I would read periodicals more often because I had to be current with the news. My program in undergrad even had a subscription to “The Economist”, and I would read that once a week. In those days, I also really liked “The New York Times”, “The Guardian”, and “The Washington Post”. I also like “The New Yorker” and read some articles of it online. When I find the time, I read the BBC News online and I really like their small online magazine too. I also like fashion magazines, but one doesn’t really read them so much as use them for eye candy.

The problem is that I neither have the money nor the time to read more periodicals. My parents read newspapers; my Dad use to read books, but now he only has time for newspapers. Subscriptions can be expensive especially if I don’t really have the time to really make use of it. It’s a little dream of mine to be able to afford a subscription and the time to read “The New Yorker” one day.

I also read “The Best American Travel Writing” anthology every year. That is a compilation of travel writing from periodicals, and I do like periodicals a lot. You find some of the best nonfiction pieces in them. I just wish I had more time and money to peruse them.

How about you?

On BTT this week:

Who taught you to read?

I can’t remember the exact teacher. Also, English is not my first language. When I did begin to learn English, a number of elementary teachers probably contributed. I had to take an ESL course though and for a long time, I took that class and post-ESL course with a woman named Mrs. Ritzel (I can’t remember if that is how to spell her name). We did a lot of reading in that class, and she really helped with my love of vocabulary and diction.

On BTT this week:

Do you have a favorite quote from a book?

I have many favourite quotations! I like books for their prose and poetry. I even have a little book of quotations that I collect. Most of my favourite books and series have a few quotations (Shakespeare, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, works of Jane Austen, and so on). Here are a couple I have from my booklet at random:

“Sometimes you wake. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.” — Neil Gaiman, The Sandman series.

“To thine own self be true!” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

“Do I contradic myself? Very well then I contradit myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” — Walt Whitman

“Death destroys a man; the idea of Death saves him.” — E. M. Forster, Howards End.

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage us a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.

On BTT this week:

Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realised you have already read it? If so, how far did you get? (Can you tell this happened to me for the first time ever this week!?!)

I am not sure, but this has happened maybe once? I think it happened with a children’s book since I had read it when I was young and again when I was older.

I am asking myself more than ever if I have read certain books. Mostly poetry and sometimes plays live in this blind spot. Also, I tend to watch a lot of adaptations of books such as TV shows and movies. I try to avoid these until I read the book, unless it’s a book I don’t think I want to read.

The good thing about me is that I am a list maker. This blog was also created in part to track my reading. I also have lists of all the books I have read since 2002. I keep one for movies to. So if I am not sure about a book, I just search for it!

This week on BTT:

Favorite secondary characters? (Note the plural)

This is difficult. There are a few novels where I like most of the characters including the Harry Potter series and the Golden Compass trilogy. I have a soft spot for Snape from Harry Potter.

I also tend to like the secondary characters in works of Shakespeare. They tend to get best lines.

I love the book Anna Karenina and Anna was fascinating, but my favourite characters from that book were Lenin and Kitty.

My favourite books are ones where I usually like most of the characters, and I can’t pick favourites exactly though I think young adult and children’s literature have the best secondary characters.

This week on BTT:

If you could write a book, what would it be about, and why? (Though, of course, some of you already HAVE.)

I wish I had the ability to write a book because I think there have always been three kinds of books I like to read and wish to write.

First would be food. I’d love to take the photos and write recipes, but also write about food as a cultural effect in our lives.

Second, I’d like to do travel writing. Oddly, I think this is the most realistic aspirations. Even more fun is if I mix the food in with the travel.

Finally, I’d like to read a novel. I read them enough, but I would be glad to finish a long work of fiction. I have attempted to several times, but the stories don’t seem to be in me to finish.

How about you? What books would you write?

This week on BTT:

Do you have any pet that has a name inspired by your readings?

If not, what would you pick if you DID?

Do any of your friends have book-based names for their pets? (Or their children?)

No, I don’t have any pets. I would like to use names from books. I think children’s books or young adult books have the more imaginative names such as Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, etc. Dickens has some interesting names too but not necessarily for pets. I don’t think I know many people with book-based names though I haven’t heard many tell me why they their parents named them such and such.

How about you? Do you have any good literary names for pets or people?

On BTT this week, Heidi asks:

Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert?

I am an introvert, big time. Not to say I am antisocial or that I don’t like hanging with people, but I am used to being on my own at times. Sometimes, I need to be on my own to read, watch a movie or just destress. Sometimes I find it a bit tiring to be in big groups. Reading and introverts go well together I’ve found.