Booking Through Thursday: Rolling

Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on and so on?

I don’t so much mean something like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different authors…

Uh ... no. Often something in the book I’m reading will remind me of something in a book read days or weeks or months ago - I even posted about the phenomenon - but I can’t recall it happening with consecutive books. I read a lot of different things and try to jumble them up - most recently, following a spy novel with Rumpole - so that might be why. The occasional exceptions are challenges that involve reading round a theme, but I’m not sure that counts since it’s done consciously. (Although earlier in the book-to-movie challenge I found myself reading a lot of non-challenge books that had been adapted: The Remains of the Day, Harry Potter #1, The Maltese Falcon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest....)

But in the sense of the first part of the question, I have been of a roll of late with a case of Pottermania, spending ten days ploughing through books 3 to 7. (I went to the library before my last exam in search of #3 and found all the rest on the shelves as well. Luckily I’d brought a library bag so I could take full advantage of the situation.) Which explains the recent dearth of posts. (Well ... they were really good. And I really wanted to know what happened.) And now that I know, I can finally go and read what everyone else thought of Deathly Hallows. :-)

Booking Through Thursday: Preservatives

Today’s question comes from Conspiracy-Girl: I’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

Write ... in ... books? I’m turning pale at the very thought! I’ve never even used a pencil on a textbook, I’m that fanatical. If I come across pencil notes in a library or pre-loved book, I’ll erase them; and I’ll never buy a secondhand book that’s marked beyond repair. Dogears or spines that are cracked or in need of glue, fine, but notes in ink, never. Pencil I will tolerate, but ink is a sacrilege. To me, books are valued friends to be loved and cared for.

(Just realised - this is post #200! Blogging time flies when you’re having fun.)

Friday Fill-In #45

1. Plans and schedules occasionally work out.

2. I’m happy when things aren’t stressful.

3. The last thing I drank was water.

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my library card.

5. I like chicken, mushrooms and avocado on my pizza.

6. Dear November, hurry up and leave so the election will be over and all the politicians will shut up.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to catching up on sleep, tomorrow my plans include studying for my Protein Engineering and Bioprocessing exam and Sunday, I want to study for my Protein Engineering and Bioprocessing exam! (In other words, the least fun weekend of the year.)

Booking Through Thursday: Volume

Yes, it’s Friday, and late on Friday at that. But the question was posted late (belated Happy Birthday to Deb!) so you can blame the time zones and my Plant Biotech exam.

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less?
Why?

A little difficult to answer, since there’s not a great deal of younger to cover and remembering isn’t one of my talents. My records show a reasonably steady devouring of around 2 - 3.5 books per week from 2004 onward. My capacity for reading has an almost magical elasticity; no matter how much I have to do at uni, or how many reviews I have to write, or how many hugely time-consuming books I read, I still manage to read a LOT. And the two years before were probably much the same. I can definitively date my current addiction to 2002, thanks to an accommodating quirk of my timetable which gave me a free period after lunch on Fridays - time enough to take a bus to the Belconnen library and stock up. Every single week. And you can stop thinking whatever you’re thinking; in Canberra when you hit Years 11 and 12 the rules are dramatically relaxed and students are allowed, among other things, to wander off school grounds as they please. (Though preferably not when they’re meant to be in class.)

Before that I always read, just not (quite) so much. Precisely how much I don’t recall, but the bookcase in my room seemed to be always more or less full. And soon (well, hopefully soon) we’ll all get to see what happens to my reading after uni. I can say that after my last exam I shall be reading and reviewing like mad in order to make up for future lost time, because I suspect that once my career is underway I won’t get through anywhere near as many books as I do now. Either that, or I’ll learn to be really efficient at reading and reviewing :-)

Friday Fill-In #44

1. Reading is my favourite form of therapy.

2. If you get my voice mail you’ll hear a very unoriginal message.

3. My favourite product EVER is sunscreen.

4. I see something messy.

5. When I’m grumpy I retreat into a book.

6. Storing bookmarks down my top is my strangest habit. (Well, it’s good to know where it is when I close the book ... but don’t worry, I never do it in public!)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to removing all the spam comments from my blog, tomorrow my plans include doing the ironing and Sunday, I want to study!

Booking Through Thursday: Oh, Horror!

What with yesterday being Halloween, and all ... do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?

I thought about asking you about whether you were participating in NaNoWriMo, but I asked that last year. Although ... if you want to answer that one, too, please feel free to go ahead and do both, or either, your choice!

I do read scary stories to an extent. I love a good spook, and did once read a volume of M. R. James by torchlight during a storm-induced blackout (leaving my mother with a rather dubious opinion of my sanity). But with the exception of Dracula and possibly Anne Rice, I’m not sure how much of what I read would be shelved under Horror at the bookshop - I like spooky, not terrifying, and not too heavy on the bloodshed.

And I’m not even thinking about NaNoWriMo. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try, but November is exam month so by the time they were done it would be more like the National Novel Writing Fortnight! Besides which, the novel which is under construction in my head will be far longer than 50 000 words.