MEME: Book meme
Jun. 3rd, 2010 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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callmemadam and lizarfrau
Do you snack while you read?
Not really, not in the way I do when I watch films, but I do read when eating meals alone, depending on the type of book it is (eg it's easier if it's a hardback) or actually what type of meal it is.
What is your favorite drink while reading?
Depends of the time of day.
Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Non-fiction books if I agree/disagree with a point or it makes me think of something else, or maybe to note the meaning of a word I looked up. This is a holdover from being a student, I suppose. I would rarely mark fiction now, although I had a thing with the Chalet School where I used to underline the names of characters who had been Chalet girls.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?
Bookmarks, proper ones or improvised if I possibly can. Dust jacket leaves also. I won't do dog-ears any more, but I have been guilty of leaving books face down if there are no bookmarks to hand.
Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
Fiction by a mile. I usually have some nonfiction on the go, but it's very slow (if newspaper articles and web pages counted my reading would seem a bit more balanced).
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
If I can, I'll read to the end of a chapter, or segment.
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
No! I'd shout and fume, but I don't think I'd take it out on the book.
If/when you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
If circumstances allow.
What are you currently reading?
Maeve Binchy's Night of Rain and Stars. Well, I was when I first started responding to this meme. I've since finished it.
What is the last book you bought?
The Key of Rose Cottage by Margaret Baker. Collins Seagull library with dustjacket. Oxfam, so not a bargain.
Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Days when I can give myself over to reading. In the most well-lit parts of comfy chairs and on the train.
Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
It depends on the book, but unless if the holding out on resolution to allow for a sequel isn't to the detriment of the story, I welcome series, most times.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
The Tenderness of Wolves by Steff Penney.
How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)?
Genre then author's surname alphabetically.
And I do prefer to read with silence/very background noise. No music etc.
The meme did make me think a little about chapter breaks and how the author really can't control the readers' experience. I was rereading the Binchy book; I came to it with a bit of a prejudice, but after reading about half in one go (circumstances meant that I read the second half in a bitsier fashion) I found that I was enjoying it more than I'd expected, and during the break had a bit of a think about what I remembered (not much) and guessed what would happen next and circled around what I made of the characters. I couldn't remember whether I'd read it in one go the first time, without the break to muse five years ago.
It occurred to me that there are so many possible permutations of a reading experience that the writer can't control. Chapter breaks, to some extent, but for most novels, the reader isn't likely to stop after every chapter, and they could stop anywhere almost. There are some chapters where it's easier, such as if the main characters have to get to Venice to do something, you'd be inclined to stop when they got there, whereas the momentum of the story meant that you 'couldn't' tear yourself away before the point. Perhaps it's more likely for books that have distinct Parts (fantasy novels and historical novels spring to mind). Those create natural breaks. Even so, that's up to the reader or the reader's circumstance, and those breaks from the books vary the experience - you may come to a definite conclusion about a certain character, fair or not. In that break, external events may colour your whole reading of a book.
That probably seems very obvious to everyone else. I tend to (or think I tend to) read books (novels then) in as close to one go as I can get, which may be why it struck me.
callmemadam and lizarfrauDo you snack while you read?
Not really, not in the way I do when I watch films, but I do read when eating meals alone, depending on the type of book it is (eg it's easier if it's a hardback) or actually what type of meal it is.
What is your favorite drink while reading?
Depends of the time of day.
Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Non-fiction books if I agree/disagree with a point or it makes me think of something else, or maybe to note the meaning of a word I looked up. This is a holdover from being a student, I suppose. I would rarely mark fiction now, although I had a thing with the Chalet School where I used to underline the names of characters who had been Chalet girls.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?
Bookmarks, proper ones or improvised if I possibly can. Dust jacket leaves also. I won't do dog-ears any more, but I have been guilty of leaving books face down if there are no bookmarks to hand.
Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
Fiction by a mile. I usually have some nonfiction on the go, but it's very slow (if newspaper articles and web pages counted my reading would seem a bit more balanced).
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
If I can, I'll read to the end of a chapter, or segment.
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
No! I'd shout and fume, but I don't think I'd take it out on the book.
If/when you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
If circumstances allow.
What are you currently reading?
Maeve Binchy's Night of Rain and Stars. Well, I was when I first started responding to this meme. I've since finished it.
What is the last book you bought?
The Key of Rose Cottage by Margaret Baker. Collins Seagull library with dustjacket. Oxfam, so not a bargain.
Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Days when I can give myself over to reading. In the most well-lit parts of comfy chairs and on the train.
Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
It depends on the book, but unless if the holding out on resolution to allow for a sequel isn't to the detriment of the story, I welcome series, most times.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
The Tenderness of Wolves by Steff Penney.
How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)?
Genre then author's surname alphabetically.
And I do prefer to read with silence/very background noise. No music etc.
The meme did make me think a little about chapter breaks and how the author really can't control the readers' experience. I was rereading the Binchy book; I came to it with a bit of a prejudice, but after reading about half in one go (circumstances meant that I read the second half in a bitsier fashion) I found that I was enjoying it more than I'd expected, and during the break had a bit of a think about what I remembered (not much) and guessed what would happen next and circled around what I made of the characters. I couldn't remember whether I'd read it in one go the first time, without the break to muse five years ago.
It occurred to me that there are so many possible permutations of a reading experience that the writer can't control. Chapter breaks, to some extent, but for most novels, the reader isn't likely to stop after every chapter, and they could stop anywhere almost. There are some chapters where it's easier, such as if the main characters have to get to Venice to do something, you'd be inclined to stop when they got there, whereas the momentum of the story meant that you 'couldn't' tear yourself away before the point. Perhaps it's more likely for books that have distinct Parts (fantasy novels and historical novels spring to mind). Those create natural breaks. Even so, that's up to the reader or the reader's circumstance, and those breaks from the books vary the experience - you may come to a definite conclusion about a certain character, fair or not. In that break, external events may colour your whole reading of a book.
That probably seems very obvious to everyone else. I tend to (or think I tend to) read books (novels then) in as close to one go as I can get, which may be why it struck me.
