Booking Through Thursday: 8/8/13

All other things being equal (good writing, enthralling story, etc), which would you rather read—something serious, angsty, and tragic? Or something light, fluffy, and fun? Or a blend of both? (Since, really, isn’t that how real life works?)

This is tough, but I'm going to be a wimp and say both.  Sometimes the serious and angsty suits me and sometimes with life going crazy I need the light and fluffy. 

And when I want to mix them I read Harry Potter like I am right now.  They can be serious, they can be fun, but when it's all done, they are great books.  And as I am divng into book 4 (Goblet of Fire) I know the darkness will continue to be in more of the books, but I'm okay with that. They are still an easy fun read that suits me at this moment.  Now next week I will probably be back to Being Me by Lisa Marie Rice which is more serious and angsty (and hot!)

BTT - Loud + Giveaway

You can find this weeks BTT here.

1. What do you think of reading aloud/being read to? Does it bring back memories of your childhood? Your children’s childhood?
It does bring back memories of my childhood when Mom read me Trixie Belden and Little Golden Books.  It also reminds me of my youngest son's nightly ritual - he's in the first grade and they have 15-20 minutes of reading every night.  He loves it, we're working on the Magic Tree House books.

2. Does this affect the way you feel about audio books?
In a way yes, it's like coming home.  I love a well-done audio book - it's a way to pass my commute to work after I drop the kids off at school with a book.  It's also a way to pass time when I'm sewing and sometimes when I'm at the gym, or taking a walk or even when I'm cooking.  That said, I have taken an audio book back to the library when the reader didn't mesh with me (a bad southern accent is one thing to put me off since I'm southern).

3. Do you now have times when you read aloud or are read to?
Only when it's my son if it's not an audiobook.

Giveaway

What do you think about audiobooks?  I have an unabridged copy of Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent on CD unopened up for grabs today if you share you answer in the comments.  Enter through Rafflecopter because it's easy for me to draw a winner.  Giveaway open for 3 days so it ends at midnight 10/1.  US/Canada only.

Booking Through Thursday - May 27th

What books do you have next to your bed right now? How about other places in the house? What are you reading?

The BTT meme is hosted here, go check it out and see others' responses.

I have a pile of books on my nightstand and on my floor by the bed right now.  The last few weeks have been so hectic I need to get it all organized!  But I am currently reading Infinity: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon as my main book and Never Let You Go by Erin Healy is in my purse.

I have Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast up next and it's from the library and the top of my nightstand pile is The Last Christian by David Gregory (giveaway soon), Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas (watch for a guest post by the author and a giveaway next week), The Rule of Nine by Steve Martini (see current giveaway), Dangerous by Diana  Palmer (will also have a giveaway) and Death Echo by Elizabeth Lowell (another giveaway coming soon).  So stay tuned - lots of giveaways and if I think about it I'll post a picture of my unorganized pile so you can all be aghast or just sympathize with me.

Have a great Thursday!

Booking Through Thursday - March 25 - Break

Do you take breaks while reading a book? Or read it straight through? (And, by breaks, I don’t mean sleeping, eating and going to work; I mean putting it aside for a time while you read something else.)

It's been awhile since I participated in BTT, but I thought I would join back in this week.

I do take breaks from time-to-time.  It depends on how the book is.  If it's just not gripping me at the moment, I will set it aside and come back.  Sometimes I have to set a book aside to read one for a review.  I try not to do this because I find myself confused when I come back to the book, but sometimes I just have to.

So what do you do?  Comment here and also see the main BTT post for what others are saying.

Booking Through Thursday - October 22nd

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

If you could ask your favorite author (alive or dead) one question … who would you ask, and what would the question be?

Favorite Author - that's a tough one - over the last few years I have found so many wonderful authors that I have a lot of favorites or auto-buys. So let's pick one.

Let's go with Chelsea Cain - I just want to know how she was able to make up a character as creepy as Gretchen Lowell and tales as twisted as she writes. What is her thought process?

Booking Through Thursday - October 15th

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?

Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)

And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?

I weed out my books from time-to-time, but not down to my reading essentials. I probably have 1000+ books at the moment spread out between my house and my work desk (I keep a kind of library for people at work who ask). Most of the time my books are out-of-control though - just ask my husband. :)

When I do get rid of them I either give them away on my blog (review copies and ARCs) or on Paperbackswap (my books) or take them to our used book store to buy more books for myself. I also plan to start donating some of my new hardbacks to the library. I just can't keep all my books and I'm looking to start paring down. This means I'm reading as fast as I can.

So what do you do?

Booking Through Thursday - October 1

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

Saw this article (from March) and thought it would make a good BTT confessional question:

Two-thirds of Brits have lied about reading books they haven’t. Have you? Why? What book?

I don't think so - generally I don't get in too many book discussions except here on the web and I don't recall ever lying about reading a book.

Okay now that I think about it - back in high school - The Great Gatsby - I just could not get into it so I read the Cliff's Notes. So I did lie back then. But now I don't see any reason to.

Booking Through Thursday - September 24

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s the saddest book you’ve read recently?

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

It's an amazing book and it's sad and I could not put it down. I will be putting up a review later this week.

Booking Through Thursday - September 10

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s the most informative book you’ve read recently?

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran. I haven't really read any informative non-fiction, so the first fiction book I thought of was this one. I actually learned a lot about life in Rome back in the first century BC and also about some of the historical people of the time. It left me wanting to learn more about Rome and Greece and Egypt.

Booking Through Thursday - September 3

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s the biggest book you’ve read recently?

(Feel free to think “big” as size, or as popularity, or in any other way you care to interpret.)

Biggest as in longest - 422 pages of The Last Ember by Daniel Levin. Looking back over my spreadsheet it appears I haven't read anything much longer this year. Wow.












Biggest Author - Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson (review posting later today)













Biggest as in popularity - Club Dead by Charlaine Harris - the Sookie Stackhouse series is huge now with True Blood out there. I think the wait list for this on PBS was over 300 people!

Booking Through Thursday - August 27th

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s the lightest, most “fluff” kind of book you’ve read recently?

Nothing Can Keep Us Together by Cecily Von Ziegesar - how can a romp with the Gossip Girl be anything but fluff. This one centers around graduation and Blair and Serena on the outs again about Nate. Lots of stuff going on and a decidedly fluffy read. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Booking Through Thursday - August 20th

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

Dancing With Ana by Nicole Barker - it just felt so real, it reminded me of my high school days and portrayed the insecurities and the fun of being a teenage girl so well. The friendship, the boys, the issues that girls deal with. It's all there and so wonderfully done. I still need to do my review (which will be 5.0/5.0) and a giveaway of this wonderful book. I do have an interview I did with Nicole Barker posted here. So go and check that out.

Booking Through Thursday - Niche

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

Sewing books, Scrapbooking idea books and books about running are my niche books, with occasional nutrition, workout-type self-help books. I sew and scrapbook so those make sense - they inspire me and give me projects to do. Running books also inspire me so I love those.

Booking Through Thursday - Sticky

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

I saw this over at Shelley’s, and thought it sounded like a great question for all of you:

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

Here's my list (I was bad and I kept going to 17):

1. It by Stephen King
2. A Morning Like This by Deborah Bedford
3. Forever by Judy Blume
4. Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume
5. Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
6. Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie
7. Deadfall by Robert Liparulo
8. Divine Evil by Nora Roberts
9. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
10. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
11. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
12. Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
13. Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
14. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
15. Death Angel by Linda Howard
16. The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
17. They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth

Check out more lists here.

Booking Through Thursday - Windfall

Here is this week's Booking Through Thursday question:

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.

Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?

(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)

Well I am one of the lucky ones and we are getting a refund. If I could do whatever I wanted with it, I would spend my money on books. I would first go to my local indie bookstore and buy and then I would go and walk around BAM for awhile. I would be looking for:

• Sleeping in Daylight by Elizabeth Flock
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Life Without Summer by Lynne Griffin
• Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child
• Honolulu by Alan Brennert
• Tomato Girl by Jayne Popek
• Need by Carrie Jones
• Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
• Second Opinion by Michael Palmer

I would also just look around and buy whatever I found interesting. It would be so fun and so relaxing! I would also look at sewing books (I love to sew) and cook books (they are so fun) and cool book/reading gadgets (might get some of those cover things I saw the other day on another blog).

But alas, we will have insurance and property taxes and a new water softener to buy, so there will be very little to spend. But I think we will have a little to spend and I will be buying books!

Booking Through Thursday - April 2

Deb at Booking Through Thursday blog's question for this week is:

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I accidentally deleted my post for this while working on this weeks, so I will try and reanswer just so it's available.

I use my public library about once a week at the moment. As soon as they get the online catalog working again I will be using it much more, but since I can't check what books they have available at the moment and reserve them, my frequency there to pick up books has declined.

I don't think the coffeehouse/bookstore has replaced the library. I love the coffeehouse/bookstore as DH and I always make a point when we go out to eat occasionally a few towns over to go to their BAM and sit, read and drink coffee, but it would never replace the library for me even if I had one in my town. The library is free and yes browsing books is free, but I would never have the time (or feel right about) reading a whole book while enjoying coffee at a bookstore and putting it back up. Now I would enjoy browsing the book enough to see if I would enjoy it, but the library does that for me - I can get the book and if I don't like it I'm not out of anything except some time. I still enjoy book stores for the ability to browse and then lovingly take home a lovely book (or twenty).

I loved the library as a child. My mom would take me for reading time occasionally which I enjoyed but I enjoyed checking out books the most. We had a bookmobile that would come down our street during the summer and I remember loving to go into there and check out books - it was so cool!

I will take any library - ours has an older feel, but I have been to a huge newer one when I lived in Raleigh and I loved the sheer number of books available there. Ours is quaint. It will soon be moving and I am looking forward to that. I think they will now have more of a reading area. Right now there are mainly tables plus a few chairs in the magazine section. They will also have more room for more books and that is exciting too!

Booking Through Thursday

Suggested by Janet:

The opposite of last week’s question: “What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”

I don't know if I can think of any one book, but I can think of one author. I remember being a teenager and Danielle Steel was all the rage (this was the late 80s/early90s) and I started reading her. I stopped reading for a little while (college got in the way) and then came back and started reading her and many many others. Eventually looking around the internet I found that most people (at least the people that talked about it) did not like Danielle Steel. At first I was horrified - there must be something wrong with me and then I remembered we are all different. What I like someone else may not and I may not like what they like. So I continue to read Danielle Steel. No I don't think some of the newer stuff is the caliber of her older stuff, but it continues to entertain me. And that is often all I ask from a book - just let me live someone else's life for a little while whether that life is good or bad. I know some find her formulaic but I often wonder how the heck authors can come up with new ideas, but they keep doing it and if her novels do follow a pretty standard formula that is okay with me. Again I just want to relax and read.

I also have to say that I read Lightning about 3 months before my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and reading that gave me some idea of what my mom was going to go through and then what she actually went through so there was definitely benefit in that book. Did it mirror my mom's experience - no way, but it did give a very scared 22 year old daughter something to hold on to. (and my mom is now a 13-year cancer survivor)

So join in on Booking Through Thursday today - I'm interested in reading everyone's best "worst" book - I'm always open for a new book to read :) And if anyone feels like admitting at least a little like for Danielle Steel I would like to hear it too (or you can even tell me you think I'm the most insane person you have ever met) :)