A Bookish Meme

Hey all! I'm catching up on my books, and we're testing her at school, so that's making it a bit difficult. I found this on http://www.thebookladysblog.com/, and it's compressed a little. You can go to her awesome blog and check it out for the complete version (it's the April 3rd post)!



Hardback, trade paperback, or mass market paperback? It depends on the book, and how good I think I'll like it. Usually, I get whatever type is available at B&N, but I prefer hardbacks for keeping, paperbacks if I'm going to sell them. Most of my mass market paperbacks fall apart, so usually trade.



Barnes&Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, or indies? I really don't like Borders- it's an impersonal atmosphere, the lights are too bright, and there's no good books beyond ones I've read. And on top of all that, they don't have a teen section (the audacity)! Yeah, I'm 12, I guess I could go up to the juvenile... but once you've read YA and regular, non-specialized books, you can't go back to the unrealistic plots, etc.... I really like B&N, they make you want to stay a while, and they have a decent teen section. If my town had ANY indie stores, I would fully go there at LEAST twice a week, but things like that aren't around my town. But any chance I get, when I'm traveling or whatever, I go to the stores there. I HATE Books-A-Million, because their books don't appear to be classified in any way.


Bookmark or Dog-eared? I have this weird hang-up about dog earing. Don't ask me why, but I think it was that video we watched all the time in the library when I was little, with all the sick, abused books. That TALKED. Yeesh, you can't blame me for being scarred :). I have a pretty good knack for remembering my page anyways. I read to benchmarks, or make up little things to remember it by (like, 180 pages, I think of angles... dorky, may be, but it works!).



Alphabetize by author, alphabetize by title, or random? I guess random. Well, I separate them by categories, but in the categories, it's a free-for-all.



Keep, throw away, or sell? Keep, and occasionally give to the library. Who would throw away a book? C'mon, people.



Read with/ without dust jacket? Throw away/keep dust jacket? I take the jacket off when I read the book. It crackles annoyingly, and keeps falling off so you can't focus. But when I'm done and add it to my bookshelf, I put it back on. It makes it a bit more colorful and interesting looking. Next!

Short story or novel? I like reading collections of short stories, like Shining On and Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? (which is on my reading list to get). But I usually read novels for the simple reason that there's just more of the novels out there.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Lemony Snicket, all the way. I don't read the Harry Potter series. A Series of Unfortunate Events is what I spent my whole 4th grade summer on! His books are total cliffhangers though, right down to the very last book EVER, and I just hate that.

New or used? New, definitely. If there's a book I desperately want, I will get a *slightly* used book from a book store. But to me, there's something about used books that's kind of... icky. You don't know where it's been, after all.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendations, or Browsing? Mainly browsing the shelves of a library or store. You just can't enjoy that great feeling of peace and anticipiation and awesome book smell without being there for a while. I also get a lot of wonderful books from reviews, as seen from the long list of book blogs.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? I'm not much for either. Tidy endings work out too well, and I don't like it when the plot isn't completely realistic (which is why I dislike sci fi and fantasy so much). But cliffhangers, especially in stand-alones, since it's just over, annoy me as well, sometimes. I want things to not be completely perfect, but the conflict resolved in an original way, etc.

Favorite book to reread? I've read Island of the Blue Dolphins so many times. I was going to do the favorite books question, but I love too many.

Do you ever smell books? Um, I can't say I put the book up to my nose, but I do like the smell of books in a library or store. It's the best, most comforting smell in the world. Agreed?

Okay, now you know my opinions: go to the above-mentioned blog and make your own meme of the bookish variety!