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jenett(Snagged from kakiphony)
Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:
I read while eating, but I do not particularly snack while reading, if you see the distinction. (Partly because a lot of my reading time is lying down, which is not a good fit for consuming food and drink.)
What is your favorite drink while reading?
See above. (Mostly, water with a little lime juice, which is my general thing I drink by default.)
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I generally don't mark unless I'm doing ongoing commentary on something (which is pretty rare.)
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I dog-ear my own books, and use scraps of paper/bookmarks/whatever's handy on books I don't own. I dislike laying books flat because it's so hard on paperback spines, but I'll do it very briefly (like if I'm reading while stirring food and suddenly need two hands for some reason.)
I am, incidentally, really hard on books I own and read regularly: the back corners are often rubbed off from reading in the bath, I dog ear pages, there are bits of food thumbprints from time to time. While I'm a lot gentler with other people's books (including library books) a number of people have told me they really love the fact that the stuff on my shelves looks so well loved and often-read.
Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
Both. In months when I have a reasonable on-top-of-it brain, it's about half and half. In months where my focus and concentration are lousy, it's much more skewed to light fiction (by which I mean genre stuff which gives me a predictable expectation of what's going to be in the book, even if it's very well done.)
My primary mix is character-driven science fiction, ditto on fantasy (I read most sub-genres in it these days except for the paranormal romancey ones which only show up intermittently), historical mysteries (and sometimes modern ones, especially if the tie-in is something that amuses me: herbs, local craft stores, horses, or similar things.) Non-fiction goes all over the map: a lot of microhistories and social history, but also anything else that grabs my attention.
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I stop anywhere. The question for me is more often "Can I stop before I get to the end of the book" (Almost always for non-fiction, not so reliably for fiction. I have learned, for example, never to start a Lois McMaster Bujold book, even on a re-read, unless I am quite sure that I have time to read to the end without staying up way past my bedtime.)
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
Rarely. It scares the cat. I am sometimes very tempted, though.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Nope. I get vocab by context, which used to completely annoy my English teachers. (I was pretty unrepentant about it, given that the only time I couldn't piece out a useful meaning was the word peripatetic: I got the general sense of 'wandering' but couldn't pin it down more than that.)
I do sometimes go "Oh, that's a *neat* word, I wonder where it comes from?" but that's a totally different looking-up issue, and can wait till I'm not reading past it.
What are you currently reading?
Electronic copy: For the Win by Cory Doctorow
I finished the two print books I was part way through last night and the night before (_The Trouble with Heroes_ anthology, edited by Denise Little and _The Lions of Al-Rassan_ by Guy Gavriel Kay, and have not yet made it to the library to pick up the waiting stuff. (A bunch of Tanya Huff re-reads I don't own, as I'm in that sort of mood.)
What is the last book you bought?
_Drawing Down the Spirits_ by Kenaz Filan and Raven Kaldera. (These days, most of what I buy is likely to be Pagan related: I get most of my general reading from the library unless I'm planning to do regular re-reads. Also, I really need to weed my bookshelves before I buy more stuff.)
Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
More than one. Usually more than three or four, depending on mood and inclination.
Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Um. I read anything that sits still long enough, whenever I'm not supposed to be doing something else. So, really, no. I reliably read in the bath, in bed for 30+ minutes before I fall asleep, and while doing a range of odd things including brushing and braiding my hair (propping the book open with my toes.)
Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
I like series. They last longer, not only in the initial reading process, but because I can then go and re-read them each time a new book comes out (If you are me, and you average a book every day or two, this is no small thing.) Also, I really like development of character over time, and series can be really good for that.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Pamela Dean's _Tam Lin_. Emma Bull's _War for the Oaks_ Diane Duane's _Deep Wizardry_. Rosemary Edghill's collected Bast novels. _Color: A Natural History of a Palette_ by Victoria Finlay. (And a variety of Pagan books, who are their own category.)
Recently, I've been delighted that my recommendations for _The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_, for _Little Brother_ and for _Soulless_ have been seized upon with delight and glee, but the stuff I'm recommending for at work varies widely.
How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)
Ideally, shelf space allowing, I have all of the subgenres together (so urban fantasy is together, high fantasy is together. I think I need to start shelving second world fantasy together. Historical mysteries together. Dystopia separate from space opera.) Within that, it's by author, and then by internal chronology within series (with a few exceptions like the Narnia books, because damnit, the Magician's Nephew comes fifth in the series, not first. Also, because my set is numbered that way anyway, hah.) Also, I tend to shelve my Bujold by publication order (with Cetaganda just before Memory) rather than otherwise, but that's partly because of the complications of the novellas in Borders of Infinity. Anthologies are all together.
The grouping by subgenre is because when I'm eyeing stuff at home I want to read, I generally stand there going "I know I want a X" where X is a subgenre. And if I do "I want Author to read tonight" they're easy enough to find. My plain regular fiction has a half shelf. (and my classic literature, which is mostly medieval and renaissance texts, me being me, has about 2 shelves.)
Within the Pagan books, I go by topic - the intro 101 stuff is together (handy if I need to do the "Look, here's why this book is problematic" conversation with page numbers, but out of the way otherwise.) and otherwise by topic (ritual theory together, coven dynamics stuff together, etc.)
kakiphony) Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:
I read while eating, but I do not particularly snack while reading, if you see the distinction. (Partly because a lot of my reading time is lying down, which is not a good fit for consuming food and drink.)
What is your favorite drink while reading?
See above. (Mostly, water with a little lime juice, which is my general thing I drink by default.)
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I generally don't mark unless I'm doing ongoing commentary on something (which is pretty rare.)
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I dog-ear my own books, and use scraps of paper/bookmarks/whatever's handy on books I don't own. I dislike laying books flat because it's so hard on paperback spines, but I'll do it very briefly (like if I'm reading while stirring food and suddenly need two hands for some reason.)
I am, incidentally, really hard on books I own and read regularly: the back corners are often rubbed off from reading in the bath, I dog ear pages, there are bits of food thumbprints from time to time. While I'm a lot gentler with other people's books (including library books) a number of people have told me they really love the fact that the stuff on my shelves looks so well loved and often-read.
Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
Both. In months when I have a reasonable on-top-of-it brain, it's about half and half. In months where my focus and concentration are lousy, it's much more skewed to light fiction (by which I mean genre stuff which gives me a predictable expectation of what's going to be in the book, even if it's very well done.)
My primary mix is character-driven science fiction, ditto on fantasy (I read most sub-genres in it these days except for the paranormal romancey ones which only show up intermittently), historical mysteries (and sometimes modern ones, especially if the tie-in is something that amuses me: herbs, local craft stores, horses, or similar things.) Non-fiction goes all over the map: a lot of microhistories and social history, but also anything else that grabs my attention.
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I stop anywhere. The question for me is more often "Can I stop before I get to the end of the book" (Almost always for non-fiction, not so reliably for fiction. I have learned, for example, never to start a Lois McMaster Bujold book, even on a re-read, unless I am quite sure that I have time to read to the end without staying up way past my bedtime.)
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
Rarely. It scares the cat. I am sometimes very tempted, though.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Nope. I get vocab by context, which used to completely annoy my English teachers. (I was pretty unrepentant about it, given that the only time I couldn't piece out a useful meaning was the word peripatetic: I got the general sense of 'wandering' but couldn't pin it down more than that.)
I do sometimes go "Oh, that's a *neat* word, I wonder where it comes from?" but that's a totally different looking-up issue, and can wait till I'm not reading past it.
What are you currently reading?
Electronic copy: For the Win by Cory Doctorow
I finished the two print books I was part way through last night and the night before (_The Trouble with Heroes_ anthology, edited by Denise Little and _The Lions of Al-Rassan_ by Guy Gavriel Kay, and have not yet made it to the library to pick up the waiting stuff. (A bunch of Tanya Huff re-reads I don't own, as I'm in that sort of mood.)
What is the last book you bought?
_Drawing Down the Spirits_ by Kenaz Filan and Raven Kaldera. (These days, most of what I buy is likely to be Pagan related: I get most of my general reading from the library unless I'm planning to do regular re-reads. Also, I really need to weed my bookshelves before I buy more stuff.)
Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
More than one. Usually more than three or four, depending on mood and inclination.
Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Um. I read anything that sits still long enough, whenever I'm not supposed to be doing something else. So, really, no. I reliably read in the bath, in bed for 30+ minutes before I fall asleep, and while doing a range of odd things including brushing and braiding my hair (propping the book open with my toes.)
Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
I like series. They last longer, not only in the initial reading process, but because I can then go and re-read them each time a new book comes out (If you are me, and you average a book every day or two, this is no small thing.) Also, I really like development of character over time, and series can be really good for that.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Pamela Dean's _Tam Lin_. Emma Bull's _War for the Oaks_ Diane Duane's _Deep Wizardry_. Rosemary Edghill's collected Bast novels. _Color: A Natural History of a Palette_ by Victoria Finlay. (And a variety of Pagan books, who are their own category.)
Recently, I've been delighted that my recommendations for _The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_, for _Little Brother_ and for _Soulless_ have been seized upon with delight and glee, but the stuff I'm recommending for at work varies widely.
How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)
Ideally, shelf space allowing, I have all of the subgenres together (so urban fantasy is together, high fantasy is together. I think I need to start shelving second world fantasy together. Historical mysteries together. Dystopia separate from space opera.) Within that, it's by author, and then by internal chronology within series (with a few exceptions like the Narnia books, because damnit, the Magician's Nephew comes fifth in the series, not first. Also, because my set is numbered that way anyway, hah.) Also, I tend to shelve my Bujold by publication order (with Cetaganda just before Memory) rather than otherwise, but that's partly because of the complications of the novellas in Borders of Infinity. Anthologies are all together.
The grouping by subgenre is because when I'm eyeing stuff at home I want to read, I generally stand there going "I know I want a X" where X is a subgenre. And if I do "I want Author to read tonight" they're easy enough to find. My plain regular fiction has a half shelf. (and my classic literature, which is mostly medieval and renaissance texts, me being me, has about 2 shelves.)
Within the Pagan books, I go by topic - the intro 101 stuff is together (handy if I need to do the "Look, here's why this book is problematic" conversation with page numbers, but out of the way otherwise.) and otherwise by topic (ritual theory together, coven dynamics stuff together, etc.)
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-15 05:05 pm (UTC)Ha. And I thought I was the only one who did that. :P
And Tam Lin has to be one of the best renditions of that ballad in existence.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 01:52 am (UTC)THIS. And mine too :P
Also, I have much Tanya Huff myself, so if you're ever inclined again, hit me up :) I own all five Blood books, the Smoke trilogy (which is a companion series to the Blood books), the Quarters series, the Keeper chronicles, the Wizard of the Grove duology, plus three other stand-alones (two in an omnibus edition, and her latest that I hope becomes a series) :P Yeah, she was my gateway into UF, if you couldn't tell.
I might snag this :D
no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 01:01 pm (UTC)Her latest I really like, and like you, hope it turns into a series.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 11:54 am (UTC)This was a bone of contention with some friends I had in California, because their eldest son had been born before they put out the editions with the wrong numbering as a matter of course, and their younger two sons after it, so there was bitter fighting in the single-digit set over the Proper Way.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 01:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 01:10 pm (UTC)Earlier in the series, it's more that I prefer them that way. If I'd had to start with The Magician's Nephew and not get to Dawn Treader until fifth, I'm not sure I would have stuck with it. In publication order, for me, the series peaks in the middle--which is often how I think of series, actually. Empire Strikes Back is best and so on.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-14 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-15 01:48 pm (UTC)