Everybody lies

posted on Thursday, February, 8th, 2007 in reading matter

I have come across this meme a few times in several bookblogs and although I am not much of friend of doing things everybody else does, I thought I’d fill it in today anyway, because I am absolutely bored and have nothing better to do. Apparently there are some different versions of this floating around. I took this one from here.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?

I don’t really know what the difference between trade and mass market paperback is, but I prefer any type of paperback to hardcovers anytime. Easier to carry around and the risk of hurting yourself while falling asleep with them in hand is considerately lower.

Amazon or brick and mortar?

Amazon, since the bookshops in my town are crap. But when I’m in a proper city, like London for instance, I love to scrounge around in bookstores for hours – especially the used book kind…

Barnes & Noble or Borders?

Neither, since they don’t exist in Germany. But generally speaking I prefer the smaller stores that are not part of a chain as they often tend to have a more interesting selection. If I want cheap books I use Amazon or Bookmooch anyway.

Bookmark or dogear?

I have to confess, I used to dogear books until a while back – but only if they were my own, of course. But ever since I got involved in bookrings and such over at Bookcrossing I got used to using bookmarks that nowadays I always use bookmarks even in my own books.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?

Alphabetized by author on the novel shelfs, sorted by size and topic on the non-fiction shelfs.

Keep, throw away, or sell?

Who would throw away books? Especially since there is Bookcrossing, Bookmooch and literally dozens of other trading sites around?

That said, there are very few books I will keep after having read them. There are just too many books to read and never enough time, so that I very rarely re-read books nowadays. So, after having read a book I usually trade it in, sell it on Amazon or make it into a bookring for Bookcrossing.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?

Since I almost never buy hardcovers, I rarely encounter books with dustjackets. But if I did, I would of course keep it, be it only for the artwork.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?

Definitely remove it.

Short story or novel?

I prefer novels, but may read the occasional short story I encounter. Just recently I read a fantastic collection of short stories by Saki, an author previously unknown to me. The thing that troubles me about short stories is, that you can’t really read a whole collection of them in one sitting, but they are usually too short to read just one at a time.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?

Either one. I’m bound to not like some of the stories anyway.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Harry Potter, because I haven’t read a Lemony Snicket book yet. I know, this is an unforgivable oversight, which I am trying to remedy as soon as possible. I have seen the movie, though (the one with Jim Carrey, in case there should exist more than one) and quite liked it.

But I have to admit, since the third book or so I am not waiting with bated breath anymore for every new installment of Harry Potter either. I have stopped buying the books after part 4 and will get the last one only from the library – whenever it will be available…

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

Depends on the lengths of the chapters in the book in question. And on my tiredness.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?

“It was a dark and stormy night”

Buy or Borrow?

Both. I often borrow a copy first (library, friends, fellow bookcrossers), but may decide after the first reading that I have to have my own copy.

New or used?

I prefer to get my books used – simply because I am always more or less broke and I don’T really care about the condition the book is in as long as it’s still readable. But the used book stores in my town suck, so I have to go to Bookmooch or make weekend trips to London to buy dirtcheap books there (although the trip itself is usually much more expensive than it would have been to just order the books from amazon).

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?

All of the above.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

I prefer tidy endings – up to a point. But if the book is part of a series or if the story is just a bit strange that way I can live with cliffhangers, too.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?

All day (and night) long, if I can.

Standalone or series?

Both.

Favorite series?

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

“Dead men do tell tales” by William R.Maples (at least nobody I know has ever heard of this, although it seems to be quite popular on amazon.com)

“The Book of Fred” by Abbi Bardi (which I got to read as a bookring and absolutely adored)

Favorite books read last year?

Matt Ruff “Set this house in order”

Nick Hornby “About a boy”

Frank Schätzing “Der Schwarm”

Joanne Harris “Gentlemen and Players”

Haruki Murakami “Kafka on the shore”

Elizabeth Kostova “The Historian”

Favorite books of all time?

J.R.R.Tolkien “The Lord of the Rings”

Stephen King “The Dark Tower Series”

Jerome K. Jerome “Three Men in a Boat”

Connie Willis “To say nothing of the dog”

Richard Russo “Nobody’s Fool”

Joanne Harris “Chocolat”

Philip Pullman “His Dark Materials”

Colin Higgins “Harold and Maude”

Everything Bill Bryson ever wrote (esp. “A Walk in the Woods”)

Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman “The Death Gate Novels”

John Irving “A prayer for Owen Meany”

Mary Roach “Stiff: the curious lifes of human cadavers”

John Marsden “The Tomorrow Series”

ETA: Oh god, and how could I ever forget to include Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” novels among my favorite books? Great doesn’t even begin to cover it.