11 posts tagged “booking through thursday”

Suggested by JM:

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.  That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.

Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?

I've almost always completed books that I've started.  Maybe because I usually read books that have been well-reviewed or maybe because I'm generally an optimist and that even after a slow start I hope that it might get better, or maybe I have a stick-to-it-iveness that says if you're going to start something you might as well finish it.

Speaking of of finishing it, that does remind me of one of the few books I didn't finish -- "IT" from Stephen King.  Clocking in at over a thousand pages and at the apex of his drug-addled, no-one-will-edit-him 80s long windedness (Steve: more isn't always better) -- I plodded along in this for about 400 pages and then said, "No mas!"

Oddly, I know several people for whom this book was one of their favorites, but I couldn't stand IT.

Follow-up to last week’s question:

Do you keep all your unread books together, like books in a waiting room? Or are they scattered throughout your shelves, mingling like party-goers waiting for the host to come along?

I haven't done a BTT for a while, and this seemed like a pretty good one.   To answer the question: my "to-read" books sit in a stack by my side of the bed, as does the book that I'm currently reading.

The to-be-read stack is often, but not necessarily in the order that they (I think) they'll be read.  Because you know you can't have a small book on the bottom and big books on top --- that would be so so wrong.

Anyway -- I like my stack right now.  I have a recent King book (Duma Key) that had gotten pretty good reviews.  A new book on traveling in China by J Marten Troost who wrote one of the funniest books that I've read in a long time (though his follow-up was not quite as good).  The new mystery by Tana French, which I got on the strength of her first novel that I liked very much.

Rounding out the stack is another non-fiction book (A Voyage Long and Strange) about the early colonization of North America by Europeans.  I'm also anxious to read Zafon's "Shadow of the Wind" which was recommended by several folks here on vox.

I also have a couple of other non-fiction books at the base.  A collection of 50 essays -- one written for each state by a famous native, and a account of the design and installation of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel --- we're thinking of going to Italy and Greece next year.

More than half are non-fiction.  Huh.  That surprises me.

Suggested by Barbara:

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?

I’m glad this question came up, because in the last six months or so, I’ve had reawakening of the pleasures of using the library.  I used to think that I had to buy every book and keep it – in the last year, I’ve been convinced that maybe – just maybe – it’s okay just to borrow books.  So we started going back over the holidays and we end up going once or twice a month.  One of the things I was really excited about was that our library also rents music CDs – how cool is that?

BTT was a meme this week:

I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?  What made you buy the books that you actually own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?  If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

This BTT question is a pretty interesting and I’m always curious about how people view books in their lives.  It’s actually one thing that the Beloved and I disagree on (I think we’re in détente right now, we’ll see how this evolves…).

I am a book buyer and saver.  I like my books.  I like the idea of having my own library.  When I’m in a room with shelves of my books, I look at them and try to recall things…how old was I when I first read this?  How much did I like it?  How has my opinion of it changed?  Did this book make me try (or not try) other books/authors?....  Because I’ve read fairly steadily my whole life, for me perusing my books is like looking through a very personal photoalbum.  Or seeing old friends or acquaintences.

The Beloved (who reads more books than I do in a year…) believes that we should be more selective and only keep our very most favorite books and PURGE the others – something that is anathema to me.  We are however, running out of room with the current shelving arrangements we have throughout the house.  One thing that she's been angling for is built-ins installed in our spare room – and the lure of having more book space is probably the right way for me to agree with her that we should spring for them.

A good meme for BTT today:

What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.
Like, for movies–I can acknowledge that Citizen Kane is a tour de force and is all sorts of wonderful, cinematically speaking, but . . . I just don’t like it. I find it impressive and quite an accomplishment, but it’s not my cup of tea.
So . . . what book (or books) is your Citizen Kane?